Grace Church
What are you doing on Sunday? You can find all kinds of things to do, I'm sure you don't need anyone to suggest a few. However, first things first. We guarantee that if you give a Sunday morning to come to our 10.30 am morning service you will be pleasantly surprised. You will find people of all ages, different backgrounds and nationalities meeting as one family.
We will do our best to make it well worth getting up for, to enjoy serious fun, to hear a talk that challenges and is applicable to life today, good music and find new friends. You will be greeted and served by some of the amazing people who are part of Grace.
We would love to see you this Sunday. Come on your own, with friend or family, you are most welcome. Grace meet every Sunday at 10.30 am at the Queen's Hall, Narberth. Coffee is served from 10 am. There is an active time for children and a crèche when the speaker commences.
Grace have their offices at the Court House, Market Square, Narberth, which also houses the Liberty cafe. http://www.gracewales.info">www.gracewales.info
CHURCH services
Sunday: St. Andrew's, Narberth - 10 am Sung Eucharist. Holy Cross, Robeston Wathen -11.30 am Holy Eucharist.
Wednesday - St. Andrew's: 10 am Holy Eucharist.
Friends of
Narberth Museum
The Friends' spring/summer programme has now been completed and will be sent out to existing Friends, together with membership renewal forms for 2009. New Friends are also very welcome. Please call into the Narberth Museum Bookshop in Market Street to collect a programme and membership form. The bookshop is open 10.30 am to 4.30 pm Monday to Friday.
Friends are very important to the museum, especially during this difficult period with the museum collection still in store, while they continue the lengthy process of raising funds to complete the renovation of the Bonded Stores.
The building will then house the unique Narberth collection and give scope for many other events connected with the history and culture of Narberth and surrounding area.
Narberth U3A
Narberth U3A music group had a rare treat this week when they enjoyed previously private film and sound recordings put together by Brian Harvey (writes Dave Dando).
The subject was the famous Las Vegas entertainment group, the 'Rat Pack' - the unique band of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr and comedian Joey Bishop, who entertained regularly at the Sands Hotel Copa Room.
Star-studded audiences included the late American President John F. Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe, who sometimes joined in the unscripted on and off stage romps. They became a legend and formed the nucleus of the original Oceans Eleven film cast. Much of the action of that film was centred on the group's wild Las Vegas behaviour.
The creative art group was an oasis of calm after the Narberth traffic. Using the medium of watercolour, aspiring artists worked on landscapes experiencing the pleasure of producing something uniquely their own. This is a pastime people often long to take up or further develop in later life. History is full of individuals, like Churchill, who found respite from turbulent events in painting.
The general meeting will be tomorrow (Saturday) at 10.30 am in the lounge of Williams Court, Northfield Road, Narberth (with parking in the Bloomfield Centre).
If you are retired from full-time employment, and now have time to take an interest in any of the following: art (appreciation and painting), music, bridge, history, poetry, novels, Tai Chi, walking (both gentle and not so), natural history, gardening, Mah-jongg, or discussing various topical subjects, then come along to this general meeting and meet others with similar interests.
For more information, telephone (01834) 862964 or (01834) 860152.
Inner Wheel
The Inner Wheel Club of Narberth and Whitland held their monthly meeting on Monday. President Pearl Holding welcomed everyone present and warmly thanked Anne Jones for holding the meeting at her home.
Arrangements were made for the forthcoming lunch to be held at the Town Hall, Whitland, on Sunday, February 22. Entry by ticket only. Entertainment has been organised.
Members would be attending the Lyric Theatre, Carmarthen, on February 17 to see the musical South Pacific.
Blood donor sessions and Meals on Wheels were arranged and members were reminded of the shoe boxes to be filled with essential items for overseas and brought to the March meeting.
There would be a pancake tea arranged by members for the Whitland senior citizens on Shrove Tuesday, February 24, at St. Davids Avenue, Whitland.
On Friday, February 27, members would be attending a fish and chip supper arranged by the Saundersfoot Club at the Mermaid Restaurant. Pembroke Club would be celebrating their 50th anniversary at the Cleddau Bridge Hotel on March 20.
The District meeting would be held at the Aberavon Hotel on March 7.
The meeting ended with a welcome cup of tea.
Rugby Fixtures
Narberth are without a Division One West league fixture tomorrow (Saturday) because of the rugby international at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, between Wales and England.
Supporters not travelling to Cardiff for the international can watch the match live on the big screen at the Narberth RFC clubhouse. Kick-off is at 5.30 pm, but television coverage starts earlier. Hot food will be available at an affordable price.
On Wednesday, Narberth are away to Felinfoel in a rearranged fixture of Division One West of the Swalec Welsh National League. Kick-off is at 7.15 pm.
Probus Club
Nil desperandum would have been a good title for Pauline Griffiths's talk given to the members of Narberth and District Probus Club at their January meeting at the Nantyffin Motel.
Introducing the speaker, the president, Len Jones, said that Pauline Griffiths, curator of the Narberth Museum, had been born in Port Talbot, read English literature at Liverpool University, taught in secondary education in the West Country and South Wales, returned to Liverpool to raise a family, before returning to Wales in 1986, becoming curator of the Narberth Museum in 1999.
Introducing her talk, Pauline reminded her audience that 2009 was a year of anniversaries, Charles Darwin, Alexander Selkirk, Felix Mendelssohn, the disestablishment of the Church in Wales and, tongue in cheek, 20 years of the Narberth Museum!
Creating a museum, Pauline said, was complicated and needs a dedicated staff of volunteers, with experts on hand to comment upon the veracity of artefacts and to give advice upon their provenance and, last but not least, a curator to organise and hold it all together.
