CPCC History

Dorothy McCabe

I well remember the Launch service on 12 December when George Lings likened it to the birth of a baby – there had been nine months of preparation, and today was a day of joy and celebration and, like a baby, we would start to take small steps forward, gaining confidence. There would, no doubt, be the troublesome twos and tiresome threes, then the teenage years, until we finally matured as an adult and would be strong enough to leave home and start life on our own – a new plant.

So, we started with a blank page and £10,000 - two gifts of £5,000 from each of our mother churches, St. Andrews and GBC - a Junior School hall, their small blue plastic chairs and the use of the adjoining Infant School hall, use of the school kitchen for refreshments because one of our members was the school cook and would take responsibility of our use of it. One small cupboard in an adjoining room, access to which was via a very low challenging door for our equipment, although most of the music equipment was brought in each week by members. And a shed load of enthusiasm and willingness to do whatever was needed.

Each week the set-up team put out the chairs and Bibles, later the musicians arrived with their equipment and set up and at the end, whilst coffee and donuts were being served, pack-up, started.

We adopted the school’s blue, using it for everything from stationery to tablecloths and the background to our main banner which states ‘To Live and Give the Good News’. This was the work of many people, as was the second one recording the names of those who formed the original church.

As we grew in numbers and equipment the school gave us permission to build the cupboard under the stairs and later have a shed in the playground. Setting up and packing down are a real work of art, loyally undertaken each week by our members.