Heathfield Benefice

The Church of England in Your Community

Mothers' Union News and Projects 2021

2021 - A Year of Celebration for the Mothers’ Union



Image of Mary Sumner founder of the Mothers' Union 


Image of Mary Sumner

 

As a movement, started and sustained by the strength of Mary Sumner’s vision of women supporting one another, the Mothers’ Union continues to thrive after 145 years and, later this summer, we mark 100 years since Mary’s death, making remembering her remarkable, inspiring life all the more poignant. Mary led a true breakthrough for women who in her. time were seen as playing mainly supporting roles in the Church, in work and in society. She was very influential in making sure women’s voices were heard and their rights and needs recognised. 




 

At St Richard’s on 16th June we also celebrated being able to meet together as a group again following the easing of covid restrictions. We had been fortunate enough to support each other through lockdown by meeting on zoom and we stayed in touch by email or phone with those members who were unable to join us on zoom. 




 

Following the meeting, Heather Bruce said ‘How lovely it was to see everyone in the flesh again. It was a memorable day, as after attending the morning Eucharist, we adjourned to the church garden, removed our masks and shared a socially distanced coffee with scrumptious biscuits. Alongside a wide circle of chairs and picnic rugs, umbrellas had been brought 'just in case' however these were to prove more useful as parasols! What a joy it was to be able to chat properly instead of scurrying off - simple pleasures that I hope we will never take for granted again. We discussed the food we would provide for the Families@4 Picnic which Revds Mitch and Torhild the in the Garden at the back of the Church and we decided on the contents of the ‘Welcome back gift bags’ which St Richard’s MU will provide for both the Families@4 picnic and the Toddler group children. Hopefully, we will gradually get back to more challenging meeting content but this was a great start as we emerge from enforced lockdown, build confidence and see peoples’ smiles again!!’   



 

Cori English gave members a small gift she had made – an ‘Angel of Hope’ with a message that read ‘I just wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone at St Richard’s Mothers’ Union. I feel so fortunate to be part of such a supportive and caring group of friends. I thought this little Angel of Hope for brighter times ahead may make you smile!



 

 Angel of Hope







'Chichester Diocese Mothers' Union celebrating 130 years




At our last St Richard’s Mothers’ Union meeting we discussed how we might celebrate 130 years since the Mothers’ Union started in the Diocese of Chichester. With the current Covid restrictions, planning a celebration party or a general fund raising event wouldn’t be easy so we agreed that each member would decide on their own sponsored activity as their MU Challenge to raise money for local, diocesan and national funds. 

 

Some of the ideas we came up with are:





walk/run 130 times round the block or the church



stay quiet for 130 minutes!

make 130 biscuits and sell them to family/friends 

Joan asked if we could turn out our dressing tables for unwanted, inexpensive jewellery, her target being to sell 130.



 

If anyone would like to sponsor any of our members please contact them directly or contact Heather Bruce on 01435 864198.

 

I am sure that Mary Sumner, founder of the Mothers’ Union, would never have imagined that her first meeting of a small group of mothers would grow into a world wide organisation with such influence. 



 

The MU is a Christian movement represented in 84 countries and offers Christian care to families irrespective of their background. Globally the MU is helping to stop gender based violence, assisting in ending poverty by helping women to start small businesses to enable them to support their families and in many countries the MU has a strong influence over governments with regard to women’s and children’s lives.



 

Here in Heathfield the local MU is as active as ever getting involved with raising funds for our Baptism gifts and the Away From It All Holiday Caravans. We have made new altar cloths for the children’s services at All Saints and St Richard’s School, we provide tea and help with activities for Families@4 which will be starting again this September and of course enjoying our monthly meetings in addition to days out together (but I hasten to add not during the current Covid pandemic) to mention but a few of our activities.



 

If you would like to join us or come along to a meeting please contact Heather Bruce.



 

Nora Millward 

Communications Officer St Richard’s MU



 


 


 

Mothers' Union 'Away From It All' Caravan Holidays




Picture of one of the Away from it All Caravans 


 

‘Away From It All’ is a Mothers’ Union holiday scheme giving the opportunity of a holiday to families who are experiencing stress or difficulties in their family life. They are able to spend quality time together away from their situation at home, engage in activities together, have fun as a family and rebuild their relationships. On average, the Mothers’ Union nationally help 2,500 people to have a holiday each year.



 

The Chichester Diocese Mothers' Union own two caravans offering ‘Away From It All’ holidays, one sited at Winchelsea Beach and the other at Selsey. This is a project solely funded by our MU members in the Chichester Diocese. As well as site fees, Covid compliance and ongoing maintenance for the current year, our branches are having to fundraise for a serious refurbishment of the Winchelsea caravan and a replacement caravan in Selsey in the near future. 



