LEADER: Dorothy Ocanda
CHURCH WEBSITE: http://www.st-albans.dk
Meetings are generally held on the second Sunday of the month.
Meetings take place in the side chapel at 12.15pm following the Sunday service.
“Carol Johnston was joined by Nichola Lawrence, Head of Action and Outreach at Mary Sumner House who gave a presentation to the congregation at St. Alban’s Church Copenhagen, Denmark.
Dorothy Ocanda,( MU leader) organised a visit to hear about the work of a Womens Refuge who the branch support with gifts. ”
This picture was taken on the 18th .DEC.2014 ,after the shoe boxes were blessed by Bishop David Cole.
They were taken to the Danner Huset Women’s Refuge who were so pleased and grateful for the gifts for the children.
2012
On the weekend of 20-23 September 2012 St. Alban’s was privileged to host the worldwide president of Mothers’ Union Rosemary Kempsell and the European President Barbara Woods. The programme was built around some of the work of the Copenhagen branch of MU. A visit was made to a new centre opening for women and children who need to escape domestic violence.
Rosemary spoke about her job as Worldwide President and the work of Mothers’ Union and preached very eloquently about the work of MU especially in Africa and other developing areas in the world.
Barbara Woods was presented with a book of photo’s put together by the European groupings of MU.
Both Rosemary and Barbara retired at the end of December 2012.
2011
Meetings last 45 minutes to 13.00hrs. We keep the meetings quite short as quite a few members have a distance to travel. This is also why we have the meetings after the Sunday service as it reduces travel for the members. Our membership profile in age is across the spectrum from early thirties to a lady in her seventies.
The Copenhagen branch has been quite active over the summer. St Alban’s Copenhagen holds an annual summer fete. This year the MU took responsibility for the produce stall. A lot of marmalade making , jam making and baking took place with the result that the stall made a great contribution to the overall fete total.
A quiet area is being trialled at the back of the church with a display of MU leaflets on parenting and children. So far the idea has been positively received and the leaflets are being taken.
The Harvest Festival was held at St Alban’s on 25th September. The Harvest Lunch for the parish was organised by the MU group, with all the harvest produce decorating the church being given to a local charity that supports women recovering from abuse.
Archdeacon Jonathan LLoyd said “The MU Group is really making a difference, especially in helping us engage with mission across the world, and with local needs in our community.”
In October the MU will be supporting one of our members in an individual project, raising money to send a container of toys, books and equipment plus children’s clothes to a village in Uganda. An appeal has been made to the whole congregation and it is hoped to raise 3000DKK.
November sees the start of our ‘Shoe Box Appeal’. Again this year we intend to use the appeal to support a local charity for women and children.
This branch will celebrate its founding in November and its 1st official birthday in January when all our members were enrolled.
The ‘Shoe Box’ appeal 
A very big thank you!
Christmas 2010, for the first time, lead by the newly formed Mother’s Union, St Alban’s congregation took part in a project to provide toys and small useful items for the children living in a refuge for battered women. The object was to cover a shoe box with Christmas paper and fill it with various small items that related to the age of the child. The refuge was asked for the likely number of children and the ages of the children receiving the gifts. The age range that was catered for was from three months up to sixteen years. All sorts of gifts were provided. Small items of clothing such as hats, gloves, scarves, socks, hair slides and ties, plus baby clothes were given. Then useful school items for example pens, pencils, crayons, notebooks, pencil sharpeners, rubbers and staplers. Sweets, games, books and small toys such as cars and dolls added to the boxes and where appropriate the all important soft toy.
The wrapped gifts were placed in front of the Altar on Sunday 19th December. Fr. Jonathan blessed the gifts and said prayers for those who would receive them. The response from the congregation was magnificent, in all twenty one gift boxes were delivered the week before Christmas. The refuge was quite overwhelmed by the spontaneous generosity shown to these children. The women, in many cases, have arrived at the refuge with the children with no possessions or means of support.
This is a wonderful example of community outreach, using our faith in a very practical way to help others. A final thought, when you are buying shoes this year please save a shoe box for next Christmas.
Pancakes Galore!
Sunday 3rd March dawned bright, sunny and cold. A sigh of relief, if you listened hard enough, could be heard from the members of the Mother’s Union. Our prayers had been answered; we had a dry sunny day. On entering church you may have noticed members of the congregation sitting with frying pans. Following the Sunday service and coffee a pancake lunch was served to members of the congregation. People were asked to bring their favourite fillings. There were also a lot of delicious fillings provided, for both savoury and sweet, by the Mother’s Union. The objective was to raise some money for Sudanese refugees in Finland.
The event started with pancake races around a course in the park. The degree of difficulty was increased by having to toss the pancakes at set points along the course. There were several races for children and young people plus a race for the adults in which Jonathan took part. The adult race led to a few resolutions for Lent to get fitter, but not before the consumption of a lot of pancakes.
The event raised 1000DKK (€135) for the Sudanese refuges. A very big thank you to the members of the Mother’s Union and individuals co-opted for the congregation for all their preparation and hard work to make the event a great success. Also a special thank you to all the members of the congregation who joined in the fun and by their support made the event SUCCESS!
Mothering Sunday
This year the flowers for Mothering Sunday were prepared by the Mother’s Union. Saturday 2nd of April saw a few of the members in the crypt putting together 75 posies of daffodils and tying with red ribbon. It was a very pleasant way to spend a couple of hours on a Saturday afternoon. Sunday morning early saw Jonathan giving a hand to wrap the bottoms of the posies in tinfoil. At the end of the service the children in the congregation distributed the flowers to every woman in church. Cakes had been made by some members of the Mother’s Union and these were served at coffee. A big thank you to those that helped on Saturday and those that baked for Sunday to make it special.