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Laura’s lessons for traumatised teens

Laura Newall’s course on self-esteem in girls and boys was hot off the press when she opened for business in February – but this brand-new resource touched a nerve-end with visitors at CRE South West.

Exeter-based Laura (pictured far left), was ‘absolutely bowled over by the large number of connections I made at the exhibition and the encouragement I got from so many people.’

In 2014 she went out to Uganda to teach girls and women how to recognise their abilities and self-worth. A life-changing experience, it inspired her to do something similar in the UK.

‘I had been trained as a primary school teacher and my dissertation was on self-esteem in children, so there was already something to go on,’ she explained. Her course for girls and women went down well so she produced a similar course for boys – ‘I have two sons and a daughter – all now grown-up – and knew the problems both faced.’

The new initiative, though well received by a number of schools, churches and other groups, was halted because of Covid-19.

‘It is a face-to-face course which needs a personal link,’ said Laura. ‘Now we are back to nearly normal, things are beginning to take off. Teenagers’ mental health has taken a nose-dive in the pandemic, so it is more important than ever.’

The Inspire Project aims to empower, encourage and equip people to become everything they were created to be by helping them discover the truth about their value and identity as well as God’s purpose for their lives.

‘It is for any person, regardless of whether they have a Christian faith,’ she said. ‘The courses can be used to encourage and equip those already in the church or as an evangelistic tool to reach out to those who are not.’

The courses are primarily targeted towards young people between the ages of 14-18. However, by adapting or changing certain activities, they can also suit children in primary school and people of any age.

Book your tickets to CRE National 2022 – and save up to £5

Photo: Laura Newall (left) at CRE South West

To the Sandown foyer, on a wing and a prayer

For the first time visitors to CRE National 2022 will be greeted by a full-sized Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) plane in the foyer.

‘At every exhibition people tell us mission is a key area they are looking to resource in their churches,’ said event director Brett Pitchfork. ‘We thought it was time to put it centre stage!’

In February, 15 organisations from the South West Agencies Network (SWAN) exhibited at CRE South West alongside MAF, under the title Mission on the Map.

‘Over two days in Exeter, a steady stream of visitors came through Mission on the Map,’ said Mike Frith of OSCAR (pictured far left), ‘giving rise to conversations about all aspects of mission, enquiries about serving and supporting and some fantastic networking opportunities.

‘It also enabled many of these organisations to connect/reconnect with their existing contacts/supporters in the south west. One mission organisation reported 55 connections over the two days, significantly more than most places where they exhibit.’

‘The success of the venture in Exeter has prompted us to run a similar zone at Sandown Park – this time in pride of place, above the steps in the entrance foyer!’ said Brett.

United Beach Missions, Church Mission Society, OSCAR and OMF are among the organisations already taking part in Mission on the Map at CRE National 2022. Other agencies considering taking a stand should contact the CRE sales team on 0161 240 4500.

Book your tickets to CRE National 2022 – and save up to £5

CRE South West: no other way to reach so many in just two days

As Covid-19 restrictions are lifted churches will have to learn a whole new way to present Sunday worship.

So said Simon Thomas, a former Blue Peter and Sky Sports presenter, at the opening of the Christian Resources Exhibition at Westpoint, Exeter (Feb 23-24).

‘When you are leading a service or preaching online it is difficult to decide whether to look at the congregation or the camera but unless you look at the camera those watching cannot feel fully involved,’ said Simon. ‘If you forget about your online audience very soon you will not have one.’

Helping churches develop broadcasting skills was one of the key themes of the exhibition with many visitors attending practical seminars on related subjects. Simon also talked about the death of his wife, Gemma, from acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) – four days after being admitted to hospital in 2017. Subsequently, he launched the Gemma Thomas Fund to raise awareness and money for research. He is now president of Blood Cancer UK.

‘I want to make sure that more people are made aware of the signs and symptoms of all blood cancers so we can improve early diagnosis and give people a fighting chance,’ he said.

Simon paid his first visit to CRE at Sandown Park as a 12-year-old, taken by his late father, a vicar.

‘The event has advanced so much,’ he said. ‘There is something here for every aspect of church life. It really is a must for Christians.’

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CRE South West attracted 1521 people (1257 visitors and 264 non-visitor attendees) – numbers which delighted the organisers after the impact of Covid-19.

‘Running an event in the face of a pandemic is a nerve-wracking experience so we are grateful to all our loyal exhibitors and visitors,’ said CRE owner Steve Goddard. ‘In fact, the atmosphere last week was as upbeat as we have ever known with a sense of release and purpose after two years behind closed doors.’

‘It was good to be back together again and exhibit our plane!’ said MAF’s Kevin Crook. ‘We were so encouraged to see a large number of people showing real interest in our work, many of whom had never even heard of us.’

