Reverend Betty Trinder is the Methodist Minister for three Churches around Gorleston and Great Yarmouth (Methodist Magdalen Church, Lowestoft Rd Methodist Church, and Bradwell Methodist Church), and has been in this area for nearly 5 years now. 96k Talkback community journalist Tanya West is doing a report for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and interviewed the Reverend who is celebrating the event with Magdalen community.

 

Tanya West (TW): How did the group for the celebrations of the Queen’s Jubilee start?

Reverend Trinder (RT): Last Christmas we formed a group called Magdalen Christmas Celebrations Group. It consisted of Magdalen Way Methodist Church, St. Mary Magdalen Parish Church, Ormiston Adventure Academy, the MESH community centre and also Peter House School. The police and other individual members of the community were involved. We made lanterns and planned a parade up the streets but sadly the weather was against us - it was cold and wet. So we decided to hold the celebrations at the MESH community centre. We made lanterns through jankey d’s workshop and also made various things for the parade.

We have carried on with the group and we are now calling this group the Magdalen Diamond Jubilee Celebrations Group. It incorporates all of those groups I have already mentioned and also includes 96k Talkback with the aim to have a big celebration for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

 

TW: When is this event going to take place?

RT: It’s going to be held on Monday 4th June at 2pm at the Shrublands field, Gorleston. As the celebrations will be all over the weekend around the country, we decided to hold the celebrations there because if we had it at the Magdalen Green, there would be logistical issues such as having to block off all the roads as there will be many children and also for health and safety reasons.

 

TW: What kind of events are you organising for this celebration?

RT: We will be starting with fun and games and also we will be doing races like sack race, 3 legged race, egg and spoon race all the usual fun and games. We are also have fancy dress for the children and want to crown the King and Queen of the Jubilee for the Magdalen. There will be craft making of crowns and bantams. So all the groups we have mentioned have started making decorations for the field ahead of the celebrations. Everybody can bring and share things from food and drinks, or just show up and have loads of fun and celebrate a wonderful day with the community. It’s going to be great fun!

 

TW: What is the purpose of events like this?

RT: The purpose is to show the community working together and enjoy having fun. Last year we held a big lunch and all the community came together.

When people enjoy where they are and where they live, they will take care of it. People engaged with their community and that’s what we want to do. It’s all very exciting and we hope members of the public will want to come along and join our groups.

 

TW: When are you meeting then?

RT: We have a meeting on the 16th March (2 pm at The MESH) and if anyone would like to come and show they want to help as we do need a lot of help. We need help putting up trestle tables, chairs and serving refreshments. Anyone is welcome! We haven’t got any funding at the moment but we are hoping to get some so we can provide prizes (Changed from prises – assumed it was meant to be prizes) and refreshments.

We say bring and share to help each other. We appreciate that there are a lot of people who can’t bring anything, but they can still come along and enjoy themselves.

 

TW: What can people do to help out?

We are hoping to get some funds to cover things. People can donate their time or help making things for the celebration. Also food and drinks donations will help. They can take them to the MESH and pass it onto Julie Woods or bring it here to Methodist Magdalen Church. You have to plan things early to do an event as there are a lot of things to do.

So come along and enjoy and have fun and get involved.

 

Article by Tanya West.

 

Comments
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.