Facing our greatest fear – losing control of our own lives
Almost two in every three 40 to 60-year-olds are worried about developing dementia in later life, according to a new You Gov poll.
Conducted for national charity the Pilgrims’ Friend Society, exhibitors at CRE Midlands, the survey showed it hits people’s greatest fear – losing control of their lives.
But Louise Morse, a cognitive behavioural therapist, and author of several books on dementia and old age, claims that people in the age group subject of the poll, have more control than previous generations over their wellbeing in old age, including their vulnerability to dementia.
‘Healthier lifestyles have led to a 20 per cent drop over the past three decades in the number of new cases of dementia in western countries,’ said Louise, who has worked with the society since 2000. ‘If this trend continues, by 2040 there will be 15 million fewer people living with dementia in these high-income areas.’
She points out that a wealth of studies reveal our mental health in the middle years also has a strong bearing. In a study of 1.7 million New Zealand citizens over three decades, individuals with a mental-disorder diagnosis were found to be more than four times as likely to develop all types of dementia than those without. Other studies show that women with chronic stress in middle age have an increased risk of dementia when they are older. Coincidentally, it’s in those years that many find themselves caring for a loved one with dementia with all the stress and grief that involves.
‘Most of all, our future is shaped by our expectations,’ said Louise, who will speak of the broad outlines of a mid-life MOT at CRE Midlands (3.30pm, 8Nov, Talks Area 1). ‘Those aged between 40 and 60 years should take stock of their physical and mental habits.’
Pilgrims’ Friend Society provides residents care homes and independent living housing schemes in many parts of England.
• Pilgrims’ Friend Society are on stand A37 at CRE Midlands
Book your ticket for CRE Midlands 2023 here from as little as £3
Organisations looking to book a stand should contact James Batterbee 0161 250 2306 (E: james@creonline.co.uk) or Carol Malpass 0161 250 2467 (E: carol@creonline.co.uk)
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Menu for change at ‘curry house’ church
Jeremy Bell’s first visit to Christ Church, Fulwood (pictured) proved confusing.
An architect and director of JBKS Architects, he was in Sheffield to talk about possible changes to the buildings.
‘I parked at a gap in the wall, thinking there would be a handy footpath,’ he recalls. ‘Instead, I had to fight my way between huge sandstone graves covered in brambles. The whole entrance sequence was very confusing and it would not have been much better had I entered the proper way.’
Jeremy’s visit was after Fiona Lockwood, the church’s premises manager, had chatted to him at the JBKS offices in Oxfordshire. She wanted to know what could be done to improve the facilities of a thriving Anglican church with nearly 1,000 people coming through the doors on a Sunday.
‘The church members wanted to restore the building, build a link to the hall (about 50 metres away), create disabled access and improve facilities in the hall,’ he recalls. ‘They also wanted to flatten some densely-packed graves between the church and hall to make an open space for people to gather. Architecturally, the church was a disjointed agglomeration of different parts built at different times, by two different people, without an overall coordinated unity. The east end had large, pointed arches rising out of the floor – shapes more at home on the street front of a curry house. They screened the chancel, which was designed to be a high church, liturgical space.’
Before work could take place, the 20th Century Society, which campaigns for the preservation of architectural heritage, called on a consistory court to preserve the building as it was. Fortunately, the court permitted limited change.
The east end is now a raised dais on which the speaker is able to walk about. Under-floor heating was installed and new lighting which, along with warm creamy-white paintwork gives a homely feel. There is a kitchen and new toilets.
‘We are delighted to think the church is now for today and can be used all week for meetings, conferences, activities and just about anything to support the mission of the church,’ said Jeremy.
Flattening of the graves was difficult but created a spacious welcoming courtyard. The hall has a disabled lift and new kitchen servers providing generous hospitality.
‘The journey, which began ten years ago when Fiona visited our office for the first time, has almost reached its destination,’ concludes Jeremy.