Mike Frith of OSCAR said: ‘We had a steady stream of visitors through Mission on the Map and many great conversations.’

Tim Moyler of Agapé UK, said: ‘There is no other way we could have reached so many leaders and organisations in just two days. Many said our Living & Telling course was just what they were looking for. Our national director was amazed at how many unexpected and fruitful conversations she had.’

‘We were genuinely delighted with the reception we received,’ said David Saint of Action Planning. ‘Although it was inevitably quieter than the national exhibition, we had a large number of very positive conversations. I’m pretty sure we came away with more leads from two days in Exeter than three days in Esher – and we were pretty pleased then, too!’

‘CRE is always an excellent platform for meeting quality contacts,’ said Chris Dunphy of ChurchEcoMiser. ‘Although the past few years have been anything but “normal”, the team know how to attract the right people and this was one of the best exhibitions we have ever done.’

These positive comments were endorsed by visitors.

‘I just want to say a HUGE thank you to all. The event was very well set out and organised, the seminars engaging and informative,’ said Liz Moore, a life coach. ‘It was lovely to network with people I hadn’t seen for a long time – and new people, too. Well done, CRE!’

Rev David Coffey, of Upton Vale Baptist in Torquay, told BBC Radio Devon: ’It’s fascinating to see the number and range of exhibitors at CRE. It reminds you how churches of all denominations form a huge marketplace. Gone are the days churches can go it alone.’

Simon Preece, church warden at St Andrew’s, Kenn in Devon, said: ‘I was so excited and almost overwhelmed by it all with people so willing to exchange ideas.’

• CRE National 2022 will take place at Sandown Park, Esher, Surrey, 11-13 October. To book a stand click here. Visitor tickets will be available from May 2022.

Beating the path to a rural revival

The Church is the biggest grass-roots organisation in the country so healthy churches are an important sign of a healthy society.

So said the Bishop of Exeter, the Rt Rev Robert Atwell (pictured below), making his maiden speech in the House of Lords in November.

‘Village churches are at the heart of rural communities,’ he stressed. ‘We need to strive for open church doors and open virtual doors.’

Sarah Cracknell, project manager for the Church of England’s Grow the Rural Church initiative, will lead two seminars on the subject at CRE South West (12 noon, Wed 23 Feb and 3pm, Thu 24 Feb) – two of 40 scheduled during the exhibition’s two days.

‘The Covid-19 pandemic has meant many people are rediscovering the gift of “local” and finding imaginative solutions to the challenges confronting us,’ she said. ‘For the first time many are working from home and investing in their village. We are discovering new ways of doing church, worshipping together online and connecting with the fringe in a way our urban cousins have been yearning to do for years.’

Grow the Rural Church Project is an eight-year project that has been running in the Diocese of Exeter since 2017. Jointly funded by the Church Commissioners Strategic Development Unit, it was set up to support rural churches in finding sustainable uses for church buildings – and to enable exhausted and burdened church communities find capacity for mission.

‘The mid-point of our project funding coincided with the first lockdown and we had to find new ways of working,’ said Sarah. ‘We used the time to deeply evaluate the situation. This CRE seminar will share the main points that we learned from the first half of the project and how we have adapted to support our vulnerable rural churches.’

Visitors will discover more about the resources the project has produced, including Lightening the Load, a self-assessment toolkit for churches, and guidance and support for festival churches in Devon. Sarah will also share the story of the development of the missional project Devon Pilgrim – an initiative developed in partnership with some rural churches, offering a different way of collaborating and sharing resources. 

‘Devon Pilgrim has brought new energy into churches and established new relationships with people outside the church,’ she explained. ‘As well as increasing visitor footfall to the church buildings it gives an opportunity for people asking spiritual questions to look to the church for answers.’

• Grow the Rural Church are on stand C24 at CRE South West

Book your tickets to CRE South West! – and save up to £5

Seminar Guide – See the complete guide to seminars at CRE South West 2022

Your invitation – See an online version of the CRE South West 2022 brochure

Our next exhibitions

How green was my vestry

Free saplings will be available at CRE South West 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), who launched the system a year ago as an all-electric carbon neutral system, will give away 150 trees as an indication of his determination to help green the planet. The saplings will be about 150-200mm in a hessian bag of soil.

‘The trees will be given to people who visit our stand for information,’ he said. ‘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 47 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 he 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 P56 at CRE South West

Book your tickets to CRE South West! – and save up to £5

Seminar Guide – See the complete guide to seminars at CRE South West 2022

Your invitation – See an online version of the CRE South West 2022 brochure

Our next exhibitions

‘Busiest start ever’ for AV specialists

The south west is a happy hunting ground for one company that has just had the busiest January ever.

