St Paul’s Mothers’ Union
SOS Fashion Show
This was held on Friday September 7th at Coven Memorial Hall in support of the Gem Centre.
The evening was a great success and was enjoyed by about 130 people who enjoyed a glass of Prosecco and a buffet as well as the fashion show. The event raised a grand total of £932.54. Donations from shops and stores in the area as well as bottles of Prosecco and raffle prizes from friends and family were very gratefully received.
Brewood Cycle Callenge 24th June 2023
Mothers Union are baking cakes for this event in support of Brewood First Responders
Coven Mothers Union ladies met up with Al and Tia to present them with a cheque for £322.The money raised was from the knitted Easter Bunnies and the Easter Treasure Hunt
St Paul’s Cream Tea/Fete Event
Coven Mothers Union ladies helped St Paul’s Church at their Cream Tea /Fete Event on Saturday 17th 2023 by serving cream teas in the kitchen. We donated two beautiful food/wine hampers, sold raffle tickets and organised the ‘How many balloons in the car competition. Altogether Mothers Union raised a grand total of£561.30. Once again we would like to thank everyone who supported us by buying raffle tickets or coming to the actual event. St Paul’s Church appreciates everyone’s support.
Well done to Anne Guest who won the raffle prize and to Louise (Margaret Phillip’s daughter) who won ‘Guess the number of balloons in the car’ with 118 balloons.
Big Brekfast
Coven Mothers raised £90.00 for Christian Aid from taking part in their annual Big Breakfast on 13th May 2023. we would like to thank everyone who supported the event.
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https://bigpeachallenge.christianaid.org.uk/fundraising/CovenMU23
Achievements in 2022
Coven Mothers Union started 2022 off by delivering a mixture of electrical kettles / rucksacks/ clothing /toiletries and tinned custard /potatoes from the money raised in December 2021 to The Good Shepherd Wolverhampton and a cheque for £272 was presented to The Mothers Union Overseas Reading and Writing Project.
With COVID 19 restrictions lifted we were able to hold our Cuppa and Cake Event in St Pauls Church in support of The Haven Wolverhampton on Saturday 5th March 2022. This event was supported immensely by family / friends and the community of Coven and we managed to raise a grand total of £589.35.This was greatly received by Hayley Powell who is head fundraiser for The Haven. During this event we also collected donations (Toiletries / clothing and bedding) for the UKRAINE Appeal and passed our donations to Coven Methodist church. Jessica and Joshua Knight had their own stall and sold some of their teddy bears and brought 18 x jars of baby food for the babies of Ukraine.
On Wednesday 9TH March – We had 2 members who officially signed up to Mothers Union. It was a great honour to see Anne Guest and Pauline Ward become official members and making such a huge difference in helping less fortunate people than ourselves.
During this meeting we had a practical workshop where we made Palm Sunday crosses in preparation for the Easter display in St Pauls Church. Our children and grandchildren also coloured in Easter crosses to make up a “Stain Glass Window “ display. This looked absolutely beautiful when it was put together. Well done to all the Mothers union ladies and our young supporters.
As we approached Easter the clever Mothers Union Ladies were busy knitting Easter Chicks / Lambs etc with Cadbury Cream eggs inside. We made £143 from this activity and we donated £100 to St Pauls Church and we used £40 to pay the organist for the Deanery Festival which we hosted in September.
During the weekend of 2nd and 3rd April we organised a Bunny Hop Trail around Coven and raised £176.50. This was another huge success and was enjoyed by many people young and old around the village. It was decided as a group that this money would be rounded up to £180 and a further £75 was donated by the family of Jane Morris in memory of her. A grand total of £255 was presented to Brewood First Responders in July 2022.
On Saturday 14th May – We held our “Big Breakfast in aid of Christian Aid” and made £265 on the just giving page – Can we say a massive thank you to everyone who took part and donated.
On the 5th June – Coven celebrated the Queens Jubilee at the Memorial Hall – Again Coven Mothers Union did a Teddy Tombola stall and raised £65 for mother union charities. We also organised a very last minute Tea and Coffee stall raising a further £150. We decided to donate £50 to St Pauls School Association £50 to St Pauls Church and £50 mother union charities. Again this event was well supported by the local community and everyone had a really enjoyable day.
