Community
Read about: Coffee Cake and Chat, Fair Trade, Parish Walks, Pensioners' activities, Outings and Social Events
On the first Saturday morning of every month the church is open from 10 a.m.
till noon for people to come in and pass the time of day. A time to relax after
(or before!) the weekly shop, and reward oneself with a bite and a cuppa..
Among our specialities are excellent lemon drizzle cake, luscious chocolate
cream cake, flapjack, rich fruit cake and many more, all waiting for someone to
come in and eat them.
St. Michael’s is a Fair Trade church. We are pledged to support the Fairtrade
Diocese initiative by aiming to do the following:
- Serve only Fairtrade tea and coffee whenever providing refreshments,
- Endeavour to use other fairly-traded items wherever possible
- Promote the use of fairly-traded items amongst our congregation
- Support the principles of trade justice
- Try to use locally-produce goods whenever possible.
- We also try to be constantly aware of our “carbon footprint” and do all we
can to cherish and care for this beautiful world God has given us to live in.
St Michaels is set at the foot of the South Downs and with in easy range of
some beautiful countryside. Every alternate Thursday evening during the summer
months there is the opportunity to get together with other members of the church
and enjoy some of the wonderful scenery and walking trails around Eastbourne.
These walks tend to last about 2 hours, and vary from the very easy and flat to
more challenging and hilly outings. During the past summer we have had walks
through Friston Forest, up to the Long Man, and round Waldron (a very popular
walk which ends in a visit to the excellent pub there).
Gentler strolls are also organised in the afternoons for those who wish for
something less strenuous.
Once a month, after the Thursday morning Eucharist, the pensioners all go out
on the town for lunch, travelling in style in the St. Michael’s minibus.
And for three days in August they have a holiday club, which provides
daytrips, and lunch at reasonable prices, at a number of popular locations.
Recent trips have been on the Bluebell Railway, tours of Eastbourne and
visits to Rye. Previous years have seen visits to Lancing Chapel, Bexhill,
Sheffield Park, Selsey and Charleston Farmhouse.
Over the past couple of years there have been outings to: The Bluebell Woods
(with picnic lunch) Chichester Cathedral Flower Festival, Wintershall open air
theatre, The Congress Theatre, the Christmas Panto, and a camping weekend.
Away-weekends are also organised for the younger members of the church.
A couple of years ago there was a Pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Every year a
contingent from St. Michael's spend a week at the "New Wine" festival in Shepton
Mallet. For the last two years, we have held a Michaelmas Festival, to
celebrate our patron saint, inviting the local community to a free fun day. Our
local schools have been involved and we have been encouraged by the good attendance
and participation.
|