Alan Butler, chair of the church’s building for the future committee said: ‘JBKS have worked thoughtfully and sensitively with Christ Church to enable the development of our buildings for the next generation. The three driving principles of ‘Welcome, Accessibility and Flexibility’ have shaped the plans and designs, resulting in completed facilities which have delivered those well, to enable the Church’s future ministry.’
• JBKS will be on stand G7 at CRE Midlands
Book your ticket for CRE Midlands 2023 here from as little as £3
Organisations looking to book a stand should contact James Batterbee 0161 250 2306 (E: james@creonline.co.uk) or Carol Malpass 0161 250 2467 (E: carol@creonline.co.uk)
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How green was my vestry
Free saplings will be available at CRE Midlands to publicise a green church heating initiative.
ChurchEcoMiser has no boiler, is compatible with solar panels, silent in operation, virtually maintenance free and (most importantly) warms the fabric and congregation.
Chris Dunphy, pictured with comedian Tim Vine at the opening of CRE National 2022, launched the system two years ago as an all-electric carbon neutral system. He will give away another 200 trees as an indication of the company’s determination to help green the planet. The saplings will be about 150-200mm in a hessian bag of soil.
‘The saplings will be given to people who visit our stand for information,’ he said. ‘It’s the third time we have given them away and the feedback to date has been excellent. The choice this year will be Apple or Cherry. Our commitment to working towards a greener future is to plant 500 square metres of woodland for every church heating system installed. We will be doing this through the National Trust and each church will be issued with a certificate and proof of purchase.’
Chris, a long-standing exhibitor at CRE, has almost 50 years’ experience in church heating. He developed ChurchEcoMiser in 2016 as the ideal system for remote country churches where gas was either unavailable or too expensive to install – ‘but it proved a popular option with all churches.’
Over the years, he has designed and installed more than 1,000 heating systems in church buildings and was the heating adviser to the Diocese of Sheffield for 10 years. Many of the churches he has worked on are Victorian or medieval where protecting the fabric of the building is as important as heating the congregation.
‘It has always been a challenging but rewarding task,’ he said.
• ChurchEcoMiser are on stand D1 at CRE Midlands 23
Photo: Comedian Tim Vine (left) with Chris Dunphy of ChurchEcoMiser
Book your ticket for CRE Midlands 2023 here from as little as £3
Organisations looking to book a stand should contact James Batterbee 0161 250 2306 (E: james@creonline.co.uk) or Carol Malpass 0161 250 2467 (E: carol@creonline.co.uk)
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BIG Sing choir set to raise the roof with Rick
The BIG Sing choir will join rock star Rick Wakeman to open CRE Midlands 2023 (10am, Wed 8 Nov, Cranmore Park, Solihull).
Some members of the choir will also talk about their work in local communities and encourage visitors to join them.
BIG Sing was started 12 years ago by Gemma and Howard Francis to get people singing – whether they had a good voice or not – to help them make new friends and entertain others. In fact, there are now BIG Sing groups in many parts of the country with more than 500 members. All ages and all types of music are covered, from gospel to pop.
The project not only gives adults a chance to get together but through its charity, The BIG Sing SOUL, also offers TINY Sing music sessions to babies and tots whilst their parents socialise over a cuppa!
In different formats the choir has appeared with big names like Mica Paris, Ellie Goulding, Leah McFall (from BBC TV’s The Voice) Blake and the London Community Gospel Choir, for whom Gemma and Howard were once members. They have sung for Jamie Oliver, toured with Leona Lewis and were winners of the BBC Songs of Praise Gospel Choir of the Year in 2017.
A charity arm – The BIG Sing SOUL (Sing, Outreach, Unity and Love) – was formed six years ago and has already raised more than £200k for charities.
‘Uniting communities with uplifting and motivating music, inspired by gospel music and teaching, The BIG Sing is more than just a choir. We are a family,’ explained Gemma. ‘Many members have found the choir has helped them through loneliness, depression, grief and illness. It has given them two hours a week to find themselves again.’
