FRIEND TO FRIEND NOVEMBERDECEMBER 2012 NEWSLETTER

Origin of the Advent Calendars

Advent from the Latin word adventus meaning "coming", is a season observed in many Western Christian churches, a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus available Advent calendars begin on December 1, regardless of when Advent begins, which can be as early as November 27 and as late as December 3. Many take the form of a large rectangular card with "windows" of which there are often 24; one for each day of December leading up to Christmas Day. One is opened every day during Advent. In many of these calendars, each window opens to reveal an image, a poem, or a portion of a story such as the story of the Nativity of Jesus. More elaborate Advent calendars have a small gift concealed in each window, such as a toy or a chocolate item. The origins of the Advent calendar come from German

at Christmas. An Advent calendar is a special calendar which is used to count or celebrate the days of Advent in anticipation of Christmas. Some calendars are strictly religious, whereas others are secular in content. Despite the name, most commercially

Lutherans who, at least as early as the beginning of the 19th century would count down the first 24 days of December physically. Often this meant simply drawing a chalk line on the door each day, beginning on December 1. Some families had more elaborate means of marking the days, such as lighting a new candle or hanging a little religious picture on the wall each day.

Inside this issue:

Advent and the Advent Calendar Christmas card competition entries Christmas card winning entry Marsden Group 4 3 1

Charity Auction and a 5 thank you Holmfirth Project A Big Thank You Holmfirth Charity Market Meltham Group Examiner Wish List Free Bus Boxing Day Fair Trade Enterprise Netherton Group Answers to last months quiz Christmas Quiz 10 9 6 7

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Merry Christmas mes- 12 sage / Useful phone numbers

Christmas Card Competition!

Many thanks to all of you who sent in entries for our Christmas card competition. We were most impressed by your talent! Here are a few copies of the ones we received.

The winning entry was chosen by a company in Bridge MillsSpirula research company specialising in services to the public sector. This is run by our newly elected trustee Anthony Phillips (Spike) and his partner Ruth Southon. They very kindly offered to help us by printing the cards for us. This was an incredibly generous gesture and we are most grateful to them for their help. They were unanimous in their choice of card as it promoted the Friend to Friend group in a very visual way. This is a copy of the winning entry. It was sent in by Christine Ward from Meltham. Well done Christine! It was lovely how you used the Friend to Friend logo in your design.. Your prize will be with you shortly!

Congratulations Christine for the winning entry!

Marsden Friend to Friend We have been very busy planning for Christmas here in Marsden. We had a session in which we made Christmas cards. Each member made two cards and every one of the cards was unique in design. The finished cars looked very nice indeed and all the members were very pleased with their cards.

Grace and Marie proudly displaying their Christmas cards

Audrey and Doris

Alwyn and Ann

We have also been busy planning our forthcoming Bring and Buy Sale and Coffee Morning. It will take place on Thursday 22nd November. We hope that this fund raising event will attract a lot of customers looking for bargains. Everyone is going to do their bit and we will be busy taking turns serving on our Bring and Buy stall and also serving tea and coffee. It should be a busy and fun morning. We have also decided to go to the Railway in Marsden for our Christmas Lunch. There are at least 15 of us going on Thursday the 13th of December, so we are all looking forward to a fun afternoon with lots of festive food. Cynthia Phillips

Charity Auction
On Wednesday the 21st November, the fund raising committee led by Gill Evans held a very successful charity auction at Brambles in Holmfirth. Many thanks to Gill for organising the event and also to the committee for their invaluable help. Many prizes were donated by local businesses and of course we could not have done without all those who bid on the day. An amazing total of 2458 was raised! Thank you once again.

Huddersfield Examiner 27.11.12

Dorethea Tarbatt and Mary Fisher Friend to Friend would like to give a big Thank You to Dorethea Tarbut of the Denby Dale group as she has provided us we so many craft items over the years to sell at our fundraising events. For our last Holmfirth Charity Market, Dorothea made us a good number of lavender bags which all sold on the day. We would also like to thank Mary Fisher who provides Dorothea with the lavender. Mary grows, harvests and dries the lavender in her own garden. So well done to both ladies and thank you.

Holmfirth Project

Audrey Howard picture Hinchliffe Mill

Sent in by Shirley Simmonds

Honley Group
On Thursday November 15th, the Honley ladies had a trip out to a favourite spotthe Garden Centre at Shelley. It was a lovely day and we arrived at about 2.00 pm in time for a much needed cup of tea and a cake with time afterwards for some shopping. Thank you to Shirley for organizing this once again.

A Big Thank You!

Holmfirth Charity Market 28th of October We would like to Thank Gill and Richard Evans, Janet Potter, Shirley Simmons and Shirley Boardman for taking turns in standing on the stall to sell our wide range of handmade goods, baked goods and plants. Our best sellers on the day had to be our range of delicious cakes and fudges and we would like to thank our bakers, Linda Dunbar, Winnie Turner and Janet Potter for their hard work. Finally a thank you to our dish cloth knitter, Christine Hoyle from the Netherton group and Judith Ellis for her home grown plants. We also displayed and sold for the first time a selection of Fair trade products, tea, coffee and chocolate. So a very enjoyable and successful day, raising 150.00.

