Planting seeds of God's love in India

By Rev Pat Atkinson

I have just returned from three weeks in India, where with nine visitors I have been sharing the work of the Cooper Atkinson Trust. The visitors were Liz and Diane from Norwich Citadel, Daniel from Heartsease Catholic Church, David and Barbara from Blofield Church, Katy from Mount Zion and Brundall, and Natalie, Peter and Lis from other areas.
Thinking about Harvest in the area where our work is based is difficult. Drought is a serious problem; most rivers are dried up, even after the monsoon. The slum where the work is based is full to overflowing with people who have had to leave farms that have been in their families for generations, but are now dust bowls - and it would be easy to be discouraged.
But for me, the time was about the changes that I have seen over 27 visits.

In the early days there were no buildings, very few children who would trust us - in fact the slum community thought I was going to lure the children away to take their kidneys for transplant.
We had to prepare the ground - get rid of suspicion, fear and apathy, then gradually plant our seeds - the seeds of God's love.
We are still planting, and will be clearing ground and sowing seeds for years to come… But, some fell on good ground. Several of our original children, who I met as five and six-year-old street workers, are now at university.
One boy, Pradeep Kumar (sponsored by George and Shirley from Heartsease Lane) has become our first graduate, our new school is flourishing. Over 300 children come to our drop-in centre each day. Tamil Selvam, who we pulled out of a sewer, is finally walking. Bonded labour children have a place to rest and be loved, and… and… and….

The harvest is there. It can be discouraging when reaching out to others in love doesn't produce instant results. It has taken 14 years for the seeds to take root, and the crop to start growing. Maybe the harvest message is to keep tilling, and sowing, and praying. Results do come.
Our harvest is there because of the love, prayers, understanding and support from so many in this area. We thank them for enabling us to sow the seeds of God's love, knowing that whatever we did for one of the least of these, we did it for Him. Thank you to all our supporters and friends.
The Christian Cooper Atkinson Charitable Trust for India, based in Brundall, has been working with the poor and needy in Indian slum areas for the past 14 years. If you would like to support its crucial work then ring Pat on 01603 714720.

Community concert party

Dancing to the tune of the Lee Vasey band

By JOHN BREEZE

Under threatening skies and with the expectation of rain the fourth Catton Community Concert took place at the Catton Grove Schools on Saturday July 3. With the usual attractions of the Lee Vasey Big Band, the Catton Stage and Dance Workshop, some 900 people came to the event.
In support were the Hugh Lynch Jazz band and the Sambrusco Samba Band who brought their inimitable and special styles of music to give added variety to the occasion. Local community groups such as Sure Start, the 3rd and 4th Norwich Sea Scouts and many others used the event to raise the profile of their group and with fun activities for all ages, sales and competitions, increased the level of their funds. The Lord Mayor, Councillor Joyce Divers was guest of honour and warmly welcomed the guests to the event. "It is so good to see the community working together and enjoying itself like this," she said.

Norwich MP, Dr Ian Gibson, in the middle of a hectic Saturday schedule, also visited the concert.
Ian Savory, Pastor of Oak Grove Chapel, sponsor of the event, said: "There are always excellent things to celebrate in the community and it's just good to provide the opportunity for us to enjoy each others' company."

A steady supply of refreshments was provided by school staff. The rain fell just as the Catton Stage and Dance Workshop were finishing their programme but they brilliantly danced on followed by the Lee Vasey band. There's a warning that next year will be even better coinciding as it does with Oak Grove Chapel's 70th anniversary.

Good News wins major church media accolade

Good News for Norwich has been awarded a major national media accolade alongside BBC Radio Norfolk and BBC East TV.
The Norfolk trio all won top honours at the prestigious national Andrew Cross Awards, which were presented at the Churches Media Conference at Swanwick in Derbyshire on June 8.
Good News for Norwich, the free inter-denominational newspaper distributed to 9,000 church members in Norwich twice a year and to 80,000 homes across the city every Christmas, received a Commendation in the Regional Religious Periodical class. The award was collected by editor Keith Morris.
BBC East won the Television - Festivals, Worship, Discussion, Magazine category for Inside Out - Salvation Army Girl, a documentary shown on BBC1 about Norwich Citadel member Laura Jackson aged 16. The award was collected by producer Patricia Williamson. BBC Radio Norfolk won a Commendation in the Special Programme - Festivals, Worship, Discussion, Music category for its programme On the Ball City, produced by Tony Mallion. The programme covered the Norwich City centenary service held at Norwich Cathedral.

Good News editor Keith Morris with the award

Good News editor Keith Morris, said: "This is a great honour and deserved recognition for our hard-working team of volunteers.
"The stories in the paper and the broadcast output on BBC radio and TV show that the Christian community is alive and well and achieving much in Norwich and Norfolk. "The thing which particularly sets the Good News for Norwich apart from almost every other regional, and most national religious publications, is that it serves and draws support from almost the entire range of Christian churches and organisations across the city," said Keith.
Judges praised Good News for its emphasis on human interest stories of people's faith, strong use of photojournalism and colourful design.
Other winners in the awards included the BBC's Songs of Praise magazine, singer Aled Jones and Ruth Gledhill of The Times.

The Churches' Media Council brings together the Churches, Christian people working in or with the media, the broadcasting authorities, trainers and other relevant national bodies.
Its annual awards are for local and regional religious broadcasting, religious video production, web site design, national and regional religious press. They aim to encourage and appreciate those involved in making local religious programmes, creating and maintaining websites and publishing religious papers and magazines.
The Churches' Media Council is an agency of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland, and Churches Together in England, and has close links with other ecumenical bodies in Britain and Ireland.

Religious content on BBC Radio Norfolk

BBC Norfolk producer Tony Mallion.

BBC Radio Norfolk's commendation in the Churches Media Council Andrew Cross awards was recognition of the wide range of religious output which the radio station regularly features.
Long-serving religious producer Tony Mallion is the brains behind the output which consists of twice daily early morning "thoughts for the day" at 5.30am and 8.40am. The main religious output is the "Believe it or Not" section of Mike Liggins' Sunday morning breakfast show which regularly features Rev Rosemary Wakelin's Good Book guide and a piece from former religious adviser to ITV, Canon Ivan Bailey, as well as special guests and religious news.

In terms of outside broadcasts, such as the one for which Radio Norfolk won its award, the station usually does a minimum of three, at Easter, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
Tony will plan these well in advance and organise the who, what, when and where of the service.

The commended Canaries Centenary service at Norwich Cathedral was a one-off special and others have been broadcast following the death of the Queen Mother and a 9/11 memorial service in Norwich.

Newspaper in internet link-up with BBC Faith

Good News for Norwich has linked up with BBC Norfolk in a partnership designed to get more Christian content published on the internet.
BBC Norfolk have launched a new Faith section to its popular website at www.bbc.co.uk/norfolk/faith and Good News for Norwich has joined it in a link-up to republish stories from the paper onto the BBC site.
Senior BBC new media producer Martin Barber said: "I think this is a really exciting partnership, especially as it will open up the Good News for Norwich content to a new user base via our pages and under 35s audience."
Good News editor Keith Morris said: "We were delighted when the BBC suggested we link up with their website, as it would give our stories about the very active Christian community in Norwich, a much wider potential audience. The BBC site will also link to our own website www.gnfn.co.uk."
Several Good News articles have already featured on the site.

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