She invites anyone interested to come and hear them at CRE Midlands 2023 – ‘so you can sing along and leave happy and uplifted!’
See their performance on Britain’s Got Talent here.
Rick Wakeman will be interviewed by Peter Wooding, son of Dan Wooding, a Christian journalist, author and close friend of Wakeman’s from the late 1960s until his death in March 2020. Wooding wrote a biography of his friend in the 1970s under the title Rick Wakeman: The Caped Crusader.
‘I have many stories about the great man,’ said Wakeman, ‘and some of them I can tell, too! I look forward to playing “Gone, But Not Forgotten” at CRE Midlands – in memory of my dear friend.’
• The BIG Sing will be on stand DS34 at CRE Midlands 2023
Book your ticket for CRE Midlands 2023 here from as little as £3
Organisations looking to book a stand should contact James Batterbee 0161 250 2306 (E: james@creonline.co.uk) or Carol Malpass 0161 250 2467 (E: carol@creonline.co.uk)
Click to view the latest floorplan and price list for available stands
The bauble that ticks all the boxes
‘We will whole-heartedly continue to support our Bethlehem families during these dark days.’
So declared Ros Pollock (pictured), founder of Bethlehem Baubles, exhibitors at CRE Midlands 23.
‘They need our help now more than ever and we will remain non-political and non-sectarian in our endeavours,’ she said.
Bethlehem Baubles is a social enterprise working with Muslim, Christian and Jewish communities to produce unique handmade Christmas decorations crafted by the people who live where the story of Christmas began. They are beautiful glass decorations (roughly 5cm in diameter) that arrive on a bed of recycled shredded paper in their own presentation box along with a certificate of origin, dated ribbon and a new gift card and envelope for you to write a personalise message on for your loved ones.
With a different design for the collection each year, Bethlehem Baubles are an ideal annual Christmas gift.
‘They are great for stocking fillers, God children – and that tricky relative who you never know what to get!’ says Ros. Reasonably priced at £18, they are 100 per cent plastic free using only recyclable materials – from production right through to shipment.
Ros started the business when living in Jerusalem. She was saddened by the lack of opportunities available to many local communities, particularly those in Hebron and Bethlehem.
‘They really struggle to make a living so the idea of making Christmas decorations seemed an obvious and simple way of starting a business,’ she explains. ‘It connects people in the UK with struggling communities in Palestine which desperately need regular income. It has the added bonus of tapping into an ancient glassblowing tradition in Hebron – using recycled glass from old Palestinian bottles and windowpanes. It ticks all the boxes!’
• Bethlehem Baubles are on stand A19 at CRE Midlands 23
Book your ticket for CRE Midlands 2023 here from as little as £3
Organisations looking to book a stand should contact James Batterbee 0161 250 2306 (E: james@creonline.co.uk) or Carol Malpass 0161 250 2467 (E: carol@creonline.co.uk)
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A novel insight into Genesis
What was it like in the Garden of Eden, in a perfect world where nothing went wrong?
That was one of a number of questions which intrigued Sylvia Penny – so much so that she decided to write a novel with Genesis as a theme.
Eve and the Angel of Light is the result, published this month by the Open Bible Trust.
‘I have always been interested in Genesis and how it was in the beginning of the world,’ she said. ‘What was it like to walk and talk with God as Adam and Eve did? And what if you did not understand what “wrong” meant? I wanted to write a book like this for many years but the pandemic gave me more time to think about it. It is the story of Adam and Eve in the beginning: the story of life and death, good and evil, suffering and redemption.
‘It tells of where we all came from, and why it all went wrong. Ultimately it is about our future hope and destiny.’
Eve and the Angel of Light is Sylvia’s first novel, although she has previously written many theological books and booklets. A biblical scholar and theologian, she wants the book to give Christians a broader understanding of the faith and answer some of their questions, but also hopes it may be accessible to young people and ‘an introduction to how everything started.’
