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Cooke Centenary Church |
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Cooke Praise Group Do you enjoy singing, good company, having fun and "a bit of a laugh"? Then you should drop in on some of the Praise Group rehearsals! We enjoy singing a wide range and variety of songs, but mostly modern praise music and we regularly take part in morning worship or sing at other Church events. We have also produced a number of musicals which you can read a bit more about below. Male and female, our core group of around 25 people have an age range which varies from the young in years to the young at heart - everyone is made very welcome. When practicing we meet on Sundays 5.45pm until 6.50pm, but there is also always time for a chat and a laugh. New members are particularly welcome - you don't need to be able to sight-read music or anything complicated - just have an ear for a tune and a willingness to have a go! Interested? Great! What have we done so far ....? Having sung together for a few years we tried our first musical "Feast of Life" in November 1999 to support the work of Christian Aid. It was a great success which everyone involved with thoroughly enjoyed. Spurred on by this success, in February 2001 we presented "Hopes & Dreams", a modern production of music, song, drama and dance based on the words of "The Lord's Prayer". Many from our congregation became involved in various aspects of this production as we were complimented by a team of dancers, readers and actors as well as several others who helped with the demands of stage management! The money raised from "Hopes and Dreams" was sent to support the Northern Ireland Children's Hospice, Orphans in Malawi and the Gujarat Earthquake Appeal In March 2002, we became involved with Simon Yak, a young pastor who was living in a Sudanese Refugee Camp. We wanted to sponsor Simon to attend Daystar University in Nairobi where he would receive training in worship ministry which would help him minister to his people. To support Simon, we had to raise £6400 - a lot of hard work was needed. At Easter 2002 we presented "Power of His Touch" which is the story of Holy Week in drama and song. The music was challenging but the production gave a powerful portrayal of events which was well received by all who attended, and many commented on how very moving they found the production. We received an enormous amount of support from many in our congregation who helped make costumes for all the cast as well as the choir and dancers - around 70 costumes in total - as well as constructing the Cross and staging. Christmas 2002 saw us present "Glory" a musical with drama and narration about the nativity which was also hard work but great fun. As well as singing "Glory" in our own Church we also sang quite a lot of it in "Forestside Shopping Centre" where the money raised was sent to help provide relief from famine in Ethiopia. In January 2003, we were well on the way towards raising the money needed and Simon Yak started his 2 year course. At Easter 2003 we did something very new for us - we presented "Power of His Touch" in two new venues - Strean Presbterian Church in Newtownards and in Donacloney Presbyterian Church. Packing our staging and lighting was something of an adventure, but everything went exceptionally well in both venues, and both congregations were generous in their praise of the production and in their giving to support our project. On Pentacost Sunday we presented "Saints Alive" which told the story, in song and narration, of events leading up to, and on the Day of Pentecost. In 15 months, the full amount needed to support Simon Yak has been raised and we are thrilled with this achievement and give God the glory for guiding us throughout the various productions. We concluded 2003 by singing again in Forestside Shopping Centre to support Children in Africa and Iraq. David & Karen Campbell who had been our musical directors for 2 years, and who introduced us to Simon Yak, left the congregation in June 2003 when Karen, who is a theological student moved to work with Hillsborough Congregation. We miss them greatly as we had taken them both to our hearts and had achieved so much through them. We wish them every blessing in their future but look forward with hope and expectation to what God holds in store for us next!! After some months hard work, in October 2004 we presented the musical "Here & Now" which is based on the Sermon on the Mount. " Here & Now" was great fun as again it was another lively combination of song, dance and drama and it was wonderful to have so many of our young people involved in different aspects of the production. Christmas wouldn't be the same without a trip to Forestside and again we sang for another 2 nights raising money for refugees in Africa. In April 2005 we transported "Here & Now" to Strean Presbyterian Church in Newtownards to support members of the Ards Presbytery Team who were raising funds to help build a school and a church during a trip to Kenya in July 2005. This was a wonderful opportunity for us to work alongside the Ards Team and one which we thoroughly enjoyed.
Contact Elaine MacNeill, 028 90471989 or Olive Mc Cormick 028-9064-2981 for further information.
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Contact : Rev. Dr Mark Gray, 15 Park Road, Belfast BT7 2FW Email :- cooke.centenary@btinternet.com |