A day to be thankful
Ten years ago today, Teddington Baptist Church opened the doors of its newly redeveloped buildings to the local community.
The Mayor of Richmond helped me to cut the ribbon:
A jazz band played in the lofty new space:
A new story began…
Ten years on, it is time to celebrate that story. Over the passage of those years thousands of feet have made their way up and down the atrium. It has played host to:
Art exhibitions
Christmas trees
A sailing boat
An exhibition on forgiveness
A small business fair
Workshops
Concerts
Gatherings for prayer and worship …and so many other things too.
It can now be visited on a 360 degree Google Tour and is recognized throughout the local area.
How best to celebrate those ten years? In the end, much like the symbolic act of Mayor and Minister cutting the ribbon together – we have opted for an event which celebrates partnership. Throughout the day on Saturday November 22nd, the church will play host to other organisations alongside a shop window to its own work. There will be open sessions by Go Glee, Kumon and Jo Jingles (three of those who regularly hire the building), exhibitions by some of our weekday users, a free art workshop hosted by an artist who helped to design the facilities, storytelling by the church’s Early Years worker, two Songs of Praise sessions, and a food court provided by Diners’s Delight, Love U Mum and Fallow Deer Cafe – three of our local food outlets. This has been a shared story with our local community – and we want to mark it that way.
Wish us Happy Birthday, if you’re passing, and if you are too far away to do so – why not send a birthday greeting via the comments box below?