Audio Visual Direct install and repair projectors, screens, TVs, sound systems and streaming equipment.

A first-time exhibitor at CRE, the company, based in Weston-super-Mare, has been operating for many years but for the past five has turned its attention to churches and village halls, installing equipment in more than 400 throughout the region. 

‘This is growing by around two new church users a week,’ said Audio Visual Direct’s Mark Thyer. ‘With 10 installations already we’re having the busiest start ever to the year. We’re looking forward to introducing ourselves to CRE visitors and, where requested, booking a visit to churches requiring a free on-site survey. 

‘We’ll go through your existing equipment, update you on new technologies and see if there are any improvements to be made.’

Audio Visual Direct pride themselves on the quality of their work, have a five-star Google review score and try to keep everybody up to date with details of their work on Facebook.

• Audio Visual Direct are on stand B20 at CRE South West

Book your tickets to CRE South West! – and save up to £5

Seminar Guide – See the complete guide to seminars at CRE South West 2022

Your invitation – See an online version of the CRE South West 2022 brochure

Our next exhibitions

Revealed: the mischievous art of your local organist

The opening bars of ‘Praise my soul the king of heaven…’ may ring out at CRE South West later this month but there’s no guarantee the organist won’t slip into ‘High on a hill was a lonely goatherd…’

Professional musician Richard Copeland, formerly organist at St Andrew’s Church, Moretonhampstead, on the edge of Dartmoor, will demonstrate the attributes of four different instruments on the Viscount Organs Wales stand.He will also pay homage to hundreds of fellow organists who pull out all the stops on Sundays – many of them sending veiled messages to clergy and congregations!

‘I was playing at a wedding where the bride, in her late 60s, was marrying a lad 40 years her junior,’ recalled Copeland. ‘A member of the choir persuaded me to slide in a potted version of “Twenty-one today, twenty-one today, she’s got the key of the door…” to much sniggering in the pews.’

Organists behaving irreverently is a growing phenomenon. Leading Christian web magazine www.shipoffools.comrelates how one disenchanted organist in Glasgow played ‘Send in the Clowns’as the minister and choir processed in. Another played a heavily-disguised version of ‘Smoke Gets in Your Eyes’during censing at Saint John’s Church, Passaic, New Jersey. 

A slowed-down version of Abba’s ‘Money, Money, Money’is a popular choice during the offertory and one reader, Tony Potter, recalled hearing the Dambusterstheme during Remembrance Sunday! ‘If there was such a book as the Basil Fawlty Guide to Political Correctness, this would be the opening chapter,’ he said.

‘Whilst modern worship practices abound, the organ is still an intrinsic part of English church worship and no other instrument can stir the soul like it,’ said Copeland. ‘From the smallest organ with only a few stops, to a large three or four-manual option, it truly is the king of instruments, as Mozart described it. Nowadays, modern digital instruments have become more reliable and a serious option for many churches with an ailing or unreliable pipe organ.’

Many churches have reclaimed much-needed space for domestic essentials by opting for a digital organ. 

‘Whether it is being used solemnly or playfully, the organ is still the main instrument for many churches,’ said Viscount Organ’s Tony Packer. ‘State-of-the-art digital versions are becoming more affordable and we will introduce a range of options to CRE visitors.’

• Viscount Organs Wales are on stand D20 at CRE South West

Photo: Organist Richard Copeland.

Book your tickets to CRE South West! – and save up to £5

Seminar Guide – See the complete guide to seminars at CRE South West 2022

Your invitation – See an online version of the CRE South West 2022 brochure

Our next exhibitions

The Silley way to switch and save

With churches facing unprecedented increases in energy prices Andrew Silley promises to listen – and do something about it!

Andrew, a 63-year-old award-winning energy broker, will be at CRE South West Exeter, to help your church navigate through a complex marketplace at a difficult time. The price hike is hitting non-domestic supplies now, with some churches seeing price increases up to three times what they were paying for gas and electricity as they go into new contracts!  

‘In December 21, wholesale gas prices hit nearly ten times what they were in January 21!’ he said. ‘I can’t stop prices rising but I can provide different ways of helping to make the best of things.’

Andrew started his company 12 years ago, dealing with businesses, charities, conference centres, residential homes and churches. With a heart for God’s planet and the poor, his values of honesty, integrity and transparency can save your church the hassle of dealing directly with energy suppliers and ensure the best prices for your energy needs. He is the first and only independent consultant to win at the prestigious TELCA Energy Awards in 2019.

‘Whatever the size of your energy needs I will cut through the complexities of the energy market, secure the best prices available (with massive buying power and access to all the market’s energy suppliers) and validate bills and deal with disputes,’ he said. ‘I will also work with you to find solutions to reduce your consumption and recover overpaid VAT and Climate Change Levy (CCL) for charities. I’m not necessarily looking to move you from your current supplier, just to secure you a more competitive rate – and this service is offered free of charge.’