July 2nd was St Pauls Church Fete and Coven Mothers Union put together 2x food hampers and sold raffle tickets to family and friends before the day of the fete and continued to sell raffle tickets on the day raising an amazing £665 for St Pauls Church
During July we were able to celebrate one of our eldest Coven Mothers Union Members Brenda Rowenhurst being married to her husband Peter for 60 years (Diamond Anniversary) and our youngest member Charlotte-Anne Smith getting engaged to Matthew….Just starting their journey…Many congratulations to them all.
Back in May 2021- We raised £400 for a “Well-being Bench” for the pupils of Wolgarston High School but due to Covid Restrictions and work being carried out at the school we were unable to go and see the bench that we actually purchased for then but finally on 18th July 2022 (One of the hottest days of the year !!!). We were able to visit the school and actually see the bench that was brought with the money. The staff and pupils made us feel very welcome and it was great to see the pupils using the bench.
Saturday 10th September 2022 was a big day for Coven Mothers union has we hosted The “Penkridge Deanery Festival” at St Pauls Church – and what a fantastic service this was in honour of our belated Queen Elizabeth II who sadly passed away 2 days earlier. After discussion with Reverend Greg Yerbury /Church Wardens and Helen Palfrey it was decided that the service should still go ahead. After all our queen was the Patron of Mothers Union. The service was another huge success and showed how Coven Mothers Union tries to involve our children / grandchildren family and friends in the work of mothers union. Our younger mothers union supporters had practiced for weeks with regards to a song they sang during the service which was absolutely beautiful and intercessions were also led by the children. Well done to everyone involved – You did Coven proud. During this service we had a collection plate and £152.40 was raised and passed to Mary Sumner House.
On 23rd September – We organised a skittles night in support of The Gem Centre Family and Partnering Team. Again this was well supported and raised £543.50 – Absolutely amazing – Members of the mothers union delivered 16 mum bags which contained a variety of baby items along with food parcels /Nappies and knitted baby blankets and cardigans. This is another great cause that Coven Mothers Union supports. We thank everyone who supported this event especially Coven Memorial Hall committee / Pendeford Morrisons /ASDA Wolverhampton and Brewood Spar.
During November Coven Mothers Union also donated the Royal British Legion £25 for our poppy wreath and we also brought the Craft club /Forget Me Not club / Toddlers and WI boxes of biscuits after they have supported the Mothers Union with Guess the Special Date Competition.
December was another busy month – Again we were able to donate a food & wine hamper to St Pauls First School and St Pauls Church as part of their Christmas raffle prizes.
We also attended St Pauls First School Christmas fete and manged to raise £96 from the Christmas crafts that we made (+£5 donation to St Pauls School for having the stall). We then attended the Coven Christmas Light Switch on and sold all the Christmas Crafts made by the clever mother union ladies and raised another £173.65. Teddy Tombola stall made another £83 and Name the Teddy Bear raised another £25. So the total raised was £356.65– Amazing – This money will go toward the Good Shepherd and The Overseas Reading and Writing Project.
And Finally after starting “ Guess The Special Date Competition” back in December 2022 we manged to sell all 365 days ….£2 a date – making a grand total of £730 … £100 to the winner and the £630 to be split between St Pauls Church and Good Shepherd / The overseas reading and writing project. This has been a massive task throughout the year and can I say a massive thank you to everyone who worked so hard to sell all the dates. The special date was won by Kelly Hall with 6th May but very kindly donated it to Brewood First Responders. This is so very kind of Kelly.
As you can see Coven Mothers Union has worked extremely hard and has raised a grand total of £3,914.90. A massive achievement.
Christmas Wreath Display
This will take place on Saturday 10th December and Sunday 11th December See Jo Knight or Jan Carr for details.
Guess the Special Date
This competition was won by Kelly Hall and the Special Date was May 6th. Kelly very kindly donated her winnings (£100)to the Brewood First Responders. £730 was raised and £315 was given to the church and the remaining £315 will be put with other money that the MU hope to raise before before Christmas and will be donated to the Good Shepherd and Overseas reading and Writing Project.
Skittles Night
Skittles Night
A great night was had by everyone who joined in the fun of the Skittles night which raised nearly £550.00 for the Gems Centre. Well done to
the M.U. for organising the event.
