Glasgow & Galloway

Diocese of Glasgow & Galloway

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Glasgow and Galloway

Festival Service

Holy Trinity, Ayr, 15th May 2010

The members and friends of the Ayr branch of the Mothers' Union did Glasgow and Galloway proud on Saturday, 15th May. The Festival service was greatly appreciated by everyone thanks in no small part to the welcome, cooperation, hospitality and spirituality extended to us all by the people of Ayr. Thank you one and all!

Full report and photos...

Mothers' Union Parenting Group

in Maryhill

Heart for the City is a Christian Charity, with a vision of restoring and transforming cities, for the Glory of God. The Glasgow International Christian Church is the local church arm of Heart for the City, largely composed of relatively recent immigrants from various parts of Africa and India. There are many families, and Mothers’ Union members.

Hearing that Mothers’ Union offers parenting groups, the members asked if a facilitator could come and help them explore their parenting and discuss their problems. I was lucky enough to be chosen; lucky because this was a group of enthusiastic mums, who approached the meetings eager to explore ideas and techniques, ready to share their experiences and advice. We discussed when to allow children to go to the park on their own, how to ensure that the rules your family sets are adhered to and how to persuade boys to eat vegetables, (answer: develop great acting skills, lick your fingers and shriek with delight as you prepare a salad!) I was helped on a couple of occasions by Enid Scobie and Hilary Moran.

We met for seven Tuesday mornings, the presence of several small children—without exception gorgeous—only adding to the positive atmosphere. There was a final session with the dads (always more nerve-wracking than all the previous sessions put together!) where Hilary and I were met with great courtesy and rapt attention, and some very perspicacious questions. Since most parenting groups are attended by only one parent, a session for partners, briefly covering the main topics discussed, is invaluable, as one of the recurrent themes of all parenting advice is consistency. Overall, it was a very positive experience for me, and I received not only sincere thanks, but also the promise of another group to meet with after Easter.

Ann Cook

Ann Cook is one of four trained parenting facilitators in and around the Glasgow area. If you are interested to join such a group and share parenting experiences please contact hilary.moran@btintertnet.com

Campaign for Body Confidence

A member of the Adrossan branch has alerted us to this campaign organised by Jo Swinson MP and Lynne Featherstone MP.

The campaign pledges to ‘influence the fashion, beauty, diet, and media industries – and the government to:

- ensure honesty and transparency in advertising,

- promote diversity of body shapes and sizes used in magazines, advertising, broadcast and catwalk

- introduce media literacy and body confidence education in school

- give children positive examples of using their bodies by promoting active lifestyles and less sexualised imagery

We believe that the pressure to conform to impossible stereotypes is damaging our sense of well-being and leading to increasing unhappiness, anxiety, low self-esteem, depression and eating disorders in women, particularly amongst young people and children - and men’

Information and forms can be found at www.realwomen.org.uk Please take the time to support this campaign.

The campaign will feature in the May edition of the Mother’s Union Faith & Policy Watch.

By all working together we can make a difference.

Commissioning of Provincial President and Diocesan Trustees

Following the commissioning of Hilary Moran as our new Provincial President at the festival service on 13 February 2010 in St Mary’s Cathedral, the Rev’d Scott Robertson, MU Chaplain for Glasgow and Galloway commissioned the trustees of the Diocesan Mothers’ Union. With all the local members and visitors and friends from far and wide, it was a joyful occasion. Full report of the event is available by clicking here...