September sees our first joint award to two sisters, Marrissa (16) and Poppy (9) Thorpe from Chesterfield who were nominated by Liz Sharples, Church Secretary of St Andrews URC. When the congregation heard the news of the award, we received a message from another member their who shared their appreciation of the two girls' outreach too! 

Liz shared with us some of the ways that Poppy and Marrissa have played their part in the mission of God over the last year during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

"Marrissa and Poppy ar active and valuabel members of our church community. They  have been attending our church and Junior Church since they were young and they both light up our services with their positive attitude each week. Over the last few years they have been willing helpers at church in many ways - helping with the offertory, serving refreshments after our morning worship, reading the Bible and taking part in services. 

"During the Covid crisis the girls have really demonstrated their commitment in a number of ways. 

"Just after the lockdown started in March 2019, the girls and I discussed the idea of delivering small posies of flowers to as many members as possible on Mothering Sunday. There has been a tradition in our church of handing out flowers at this time each year and the girls wanted to ensure that this tradition still took place. 

"The girls prepared over 30 beautiful posies and then helped me and their mum deliver them on Mothering Sunday morning - carefully observing social distancing and hygiene guidelines. we received great feedback by many of our members who were delighted by this gesture. The delivery was made more special as our members were greeted by Marrissa and Poppy when they opened the door! 

"During lockdown the girls continued their support by helping their Mum deliver shopping and run errands for members who were isolating or could not get out of the house easily. Sometimes the girls cheered up some of the elderly members by taking them for a short walk close to their house to get a bit of exercise. A welcome gesture! 

"As Marrissa and Poppy were not at school they had a bit of spare time on their hands when their schoolwork was completed. They decided to use this time to cheer up some of our members by making crafts which could be posted or hand delivered to them. They made cross-stitch bookmarks, butterflies and other crafts which delighted the many recipients. A brilliant idea, girls! 

"The girls have really made a difference to the life of our church over the last year and they deserve some recognition for all they have done." 

A church member, Helen Lidgett, contacted the Children's and Youth Work office when she heard of the award, clearly agreeing with all that Liz had said: 

"The members of our church were so pleased to find out that a Lundie medal and award had been made to Marrissa and Poppy Thorpe.  Thank you and the committee.

I have a photo of the craft work they sent to me and my husband Patrick.  It's hard to describe the surprise and joy when in the middle of stress of lockdown, with Patrick on the shielding list, we opened the post and these dropped out of the envelope. I was close to tears.  We are both using our bookmarks and the butterfly is on display."