 

We need to raise approximately £60,000 to ensure we can continue to provide holidays to the benefit of Sussex families who are going through difficult times. If you would like to support the Chichester Diocese Mothers’ Union and help us to raise funds for the caravans you can make a donation. For details of how to do this please contact Heather Bruce, St Richard’s MU in the first instance on 01435 864198 or email her: heatherbruce246@btinternet.com  All donations will be gratefully accepted. 



 

These holidays are much appreciated by families and it makes us realise how worthwhile the project is when a young boy, full of excitement clutching bucket and spade, exclaimed ‘It was the first time I had seen the sea!’

                                                         

The scheme is open to any families who are struggling. You do not have to be a member of a church, the MU or any organisation but basic information will be requested about the reasons you need the break. The MU will help to fund the cost of the holiday and travel expenses where appropriate. 

 

For further details of the holidays please visit: www.mothersunion.org or www.chichestermu.org or contact Heather Bruce.




 


 



 


How did our MU branch keep in touch, and stay true to our aims and objectives, during 'Covid lockdown' in 2020? 



We met regularly by Zoom  - weekly during first lockdown and now fortnightly. 

Our vicar and curate joined us on occasions and meetings widely circulated in benefice weekly newsletter.

 

Prayer shawls were knitted by members and blessed at open services – 6 were distributed during the year:



1 at the ordination service given to our Curate, Reverend Torhild



3 requested by Reverend Mitch to give to grieving families

1 to a congregational member



1 to an MU member

 

 

‘Thank you, it gave me such comfort and warmth at a very sad time for me’  

 

Members fundraised amongst themselves and we purchased bucket & spade packs and had them delivered to the organisers of our AFIA caravan holidays. This was to enable families to take their bucket & spade pack home thus respecting Covid guidelines.

 

Our branch contact was a drop off point for the FSW food bank collection for Heathfield. No other MU branches were involved and this was well supported from the benefice congregation.  

 

We submitted an MU article in our Benefice community magazine – 9 free editions were published during 2020 with a print run of 1500. 

 

‘I saw your article in the magazine and would like to know more’ – this led to a new member joining our MU.

 

3 New Altar cloths, in seasonal colours, were made for the primary school assemblies at the request of our vicar. These had our MU logo ‘Gifted by the Mothers Union’ label sewn onto each one. 

 

3 Baptisms during the year –MU liaison member supported the family and presented a Baptism card and gift to the family on our behalf.

 

We continued to send Baptism anniversary cards, up to 5 years, throughout the year.

 

Families@4 service - usually held monthly but there were only 3 services during 2020.  MU Members help with the craft activities in addition to providing and serving teas in Church for the children. 

 

All our work is underpinned by prayer, uniting us with members across the world. 

Would  you like to know more or join us? 

Contact Heather – 864198

 

Article authored by 

Heather Bruce Branch Contact

 

 



 

Mental Well Being



St Richard’s Mothers’ Union are remaining active during lock down. We meet regularly via Zoom and February we invited Derek Nichols who gave us a very interesting talk about Mental Health.

 

He introduced his talk by giving us two definitions from the mental health charity MIND:  

 

People who are mentally well are able to look after themselves; see themselves as valuable people and judge themselves by reasonable standards rather than by unrealistic standards.  

 

To be mentally healthy you must first value and accept yourself. People who don’t can become frightened of rejection and often keep others at a distance to protect themselves. Unfortunately, they run the risk of being trapped in a ‘Circle of Loneliness’ and their mental health can suffer as a result.

 

He continued by quoting extracts from the Together in Sussex Team video.

 

Events in our lives can place us in situations where we struggle to cope and then we become trapped because we think we ought to keep it to ourselves especially in the current pandemic - Covid is challenging and nobody is escaping unscathed.

 

The more in tune we are to the signs of distress in the people around us, the more likely it is that we will spot them. If we listen to and acknowledge their issues there is every likelihood that they will begin to feel better simply because someone has taken the time to listen. 

 

We don’t always feel comfortable asking someone about their mental health but by asking how they are you may help them to break their ‘Circle of Loneliness’ and you could make a huge difference to how they feel and subsequently how they move forward.

 

We all have problems that are hard to face and from time to time we all struggle but this is not something to be afraid of. The person you are talking to may desperately want you to ask ‘How are you today?’

 

Early intervention is key to supporting recovery from poor mental health. So, by asking someone about how they are feeling you may be helping to speed up their recovery.

 

So look for the hand reaching out and listen – it might be all it takes to break their Circle and yours.

 

There are organisations who can help and there is further information on our Benefice website www.heathfieldbenefice.org.uk  and on the Together in Sussex website 'Looking After Your Mental Health'   www.togetherinsussex.org.uk where you will find a comprehensive range of mental health information and other areas of their work including those associated with the MU.

 

Nora Millward

MU Communications Officer