Core Life
There's much more to Core Church than our Sunday afternoon meetings. On this page you can find out about just some of the things we get up to.
Oxenwood
Each year we take a trip to Oxenwood Outdoor Education Centre near Marlbrough to spend a weekend having fun together. Everyone has the chance to take part in a variety of activities including archery, rock climbing, target shooting, fencing, shelter building, camp fire cooking and walking.
Geocaching
We are fans of Geocaching which is a high-tech treasure hunting game played throughout the world by adventure seekers equipped with GPS devices. The basic idea is to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, outdoors and then share your experiences online.
Geocaching brings an added dimension and purpose to a good walk; it's something we can do together with any number of people, anywhere and at any time and is a great opportunity to spend time talking and exercise the dogs!
If you'd like to join the Core Cachers on our next walk please get in touch.
Carnival
The Melksham Carnival takes place in the middle of July each year. Our 2009 entry was a celebration of the 40th birthday of the children's book “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”. Eight of us walked the route inside our caterpillar costume of parachute and tent fabric attached to frames made of hoola hoops, garden canes, tent poles and lots of velcro tape! We won first prize in the large walking group category!
Romania
We have links with a Christian charity in Romania called Charis Foundation.
In 2008 we visited Charis at their base near the city of Oradea in north-west Romania. We spent several days creating a sensory garden for the benefit of all visitors to Charis but particularly for the groups of children who are both deaf and blind that visit in the summer.
We also spent some time exploring the city and the countryside that surrounds it in the company of a local youth group that has strong connections with Charis.
We visited again in 2010 and two of our members spent two years in Romania helping with the renovation work at the Charis Centre as the organisation prepares for the future.
Christmas
On Christmas Day we hire Melksham Assembly Hall for a carol service followed by a free Christmas meal of roast turkey and all the trimmings for anyone who wants to attend. In 2010 over fifty people were there for lunch and a great time was had by all.
Baptisms
Not having our own building we don't have a baptistry, so anyone getting baptised can choose to take the plunge wherever and whenever they want – from another church's baptistry to a paddling pool in someone's back garden to a party at the local swimming pool - all it takes is enough water to get completely wet!
Easter
On Easter Sunday we hold our Easter Egg-stravaganza at the school - a free family fun day with egg hunts, crafts, games, refreshments and lots of lovely fair trade chocolate eggs. For Easter 2010 our theme was Egg-streme Games - we made egg racers, played beat the egg, tried (and mostly failed) to complete the BM-Eggs challenge, decorated eggs with water pistols of poster paint and more. By far the most popular attraction was the Egg-splosive quadruple bottle rocket launcher which propelled eggs wrapped in their safety capsules high into the air - a prize was won every time an egg survived the flight intact!
Murder Mystery
In June 2009 we booked a local school hall and hired the ntrigue Theatre Company to perform their murder mystery Heirs and Disgraces. Our guests enjoyed a three-course meal accompanied by the two acts of the play. Over tea and coffee the cast went from table to table and everyone had a chance to question them in-character. Finally each table submitted their solution to the mystery, the truth was revealed and the winners were declared. It was a great evening!
Fathers Day
For Fathers Day 2009 we put on an all-age golf tournament at a local nine-hole course. 76 players of all ages formed 35 teams to compete in the Texas Scramble competition whilst others came along just to enjoy the free BBQ and watch the golf. Play went on for over five hours after which we had our winners, “The Three B's”, with a winning score of just 23 including their handicap. It was so good we ran the event again in 2010. In 2011 we wanted to try something different so we hired the local bowling alley for the afternoon and invited familes to come and bowl for free.