These are some of the things that were purchased with the money
St Paul’s Church Summer Fayre
St Paul’s Church Coven held their church fete on 2nd July 2022.Coven mother’s union members helped to set up / collect plants and run several stalls at the event.The mother’s union donated two food hampers and sold raffle tickets to family/ friends and to people who attended the fete ….The raffle raised £665….which is incredible..We would to thank everyone who brought raffle tickets in support of St Paul’s church…..the final figure raised was £1,245.20!!!! Incredible!! .A massive thank you to everyone who has helped to set up the fete/ people who donated gifts for the tombola / Pipers and The Wergs garden centre who donated plants.The outside stall holders and not forgetting all the cake makers ..and the community who actually attended the event…St Paul’s Church really appreciates your support. JO
Jubilee Celebrations
Coven Platinum Jubilee celebrations went really well and was well supported by the local community, despite the rain ! …Coven Mother’s Union supported the event by holding a cake stall on behalf of St Pauls church and raised £200 Members / family and friends baked loads of cakes to be sold at the event. We would really like to thank everyone who made cakes for us …we really do appreciate it.
.We also held our famous teddy tombola stall which is always a hit with the children of Coven and made another £65 for Mother Union charities… Again we thank you all for all your teddy bear donations! We continued to run ” Guess the special date competition ” and we are well on our way to filling all the diary dates by the end of the year…and finally we managed to run the kitchen and sell teas and coffee with a cake for £1.50 by one of our new members and her husband who were thrown in the deep end but we’re absolute stars and raised another £150 which we decided to share equally between St Paul’s First school / St Paul’s church and Mother Union charities. We would like to say a massive thank you to Lindsey and the school association for organising the event which was enjoyed by everyone. Thank you to everyone who continues to support the work of Coven Mother’s Union without you we could not do it…We also like to thank Lorna Jones and the committee members for letting us use the Coven memorial hall for these special events. A massive congratulations to Holly Beason who sang the national anthem beautifully and the children of St Paul’s First school who sang at the event. A fantastic event for a special occasion…God bless our Queen.
Luke also ran the Winni the pooh” game on behalf of Brenda’s mom’s & toddlers group at the jubilee party which raised another £86. Brenda has donated this to the church along with £100 from mom’s and toddlers( total £186 ) xx
September 2021 -December 2021
During the weekend of Sept 24 th to Sept 26 th Coven Mothers Union ladies also baked cakes in support
of the Scarecrow festival raising funds for St Pauls Church and St Pauls First School. Not forgetting all
the beautiful poppies that were knitted by mother union members and members of the community
and put together by Jan Carr for Remembrance Day. This was simply amazing!
We have also put together another food / wine hamper as a Christmas raffle prize for St Pauls First
School.
And for our final efforts we knitted Christmas puddings / snowmen and Santa hats raising a grand
total of £187 plus another £14 from other Christmas crafts.
We also held two teddy tombola stalls at
the Frost Fayre on Saturday 27 th November and the Coven Christmas light switch on Saturday 4 th
December raising another £165. We also ran the Coven Memorial Hall kitchen at this event selling
teas/ coffee and homemade cakes etc raising another £79.54. All together we have raised £445.54
for our Mothers Union overseas charity and The Good Shepherd Centre. We were over the moon
with the generosity and support of the community and it was a great honour for Coven Mothers
Union ladies to actually switch the Coven Christmas lights on.
As you can see we have had another really busy and successful year raising lots of money for all our
charities, who have all been so grateful for our efforts.
The grand financial total raised for 2021 is £3,087.40 A massive achievement.
Coven Mothers Union would like to say a Massive thank you to everyone who has supported us this
year. We really appreciate your help and support. You have helped so many vulnerable people. May
God Bless you all.
Our next Coven Mothers Union meeting will be on Wednesday 26 th January 2022 at 7pm at St Pauls
Church – If anyone would like to come along, you would be more than welcome. Please contact Jo
knight on 07564013668 for more information.
January 2021 – August 2021
Coven Mothers Union started 2021 by handing over a cheque to Acorns Children’s Hospice for a
grand total of £581 on 11th January. This money was raised in December by members making and
selling handmade Christmas crafts. We also supported The Good Shepherd Centre and brought them
£581 worth of clothing and electrical items, such as kettles / microwaves and toasters for people
who had been re- housed and no longer living on the streets. These items were gratefully received.
At the beginning of the year we were still living with Covid 19 – and our NHS were still in desperate
need of patient supplies so we decided to put the NHS donation box outside the church where
people could make donations. Again this was very well supported by the local community and
toiletries were delivered to New Cross / Walsall Manor and The Princess Royal ICT Wards. A massive
Thank You to everyone who donated.
