Food Bank Re-Opening Update

Following a recent relaunch meeting which was very well supported, it was decided to reopen the Village food bank in the sanctuary of Cumbernauld Old Parish Church (ie the church itself rather than the session house) on Thursday 27th April from 10.30 – 12.30.

In preparation for this, a planning day is scheduled for Thursday 20th April at 11am in the church. The purpose of this meeting is to sort out the logistics of how the food bank will actually work in the new setting. All interested parties are warmly invited to attend.

If anyone is unable to attend but still wants to be involved please contact Sandra on 07780 452549 or leave us a note below, which we will pass on. Many thanks!

Fairtrade Update

The Fairtrade Group at Cumbernauld Old is reinstating the monthly Fairtrade stall.

Fairtrade Fortnight 2023 has recently finished and in recognition of this annual celebration of ethical trade, we hope to revitalise our commitment as a Church to support and promote the values of fairer trading practice.

On Sunday 26th March members of the Fairtrade Group will be participating in our worship service and you will have the opportunity to purchase your Fairtrade favourites at the end of the service.

Going forward, we hope to have the Fairtrade stall available on the last Sunday of every month and we look forward to seeing you there.

Easter Egg Appeal

As we have done in previous years Cumbernauld Old Parish Church is making an appeal for donations of chocolate Easter Eggs.

If you are able to do so, please bring a chocolate egg to our worship service on Sunday 26th March or give to any member of our church who will bring it along for you.

Where possible, might you consider buying Fairtrade eggs? There are a few brands out there, including Divine and the Real Easter Egg. Look out for the Fairtrade logo.

All donations will be passed on to our friends at the Bethlehem House of Bread food bank at Cornerstone House and distributed from there. Your continuing kindness and generosity is always greatly appreciated, so thank you in advance.

World Mission Used Stamp Appeal 2022

As we have done in previous years, Cumbernauld Old Parish Church is inviting you to support the Church of Scotland World Mission Used Stamp Appeal.

There will be a collection box for used postage stamps in the church vestibule during December and January, so please keep the stamps from any Christmas cards you receive and pop them in the box when you are at church.

The aim of this year’s Appeal is to raise enough funds to support a pastor in our partner church the National Evangelical Synod of Syria and Lebanon (NESSL) for a full year’s salary. The economic crisis in the country has struck hard and the Synod is struggling to pay salaries for pastors which range between £100 to £150 per month.

For more information about this year’s appeal, visit the Church of Scotland website.

Newsletters – November 2022

The latest newsletter from Cumbernauld Old Parish Church is now available.

We welcome two Team Ministers, Fiona Crawford and James Gemmell, to Cumbernauld Old and they will be working with us alongside our partners at St Mungo’s and Kildrum Parish Churches for the next wee while. The newsletter also has an update on the status of the Glasgow Presbytery Mission Plan and how it will impact us here at Cumbernauld Old.

Elsewhere in the magazine we take a look back at Harvest and forward to Advent and Christmas, there are updates from our Craft Group and Property, Fundraising and Mission teams and there’s an introduction to the community singing group, called Arria Voices, which meets in the church every Wednesday evening. That and much more in the magazine’s 20 pages.

Download your copy from the link below. I hope you enjoy reading about all that’s going on at Cumbernauld Old.

COPC Newsletter November 2022Download

Remember that you can keep up-to-date with everything that’s going on from our website – www.cumbernauldold.org.uk – and also on social media. All the details are on the last page of the magazine.

STOP PRESS:
After the magazine went to print we received a letter from our Mission Partners, Graham and Sandra Duncan, in South Africa. So here’s two for the price of one. Enjoy!

COPC Mission Partners’ Letter – 2022 ChristmasDownload

Warm Space initiative

In partnership with Cornerstone and the Village Community Council, Cumbernauld Old has been invited by North Lanarkshire Council to participate in setting up a ‘welcome space’ for local residents from November 2022 to March 2023.

The Council will provide all the funding necessary and propose to open the small hall in The Wynd every Thursday from 12.30 -14.30 to serve soup and sandwiches provided by Cornerstone and, if possible, re-open from 16.00 – 18.00 to offer an early evening snack. It will be a place where people can enjoy some company and come together to “seat, eat and heat”.

Details have still to be finalised, but for it to go ahead it needs the help of the wider community; it needs men and women to volunteer to staff the sessions. Hopefully, enough people will come forward to make up a rota so that the commitment does not become too much of a burden.

If you want more details, please leave us a note as soon as possible and we’ll pass it on. Your help would be really appreciated.

Worship on Sunday 2nd October

A reminder that our worship service at Cumbernauld Old this coming Sunday 2nd October will be our annual Harvest Thanksgiving service and we invite those attending, if they can, to bring a donation for our local food bank. See our earlier post for further information.
The service will take place at 11.00am in the Parish Church and will be led by Fiona Crawford, our Team Minister. Everyone is welcome and we hope you can join us!

Dandelion Trust Harvest Festival

Cumbernauld Old Parish Church is teaming up with Cumbernauld Village Community Council to hold a special Harvest event under the auspices of the Dandelion Trust. This event which was postponed out of respect after the death of Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth has now been rescheduled for Saturday 1st October and will take place in the Manse Garden from 11am until 2.30pm and full details are given on our website here. 

Baby Bank Warm Winter Appeal

Cumbernauld Old Parish Church invites your support for the Cumbernauld Baby Bank Warm Winter Appeal

The awful reality is that there will be a lot of cold children and young people this winter, many families simply won’t be able to afford to heat their homes over the coming months. As a charity, the Baby Bank has been considering what more they can do in addition to providing the usual warm clothing and winter woolies, and have decided is that they will be adding warm blankets and ‘hoodie’ style dressing gowns to as many referrals as they can as winter approaches. But need help to do it!

There are great fleece blankets in our local supermarkets (starting at £5) which would be ideal, and the ‘hoodie’ style dressing gowns can be bought from some shops for around £12. They also need all the usual hats, gloves and scarves too!

The kindness and generosity in this community is immense, and they are constantly blown away by local response to their appeals. We know times are getting tough for so many, but if you are in a position to help, they would be so very grateful of your support. Thank-you!

Follow the Baby Bank on Facebook.