Our chairman David Whiteing brought us a set of slides taken in Normandy, France to Meeting Point last Wednesday.

These had been taken over a number of years in the location where his wife's family come from.

Beautiful beaches and countryside, stone houses, churches and chateaux enhanced the slides.

Once again there was a good attendance of retired gentlemen from Danbury and around.

David announced that the final meeting of the year was to be the Christmas Party on Wednesday December 12 in the URC hall at 2pm, to which wives were also invited and there would be entertainment provided.

A nearly full programme of speakers and events has been prepared for next year. More information about Meeting Point, Danbury's Retired Gentlemen's Club, from David Whiteing on 225379, or e-mail DJWhiteing@aol.com.

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UNITED REFORMED CHURCH

Our church elder, Sylvia Hardy, welcomed Patrick Smith to our church last Sunday and thanked him for coming all the way from Upminster to lead worship.

Patrick opened with the words, "Shout to the Lord all the earth", and the hymn Stand Up and Bless the Lord.

Sylvia Hardy told us that this year the church had prepared 29 shoeboxes full of provisions and asked Patrick to bless the boxes, and those who have given, the packers and the transporters, as well as those who would receive.

There were three Bible readings and David Whiteing read from Isaiah, Aimee Whitbread from Thessalonians and Sylvia Hardy from Luke. Patrick told us that the reading from Isaiah was about discouraged people, that from Luke about puzzled people, and from Thessalonians about a waiting people.

He continued that there is a new science called futurology where people try to predict what might happen with new technology - will our children have robots to do all the work, will our cars drive themselves, with climate change will we boil, will the Gulf Stream stop, will London flood? Is there any hope, we might ask.

Our Bible readings today are a different sort of futurology - they take a longer view and bring God's faithfulness into the equation and all our readings tell us that God is in control.

Next Sunday we shall welcome the Rev Richard Mortimer to Danbury to lead worship at 9.45am.