action - playaway 

The Mum's & Toddler Group 'Playaway' started in 1977 and has, and still remains,  a very successful group, bringing many new people into the church.  

Our Team T-shirt

Playaway is the name of the toddler group held in the church on Monday  mornings from 9.30-11.30am . We welcome children from birth to four years and their parent, grandparent or any other adult taking responsibility for them! Adults with pre-school children can come in “off the street” in response to the signboard on the pavement and many new-comers to the village have made friends through Playaway.

The programme for the morning includes a free play time, with a craft activity and refreshments available, a bible story and singing.  

The team

The team is made up of church members, regular attenders, people associated with PBC through Alpha, friends and members of other local churches. Some people help every week, others fortnightly on a rota, and others come when they can. All help is appreciated but the number of helpers continues to be less than ideal to enable us to put into action the plans and ideas we have to make Playaway even better. We are encouraged that the start of the new school term in September has seen new Mums and their children start attending, replacing those who no longer come because their children have now gone to school, and also by the positive feedback and appreciative remarks we receive from many of the Mums (and others) who regularly attend.

What’s happened this year?

	Snacks. The Traidcraft cereal bars, the fresh fruit and breadsticks for the children have been a great hit with them all.
	Leaving gifts. In July we presented children starting school the following September with a book of Bible stories and prayed for them, during song time. Those helpers who left during the year were presented with a small gift by way of appreciation for all their hard work.
	Harvest. We were able to give a gift of £500 to BMS for the work of the PEPE’S in Ecuador and earlier in the year gave gifts of £150 for the pre-school work undertaken by Debbie Erskine in the Gambia (Lyn & Margaret were able to take the gift with them personally when they visited in February) and by the Christine’s in Sao Paulo, Brazil        (see MIST)

Prayer points

	Adults and children will learn about God’s love for them through Playaway (the message on the back of our T shirts reads “God loves you and me”)
	And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ. Pray that we may be wise in the way we act toward outsiders, making the most of every opportunity (Colossians 4:3,5)
	For team members and their families
	Pray for more helpers on a regular basis and a leader for Mondays as Bill won’t be able to continue to take time off from his work beyond 2005

Denise Clark and Bill Norman