The Magazine of the Methodist Church in Ampthill, Flitwick, Clophill & Maulden

Ampthill Ladies Group

Members of the Ladies Group got into the Christmas Spirit early when just over 100 members and senior members of our congregation sat down to a meal on November 29th which was much appreciated by everyone. This was followed by entertainment ladies Barbershop singers from Milton Keynes called Junction 14. The quality of their singing was truly phenomenal, the way in which their voices blended and the variation in tone, having in mind barbershop is always unaccompanied, amazed us all. Everyone voted that this was the best entertainment ever! They sang songs with which we were all familiar and included the story of the first Christmas. They also caused much laughter with a new version of 'The twelve days of Christmas' which we shall long remember. Of course the best part of the party was the happy atmosphere which prevailed. A good start to Christmas.

This was followed two weeks later by our annual carol service in which the readers came from the various churches in Ampthill and the carols were sung with enthusiasm by us all. Our president, Marjorie Brown sang a solo - 'Born in the Night, Mary's Child' with great feeling and this made an outstanding contribution to the service. Two poems were included and appreciated. We then partook of tea and mince pies which added to the Christmas spirit.

2002 got off to a good start when Mr John Smith came to tell us of the history of barrel organs and brought four organs with him, one made in 1896 but all the others made by him personally, the youngest completed at 3.30p.m. On January 10th 2002 - the day of our meeting! He brought his wife with him and they were both attired in appropriate costumes which added to the atmosphere. His appreciation of music began when he was very young and brought up in the Salvation Army. John was born when the second world war started, money was extremely short as indeed were most things we now take for granted. He obviously has a wonderful talent for making barrel organs out of what most of us would consider rubbish, bits of cardboard, paper, lino etc. He purchases the barrels, real name cob, and fits them into lovely looking organs with bellows, pipes made of paper and all the other paraphernalia required, and ends up with a lovely sounding musical instrument. The first tunes he played came from his Salvation Army days and included the hymns 'What a friend we have in Jesus' and 'Stand up, stand up for Jesus'. We also heard tunes written by Mozart for small organs and tunes from 'Mary Poppins' which included 'A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down'.

It really was a fascinating evening and once again something completely different. What a wealth of talent there is in our area of which most of us know nothing. It was a very pleasant surprise for everyone.

By the time you read this we shall have heard about the work of a doctor in a submarine. This will be followed on 7th February when our own minister, Rev Gaynor Hall will be speaking to us, then on 21st February Pamela Stevenson is coming to tell us about her journey to the Antarctic Peninsula and South Georgia. On 7th March we shall be hearing of the experience of running a village pub and on 21st March we shall learn something of the history of puppetry.

All ladies welcome

Margaret Aldridge

Flitwick Women's Pleasant Hour

We commence our meetings on 6th February at 2.45 p.m. We invite any lady who is available to join us. We have various speakers and always end with a cup of tea, biscuit and chat.

Speakers for February & March are as follows:-

F. M. Childs

Secretary

The Magazine of the Methodist Church
in Ampthill, Flitwick, Clophill & Maulden

Pages compiled by Peter Fletcher

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