Swaffham Newsletter

Parish Church of St Peter & St Paul
The main January services in Swaffham parish church
will be as follows (see our website at htps://www.
swaffhamparishchurch.org/ for updates and further
details):
Sunday 2nd
9.30am
3.30pm
Wednesday 5th
Sunday 9th
10.00am
Sung Eucharist for Epiphany
Epiphany Evensong
(Book of Common Prayer)
Holy Communion (BCP)
9.30 am Sung Eucharist
Wednesday 12th
10.00am.
Sunday 16th
8.00am
9.30am
Wednesday 19th
10.00am
Sunday 23rd
9.30am
Wednesday 26th
10.00am
Sunday 30th
(Baptism of Christ)
Holy Communion (BCP)
Holy Communion
United Benefice Sung Eucharist
Holy Communion (BCP)
Sung Eucharist
Holy Communion (BCP)
9.30 am United Benefice Sung Eucharist
Church is now open again daily for private prayer and
for visitors from 9am until 3pm outside of services.
Further details of church services and events on
our Swaffham Parish Church Facebook page and via
Twitter @swaffhamchurch
Mothers’ Union
The Swaffham branch of the Mothers’ Union usually
meets on the 2nd Thursday of the month. Enquiries
to Julia on 720041.
Swaffham Methodist Church
Happy Healthy New Year
• Sun January 2nd 10.45am. Morning Worship led
by the Worship Leaders. Refreshments afterwards.
Please Note- no drop in or power of prayer this week
• Sun January 9th 10.45am. Annual Covenant
Service led by Rev Jacqui Horton. Holy Communion.
Refreshments served afterwards.
• Tues January 11th 10 - 12noon. The Meeting Place
drop in.
• Thurs January 13th 2.30-4pm. Swaffham Friendship
Group.
• Fri January 14th 9.30am. Power of Prayer.
• Sun 16th January 10.45am. Morning Worship led
by the Worship Leaders. Refreshments served.
• Tues January 18th 10-12noon. The Meeting Place
drop in.
• Fri January 21st 9.30am. Power of Prayer.
• Sun January 23rd 10.45am. Morning Worship led
by the Worship Leaders.
• Tues January 25th 10-12noon. The Meeting Place
drop in.
• Thurs January 27th 2.30pm-4pm. Swaffham
Friendship Group.
• Fri January 28th 9.30am. Power of Prayer.
• Sun January 30th 10.45am. Morning Worship
led by Deacon Jen Woodfin. Refreshments served
afterwards.
Swaffham WEA
We were concerned that we would not
attract enough students to our Monday
evening course planned to start on January 10th,
David Prynn on China in the Twentieth Century,
to make it viable. David Prynn is an excellent,
knowledgeable, highly experienced tutor and we
were keen to hear him on this fascinating subject,
so we have asked if he would agree to lead a Day
School in February instead.
We are still hoping that Marina Burrell’s course on
Russia will go ahead as planned on Friday mornings,
covid arrangements permitting. Enrolment now is
either online at wea.org.uk or by phone on 0300
303 3464.
We will be displaying good old fashioned posters
with all the necessary up to date details as soon as
we know for sure about the course on China!
Happy New Year to all!
TNHA News
December at TNHA has been full of activity.
It is of course a month where charitable
endeavours are at the forefront of our minds and
we have certainly been busy in this regard. We were
delighted to host the Swaffham Lions Senior Citizens
Christmas Party at the academy. Our group of volunteer
staff cooked, organised the site and collected ‘party
goers’ in one of our minibuses. The Swaffham Mayor
and local MP Liz Truss also joined the festivities.
Our main charity drive this year has been Christmas
Cheer boxes to care homes and the cottage hospital
as students voted to ’keep things local’. This was a
great success and we would like to thank everyone
involved for their kind donations. Our group of TNHA
Carol Singers visited each of the venues bringing festive
cheer with some well-known songs, along with the gift
boxes, to our most vulnerable and valued members of
the community.
Remaining on the charity theme students raised in
excess of £200 towards the 999 Cenotaph Appeal which
will see a statue raised in Whitehall, London, in honour
of the NHS and emergency services. The Emergency
Services Cenotaph will include six figures stood backto-back
wearing the uniform they would wear when
responding to a 999 call. They are a police officer,
firefighter, paramedic, a maritime officer, a search and
rescue worker, a dog to represent service animals and
an NHS nurse in scrubs.
As part of our ongoing Academy Challenge Cup,
students were set a task to decorate Christmas trees
following traditions from around the world and looking
at how other cultures dress these. From strings of
popcorn in the USA, candles on the tree in Germany,
sparkly spiderwebs and spiders in the Ukraine, shells
in Australia, straw ‘himmeli’ (a geometric shape
traditionally made from rye straw) in Finland, delicious
kerstkransjes biscuits in the shape of Christmas
wreathes in the Netherlands and origami birds in Japan,
students were certainly full of ideas to inspire them.
Our recent curriculum day saw students follow an
alternative timetable based around PSHE and Careers
topics, appropriate to their age group. We welcomed
many guests into the academy to deliver bespoke
sessions to our students and some of these included
STEM activities with members of RAF Marham
working in teams with giant Meccano to build a
communications tower with satellites and an enclosure
in a tight timeframe. Other students focused on their
future learning in a session delivered by the College of
West Anglia looking at where their education may take
them after Year 11, with our students in their final year
receiving careers advice from an independent advisor
together with interview and CV skills. The Network
East Anglia Collaboration Outreach Group also worked
with students who may be aspiring to university.
Amongst the most serious topics discussed on the day
were the danger of drugs and alcohol where students
encountered a session with the Matthew Project
with others learning about healthy relationships and
abusive behaviour including investigating harmful
perceptions promoted by social media. The day was
an opportunity to enable our students to develop in
many diverse aspects of life and to build confidence
and resilience preparing them for life in modern Britain
as preparation for adult life and engagement in society.
Finally, we have been busy extending our Student
Leadership Team. Now fully fledged and confident
members of our community, our Year 7s have elected
Form Representatives, Deputy Student Leaders and
Student Leaders. We are very proud to work with
these young people to make our academy awesome.
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