Waddington Street members were delighted to welcome the Revd Fiona Bennett to Durham over the weekend June 17-19, as part of our church’s 150th anniversary celebrations. From July Fiona, who is minister of Augustine United Church in Edinburgh, will serve for one year as Moderator of the General Assembly of the United Reformed Church. Her […]
Read MoreModerator’s Visit
We look forward to the visit of the Revd Fiona Bennett, Moderator of the United Reformed Church General Assembly, over the weekend of June 17-19. On the Friday the Moderator will be visiting the Waddington Street Centre, our next-door neighbours. On Saturday 18th members and friends of our church will meet the Moderator over afternoon […]
Read MoreCreative Activities with Josephine Butler College
A programme of creative and story telling activities to celebrate our church community is being planned for this summer. Get the dates in your diary now! – more details to follow. June 7 Intergenerational Night Takeover June 23 Sketchbook Drawing Night July 21 Writing Poetry Night August 18 Memorial Art Making August 20 150 Years […]
Read MoreLive Literature Event
Details of an evening with EmilyAbdeni-Holman on Thursday 17th March at 7.00 pm
Read MoreInduction Service at Gateshead
The churches of the Durham and Gateshead Group called the Revd Marcus Hargis to be our minister towards the end of 2020. Marcus and his family moved into the Manse in Gateshead in the following February, with the expectation that a service of induction to the pastorate would follow a few weeks later. But then […]
Read MoreChanges from August 1st
Elders have written to members of the congregation outlining how Government decisions on the lifting of restrictions should be implemented. From August 1st there will be no need to book a place for Sunday worship, but the wearing of masks while on church premises will continue to be a requirement. Seating capacity in church will […]
Read MoreIntergenerational Project Update
September 2020 As university students are set to return to the city, we hope that this will mark a revival of the Intergenerational Project that has been part of our church life over the past few years. Originally intended as a means of welcoming international students, particularly from Josephine Butler College, to the city, more […]
Read MoreEasing of Lockdown
A letter to all members and friends – July 2020 We hope this letter finds you and your family safe and well after what has been a challenging time for us all. Now that we are seeing the easing of the lockdown and with it the government advice that churches can plan to reopen, the […]
Read MoreWe have seen his Glory
We look forward to the concert to be given by the St John’s Chapel Choir in our church on Saturday February 8th, in aid of Hope for Justice – a charity seeking to end Modern Day Slavery Here are details of some of the composers to be featured Thomas Tallis (born c. 1505, died 1585) is […]
Read MoreHope for Justice
This is our chosen charity for the coming months. Modern slavery is where one person controls another by exploiting a vulnerability. It is often linked with human trafficking, where a person is forced into a service against their will – usually forced work or prostitution. The control can be physical, financial or psychological. AND IT’S […]
Read MoreStudents celebrate Easter
It was only the second week of Lent, but the last of our students’ evenings of the term focused on Easter, and a mainly light-hearted look at traditional Easter celebrations. Since the autumn we’ve hosted monthly evenings for students from Josephine Butler College, and we’ve very much enjoyed the return hospitality that they’ve offered us […]
Read MoreCount your Blessings
We are being invited to participate in a fundraising exercise over the period of Lent in conjunction with a daily prompt sheet entitled “Count Your Blessings” . Money raised in this way will be donated to the Great North Air Ambulance Service, the charity we are currently supporting. Download the Count your Blessings prompt sheet
Read MoreWaddington Street Fallen
1914-1918 1939-1945 Download printer friendly version (29 Mb file) WW1 MEMORIAL DEDICATION Excerpt from the Durham Chronicle dated 29 October 1920 DURHAM PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH Memorial Tablet Unveiled On Sunday, the Rev. A. R. Paton M.A., of Seaton Delaval, returned to his old charge and preached both morning and evening in the […]
Read MoreWaddington Street Church Projects
“Making a difference in today’s world” Since 2010 the church meeting has voted annually to financially support Christian Aid and at least one charity or community project each year in addition to any other commitments. The total raised now exceeds £45,000. The activities undertaken to raise the money have brought real benefits to the members […]
Read MoreHalloween Students Night
Halloween saw this year another of our student nights: some twenty international students from the university braved the ghouls and the darkness to walk done the hill and spend an hour or two with church members, keen to share with them some of our seasonal pursuits and activities. There was bobbing for apples and, looking […]
Read MoreCoffee Morning for Blind Mission
A fund-raising coffee morning realised over £350 – part of our church’s support this year for The Christian Blind Mission (CBM). According to the figures on the CNM website, that one coffee morning should be the means to restore the sight of fifteen individuals through cataract surgery. And what’s more, for all who attended it was […]
Read MoreWalking in Weardale
It was the end of the second week of October, and the leaves were turning a glorious colour. A small group of us met at the wonderful Saxon Church at Escomb, just beyond Bishop Auckland, for a splendid morning walk that took us into quite unfamiliar parts of Weardale. Unfamiliar to most us, that is: […]
Read MoreGreenbelt Festival
Where to start – well August Bank Holiday and four days of wall to wall sunshine in the company of 11,000 fellow Christians in the grounds of Boughton House the home of the Duke of Buccleugh in Northants. A Christian festival of music, comedy, ideas and exploration around the theme “The Common Good” with time […]
Read MoreStudent Evenings
The second of our evenings welcoming overseas students to Durham took place on August 8th, which must have been the wettest day of the summer. Despite the rain, more than 20 students found their way to Waddington Street, mainly on foot and walking down from the hill colleges. For most of them this was still […]
Read MoreWorking on the Web
Half a dozen church members, keen to share the life of our church more widely, had a one-day session on getting our website up to speed. iChurch supermo Rebecca Gudgeon (right in the pic) gave us the low-down on how to bring the site upto speed, and challenged us to think more creatively on what […]
Read MoreA wonderful weekend
Barbara Tinsley writes about the recent church weekend (June 23-25) A group of us spent a truly wonderful weekend at Rydal Hall Ambleside (www.rydalhall.org ). The hotel was clean and comfortable, the company friendly and stimulating, the food excellent and the grounds beautiful. There is a formal garden designed by Thomas H. Mawson between 1909 and […]
Read MoreModerator’s Visit
The Moderator of General Assembly, the Revd Kevin Watson, presided and preached at our quarterly Communion Service on Sunday June 11th. The United Reformed Church elects two Assembly Moderators, one a minister and one a lay person, at its Assembly held every other year. As well as chairing the Assembly meetings, they visit churches across […]
Read MoreHappy Birthday to Alan
Retired minister Alan Smith, a member of our congregation, ended a week of celebrations of his 90th birthday with a fund-raising lunch in our church hall on Sunday June 11th, following the service led by the Assembly Moderator. Members of Alan’s family had travelled from as far away as Fiji to share in the celebrations, […]
Read MoreSupporting MSF
Excerpt from an email received by Judy and Arthur Banister from Chris Peskett of MSF. “The amount raised for MSF at the Christmas lunch was really impressive, especially considering all the money previously given to the organisation. It certainly shows that the congregation has a really strong desire to help those in need. The Myanmar […]
Read MoreNew Fundraising Project
Every year our church aims to support a particular charity – usually alternating between a local good cause and an overseas concern. Our January church meeting made the choice for 2017 of The Christian Blind Mission (CBM). This Charity is an international Christian disability and development organisation, improving the quality of life of people living […]
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