Collections catch up

Here are some news items from Steve Shurville who has been busy collecting from the Woking/ Aldershot area

Sheerwater Scout Group, Woking on Wednesday 16 November

Woking OCC volunteers Steve and Eleanor Shurville joined an evening meeting of the Sheerwater Scouts, Woking with Scout leader Kath Brown to talk about Operation Christmas Child. This year the emphasis was on putting together some good quality boxes which would really delight the children receiving them. Eleanor helped with the technicalities of covering the boxes. After showing the DVD, Stephen spoke about the situation of children in Central Asia who would be receiving them this year. At the end of a chaotically busy evening, the Scouts produced 23 thoughtfully filled shoeboxes, including those already prepared by the Cubs.


Woking High School on Friday 18 November

Once again, children in a whole upper year at Woking High School supported Operation Christmas Child with a colourful collection of 39 well prepared shoeboxes which were bound for Central Asia. Their operation was clearly well organised as most of the boxes were properly banded, in some cases with 2 bands each, to ensure safety. A team of students helped to load the car for local OCC volunteers, Stephen and Eleanor Shurville, before a brief photo call.



A morning shoebox service at St Peters Church, Hascombe on Sunday 20 November

Stephen and Eleanor Shurville, local OCC volunteers, were privileged to attend a shoebox service at St Peter's Church in Hascombe Village. The service was attended by members of a number of local churches and was led by Canon Paul Jenkins for whom this would be one of his last services before moving on to a new post in Somerset. The service marked the Sunday of Christ the King and the theme of the service was that of obedience to God through service and giving in His name. Over 100 shoeboxes were presented at the altar and Canon Paul clearly thought that their colours matched those of his vestments. As always, a warm welcome was given as well as help in loading the van afterwards.


An afternoon shoebox service at the Church of Michael the Archangel in Aldershot on Sunday 20 November

A joint churches shoebox service was held for families in the Aldershot area at the Church of Michael the Archangel. The service was led by Rev. Tom Moore and attended by OCC volunteers Stephen and Eleanor Shurville and Maureen Grew. The service was entirely centred on the biblical basis for giving and there were prayers for the work of Operation Christmas Child before the boxes were dedicated. Maureen gave an illustrated talk about her distribution visit to Central Asia where this year's boxes were bound. The families attending the service were clearly moved by the stories she told about the children and families she met during her visit. The service was followed by a traditional chain of children who helped load the van with a record number of 216 shoeboxes.

Thanks Steve, it's great to have a another reporter on the ground.