Holiday Club - Champions Challenge



Come and join the 'Champions Challenge!' Holiday Club. All children who have completed Reception Year - Year 6 at school are welcome to join in with the stories, crafts and games. Tuesday 19th to Friday 22nd August, 9.30am to 12 noon at Chichester Baptist Church.  Sunday 24th August 10am to 11am, followed by coffee and cakes. For registration forms please contact the Church Office (Tel 01243 782582)

  CBC Celebrating 50 Years



We are marking the 50th anniversary of our church in Parklands by hosting a party for the local community. Our 'Party on the Green' Community Day takes place on the afternoon of 19th July 2008 from 12 noon to 6pm. There will be a Barbecue, spit roast, bandstand with local musicians, giant inflatables, sports competition, croquet, treasure hunt and stalls and challenges on the green opposite Sherborne Road shops and exhibition with cream teas and light entertainment at Chichester Baptist Church from 1pm to 4pm. This will be a fantastic day for families and individuals alike and the invitation is extended to the church and local community to join in for free!

  News from Alastair Mallett

Dear all

Some of you with long memories may well remember me and wondered if I had dropped of the edge of the world. Well to some extent I have. I feel very much like one of those fabled lost sheep! But with encouragement from Roger I feel that I may well be moving in the right direction. I thought I take the opportunity of letting you know what I'm up to.

As you may well know I work for an Architect. We are currently working on a project for National Star College (http://www.natstar.ac.uk/Star_Appeal_301.asp). They are a college whose aim to help young disabled adults prepare for life in the world today. Have a look at their web site, its much clearer that I can be.

Anyway I have pledged to ride from Chichester to Cheltenham on the 12th of July to raise some much needed funds for their Star Appeal. It's approximately 125 miles.

The training is going fine. I was run into the ground this Sunday on a club ride, most of the guy's race during the week and seemed to believe that racing up Harting Hill is sport. It's not its purgatory! The stop at the cafe a few miles later in Rowlands Castle for a full breakfast was welcome refuelling!

During the week I have been time trialling hoping to build a good base fitness. You think that you have posted a good time of 26:38, then realise that the best times are a short 21 minutes or less. There is usually a good clue as to how slow you are when the man who started two minutes behind you cruises past with no discernible effort after less that 4 miles (3.3 actually) with the sound of this solid back wheel humming like a tie fighter!

This weekend I have planned a long loop from Chichester via Petersfield Midhurst, probably in the region of 96 miles. The advantage is that if all goes wrong I'm never that far from home. That will be the last ride prior to the 12th . The plan is to start at 5 in the am and arrive at National Star by 2:00pm, hopefully before everyone has gone home.

I would appreciate your prayers on the 12th. Just knowing that our Lord is with me will give me the strength I know that I will need later in the day.

Alastair Mallett

  The Noise Project Chichester



CBC was involved in the Noise Project again this year with the key week being the summer half term week when we were working with other churches in the area to show the love God has for people out in the local community. Our church was working specifically on the Parklands estate along with St Wilfrid's, St Paul's, and Orchard Street while other churches were working on the Whyke and Swanfield estates as well. The project included everything from clearing gardens and rubbish to providing games and craft for children during the week. For more information about the project, visit www.noiseprojectchi.org.uk

  Trekking the Simien Mountains in Ethiopia



On 24th November, CBC member Philip Coleman climbed Ras Dashen - the fourth highest mountain in Africa. At 4,543 metres, that is over three times the height of Ben Nevis, higher than the Matterhorn, nearly as high as Mont Blanc! Getting there involved an 80 km (50 mile) trek in the Simien Mountains of Ethiopia.



He did this to raise money in aid of RETRAK, a charity that helps street children in East Africa. RETRAK provides security, shelter, food, medical care, fun and love to these children. It helps them back to school or, for older children, training leading to worthwhile employment. Where possible, RETRAK reunites children with their families; otherwise it seeks secure and loving foster homes. RETRAK has a Chichester connection. International Director Andy Williams, MBE, is son-in-law to City Councillor Derek James. For more information on RETRAK see:

http://www.retrak.org/

If you sponsored Philip, you really encouraged him by showing that you, too, care about some of the poorest and most vulnerable children on earth. He paid the full cost of his trip, so everything the sponsors gave will go to them.

  The Cross and the Switchblade

The Cross and the Switchblade is now out on DVD for £12.99 from Amazon.

A poignant tale of survival and life changing drama, The Cross and the Switchblade depicts the true life events of David Wilkerson, an inner city priest who finds himself in the shadows of a crime-ridden New York City. Starring Pat Boone as Wilkerson, and Erik Estrada as the notorious gang member Nicky Cruz, the story tells of the true life relationship between the characters and how the young teen s life is dramatically changed by their encounter. Cruz, an unsettled teen immigrant from Puerto Rico, finds himself embroiled in New York gang life and draws on his murky past to become the leader of the notorious Mau-Mau s at the age of just 18. Attempting to spread the word of God in the troubled inner-city community, Wilkerson finds himself on the receiving end of the gangs violence, yet makes it his mission to share God s teachings with his assailants and help lead Cruz away from a life ruined by drugs and violent crime.

This is the true story of a mission that sent David Wilkerson from the tranquil countryside of rural Pennsylvania to the violence of gang warfare in the ghettos of New York. Once there he set about trying to turn the disillusioned youth of the area away from drugs and violence. Based on the novel by the same title.

  Waste Watchers Holiday Club

Many local children attended and a good time was had by all.

  Easter Monday Walk

There was a church walk on Monday 9 April in the Stoughton area. It was around 6 miles long and took around three hours plus the stop for lunch. Around 25 people met in the church car park at 10.30 to share cars before making there way to the start of the walk.

  St Richard's Hospital

If you want to sign the following petition to the Prime Minister, please visit http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/NHSChichester/

'We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Prevent the threatened closure of the Accident and Emergency Department at St Richard's Hospital, Chichester.'

See Reply

  'Amazing Grace'

The film Amazing Grace is in cinemas nationwide from 23 March 2007.
See:

Amazing Grace (Premier)
and

Amazing Grace (Official Site)