Open at last!

What an amazing transformation has taken place at The Hope Centre since we last wrote to you in March!  Yes, The Hope Centre is now open and thanks to the help of so many of you, it is now running smoothly and we have had a lot of heart-warming feedback.  If you have not visited yet, please do and invite a friend along with you.  We need to spread the Word, which has a capital “W” quite deliberately!  When you come in to have a delicious coffee, make sure you have a good look round and don’t forget there is an extra section beyond the café selling a beautiful selection of cards, Traidcraft goods and more Christian resources.

How can we help Christine?

Our retail manager, Christine Togneri, has put her heart and soul into creating The Hope Centre we prayed about, where Living, Loving, Serving and Sharing are the foundation of prayer every morning.  She has had amazing support from volunteers, not forgetting those gifted with administration skills, hidden at the top of the building!  At this moment in time her deepest concern is the rota for volunteers.  We have reached the silly season when many people are off on holiday and there has been a surprising amount of illness around, thus, despite the fact that we have nearly 60 volunteers on our list, there are some sessions that are not sufficiently manned  with the result that Christine has difficulty leaving the shop in order to fulfil the administrative side of her job.  We need more volunteers who can commit to a weekly shift of 3 hours. Please pray about this.  I can assure you that helping at the Hope Centre has many blessings.  One meets so many special people from other churches, and working together under the umbrella of Hope makes one’s shift an act of praise and thanksgiving.  Come and try it!  You won’t regret it!

Raising money

The total cost of setting up the Hope Centre has been £65,000.  Thanks to the generosity of the Stewardship Trust, churches and individuals, £30,000 of that has been raised so far.  At present we have an interest free loan of £35,000 that needs to be paid back.  The amazing celebratory Act of Worship at URC last month raised £800!  We desperately need fresh ideas for fundraising, so please put your name forward by dropping in at The Hope Centre or ringing Bob Boland on 01625 422960.  One way in which we can all help, is to spread the word around so that more and more people come and visit the Hope Centre.  As our chairman, Bob Boland put it, when we were officially launched by The Mayor last Wednesday, “I believe that God will do great things in Macclesfield and the HOPE CENTRE is just the start, but a very important part of the Jig-Saw.”

It’s up to us to jump on board!

On Wednesday June 8^th, the retiring Mayor of Macclesfield, Councillor David Neilson, officially opened The Hope Centre at Park Green with much enthusiasm, in front of invited guests including contractors, advisors, and members of the Stewardship Trust, volunteers and Church leaders. The Mayor said that great things were happening in Macclesfield as people come together to support their town community. The Hope Centre initiative is a vibrant example of such an enterprise with an uplifting dimension.

With the conversion of the ground floor into a Coffee, Card, Book and Gift Shop, the premises, formerly leased by Wesley Owen, have had a complete facelift. The Hope Centre project was developed as a result of the Hope in North East Cheshire initiative launched in November 2009 : thirty-nine Churches combining together to inspire Hope in our communities. Five mission groups were established and it is from the group entitled “To respond to human need by loving service” that the Hope Centre project emerged. And there will be more to come! As our chairman, Bob Boland put it “I believe that God will do great things in Macclesfield and the HOPE CENTRE is just the start, but a very important part of the Jig-Saw.”

All this has been made possible by the financial support of Stewardship Trust, the North East Cheshire churches and its members. The total cost of the project has been £65,000. £30,000 has already been given. An interest free loan of £35,000 has been provided to meet the shortfall. The HOPE CENTRE has also been totally supported by Di Bayley. David Bayley, (Di’s late husband) had bought and opened these premises as The Christian Bookshop in November 1977 to bear witness to his faith. Some of you may recall that The Macclesfield Christian Mission worked out of the upper two floors for many years. David was an amazing handyman and had converted the first floor into a large meeting room with coffee bar. The next part of the project will be to reopen the upper floors for initiatives involving the thirty-nine churches working together. In her speech at the launch, Di Bayley said: “I would like to thank Bob Boland for taking on David’s vision and helping to continue to fulfil it with a great deal of work and planning. We hope and trust that the people of Macclesfield will be greatly blessed by this new Hope Centre. It is an exciting project.”

Christine Togneri, our delightful retail manager, heads a team of fifty volunteers, at present representing seventeen churches from within North East Cheshire. Do come and have a look around. There is an excellent selection of cards for all occasions and Christian literature and resources for both children and adults. We also sell Traidcraft food products and a variety of small gifts. We use fair-trade tea and coffee in the café, which you will find friendly and welcoming. There is an information corner covering activities going on in the surrounding Churches and Hope in North East Cheshire. We are open everyday, except Sunday, from 9.30 am to 5pm with an earlier closing time of 4pm on Saturdays. We are here to help you and look forward to meeting you in the near future.

Happy Half Birthday! Thanks be to God! Christine’s enthusiasm and very efficient management, supported by a loyal and gifted group of administrative and café volunteers have seen The Hope Centre blossom into a lively, convivial meeting point for friends to meet and chat. Sales are also going well on the shop front and we have been pleased at the understanding way in which people are happy to place an order when we don’t have a particular item in stock. Christine has been delighted by the number of Bibles sold to date and has ordered more Bible resources for 2012! Be encouraged! She listens carefully to customers’ requests and is adapting her order taking continually. Our only disappointment to date has been Traidcraft sales; many of you wrote this down as a priority when Bob sent out his questionnaire. Perhaps word hasn’t got around sufficiently as yet!

The Café The winter menu has been running for some weeks now and has been well received. You’ve missed a treat if you haven’t indulged in a bowl of warm nourishing soup! Hurry, it’s not too late! Some of you may not be aware that the environmental officer awarded Christine five out of five for her food safety procedures when she visited the Centre about six weeks ago. Her examination was very thorough and even included interviewing volunteers! To achieve these standards with a continuous turnover of volunteers is quite remarkable and we all take our hats off to Christine, but not also forgetting to thank all volunteers for the important part they play in achieving this quality of service.

Local Charity Giving So far the trustees have only received the name of one local charity to support in 2012 and that is The Drop In Centre. There is still time to apply.

Fundraising A huge thank you to all those of you who have supported the vision and setting up of The Hope Centre. Our treasurer, Karen Wilson, has done her sums, and we are delighted to tell you that not only have your gifts been able to purchase furniture and appliances for the Hope Centre, but we are also able to pay off just over £14,500 of our interest free loan, leaving £22,500 to find. To have achieved this position in just over a year is remarkable and must surely strengthen our faith and trust in the Lord.

Praise and Thanks be to God that the Hope Centre has now been open for 6 months! ALLELUIA!

• We thank God too for the continued positive responses received from those using the Centre: bright, welcoming, professional – that everything is the very best that it could be!

• We thank God for our manager, Christine, for her enthusiasm and efficient management. Please pray for God’s continued blessing on her: for strength and protection, for wisdom and discernment in all her decision-making and for good health. May we continue to help and support her in any and every way that she needs.

• We thank God for the wonderful team spirit that exists in the Centre – between Christine and all the volunteers who work so well together and for the excellent Food Safety Report

• We thank God for all the volunteers working regularly in the Centre, who, give their time and energy so generously. May our God, who is never outdone in generosity, bless them abundantly.

• We thank God for all who have been involved in fundraising, in any way, for the Hope Centre, making it possible to pay back over a third of the interest free loan, in just over a year.

We ask God’s blessing on all 42 churches displayed on the map in the Centre; may we continue to grow in unity and fellowship through our involvement with the Hope Centre.