At 67, she brings a wealth of experience and theological knowledge to bear on a particularly difficult part of the Bible.
Husband Michael, the trust’s administrator, said: ‘Our trustees decided that this novel would introduce a different audience to scripture, in particular Genesis and the start of the faith.’
• The Open Bible Trust is on stand D35 at CRE Midlands 23
Book your ticket for CRE Midlands 2023 here from as little as £3
Organisations looking to book a stand should contact James Batterbee 0161 250 2306 (E: james@creonline.co.uk) or Carol Malpass 0161 250 2467 (E: carol@creonline.co.uk)
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Barbie inspires ‘meaningful’ advent calendar
Barbie has been a big summer hit – but few realise she was the inspiration behind the UK’s top-selling Christian Fairtrade advent calendar.
‘Back in 2011, I saw a Barbie Advent calendar on sale in a supermarket,’ said David Marshall, founder of the Meaningful Chocolate Company. ‘Three things struck me. How could it only cost 99p? What had she got to do with Christmas? What would you think Christmas was about if all you got was a Barbie calendar every year?’
David also saw surveys showing that 36 per cent of 5 to 7-year-olds did not know whose birthday was celebrated on December 25th and that 51 per cent of adults said the birth of Jesus was irrelevant to their Christmas.
‘We worked with clergy, churches and children’s advisers and that’s how the Real Advent Calendar came to be created,’ he said.
To help share the Christmas story the Real Advent Calendar has a line about the nativity behind each of the 25 doors and a corresponding page in the Christmas story-activity book – included with every calendar. The book expands the story along with Advent challenges and a £300 competition.
More than one million calendars have been sold over the years with three million people experiencing the Christmas story as a result.
The calendars cost £4.50 each and come in cases of 18 (with free delivery). Supermarkets and Traidcraft are not stocking the calendar this year but, while stocks last, it will be available at the KCLCT bookshop at CRE Midlands 23 or online.
• The KCLCT bookshop is on stand P73 at CRE Midlands 23
Book your ticket for CRE Midlands 2023 here from as little as £3
Organisations looking to book a stand should contact James Batterbee 0161 250 2306 (E: james@creonline.co.uk) or Carol Malpass 0161 250 2467 (E: carol@creonline.co.uk)
Click to view the latest floorplan and price list for available stands
Your coffee gives them a future
Coffee-loving churches have helped one long-standing CRE exhibitor raise £100,000 for charity over the past 10 years.
‘We are delighted that, through sales of our products, we have been able to support Toybox, an amazing charity that works with street children in Guatemala City,’ said Kingdom Coffee’s Darren Rayner (pictured).
In just 12 months, Toybox has helped:
- 100 street children and young people a month, providing night-time support and distributing food, drinks and basic medical care
- More than 100 street children, actively involving them in life-skills workshops, recreational activities and child rights workshops, where they also received food and drink
- 63 street children access therapeutic and psycho-social support
- 38 street children access health care
- Supported 95 young people in street situations to gain work skill
- Supported the education of 343 street children and young people
‘The good work doesn’t stop here though,’ said Darren. ‘We are continuing to support Toybox and look forward to doing so for the foreseeable future.’
Visitors to CRE Midlands 23 will find a Fairtrade Coffee ‘that tastes as great as the work it enables.’
• Kingdom Coffee are on stand P1 at CRE Midlands 23
Book your ticket for CRE Midlands 2023 here from as little as £3
Organisations looking to book a stand should contact James Batterbee 0161 250 2306 (E: james@creonline.co.uk) or Carol Malpass 0161 250 2467 (E: carol@creonline.co.uk)
Click to view the latest floorplan and price list for available stands
Cover the risk, see the reward
Faith-based organisations can find solutions to many key problems with the help of a specialist insurance company.
That’s the view of Simeon Chapman, group director at chartered insurance brokers Hazelton Mountford, based in Worcester city centre with an office in Evesham.
‘In the ever-changing landscape of risk and insurance, we can combine elements of faith, community and resilience,’ explains Simeon.
