Rev Barbara Fairburn was our guest speaker at Cumbria MWiB’s “Summer Meeting and Afternoon Tea”, held at the beautiful Cottage Wood Centre, Calthwaite near Penrith on the 7th August, when the weather was amazingly warm & sunny.
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Following a welcome and time of opening worship led by Kathleen, Barbara kept all thirty three attendees enthralled with her illustrated talk on “Things Look Different from Here” – Stories of Life in Sweden, where she spent 6.5 years before entering into full time Ministry in the Methodist Church.
Barbara gave us a real insight into the history of that part of Scandinavia, little known to most of us:- its landscape, nature, housing, way of life, culture, wildlife, traditions etc. Living in Falkenberg, she taught many different groups of people, including refugees of all faiths at an Adult Education Centre. Attending an Ecumenical Church in Falkenberg, Barbara met refugees and asylum seekers from many countries, worshipping with them, and offering support and friendship. It was here that Barbara felt the call to full time Ministry and having now retired to Arnside, she still continues to support work with refugees and also visits Sweden periodically.
Following Barbara’s talk, we then partook of a delicious tea prepared by the ladies of the chapel, which they have been doing now for 13yrs. The money raised was used initially to modernise the church, to be fit for purpose in this modern age & keep it alive. This has been so successful ( see website) not only in providing a community asset, but also in maintaining weekly services and being a witness to the Lord.
We had a great time of fellowship together, this being our second event this year, before our time at Thornleigh in November.
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