Having served as the church warden of an Anglican Church and trustee of a charity, he understands the needs of churches and charities.

‘I will review your bills to see if you’re owed money,’ he said. ‘If you are, I’ll recover it for you. I’ve recovered thousands of pounds of overcharged VAT and climate change levy for charities – without charge! Don’t wait until the end of your contract – it will be too late.’

• Andrew Silley Independent Utility Specialist is on stand D35 at CRE South West

Book your tickets to CRE South West! – and save up to £5

Seminar Guide – See the complete guide to seminars at CRE South West 2022

Your invitation – See an online version of the CRE South West 2022 brochure

Our next exhibitions

Imagination, conversation, teamwork pave way for creative solution

Ever wondered where all those screens and sanitisation stations appeared from when Covid-19 first struck?

For many churches, CRE exhibitor Creative Solutions were on hand, creating a host of new products manufactured on site in Axminster – with rapid turnaround times.

Helping organisations put on bigger, better and brighter displays has been their mission for more than 20 years. The company was founded by a team with a combined 40+ years’ experience in exhibitions, display and the print sector.

‘In 2020 we joined the fold of all businesses, completely disrupted by the events and lockdowns of Covid-19,’ said Ben Whittington, director of Creative Solutions. The company responded by creating large standalone see-through screensfor church leaders to stand behind to deliver their message, freestanding hand sanitisation stations for entryways, printed anti-viral fabric products for displays, posters, QR codes, pavement signs and banner stands. 

‘Combining creativity and the need for protection systems, we chose to help combat Covid by merging individuality and organisations’ branding with custom safety solutions,’ explained Ben. ‘The need for cleanliness was the top priority, but this did not mean the solution needed to be clinical. It had to offer protection and blend into clients’ spaces seamlessly. We spoke with our clients to find out what they wanted. We also scoured the industry to source the best materials available. It sparked imagination, conversation, teamwork – and helped forge longstanding relationships, as organisations now look forward in 2022.’ 

The firm is now creating self-sanitising fabric for displays, ‘Coala Cover Safe’ – a film for anti-bacterial protection that can be applied to almost any high-contact surface like doors and tables, and custom printed social distancing screens for communal areas, bathrooms, offices and busy areas.

‘We are glad to have been able to assist both new and returning clients and combat Covid by creating products to help places stay accessible and safe,’ said Ben.

• Creative Solutions are on stand P32 at CRE South West

Book your tickets to CRE South West! – and save up to £5

Seminar Guide – See the complete guide to seminars at CRE South West 2022

Your invitation – See an online version of the CRE South West 2022 brochure

Our next exhibitions

Singing the praises of a Wren church modernised

History courses through its brickwork – making modernisation technically difficult and aesthetically challenging.

That was how B+H found St James’s Church, Piccadilly. Designed by Sir Christopher Wren, prime minister William Pitt the Elder was baptised at its font. The central London church is not just used for services, however. It hosts lunchtime and evening recitals and the decision was taken to share these with larger audiences by filming and streaming. 

Longstanding CRE exhibitor B+H were asked to provide equipment which offered good sound and image quality. It also had to be simple to operate. Andy Felix, project manager at B&H, knew the historic church posed severe problems with cabling and stained-glass windows posing particular problems.

‘Wiring has to be discrete in old buildings,’ he explained. ‘We hid cable under floorboards and followed the architectural lines of the building, minimising visual impact. Wood effect trunking was used to hide cables to the first floor.

‘The stained-glass windows also needed to be taken into account when specifying which cameras to use. There were quite good natural light levels in the building but this could fluctuate and we needed equipment which could cope. The cameras and equipment we installed can start and stop streaming at the touch of a button. Once set up via a PC, they are incredibly simple to operate by the church staff.’

B+H Sound Services was formed in 1978 by Brian Hillson. Nearly 50 years on it remains focused on providing sound, light and AV solutions to the live event industry and has a long history of helping churches get their message across with sensitive use of sound and vision equipment. More recently the company has helped churches with live streaming.

In 2015 the business was acquired by SFL Group enabling it to support a growing number of clients with a team which has risen from two people in a small garage to over 60 skilled operators in two key locations – Peterborough and Reading. The team will be delighted to meet visitors to CRE South West and advise on improving church streaming or sound and vision problems.

• B+H are on stand C20 at CRE South West

Book your tickets to CRE South West! – and save up to £5

Seminar Guide – See the complete guide to seminars at CRE South West 2022

Your invitation – See an online version of the CRE South West 2022 brochure

Our next exhibitions