mors - friendship for all

Meets: 1^st Tuesday of each Month in the Church at 20:00.

Contact: Tony King

MORS is a Church Social Group open to “Methodists of Rose Street”, and to all other friends of the Church. Our main aims are to encourage friendships to grow and to welcome everyone into the overall Church family.

A further aim is to raise funds in support of Church activities and Local Charities via our own efforts and also in cooperation with other Church groups, especially Contact and the Theatre Club.

Future Programme

7 September
TWENTY YEARS A BEEFEATER - Bishops, Sex, Money and the Tower
Tony Strafford, London Beefeater (in full regalia)
followed by a short AGM over refreshments

2 October 
HARVEST SUPPER - jointly with Contact
Click here for details and booking form

5 October
TRAVELLING WITH CHARLIE - halfway around the world by boat, car & train
Michael Jones

2 November
WILDLIFE IN SIBERIA
Dr Martin Haslam

15 November
VISIT TO GOLDSMITHS' HALL and LONDON EYE
Dinner at the Methodist International Centre
(Booking required)

27 November
BRITISH AIRWAYS BAND IN CONCERT
Our own last night of the Proms!
(Tickets required)

7 December
MAIDENHEAD AND THE MOVIES
Richard Poad

4 January 2011
THE NEW FOREST THROUGH THE SEASONS
Roger Creber

1 February
MADIKWA AND THE KRUGER - IN SEARCH OF THE BIG FIVE
David Granger

6 February
MORS ANNIVERSARY SERVICES
10.30am & 6.30pm Revd Bryan Coates - MORS Choir
6.15pm Community hymn singing

1 March
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE VICTORIANS
Tony King

12 March
READING PHOENIX CHOIR
(Tickets required)

5 April
HILL STATIONS OF THE RAJ
Major Paul Whittle

14 April
OUTING TO BRIGHTON ROYAL PAVILION
followed by Supper
(Booking required)

3 May
BRITISH PIERS
David Tinker

19 May
OUTING TO THE HIDDEN GARDENS OF LONDON
with Blue Badge Guide Val Pretlove
Tea at Methodist International Centre
(Booking required)

7 June
FORTY YEARS CATCHING SMUGGLERS
Malcolm Nelson (former Customs Officer)

July (date to be confirmed)
OUTING TO THE SHUTTLEWORTH COLLECTION - Home of the Edwardian Flying Machines
Old Warden Airfield, Bedfordshire
Meal on return journey
(Booking required)

Monthly Review

Our 2009/10 season finished in fine style on an idyllic evening in July when over 120 of us enjoyed the River Trip from Marlow to Henley.  The scenery was spectacular and the ‘birders’ amongst us were delighted to catch glimpses of a wide variety of birdlife - including a flash of blue as a Kingfisher skimmed over the water. 

Our programme for the new season begins on Tuesday September 7th with a talk by Tony Strafford on ‘Twenty years a Beefeater’ – subtitled ‘Bishops, Sex, Money and The Tower’.  Sounds intriguing!  After this talk we will hold a short AGM over coffee in The Meeting Place. 

We are currently working with Contact on the Harvest Supper, booked for Saturday October 2nd.  We are again delighted with the generous offers of support from so many members and friends.  We have several offers of puddings and baked potatoes, but we are still looking for help on the evening of 2nd.  If you can give us a hand preparing the dishes or serving the main courses during the Supper, please give Gerry or Janet a ring.  I understand we do already have help with the washing-up that night, so that's one thing we do not have to worry about.  A copy of the booking form is available here – please send these in as soon as possible.  Numbers are restricted for safety reasons – hence we have to apply a ‘first come first served’ policy.

Copies of the new MORS Programme can be found on the ‘Welcome Table’ in The Meeting Place.  In addition to a wide variety of monthly talks, plus the Harvest Supper, we have two other special events to highlight in the run up to Christmas.  On Monday November 15th we will be visiting the rather splendid Goldsmith’s Hall in the City of London to see part of their spectacular collection of silver and jewellery, followed by a ‘flight’ on the London Eye as dusk falls, then on to dinner at the Methodist International Centre.  This will be a very full day – look out for the special Booking Forms.  Then on Saturday November 27th we welcome back our old friends ‘The British Airways Band’ for our own ‘Last Night of the Proms.’  We look forward to your usual good support for these events.

Guy Masdin

Annual Review  (April 2010)

During the last year we once again enjoyed a wide-ranging and interesting programme. Our own members gave several of our talks, a tradition that keeps our treasurer happy – no fees and no expenses.  The attendance, even in awful weather, continues to be good and it’s always a pleasure to see everyone staying on afterwards in The Meeting Place to enjoy a chat over refreshments, kindly provided by Les and June Sawyer.  On our annual outing more than a hundred people enjoyed the visit to BBC TV Centre (where they practiced their broadcasting skills), and then went on to St Pancras Station.  This visit was followed by dinner at the Methodist International Centre, where we were again made to feel very welcome.

It was a particular pleasure to welcome back the Rev Robert McBain, our ex-minister and past-president of MORS, to lead our Anniversary Services this year.  Robert was ably supported by the MORS Male Voice Choir, and by Pam Thompson’s thoughtful selection of hymns for the Community Hymn Singing.  The standards remained high, and the services were generally regarded as amongst our best ever.  It was also a pleasure to see our own Minister, Nick, continue as a MORS chorister for these services - a role now established as a MORS tradition.  Next year we are delighted that he will be joined by yet another of our well loved Ministers, when Bryan Coates returns to lead these services.

We have again enjoyed first class musical entertainment.  The Church was packed for the return of our old friends the British Airways Band, and in March this year we welcomed the 40-strong male voice choir 'The Thames Valley Chorus’ with their integral quartet ‘The Rockaholix’.  Although new to us, this choir is well known locally and attracted a capacity audience of 200 people - many of whom have asked that we invite them back next year.  Proceeds from our concerts, and from the Harvest Supper, make major contributions to our charity funds which, in the last Church financial year, allowed us to contribute £3650 to a range of worthwhile causes, including £1250 to support our new Youth Worker.  We have since donated a further £1080 and will be making additional donations in the near future.

Our other fund-raising activities have been largely to do with food.  Over a hundred people enjoyed a Hog Roast at WADE and a similar number supported the Harvest Supper, which is run jointly with Contact.  We obviously gave ‘good value’ as again we have had many requests to hold another Harvest Supper later this year.  The Contact and MORS chefs are giving it serious thought and consulting their recipe books.  

Guy Masdin