St. Mabyn Church kitchen and toilet project

After many months of planning and fundraising, we can now confirm that our new kitchen and toilet are installed and ready for use!

To bring our beautiful church in to the 21^stcentury, the plans of having this sort of luxury seemed insurmountable. Our churchwarden Rob Turner, however, took a different view and has worked tirelessly to see the project through.

Plans were drawn up by architect – Ian R. Jamieson (services given gratis) and eventually approved. Thanks to some great fundraising, building commenced in early January 2019. Bright Ideas of St Tudy (Dave Holborow, ably assisted by Si, Charlie, and Mash) have made an incredible job for us. They were clean, tidy and considerate workers. A great team, faultless workmanship and always punctual too! We thank you.

The whole project would have been much harder to come by however, without the very generous donation of £6,000 by the Friends of St Mabyn led by Esther Dudley, through their own fundraising efforts. We also secured a grant of £1,125 from the All Churches trust for which we were also very grateful.

Two further grant applications are still pending, and it is hoped that these and further Friends fundraising planned for the first half of 2019 (concerts in church by Johnny Cowling and Bristol’s acclaimed Exultate Singers) will cover a further significant proportion of the balance, financed in the short term from PCC funds.

The project will mean that as a church we can offer better catering facilities for church services and events. Mores to the point, visitors can use the 'throne room' and stay comfortable – very valuable for the children and elderly who use the church.

Do drop by to see the new kitchen or come along to our Pancake party on Tuesday 5^thMarch at 7pm, to see it in full action. No charge ~ Jan Fisher

St Mabyn Christmas Donation

On a beautiful sunny day after our heavy snowfall in February, Jenny Coltart and myself set off for an afternoon visiting Little Harbour, Children's Hospice South West at Porthpean, St Austell.

We were unsure of what to expect as I clutched a very full donation box – money raised from donations in lieu of Christmas cards last year, and from our Christmas Crib service at St Mabyn.

We were greeted by Ann and Mary, 2 volunteers from the hospice who showed us around the beautiful grounds and Little Harbour building.

Wow! We were overwhelmed with the facilities there for families and children with life limiting illness. Beautiful kitchen, family lounge and dining room, hydrotherapy pool, soft play area, games and craft rooms. A beautiful multi-sensory room and sensory garden. Love and regard poured into every aspect including the beautiful chapel area and memorial room.

The attention to detail that the design team had considered was incredible. From the staff – the care and thoughtfulness was simply staggering to the point that when a child returns for respite, their room is just as they left it – even though it had likely been used many times in between. Their favourite bedding is on, favourite toys at the ready and so on.

The hospice is truly an inspirational place, filled with love (laughter and noise when the children are there) and where families can be themselves, recuperating and supporting each other during tough times.

We were very pleased with our donation - £122.74p – so thank you to EVERYONE who contributed to this worthy cause last Christmas!

For more information about Little Harbour and how to donate, take a look on chsw.org.uk – Jan Fisher