Due to Covid 19 restrictions Coven Mothers Union were unable to meet in person and actually hold
any events in St Pauls Church. Coven Mothers union continued to work hard and kept motivated by
planning different events but from our own homes. Our first event was our Cuppa and Cake event
on Saturday 6 th March in Support of The Haven. The Haven holds a very special place in our hearts as
The Haven was one of the first organisations that we supported when we started as a group back in
2017, and we know how desperate they were for financial support. Even though we were unable to
meet, members / family and friends held their own Cuppa and Cake events in their own homes and
raised £533.06. – Amazing!! We then arranged an Easter Chick Hunt around Coven village and our
very clever Mother union members and supporters made knitted Easter chicks with a Cadbury cream
egg inside and sold them to family friends and local community – Wow this was another great
success and was really well supported and a further £267.30 was raised. We were able to present a
cheque to The Haven for a grand total of £800.36. The Haven were so pleased and thanked the local
community for their support.
Coven Mothers Union also donated £49.50 to St Pauls First School, this was from Easter chick sales.
During the Easter week our children and grandchildren wrote Easter prayers and poems and these
were then displayed inside St Pauls Church and also placed on to our Coven Mothers Union facebook
page so that everyone could view them. These were beautiful and we received some lovely
feedback. Well done to all our younger supporters.
As May approached restrictions had still not lifted so once again we held our Big Breakfast at home
in support of Christian Aid. Everyone loves a big brekkie and again members and supporters joined in
the fun. We raised another £362 – Thank you to all involved.
On 21 st April Coven Mothers Union were approached by The Gem Centre Partnering Families Team
based in Wednesfield who desperately needed help to buy nappies and baby formula milk for
families fleeing domestic violence. Coven Mothers Union were able to donate £100 worth of nappies
and baby formula to the Specialist health visitors who could distribute to families who were in
desperate need.
Coven Mothers Union members collectively took part in a sponsored active week and were aiming
to walk/ run or bike the equivalent of 300 miles of The Monarchs Way between Saturday 29 th May
and Saturday 5 TH June …Members did extremely well and as a group actually achieved 333 miles in
very hot weather conditions and managed to raise a grand total of £812, which was truly amazing!!
This money was agreed to be divided between The Gem Centre to buy “mum bags” and Wolgarston
High School to buy garden furniture for the young people who have put together their own “break
out” area for quiet times and counselling sessions, who had been suffering with their own “well
–being” throughout lockdown. We hope to visit the school hopefully in September to see exactly
how the Break Out area is helping our young people.
Throughout Lockdown numerous people donated knitting and this was finally delivered to New
Cross Neo-Natel unit in July – Thank you to everyone who donated knitting.
Since the beginning of the year members have also been collecting sanitary products for a charity
called Period Poverty and two big boxes were delivered by one of our members in July. Thank you to
everyone who donated.
Coven Mothers union members have also supported St Pauls Church with their Garage sale and The
Afternoon Tea events and we are also selling raffle tickets for a food hamper for their Summer Fete
on Saturday 21 st August.
As you can see we have had a really busy eight months and have raised lots of money for all our
charities, who have all been so grateful for our efforts. So our next plans are for Christmas where we
plan to do a teddy tombola at the Christmas Frosty Fayre on Saturday 27 th November. We hope that
people in the local community will come along and support the event.
Coven Mothers Union would like to say a Massive thank you to everyone who has supported us this
year. We really appreciate your help and support. You have helped so many vulnerable people. May
God Bless you all.
Coven Mothers union are planning to have their first meeting back in St Pauls Church on Wednesday
8 th September at 7pm – If anyone would like to come along, you would be more than welcome.
Please contact Jo knight on 07564013668 for more information.
COVEN MOTHERS UNION 2020 ACHIEVEMENTS
Coven Mothers Union has once again has had a fabulous year despite the pandemic! and is a significant outreach organisation for missions and evangelism. It is the youngest and most active branch of Mothers Union in the Lichfield Diocese and is ably and creatively led by Jo Knight. Here is Jo’s report of their activities and achievements.
