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2 stouffville suntribune thursday nov 20 2003 publication mail agreement 40007673 150th anniversary celeprations recharge stouffville united by hannelore volpe staff writer after 150 years the con gregation of stouffville united church has found new vigour this is the church whose couples club has unleashed the music mania variety show on the com munity for 42 years to celebrate the congre gations sesquicentennial rev robert nightingale and music director wanda stride wrote the title song shed some light for a cd recently produced by the church choir an associate minister joined the church this summer and the con gregations green thumbs finally made the meditative garden a reality the 20 choir members who took part in the recording session had honed their hymns so well they were able to get most of the anthems down in one take recording was completed in one day stouffville resident larry jackson did the sound engineering an auspicious 150- copies were produced and released shortly after labour day music director cofounder of the bach to blues music ensemble in september 1998 ms stride has been music director at the church since 1997 bach to blues performed saturday at the united churchs 150th anniversary gala dinner ms stride was organist and choir director in carinington at trinity united church before mov ing to stouffville she plays the accordion and piano in the poor tom band which performs at local events i think the whole con gregation has been brought together by the 150th cele brations ms stride said there is a new energy in the congregation it is very rewarding to be part of it mr nightingale has observed the increased level of commitment at his the seehof chalet at mount kitibuhel in hahnenkamm austria may be the only place in the world with a wider selection of skis and boards then again maybe not as mount always a great so remember if youre looking kirby skis boards has the largest selection on the for the very best deals on and the collection of new 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gravity 66 all round mountain ski with binding msl s75900 59900 burton clash bullet or feather board with burton ray binding msl s61500 50900 top seller on sale the worlds best selling ski atomic beta c9 puls with device binding msl s94900 67900 a radical deal nitro icon icon wide board with nitro team binding msl s56000 39900 church for some time the activity level interest and enthusiasm has grown in the past few years he said the church includes about 250 families the church also has a junior choir of around a dozen members ages seven to 12 directed by ron snider and christine boadway the new meditative garden on the north side of the church is something congregation members have wanted for a long time with a little push from the 150th anniversary spirit it became a reality this year the garden should be ablaze with colour come spring when hundreds of tulip daffodil and other bulbs begin to bloom give something back we wanted to give something back to the community ms stride said there are not many parkettes in this area many of the celebration projects throughout the year have been initiated by individual church mem bers they include the two glorious quilted banners crafted by norma brillinger and ruth wagg that now hang in the church a new curriculum called bible quest has been intro- wanda stride music director wrote title song for 150th anniversary cd at stoufmlle united church duced by christine kuhn who has been superintend ent of childrens services for the past year it gets sunday school youngsters reading actual bible stories as opposed to commentaries they also have a chance to develop their dramatic talents under ms kuhns direction on nov 30 the children will present their rendition of the stone soup fable to the congregation thats also the united churchs white gift sunday for which the youngsters collect food and other items for donation to the whitchurchstouffville food bank associate minister 47 part of new breed since june rev robert nightingale has had the rev dianne graves at stouffville united church as an asso ciate minister to develop and run a variety of new pro grams newly ordained in may the former teacherlibrari an and guidance counsellor retired four years ago after 33 years she is one of the new wave of secondcareer ministers at the university of torontos emmanuel college where she attended classes the average age of her fellow students was 47 twothirds of them were women called to become minister i felt i was called to become a minister ms graves said when i walked into emmanuel college i felt like i was wrapped up in a warm blanket she is at the church 20 hours a week in a parttime ministry before moving to stouffville she was very active in keswick united church where she was ucw united church women president her love of teaching young people and her expertise are put to good use at the church she has initiated an afterschool club for boys and girls five to eight years old the youngsters come right after school to play games hear bible stories and take part in drama and crafts teenagers eat work together sunday mornings are reserved for the congregations teenagers their youth spirit group has breakfast together at 9 am the teens then work in sunday school and help out at church once a month ms graves takes the group out to a restaurant and then to bowling miniput and other activ ities her programs are designed to let young people know they can make a difference in the world around them she also leads a 10 am bible study on thursdays harinelorevolpe