Saint David’s Uniting Church
Castle Street, Treforest CF37 1TA 
Minister: Vacancy
Church Telephone No: 07766892487
Website: www.stdavidsuniting.org.uk
Admin email: [email protected]
Link for Live Stream – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1ftWuXHexnfFdo1FKwXBZA
24th November 2024
We welcome you all to our services today, especially if you are a visitor or worshipping with us for the first time. Our own Rev Ray Vincent is leading our services today and his theme is ‘Looking for a King’.
St David’s has a tradition of lighting a black candle on the Sunday before advent as a reminder that the festive season can be difficult for many and that God is with us in our shadowlands as in the more colourful moments of our lives.
During the service we will be signing Christmas Cards for the young people at Oakhill where our former minister, Phil, is chaplain.
We will also be celebrating Holy Communion, when ALL are welcome to partake in the bread and wine.
All are welcome to gather in the hall following the service to chat with friends and peruse the hand-made cards, which will be available to purchase. The proceeds will go to Church funds.
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Church Family and Pastoral News
We include this in the newsletter to inform our prayers during the week:
- We are pleased that Jean is back home with John, but is still not very well. She loves to have visitors.
- We are very pleased that Margaret is almost back to good health and was able to join the choir for A Christmas Carol last week and also joined the Park Ramblers for coffee.
- We think of those who are apprehensive about attending hospital appointments this week.
- As we are approaching our third Advent season without a minister, we pray for all who are involved in the process seeking a minister for the pastorate that we are a part of.
Diary for the Week
Monday 25th Language class in the Hall at Treforest at 10.00am.
The Park Ramblers will meet at 10.15am, followed by coffee at Princes Restaurant
Wednesday 27th St David’s Guild will meet from 1.45pm at St Catherine’s (See item below)
Sunday 1st Our service at 10.45am, will be led by the Peace and Justice team, is our Annual Amnesty Service,
and Gift Sunday. It is also World Aids Day, more details below.
Future Services
Sunday 8th December Rev Ray Vincent
Sunday 15th December Rev Peter Noble
Sunday 22nd December Iestyn Henson ~ Nativity Service
Amnesty Service
During the Amnesty Service we will receive gifts for Homestart and Pobl (formerly Adref).
Toys/gifts for toddlers to teenagers for Homestart, 
Toiletries, Socks, T Shirts, Gloves, Hats and chocolates/sweets for the residents of Mill Street hostel.
We request that gifts are not wrapped and are brought in separate bags for ease of distribution.
As is our tradition we support with monetary donations an international charity and a local charity.
The decision of the church meeting was that
Ahla Fawda in Lebanon be our international charity and
Crwban in Treforest our local charity.
Information about these charities.
Ahla Fawda https://ahlafawda.org/
Lebanon is facing a volatile security situation. Thousands of people have been displaced. Ahla Fawda are an organisation with a deep humanitarian commitment. In response to the multifaceted crises impacting, they are unwaveringly dedicated to distributing essential goods to people and providing emergency assistance in the region as they have been devastated in recent months.
Crwban https://www.crwbancareandsupport.co.uk/
Established in 2022, Crwban is a Supported Living Service based in Treforest founded by Registered Mental Health Nurse Jazmin and Registered Care Manager Sian. As sisters, they felt that they could make a real difference in the sector and by creating a therapeutic and homely environment where service users can thrive”.
Envelopes are available for donations to our chosen charities.
If you wish to gift, aid please put your name on the envelope.
The closing date is December 29th
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As 1st December is World Aids Day ~ Ribbons will be available.
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St David’s Guild
Guild was cancelled last Wednesday owing to snow and ice. So, we will keep the idea of sharing an item with everyone until next year: It could be a memento of your holiday; a cherished photo; something from your hobby; a piece of jewellery or even something you dislike! So, if you have something save it!
This coming Wednesday Lisa Banfield, the PCSO for Pontypridd Town will be speaking about community policing.
Leprosy Mission
It’s that time of year when we ask for Leprosy Mission boxes &Annual donations to be brought in.
When the late Ray Davies transferred his membership to Bethel, Hawthorn in 2009 Pat Howell volunteered to take over; Pat has now decided to stand down from the post after 14 years, we extend our thanks to her and applaud her loyalty to TLM.
We are pleased to say that Margaret Morris is now the person who will accept the boxes and donations. If you choose to send a cheque, please make it payable to St David’s Uniting Church. Please can boxes and donations be given to Margaret ASAP as we are later than usual in posting the request.
A Request for those who are new to our fellowship
If you have received A GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) form please can you return it. We don’t like having to do this, but as we will be updating the church directory and the birthday list in the new year, we need your permission to include you, even though we already consider you to be part of our church family!
Used Postage stamps
We are still collecting stamps for Amnesty International, so as we are almost in the season of advent and Christmas cards start to arrive, please cut off the stamps – leaving a small border – and put them in the box on the table. Remember the barcode is part of the stamp.
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Thought for the Week
The time we have at our disposal every day is elastic;
the passions that we feel expand it,
those that we inspire contract it;
and habit fills up what remains.
Marcel Proust