Regular Events

Regular non-worship events

Katherine House Coffee Mornings

Every Friday a large group of faithful supporters come to the church between 10am and 12 noon to enjoy companionship, laughter and general friendship.  In doing so, they help to raise money for the upkeep and work of the local Hospice in Adderbury.  During the holiday season a warm welcome is extended to visitors who are en route to East/West for visits to friends, business etc. Apart from coffee, keen gardeners bring produce for sale and this is quickly snapped up and the money raised is given to the Hospice.                                                                                          

There are many, many  groups and associations that fundraise for the Hospice and it is extremely appreciative of the support it receives from the community.        

Pat Brittain

1st DEDDINGTON BOYS’ BRIGADE

A Review of Activities and Achievements in 2009
 
The 1st Deddington Boys’ Brigade maintained its numbers in 2009, there being a total of 32 members over the three sections, Company, Junior and Anchor.
 
There were a number of staff changes notably in the Junior Section with the resignation of Clare Cardy and Stacey Debling.  John Dane, the Curate to the Parish, left to take up a post in Chichester.  John had been regularly involved in the work of the Junior section in his time here and was also the Battalion Chaplain.  Barbara Upton retired after many years of loyal service with the Anchors.  We welcomed new officers during the year:  Stanley Nelson joined us to work  with the Company section and Annette Murphy to work with the Junior section.  One particularly pleasing development was the introduction of Max Watling, a Company Section boy, to assist with the Anchors as he works to achieve his Young Enterprise Badge.
 
1st Deddington remains committed to taking part in County Battalion events and competitions and has enjoyed considerable success in these at all levels.  During the Easter holidays, eight Company section boys attended a three day rowing course at Reading which culminated in a race on the Regatta course at Henley, followed by lunch at the Leander Club as guests of Deborah Flood.  Deborah, an Olympic Champion and medallist, is a devout Christian currently training as a Prison Officer.  A similar number of boys attended a week-long camp at Kirkham, near Blackpool in August.
 
The Band goes from strength to strength, not only leading the Battalion Church Parade at Kings Sutton but also the Remembrance Sunday Parade in Deddington.   They have played at a number of church services and in support on the new First Sunday family service, as well as other social events.  I am particularly grateful to Graham and Ros Wallington for their commitment to and important work in this area.  My thanks and appreciation go to all the officers (Jen Childs, Tim Cooper, Annette Murphy, Stan Nelson, and Graham and Ros Wallington) who so willingly devote time and energy to serving God in this important youth work.

We regularly enjoy activities outside normal meeting nights.  These have included caving, climbing, five-aside football, cricket, bowling, walking amongst others.  We try to involve ourselves as much as possible in church, community and fund-raising activities.  For instance, funds were raised to support a national BB initiative to provide motor cycles to enable priests to travel across their large parishes in Kenya. We aim to have lots of fun while sharing the good news of Jesus with boys, some of whom may otherwise have no other connection with the church.
 
None of this would be possible without the support and encouragement of Deddington church, for which we are continually grateful.
 
Finally, as a result of equality legislation the Oxfordshire Battalion is encouraging the admittance of girl members – the adventure begins here.

 
          Chris Mitchell
          Captain

Children's Activities

 
An average of 40 children attended each session of  the Holiday Activities during this last year.  This Easter was the ninth anniversary of our first gathering at Easter 2002.  Children who attended in the early years are now coming to help us as teenagers, which is a pleasure; we are very glad that Elsa Williams is now joining us.  The Planning Team of Sally Lambert, Diana Marshall, Delphine Sampson, Janet Watts and me are the driving force behind these Activities.        

Jane Green

Ride and Stride

The Ride and Stride event last September was a great success.  We raised £1,267 which was the second highest amount in the Deddington Deanery.  Half of the money came to our church while the other half was retained by the Oxford Historic Churches Trust for their maintenance fund.  11 groups in families, pairs or singles took part, striding or riding bikes, and, in one case, on horseback.  We hope at least to match this result in 2010.                    

Jane Green

Deddington Fair Traders

 
In spite of recession and the well publicised tightening of belts, the fairtrade sector of the retail market continued to expand its market share in 2009. This is good news for those who try to survive in spite of being at the bottom of the economic heap in the world, for one of the principles driving fairtrade is that it includes robust mechanisms such as an undertaking to continue sourcing products at a fair price regardless of fluctuations in world markets.
 
Locally we held our own in terms of turnover, which at £7,727 was only marginally less than in 2009. However, working within a small differential between the price paid for supplies and the price charged to customers we were able to increase our contribution both to PCC funds and to Traidcraft Exchange, the charity of our suppliers, Traidcraft plc. These donations represent approximately 11% of turnover.
 
Traidcraft Exchange is devoted to helping small producers and craftspeople to develop their production methods, design of crafts and marketing so that their businesses are sustainable and can expand in order to give jobs and a living wage to a larger number of people. This in turn brings greater financial security to local communities and enables workers to afford, for instance, the cost of children’s schooling or better facilities for the community.
 
As always, our thanks go to all who have supported fairtrade in Deddington by buying from the monthly stall during each Farmers’ Market, shopping from the Traidcraft catalogue, helping on the stall and at events as well as doing the less obvious tasks such as transporting stock from home to market, setting out and clearing up the stall and giving encouragement. It is always good to welcome new helpers.
 
For further information, to order goods, discuss issues of fairtrade or offer help, please contact Viviane Hall (338225) or Hugh Marshall (337761)