Location Location Location
Bangladesh, Bolivia, Ethiopia. Poverty is rife all around the world. Too much water in some places, not enough in others. Every week, thousands of children are born into poverty-stricken places.

The Weakest Link
Poor farmers in northern Ghana are malnourished because they're short of food. They're short of food because they can't work. They can't work because they're malnourished …

Who wants to be a Millionaire?
For many people the answer is I don't. Having enough to feed their families once a day would suffice. One billion people live on less than $1 a day.

One foot in the Grave
When flood waters strike Bangladesh or Mozambique, many people find themselves straddling survival and death. The big problem is climate change. These flood waters are becoming worse, occurring annually.

Neighbours
The unfortunate people of the world may be living thousands of miles away from us but we all share the same planet. We're just lucky that we happen to live further from the equator.

The News
£15 million doesn't collect itself. Christian Aid needs you. To come to our special service at Pentecost; to give money; to collect at West Acton tube station. The money raised makes change possible. Do something special - contact Philippa Bird on 020 8932 1518 and offer your help, now.

Myth: Britain is not sunny enough.
Truth: Our new "collectors" do not need direct sunlight. They work on natural daylight.

Myth: Most of our energy is not for hot water.
Truth: Unlike central heating, hot water is a year round requirement.

Myth: Solar energy is too expensive.
Truth: It's never been cheaper! You will be paying for it with the money you would otherwise give to the utility companies.

Myth: It won't make any difference to the environment.
Truth: Global warming is a fact. Any contribution to a better environment for our future generations is better than no contribution.

Myth: The payback is too long.
Truth: Typically a system will pay for itself several times over, not only by the energy savings, but also due to the potential increase in your property value. The Guardian quoted that "evidence suggests solar power can add nearly 9% to a property's value" On average a Solar Home Energy system can provide up to 60% of your hot water needs every year, FOR FREE! Bear this in mind with the ever rising costs of gas and electricity which we will be bound to face in the future.

It is our own "Power Station" and we are told that we will be saving in the region of half a tonne of CO2 emissions a year!

Should anyone wish to know more about our installation or even see it in action (as long as it is not raining!) do please contact us on 8997 4664. Please note that all the above information is taken from the Company's brochure and we are not able to substantiate it - yet !

On Friday evening and Saturday day-time June 27th-28th we'll be hosting another of our teaching weekends with a Celtic theme to it. The speaker will once again be Ray Simpson, Guardian of the Community of Aidan and Hilda, who has visited several times before, and whose words of wisdom have been much appreciated. In February Ray led a retreat on a similar theme at London's St Katherine's spirituality centre. Ask Madeline Cotter at St Mary's if you want to know how good it was. Ray share insights from 1st millennium Christians on how to live a balanced and spiritually health life in our fast-paced century. On the Sunday he'll speak at our Joint service at St Mary's on "Tuning in to God."

All churches have a 'patronal festival', a kind of church birthday service. This falls on the festival to which the church is dedicated. Ours should take place on Ascension Day but as this is always on a Thursday it would be difficult for many of the congregation to come.

For that reason we have for a number of years transferred the service to the Sunday immediately after Ascension Day, which this year is Sunday May 4th. There will be a celebratory lunch after the service so please do stay. In recent years this has been one of our most well attended services so please do make sure you're there!

At the back of the Ascension we have a board where anyone can place a prayer request which will then be included in the intercessions over the next month.

Mandy Zanchetta posted the following note up there: "I thank you for your kind prayers. I now have two friends who have survived cancer (and not forgetting my own heart attack) who have been helped by your prayers and by the grace of God."

If you're a Parish News reader and not at church you can always leave a prayer request by phoning or e-mailing Simon.

At the All Age service on April 6th we were delighted to baptise (as an adult) Nilou Farahani who has come to Ealing from Iran where she and her mother became Christians. It was also a rather special day from a weather point of view with a lot of white stuff all over the place. Here's what Nilou emailed to Simon after the service. "My birthday is in December but it didn't snow. Now because I've been baptised, my new birthday is today and it was snowing." Now that's a proper understanding of baptism - and who says God doesn't have a sense of fun!

In April we welcomed our new Associate Vicar, Kevin McGarahan, who told us a little of his life history. His talk was entitled 'Man of God, Man of the People.' He outlined a thumbnail sketch of his life, from growing up in Moss Side; being a thug (his word, not mine!) in inner city Manchester; being put into the girls' class, where he learnt how to cook; leaving school at 14; working as a pot washer at the Midland Hotel in Manchester, then progressing in the world of catering, working at some well known hotels. Kevin attributes his success in catering to the teacher who taught him to cook and he told us "I started as a mess but someone took me on one side and helped me".

Kevin has a keen interest in sport and has run in the London Marathon for 25 years and after ordination he became involved with Christians in Sport. His ministry has taken him to some of difficult areas of the country including Rochdale, reaching out to the community; then back to Manchester to help the police crack down on the drugs problems. After that he worked as an urban missionary in Guildford before moving to Liverpool at the time of the Hillsborough disaster. The next move was to Madeley, near the Iron Bridge Gorge where his task was to put a church on a housing estate which was rife with drugs, violence and gun crime. He then became a member of the Royal Army Chaplains Department, ministering not only to the soldiers in Bosnia but to many others involved in the fighting too, and it was here that he was called 'Man of God, Man of the People.' Kevin had a wonderful story to tell. If you would like to know more please do contact him.

You will find details of our summer programme in the magazine. Do come along and join us at any of our meetings. We love to see new faces and you will be made very welcome. Our next meeting is on Tuesday 6th May at 2pm when we shall enjoy a musical afternoon with Moira Cyriax.

Many thanks to everyone who supported our production of 'Habeas Corpus' last month. We were totally sold-out on the Friday evening and came within 2 or 3 of being the same for the Saturday evening performance.

If you were unfortunate enough to miss it, then we can tell you that rehearsals are already under way for our next offering in July which will be 'Bowing Out', a Murder Mystery play written by our very own award-winning author Alan Robinson. This play will give our audience the chance to see if their little grey cells can work out 'who dunnit' before the final denoument!

Definitely one for your diary - more details next month!