Describing how a museum is set up, Pauline outlined the forming of a trust, followed by registration as a charity after first being accepted as a museum of good standard. Narberth Museum began its life in a building provided by James Williams and the site proved a popular venue for locals and visitors from its inception.
Unfortunately, in 2003, the properties of James Williams were sold and artefacts were taken away for storage in Scolton Manor, until a new venue could be found.
For the next four years, the band of volunteers soldiered on and a spirit of determination to go on pervaded, with a presence being provided by a small bookshop with room from an exhibition from time to time.
In 2005, the Bonded Stores offered the possibility of a new home, but much restoration would be necessary before the premises were fit for purpose. Planning permission was required, with its attendant health and safety restrictions to be addressed.
The new museum will be a much-improved version, with climate control and overhead lighting to enhance and conserve the artefacts. Collections of memorabilia, letters, photographs and paintings of local scenes will be available for study by students and those researching family history.
One of the letters written in the trenches in WWI and sent to his mother by Bowen Stephens was most poignant and, being sympathetically read by Pauline, made a telling impression on the members.
Summing up, Pauline said that now the new museum was a reality, the band of devoted volunteers felt that all their patience and efforts would be duly rewarded.
In offering a vote of thanks, Stan Pitts said how much the members had enjoyed Pauline's talk and their admiration for the determination of a small group of enthusiasts to persevere in the face of adversity.
Mr. Len Jones, the president, added his heartfelt thanks to the speaker and reminded members that Duncan Hilling, head gardener at Picton Castle, would be speaking to the club on February 26 at Nantyffin.
NARBERTH BAPTIST FELLOWSHIP
'That's unforgivable'. Often we hear these words uttered by someone who has been deeply wronged or insulted or hurt by another. It may be brothers or sisters, angered at one another over family inheritance; an employee toward his employer; a man left broken by his partner's infidelity.
Such a statement implies that nothing can be done to correct the wrong, to make things right so that the injustice is cleared.
One of the problems with refusing to forgive is that the wound will remain, festering until it consumes our whole life.
More often than not, expressions like this are never uttered; instead, the boiling rage of bitterness churns in the soul like the molten core of a volcano waiting eruption.
Peter asked Jesus a question: "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?" Jesus' response to Peter was "I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to 70 times seven" (Matthew 18).
What He calls for is not to keep a record of the times we forgive others, checking off the numbers until we hit 490 as some imply. Instead, the language implies that our forgiveness toward others is to be unlimited.
Why is this, you might ask? And how is this possible, given the cruelty and suffering inflicted on us by others?
As Christians, we believe that because of Jesus, God has forgiven us our offences against Him. So it is only fitting that as those who have received forgiveness, we show the same mercy toward others that God has shown towards us.
Cricket Club
Winners of the National Lottery bonus ball draw organised by the ladies committee of Narberth Cricket Club this week were: Group A - Gary Hughes; Group B - no winner.
There will be a meeting on Monday, 7.30 pm, at the rugby club, while the club's annual general meeting takes place on Monday, March 9, at the rugby club at 7.30 pm.
Indoor winter nets start on Tuesday, March 3, 6-8 pm, at Crymych Leisure Centre.
Meat Draw
Winners of the Narberth RFC Supporters' Club meat draw this week are as follows: beef - Paul Scheffler; lamb - John Owen; pork - Vincent Rees.
The supporters' club raises money each week on behalf of the rugby club through the meat draw. Supporters interested in having a ticket at £1 per ticket with three chances to win a joint of meat for the weekend, should contact Shelley Morris on (01834) 861897 or any member of the supporters' committee.
The draw takes place every Friday evening.
Plant sale
Beat the credit crunch! Sell your plants at the Span Arts Big Plant Sale in Narberth.
This ever-popular annual event has been running for over 10 years, and is always a wonderful day out.
There will be food stalls, live music, and a huge selection of plants from Pembrokeshire's gardeners and nurseries.
Stalls cost £40 for a 12-foot pitch or £23.50 for a six-foot pitch, and the event takes place on Saturday, May 2, at the old primary school playground, Town Moor, Narberth.
For more information, call Alice on 869323.
Bethesda Baptist Chapel
Services at Bethesda Baptist Chapel, Narberth, in the week beginning Sunday, February 15, are as follows.
Sunday School on the 15th starts at 10.15 am. Morning service takes place at 10.30 am and the evening service at 6 pm. Both services will be taken by Rev. Chris Rees, minister of Bethesda Chapel.
The Bible study and prayer meeting takes place on Tuesday at 7.15 pm.
The Ladies Fellowship meeting is on Wednesday afternoon at 2 pm in the schoolroom.
A Christian bookstall will be held in the Country Market in Narberth's Queen's Hall on Thursday between 9 am and 12 noon.
All are very welcome to these meetings.
Steps2health
Last week, Narberth Steps2Health group welcomed Mr. Paul Morris on their walk, which was the coast path from Wisemans Bridge to Saundersfoot and back.
The weather was bitterly cold, the tide was full in and seagulls in their hundreds flocked and swooped by the water's edge; all wondered what bounty they had found. The walkers were so lucky to watch this spectacle.
Back in Narberth they went for their usual refreshments. Ralph and Janet were given their first badges for achieving 10 walks.
If you would like to join the group, just turn up at Narberth bus stop on Wednesdays for departure at 10.30 am.
Wales Air Ambulance
A special charity concert and cawl supper for Wales Air Ambulance will be held at Narberth Rugby Club on Friday, March 13, featuring Whitland and District Male Choir.
Tickets priced £10 can be obtained from Narberth Rugby Club on (01834) 860462 or from John Mathias on (01834) 860150. The concert starts at 7 for 7.30 pm.
Templeton and Reynalton United Reformed Churches
The united Holy Communion service on Sunday will be held at Reynalton URC at 9.30 am and will be led by Rev. Norman Gilbert.