MELTHAM FRIEND TO FRIEND NOVEMBER MEAL

An extra treat for members this November. A trip to Wetherby Whaler Wakefield for a fish and chips lunch. On a bright sunny, but chilly morning, we went by coach to Wakefield with fine views on the way, especially overlooking the Holmfirth Valley. On arrival we were treated to a three course lunch, followed by our monthly raffle, ably overseen by Arnold Lodge. Following which we returned home well satisfied with our meal. Many thanks to our volunteer helpers who ensured the trip was a success. Special thanks to Neil and Pat Craven who were instrumental in ensuring that those members who needed transport to the coach

stop in Meltham and home afterwards. A reminder to all members, that the December meal is the Christmas meal at Durker Roods Hotel in Meltham.

Examiner Wish List Tokens Many, many thanks to all those who collected and sent in the tokens from the Huddersfield Examiner. We are now busy cutting them out and sticking them into the official booklets to present our claim. Lets keep our fingers crossed for a successful outcome. We will let you know in January after the count!

Free Christmas Bus on Boxing Day Starting at Scholes Boot and Shoe, stopping at Holmfirth, Brockholes, Honley Bridge, Berry Brow, Lockwood, Huddersfield Kingsgate and Huddersfield Westgate then on to HRI at Lindley. First bus sets off from Scholes at 09.23 last bus back From HRI 16.50. For full timetable check on the Metro West Yorkshire website, on local Stotts buses or Tourist Information Centre
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Our Own Fair Trade Enterprise You may remember from the October newsletter that I wrote about working with a charity called Not Just a Trading Company, to set up our own mini enterprise selling Fair Trade products. Since then we have now successfully launched these products at the Holmfirth Charity Market. By selling these products, the profit made will go towards raising funds for Friend to Friend. These products are now available for purchase from the office and these are; Roast and Ground Coffee 227g at 3.95 Long Grain Rice 1kg at 2.45 Bar of chocolate- 45g 85p 160 teabags at 3.70 Instant Coffee 100g at 2.95 We also have catering sizes which may be useful to buy for your group meetings and the prices are, 1100 teabags 21.50 or 550 teabags 12.75 /Coffee 500g tin 13.50 If you would like more information about these products then please call me at the office on 687773. Jane Burlingham

Netherton North Light Gallery In this session we had a guest Sheila Armitage who came along to teach us how to make sugar craft Christmas decorations. We started with a walnut whip each, took off the walnut and replaced it with a malteser. Then coated and decorated it in sugar icing. Everyone really enjoyed this session and there was much laughter as we tried to assemble all the parts.

In this session we had a guest speaker who came along to talk to us about her years spent living and working in China. She lived in some of the more remote places and told us many fascinating stories about Chinas customs and food with photos to look at.

Answers to last months quiz: Its a long way to Tipperary, its a long way to go Pack up your troubles in your old kitbag Keep the homes fires burning, whilst your hearts are yearning It wont be a stylish marriage cant afford a carriage Therell be bluebirds over the white cliffs of Dover But I know well meet again some sunny day Hell get by without his rabbit pie so run rabbit, run rabbit, Run! Run! Run! Its a lovely day tomorrow / tomorrow is a lovely day Grab your coat and get your hat, leave your worries on the doorstep Were going to hang out the washing on the Siegfried line Thanks for the memory Bless em all, bless em all, the long and the short and the tall Look for the silver lining, whenever skies are grey

This month, we did have an entry from Peter Priestley of the mens group. Well done Peter, you got most of them right . However, you need to listen to Vera Lynn again singing Well meet again and Flanagan and Allens Rabbit Pie song!

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Christmas Quiz!

1. What date is St Stephen's Day? 2. In Charles Dickens' novel A Christmas Carol, who was Scrooge's dead business partner? 3. The song White Christmas was first performed in which 1942 film? 4. London's Trafalgar Square Christmas tree is traditionally given by which country? 5. In the song The Twelve Days of Christmas, '...my true love brought to me nine...' what? 6. Name the original eight reindeer from the 'Twas the night Before Christmas' poem. 7. Which Christmas carol includes the lyrics '...To save us all from Satan's power, when we were gone astray..'? 8. The character Jack Skellington appears in which 1993 Tim Burton film? 9. What colour are the berries of the mistletoe plant? 10.In the inspirational 1946 film, It's a Wonderful Life, what's the name of George Bailey's guardian angel? 11.What are the names of the three wise men said to have brought gifts to the baby Jesus? 12.What is New Year's Eve called in Scotland? 13.What Christmas item was invented by London baker and wedding-cake specialist Tom Smith in 1847? 14.In what year was Band-Aid's Do They Know It's Christmas the UK Christmas chart-topping record? 15.Which country did St Nicholas come from? 16.Who wrote How the Grinch Stole Christmas? 17.From which country does the poinsettia plant originate? 18.Who wrote Auld Lange Syne? 19.How many points does a snowflake have? 20.What is the name of the cake traditionally eaten in Italy at Christmas?
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As this is our last newsletter before Christmas, we would like to wish all our readers a very HAPPY CHRISTMAS and our very best wishes for a wonderful 2013.

Friend to Friend Contact Details Tel: 01484 687773 www.friendtofriend.org.uk Email: rachel.friendtofriend@virginmedia.com Registered Charity Number 1092163

Emergency Numbers during Christmas: For less urgent crime to the Police call 101

(Use 999 where there is danger to life and for medical emergencies only) National Gas Emergency: Npower: Huddersfield Royal Infirmary: Yorkshire Water: Huddersfield Police Station: Social Care ServicesEmergency Team
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0800 111 999 0845 375 675 01484 342000 0800 57 35 53 01484 43 66 59 01484 414933