With so much currently depending on risk assessments, and the fear of action against them if things go wrong, churches can easily give up and do very little. Simeon’s recipe for a community hub, however, involves churches adopting a commendable approach to risk management, diligently identifying, evaluating and controlling risks associated with their ambitious endeavours.
Over the past few years his company, celebrating 15 years in the industry, has found that financial prudence can be a hallmark of a faith community.
‘With transparent financial management practices and responsible allocation of funds, the recipe can form the base of a community hub that provides enough revenue to employ a number of workers,’ he maintains.
Within this vision, a hub can offer a wide range of activities, from live-streamed services to active youth work, as well as providing vital support programmes for the local community. All that, plus events for the church congregation throughout the year, such as picnics, BBQs, occasional wedding and funeral/memorial services. Small groups of singers and musicians, based at the hub, could go into the neighbourhood and undertake evangelistic activities.
‘Even in the face of challenges, communities can collectively identify, evaluate, control and transfer risks while making a profound impact, with insurance part of the protection and solution,’ continues Simeon. ‘In the midst of life’s uncertainties, faith and community can be our greatest assets in navigating the challenges that come our way.’
• Hazelton Mountford are on stand E31 at CRE Midlands 23
Book your ticket for CRE Midlands 2023 here from as little as £3
Organisations looking to book a stand should contact James Batterbee 0161 250 2306 (E: james@creonline.co.uk) or Carol Malpass 0161 250 2467 (E: carol@creonline.co.uk)
Click to view the latest floorplan and price list for available stands
Why Birmingham youth are ‘open to claims of Jesus’
For 13 years an interdenominational event in the city has been run successfully by Birmingham City Mission’s youth team – and you can find out about it at CRE Midlands next month.
Called Fulfil, it is for both churched and unchurched young people and creates an important connection point of faith and fellowship. The initiative is particularly important with Birmingham classed as Europe’s youngest major city – under-25s being nearly 40 per cent of the population and facing huge pressures.
As Steve Botham of Time4Brum puts it: ‘We have more than 400 schools, four universities, a “super diverse” population and all the excitement, innovation and energy associated with youth.’
Yet the pressures affecting children and young people are evident. The world of digital devices, social media, the ongoing effects of the Covid years, exam pressures, political agendas and gender confusion all impact young people’s mental health and wellbeing. For many inner-city young people there is the daily reality of knife crime, addiction, economic deprivation, lack of opportunity, racial injustice and disenfranchisement.
But, through Fulfil, Birmingham City Mission (BCM), formed in 1966, is still playing a key role in bringing young people back to God.
John Platt, BCM youth team co-ordinator, said: ‘We have detected a growing interest in spiritual things among young people. This has been the experience at our after-school clubs, with young people asking deep spiritual questions. Perhaps a growing disillusion with materialism, failings in authority and the hopelessness of atheism mean that many young people are open to the claims of Jesus. To them the distinctiveness of Christ stands out.’
He points out that youth leaders are seeing a growing number of young people across the city with a deepening passion for Jesus. Prayer movements are being formed, led by young people. Younger generations are using their gifts in churches and young migrants are playing a key role in revitalising the Church. Fulfil is a vital part of the programme but, as with all BCM projects, could not function without volunteers.
‘We are so grateful to people who give up their time to provide the staffing and skills needed,’ he said.
Heather is a volunteer at youth camp. ‘I enjoy my role with the youth team,’ she said, ‘because it allows me to see the joy on a young person’s face, not only when they get to hear the good news of the Lord but also the joy of trying new things. It encourages me in my faith.’
• BCM will be on stand E15 at CRE Midlands 23
Book your ticket for CRE Midlands 2023 here from as little as £3
Organisations looking to book a stand should contact James Batterbee 0161 250 2306 (E: james@creonline.co.uk) or Carol Malpass 0161 250 2467 (E: carol@creonline.co.uk)
Click to view the latest floorplan and price list for available stands