Our History
Building the Church
St John’s is planning to substantially enlarge our buildings to ensure they are fit for their use as a parish church and with a growing congregation.
The first phase is to increase the size of the Church so it can comfortably
seat 200 people. The second phase is to join the two buildings to create a large
foyer and an extra suite of rooms.
Building Churches in India - As an expression of our thankfulness to God for his generosity to us, church members were also asked to give towards a scheme to build churches in north west India. Each Church costs in the region of £7,000. On 13 October, a further £25,271 was given towards this building project.
more information . . . if you would like to know more about our building project we will publish as much as possible on the following pages of this web-site. Alternatively please contact us by phone, letter or email and we will happily send details to you.
Millennium Banner
The St Johns Church Millennium
Banner hangs in St Johns Church Walton. It was unveiled at the Walton
Millennium Festival on July 8th 2000. In total 37 members of
the church contributed to the making of the Banner
This
article describes the conception and development of the banner.
Background The Design Making of the Banner The Cross The '’I Am... ' Cross Stitch squares Embroidered Pieces Assembling the Banner
The idea to make a banner to celebrate the Millennium started early in 1999 when the ladies who meet on Thursday mornings in the Church Centre decided they would like to make one to hang in St Johns Church.
Anne
Menary was asked to contribute ideas and subsequently designed a banner
measuring approx 45" x 60" with the theme, Jesus Christ. 'The Same,
Yesterday, Today, Forever' as this seemed an appropriate way for Christians to
celebrate the year 2000.
To emphasise this theme, the banner divides into three parts.
St Francis on the left represents Yesterday. The design for St Francis comes from a traditional painting and is echoed in one of the Stained Glass windows in the Church.
The children on the right represent Today and are worked in a way to suggest children's drawing.
The cross in the centre represents Forever and links the past with the present.
It was decided to invite anyone in the Church who wished to be involved in the making of the Banner to contribute pieces to be applied onto the background, including some Sunday Club children.
Terry Silvers
made a large frame to work the design onto .
Having decided
to make the cross appear organic, like the tree of life growing from the earth
and stretching towards the sun, thirteen canvas work kits were assembled by Anne
Menary for church members to work on. Each kit contained canvas and four skeins
of crewel thread in different colours which were designed to fit together. Each
member interpreted the design in their own way using tent stitch, only the
colours were restricted.
Cross sections
were completed by Barbara Cox, Margaret Clark, Hilary Turner, Margaret Armour,
Helen Falconer, Sue Haynes, Elaine Cropper, Margaret Akehurst, Fay Bainbridge,
Rosemary Reeve, Judy Brown, Pat Calow and Tina Broom.
The six cross stitch sections at the base of the cross were organised by Heather Silvers. They represent St Johns Church itself, the Eagle which is the traditional symbol of St John and four of the '1 am' sayings of Jesus which remain true for us all through time.
The cross
stitches were worked by Heather Silvers, Carol Oxley, Sheila Todd, Dorothy
Waddington, Ruth Harris and Julia Potter.
The
St Francis figure and the two trees were completed in free style embroidery and
applied fabric by Margaret Armour .
Carol
Oxley cross stitched the fawn.
The
children were made, padded and applied by Anne Menary.
Margaret
Clark canvas stitched the path and made the pink flowers using the Bobbin Lace
technique.
The
sun was silk painted, padded and stitched in a free embroidery style by Anita
Wilson.
Mavis
Clough made the patchwork sections in a' log cabin' technique.
Tina
Broom and Anita Wilson helped Anne Menary to make the felt which was then cut
into leaves by Sheila Turner.
The
7and 8 year old Sunday Club children stitched running stitches into the leaves
to make veins.
Having
made the embroidered sections in advance, many people spent many hours in the
Church Centre stitching them to the background fabric which was pinned to the
frame.
Particular
thanks for time and effort go to Margaret Clark, Margaret Armour, Heather
Silvers, Judy Brown, Tina Broom, Ruth Harris, Mavis Clough, Dorothy Waddington,
Sheila Todd, Rachel Dunkley, Sheila Turner and Carol Oxley.
All
the stitching was tackled with great humour and enthusiasm, and not a few
strange contortions! (Reaching the middle of a large banner is no mean feat and
requires one or two to be literally 'under the table'- and all we drank was
tea!)
We
stitched the Derbyshire Hills background which is in different shades of green
organdie. A blue organdie was used for the sky. A feather stitch frames the
central picture and links the cross stitches.
The fabric in
the centre represents the warmth flowing from the sun and helps to divide the
design whilst framing the cross.
Dark
red felt was used for the lettering and a dark red braid surrounds the Banner.
This colour was chosen to match the dominant colour in the church.
Brian
Akehurst advised and helped with the hanging of the Banner.
It has been a
great pleasure to see so many creative gifts come to the fore, from the young
and not so young alike. Many diverse talents from patchwork to painting,
traditional to modem have been used and we thank God for His guidance and the
opportunity to co-ordinate our skills to such vibrant effect.
We hope everyone who views the Banner will derive as much pleasure from it as we had in making it.
