TRAVEL SURVEY


In October 2009 a survey was conducted into how people travel to S t Geor g e ' s services. The results represent 271 people, of whom 76% came by car, 3% cycled, 20%


walked, and one person came by motor- bike. Annualised, the CO2 emissions from the 881 car miles represent about 15 tonnes. This is almost as much as the CO2 emissions from heating and lighting St George's for a year.


The survey showed that 31 cars (more than one third) had just one occupant, 32 cars (another third) had two occupants, so


fewer than one third of the cars had three or more occupants.


It may be impracticable or unattractive for many people to walk or cycle on a chilly autumnal day. But with warmer weather here, some people may be able to walk or cycle, thus saving money as well as r e d u c i n g C O 2 emissions. Or, if you do need to come by car, you may like to consider sharing with others who live near you, thus gaining


Angel Tree Project 2010 Sonia Adkin


Angel Tree, a charity which is a part of the Prison Fellowship, is all about enabling prisoners to send Chr i s tmas presents to their children.


There are 160,000 children in England and Wales with a parent in prison and this is why in 2009, 51 prayer groups from Prison Fellowship acros s thi s region participated in the Angel Tree programme.


Together they provided 4084 presents to the chi ldren of 2, 100 prisoners from 65 prisons.


Stamford Angel Tree


Last Christmas, the Angel


Tree group in Stamford expected to send over 100 presents to the children of inmates at our local prison, HMP Stocken,


In the event we wrapped and dispatched 185 presents. All the wrapping was done by a group of


seventeen volunteers from many different churches mostly done in one day. We were able to fund this from the money we raised, but we also had to dip into our very small reserves. However with the expansion of HMP Stocken this year to approx 830 we are expecting to do an even larger number of presents this coming Christmas!!


Encouragement


A prison volunteer came to one of our Prison Fellowship meetings and encouraged us.


She had spoken to a prisoner and his wife and his children at the Kainos Presentation in HMP Stocken after Christmas and they had all said how much they liked their presents, the little girl had received a dressing gown and the boy pyjamas. Not being familiar with Angel Tree the volunteer was surprised and delighted by the scheme. This gave us


some encour a g ing feedback unsolicited.


Funds


We are appealing to local churches to contribute to this very worthwhile local charity to help men to m a i n t a i n g o o d relationships with their children during their stay in prison.


The average cost of buying a present together with postage is £12


If we do not collect at least £2000 before October, we will not be able to approach the local prison chaplain to offer to repeat the project this year. This would be a great shame and severely missed by prisoners children given this will be our seventh year.


How can you help?


You could either make a donation from your existing funds, in which case please send a cheque, payable to Pr i son Fellowship (Stamford)


www.stgeorgeschurch.net bGh_9


fellowship as well as saving money and r e d u c i n g C O 2 emissions.


By Paul Darley


AT, and send to me.


Mrs Sonia Adkin, Thorpe House, Little Casterton, Stamford, PE9 4BE


Or invite one of the members of our group, who are prepared to come to talk to churches, or house groups, about Angel Tree, as a way of asking for individual donations.


Although Christmas is a long way ahead we need to be sure of our funds by October.


Ideally we would like to begin our fundraising in September, but the earlier the better.


Please contact me to let me know how you would like to proceed.


S t am f o r d P r i s o n Fellowship Angel Tree Treasurer


01780 753078 soniaadkin@hotmail.com


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