Music Ministry Update

As the summer continues to roll on, Music Ministry is slowly moving towards its goal. We started out with many plans, goals, and deadline dates in April, and now here we are three months down the line, evaluating and re-planning our next steps. Our plans for an up and running studio are falling into place. The studio is currently being used for weekly band practice, and recording projects, as well as our temporary office.

Promotion and advertising for studio hire is alsounderway, but there is always more to do! Valdec has recently been working on the Kent room floor, putting in special insulation material to help stop sound leakage from both room, as this can be a problem for recording. Eventually, we plan to buy a vocal booth, which will allow us to isolate vocals and other instruments, giving a more professional result on recordings. It looks like it will be a while before the new Music Ministry Office is done and dusted. Construction-wise, a lot of things need to be done. We need a new roof, which in priority comes before anything else in that area as it could get a bit wet in there otherwise.

We’re currently working on a Music Ministry band and choir set up, that we’re hoping to be a long-term commitment, which will boost the quality of HQ Sunday service, and raise the standard of worship. Eventually, we plan to spread this growth simultaneously within all regions across the UK. On Wednesday 21^st July we met with those hoping to help and support in that area, discussing possibilities and suggesting ideas, as well as explaining/introducing our goals and plans for this year’s Music Ministry. It was a productive meeting, which allowed people the opportunity to be on board. A lot of things we are doing require a lot of financial assistance, so please don’t hesitate to donate on Virgin Money Giving. We will be organising events throughout the year to raise funds, so please come along and support us whenever you can! If you’d like to get involved you can get in touch with us at: musicministry@unificationmovement.org.uk

We have many boxes of books and literature at present being stored in HQ and gathering dust.

It seems such a waste to just keep this in store especially if it could be used effectively to connect our friends and family to the great work of our True Parents. Also we are very keen to clear out and free up this space.

You can see all these publications on the website. If you would like any of these, please send an email to hq@ffwpu.org.uk . Everything is free except for the book  “Sun Myung Moon – The Early Years” which costs £2.50, or 10 and over for £1 each.

If you cannot collect from HQ, we would just ask you to pay for the postage.

David Franklin

FFWPU HQ

Last Sunday (23rd August) North and West London Congregations met together in Ruislip Lido for service organised and run by some of the 2nd generation with testimonies from newly graduated STF members.

Walking over the hills

Over 50 children from as far distant as Slovenia and Ireland, as well as the length and breadth of England, joined us for this year’s junior Summer Camp (for 8 to 11 year olds), at Cleeve House from July 28^th to August 3^rd.

From the outset, we wondered how it would be with the two new and unique aspects of this year’s camp: simultaneous translation for the Slovenian children and canoeing on the canal on the outing day.  However, when we started, the main challenge for us to deal with was the rain.  We had to quickly prepare a “plan B” for a number of outdoor activities, which all worked well, but we couldn’t find a realistic plan B for the outing day.  The weather angels clearly heard our desperation and kept the outing day rain-free, which was quite remarkable considering the days before and after were both very wet.  We sent up a further plea for the last day, to give the children at least one chance to use the swimming pool that had taken so much time and effort to set up – and our prayers were answered again with a sunny Sunday, despite weather forecasts to the contrary.

canoeing on the canal

The canoeing was a wonderful activity and everyone earned a “blue mile” along the canal.  Two girls got a dunking but stood up in the shallow canal smiling with glee, righted their capsized boat and getting back in!  Our Slovenian group were able to build friendships across the language barrier and brought a special flavour to the week. They contributed to the family night sketch with wordless parts seamlessly integrated into their “company’s” performance.  We also enjoyed some beautiful Slovenian songs.

All in all, it was an “Amazing Voyage”, as depicted in our theme and final craft project, bringing us through the course of our journey from “travelling in the mist” to “finding company”, “setting the direction”, “helping each other through storms” and finally “defeating the sea-monster” and “celebrating with God” at the end.  We felt honoured to achieve something for God and his children.

Many thanks to all the staff, second generation team leaders and Cleeve House staff, as well as to all the parents who entrusted us with their children and supported us with their prayers.

Chris Le Bas

So last week I had the privilege of going up to Halifax to do media for the first Manchester HARP workshop ever, with the motto “A New Path; Step by Step” giving it’s participants inspiration to take steps forward in their life of faith.

I was invited by Jo Spencer who was the organiser and MC for the workshop along with Nick Jones. Although it was only two days there was a good balance of internal messages from Franklin Fortune (South London Pastor) Stuart Johnson (a parent from Manchester) and Patrick Hanna (UK HARP leader), as well as fun team building activities.

I feel this workshop was especially good for their community, as many of the participants wouldn’t usually attend larger workshops for various reasons. Attached is the video I made while on the workshop, hopefully you can catch the atmosphere, enjoy:

Here’s a little video I made of an Islamic arts event we helped out with in Milton Keynes last Friday. I was doing the sound while Mr David Rennie MCed.

As this is my first blog since being signed up to familyfireplace.org at the media workshop, I wanted to post some old news from some of north london HARP’s recent past events.

Fundraising – Sunday 8th February 

On Sunday 8th February we decided not to have a normal service, but instead decided to manufacture and sell some handmade cards.

We started with a short internal message from our youth pastor William Haines. After which Naomi Sato taught everyone, and supplied the materials in order to make some handmade cards. It took us an hour to produce 100 cards.

After spending an hour out on the streets, we managed to raise £69.56 after expenses. Even though some participants weren’t so inspired by the idea of fundraising, on returning everyone was bright faced and pleased with their success.

HARP Youth Club – Saturday 14th February

This saturday saw the beginning of a new section to North London’s Youth Club. As there was an obvious fall in numbers of HARP members at the regular fortnightly youth club I decided to create a monthly youth club just for HARP members 12 years and over. The event was a success judging by the number of participants and positive comments.

Information about North London Youth Club including its programme, latest news and Pictures can be found at http://www.youth-united.co.uk/

Half Term Workshop – Sunday 15th-Monday 16th

Since we had a week off school I thought it would be a good idea to have mini workshop of sorts.

We based the workshop on the idea/moto of Living For Others. The first day consisted firstly of the challenge to buy all the supplies/food that they would need to for the two days on a budget. After this we had a trip to Kew Gardens, the idea of this was to have a bit of bonding time together and somehow prepare for the challenges of the next day.