“Coven Mothers Union started the year 2020, by delivering a chocolate hamper to New Cross Hospital (Children Ward) and donating £50 to Linda Evans who is part of Coven Methodist Church to buy children’s socks to make rabbit dolls. Money raised would go to help Acorns Children’s Hospice. We then had 3 new members sign up officially (Linda Hughes / Jane Bowrin and Charlotte-Anne Smith) during our first Mothers Union meeting of the year. Coven Mothers union started to make plans for the year and our first event was a Cuppa and Cake event at St Paul’s Church in aid of The Haven on the 7th March 2020. This event was well supported by the community and raised £680.
Unfortunately, we were then hit by Covid 19 and all our planned events had to be put on hold, but Coven Mothers Union continued to strive and look at ways to continue to help and support the local community.
During the Easter holidays Coven Mothers union were approached by NHS staff to see if we could donate hand creams for the staff who were working under extreme pressures and difficult circumstances. We placed a box outside St Pauls Church where the local community could donate hand cream for the NHS staff and desperately needed toiletries for the patients who could not be visited by family or friends. The donations from the local community were overwhelming and they just kept coming and coming. Each night they were divided up between local hospitals and patients; Along with people making scrubs and face masks. The NHS were extremely grateful to everyone who contributed and said a massive Thank you. Coven Mothers Union children and grandchildren also took part in producing some excellent artwork which was posted on our FaceBook page to inform people of the Easter Story.
On 25th April we were due to hold our “Big Breakfast Event” but again due to Covid 19 restrictions we were unable to host. So, we asked people to host their Big Breakfast from the comfort of their own homes. Again, you supported us, and we raised £430 for Christian Aid, where the money would help poorer countries also dealing with Covid.
On 17th May – Coven Mothers Union donated £100 to Head office London – who were appealing for help from members due to the COVID crisis.
7th June was meant to be the Coven show where we would have raised money for the Gem Centre NHS Wednesfield, but sure enough once again this did not happen. So, Coven Mothers Union children and grandchildren decided to do a sponsored activity of their choice. Wow, again the children did everything they could think of to raise funds, from running, bike rides, triathlons, nature trails, skipping etc. The children managed to raise £935. This money was used to make “MUM BAGS” filled with useful baby items from toiletries to baby grows nappies etc, along with blankets which had been knitted by members and the local community. The new mothers also received a goody bag filled with toiletries. The GEM CENTRE staff who work with vulnerable mums were extremely grateful.
In normal times St Paul’s Church would have held their summer fayre around June. As this could not take place, we held a raffle and raised £182 for them.
As time went on and we still were not able to meet as a group, we held our first meeting via Zoom and managed to discuss future events. We were due to hold another auction night in October but as things were looking it was not going to be possible to take place, we started to think of other ways to raise funds. August Bank Holiday saw us doing a car boot sale to sell some of the items which had been left over from previous events. An early 5.00 a.m. start for the ladies involved (and a tale to be told!) but we were able raise another £113.40 for Acorns Children Hospice & The Good Shepherd Centre. We decided to hold and host a Frosty Snowman Walk around the village and sell crafts which the Mother’s Union members had made with the help and support of the local community, from their personal driveways. The money raised would be split equally between Acorns Children’s Hospice and The Good Shepherd Centre. As time went on and members were busy crafting away during the months of September / October and November, once again it was looking that our plans would need to be cancelled. But Mothers Union was not going to sit back, we managed to sell all the crafts and do another raffle which we sold to all our family friends and contacts in the local community. Once again people were so supportive of Coven Mother Union and we managed to raise a grand total of £1,162. An absolutely AMAZING amount considering what has happened this year.
This is not forgetting all the knitting that has been done by members and the local community for neo-Natal wards, The Gem centre and The Homeless. You have been amazing, and the knitting continues to be left on my doorstep – a massive thank you.
To finish the year Coven Mothers Union members donated food items to go into a beautiful hamper which was then donated to St Pauls First School as a raffle prize.
We also supported St Pauls Church in a Nativity Trail over the Festive Competition weekend of the 18th to 20th December – Helping us to remember the real meaning of Christmas. Despite the weather this was a beautiful end to our year.
I would like to say a huge and massive thank you to each and every one of you who has supported us throughout this very difficult year. You have helped so many people. Your support is very much appreciated. May God bless you all and we hope and pray for a better 2021.
As we move into 2021 and we still battle against Covid I would ask you all to give some thought of how we may try and raise desperately needed funds for different charities and vulnerable people……… Jo x”
Contact Jo Knight on 07654 013668
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