At 10.15 on the 17th December 2011 members from the Churches Together in Malling group met to sing with the Abbeyfields residents in Martin Square.   Home cooked mince pies were given out and carol requests were taken from the residents.  We always thoroughly enjoy our visits to Abbeyfields and the residents seemed pleased with our singing voices.

Following on from Abbeyfields, we all went to the Quarry Wood Sainsburys to sing more carols and, though it was cold, we all reminisced about last year’s carol singing at Asda when a sudden downfall of snow, within a short space of time, nearly left us stranded at the store.   Great fun was had none the less with many well known carols being sung. Donations will be given to Tearfund.

On Saturday 15th October 2011, a huge community litter pick and tidy up was planned by some Lunsford School Parents and Larkfield Community Church were happy to be able to provide the Dorcas Centre as a base and provide a litter picking team to help out.   There were many other community groups represented alongside Lunsford School and Larkfield Community Church, totalling about 80 people in all and they included Tracey Crouch MP, Holy Trinity Church, Parish Council, Guides, Larkfield Football Club, Russet Homes and others.    B&Q also kindly donated trowels and bulbs to plant around Larkfield in designated areas.  There was great weather, great community spirit and a great amount of litter that was picked up - 16 wheelie bins and 20 sacks.

Some members of the LCC team.

On the 8th October a small team from Larkfield Community Church gave gifts of daffodil bulbs away at Martin Square as part of our Harvest Celebrations.  In total about 75 bags of bulbs were given away to bless the people of the Larkfield area at this time of year.

We had a great time recently when LCC headed off to the seaside for a weekend of camping.  Everyone had a wonderful time, especially on Saturday night with some brilliant talents being shown off during Larkfield’s Got Talent!  Despite the weather being very windy and raining on the sunday, some of us came home more sunburnt than others… pictures to follow.

After many years serving the folk here at Larkfield Community Church, Mike Pearson has decided to retire from the role of Elder.  Mike & Rachel were among the small group of about 8 people who came to Larkfield to plant a fellowship in the area.  We would like to say a great big thank you and God Bless to them as they enter into the next phase of their life and ministry.

We’ve had a busy summer having lots of fun the delight of baptising the young and the old alike.

Daniel Osborne.  Joined by his family, with both sets of Grandmas and Grandads looking on, Daniel’s Granddad Roger was there to say a few words.  As Mark baptised Daniel he was reminded that it was Roger that had baptised him!  

We were honoured to baptise Patrick Whelan.  After a lifetime of alcohol addiction, Patrick came to faith and has seen God do amazing things in his life. (read Patrick’s testimony).

A group set off to complete the sponsored walk for Starfish Malawi at Bewl Water.  Starfish Malawi is a Christian Charity supporting work with children in Malawi.   We set off together with high hopes of doing all 13 miles around Bewl Water.  However, with the temptation of being able to walk half way and get a boat across to the finish, we wondered how many of us would do the whole thing.   In the end it was too much for Richard, who disabled while serving in the army during the Falklands war, heroically walked 5 miles before needing to rest in the pub!  Jude pretended Richard needed the company and skived off the rest of the walk, while the rest of us carried on.  We all decided to get the boat across to the finish as time was against us, but John missed the turning!  So, in the end the oldest member of our group walked all 13 miles around Bewl Water, putting us very much to shame.  Great day though!

Our Family Services always promise to be fun. Bettys Buddies from Holy Trinity, Larkfield were one of our guest speakers earlier this year. There were lots of laughs and the puppets were extremely entertaining in conveying their message that each one of us is special and loved by God.

Steve and Jude slipped on their lab coats for another memorable Family Service with Steve’s Mind Reading Machine… it didn’t work, but the message from Psalm 139 that God loves and knows us certainly did!