Seer Ministries - News

Brenda's Sale 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Seer Ministries) — Thu, 21 May 2009 11:38:00 +0000

Brenda's Sale for Seer Ministries 2009 took place on Saturday 9th May 2009 at Seer Green Baptist Church.

Things happened a little differently this year. For a start, this was the first year that Brenda's sale took place without Brenda, who is sadly no longer with us.

The Creperie took place as before, with Marion Cox and her helpers serving up nearly 100 crepes and earning around £350 for the charity.

Instead of collecting items to sell over the last twelve months, this year the Trustees decided to open the sale up to others, with several places in the car park as a car boot sale, and several tables inside for anyone to rent and sell their own items.

Unfortunately, only one car booked in, and then failed to show, but much of the hall was full, as despite not wanting to collect stuff, stuff was nevertheless acquired.

Marion was helped by Monica and Ian, but also (not in the picture) thanks go to Pat Woodley for her sterling efforts on our behalf.

All in all a good day with about £700 being gleaned for the work.

A star attraction was the Rishardson's stall where they sold Richardson Sausages and tried to sell some jumble.

Needless to say, the sausages sold out in no time! Our thanks to all who attended and made the day a success.. Every penny counts.

Autumn Fundraiser

noreply@blogger.com (Seer Ministries) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 12:08:00 +0000

There will be a Musical Evening and Dinner on the 29th November 2008, at 7.30 pm. For more details see our FUND RAISING Page.

Stalwart supporter Brenda Loveday passes on.

noreply@blogger.com (Seer Ministries) — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 09:20:00 +0000

It is with immense sadness that we pass on the news that Brenda Loveday died aged 80 of complications after a surgical operation last month. She has lived in Seer Green all her life, and was a faithful supporter of SEER MINISTRIES from the start. Brenda was a great organiser as well as a doer. She arranged the annual sale in May of each year and behind the scenes worked hard for the people of Romania, particularly the children. Her knitting and other work provided much needed help to those with very little, despite never having the opportunity to travel to see those whom she helped, she still was driven by faith to provide what she could.

Gary Lester was particularly close to Brenda, so returned from Romania in time for the funeral on the 1st October. He said, "Brenda never really appreciated how much her work impacted on the people of Romania. We are sure now that she is heaven where strangers are coming up to her saying, 'I am here because of you.' The words, 'Well done, my good and faithful servant.' are particularly relevant for her."

There will be a large hole in the fabric of the village for some time to come, as Brenda touched many people's lives, as was reflected by the well attended Thanksgiving service at the Baptist Church.

Our thoughts and prayers are with her son David and the rest of the family.

CREPERIE & SALE a success

noreply@blogger.com (Seer Ministries) — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 13:16:00 +0000

The stirling efforts of Marion Cox and her crew in the kitchen helped make Brenda's Sale a success on the 10th May.

With a choice of a selection of savoury or sweet crepes, with Cappuccino, Latte, tea or soft drinks, visitors could enjoy refreshments before browsing a vast array of goodies collected over the last few months, including the contents of a couple of house clearances.

With a selection of freshly baked goodies by Anne Jordan and her helpers, the whole day was guaranteed to increase the waistline and reduce the weight held in purses and wallets!

A good morning's work was undertaken, reaping around £1000 for the charity.

Our thanks go to those helpers who came and gave of themselves to ensure success, and to those who came and generously supported us.

Gary & Annie Lester head for Romania

noreply@blogger.com (Seer Ministries) — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 15:37:00 +0000

Gary Lester, our founder, is leaving the UK on the 23rd April to start his new life in Romania. He and his Annie are starting an evangelism mission to the villages.

As a former professional footballer, Gary will be running football evangelism workshops all over the country, inviting Christian teams from the UK to play and pass on skills to the young people in Romania, in the spring and summer. Then, in the winter months, they are going to be travelling around showing christian films to the villages, as they get no opportunity to go to the cinemas and rarely see christian films in any case.

He will be also on hand to assist Ralph, as an when the need arises, as he is still committed to his original vision. It is just that he now has an opportunity to actually be in Romania full time, and put to good use his skills as a footballer and as a printer.

There will be a farewell service and lunch at Seer Green Baptist Church on the 20th April 2008.

Our thoughts, prayers and best wishes go with them both.

To Ralph and Lidia, a daughter - Hannah!

noreply@blogger.com (Seer Ministries) — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 11:45:00 +0000

Congratulations to Ralph & Lidia for the birth of their daughter Hannah Emily Hyde, born at 11.15 a.m. on the 29th March 2008.
She weighed in at 2.7 Kilos and was 50 cm in length.
Our thoughts and prayers are with all three of you. May she be truly a joy and a blessing.

March Update

noreply@blogger.com (Seer Ministries) — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 10:54:00 +0000

From Romania:
Encouraging news from Romania. Ralph informs us that after some effort to encourage the Romanians to contribute towards some of the cost of their edition of The Word For Today, it seems that effort has paid off with giving up considerably. This comes at a time where we are struggling to fight the rising costs in that land, as well as encourage giving in the UK. So thanks Romania, and keep up the good work!

From UK:
The Trustees feel encouraged by the slight upturn in giving generally and hope to report that our print runs are back on track very soon. We are actively seeking a volunteer to aid us with fundraising, and have placed an advert for this post on http://www.jobsincharities.co.uk/
If you go to the VOLUNTEER SEARCH and select FUNDRAISING, you can view the advert

We're back .... sorry about the delay in updates

noreply@blogger.com (Seer Ministries) — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 12:27:00 +0000

Deepest apologies for the long gap in news items, which was caused by unforseen circumstances. You may notice a few changes to the layout of the website. We hope you find it easier to navigate.

Unfortunately, our last print run of The Word for Today in Romanian was not up to the 100,000 copies we wanted. Due to lack of funds we were only in a position to push out half that. Please pray that the Lord will provide for our needs.

We have received donations, and our thanks go to those who continually support our work, but they were insufficient for us to meet the expected numbers of printed copies. We would encourage those in Romania and Hungary to support us. Indeed, the news from Romania is that donations are increasing, and the Hungarian edition is also being partially supported through local giving. We pray for this trend to continue.

Changes in Leadership

noreply@blogger.com (Seer Ministries) — Sat, 26 Aug 2006 15:39:00 +0000

Howard Measham stepped down at the end of July as Seer Ministries' Chairman, handing the baton of leadership over to his friend and co-founding trustee - David Carruthers. Howard had led the Trust over the last few years, seeing great change and growth. However, he states that the time has come for a change, as all the trustees face challenges in other aspects of their lives, Howard feels that this is an appropriate moment to step down. Our heart-felt thanks go to him, for his drive and determination to manage the various challenges we have faced over the last couple of years.

Four of the Trustees (L to R) Howard Measham, Tim Cox, David Carruthers and Barry Richardson (Gary Lester was unavailable).

Other Trustee responsibilities have changed. Tim Cox takes on the role of Secretary (with able assistance from his wife, Marion) so he can be contacted at tim.cox1@yahoo.co.uk. Tim has the DVD about Seer Ministries - Under A Free Blue Sky. Should you want a copy see here. Barry Richardson will take on the role of Treasurer. Howard will remain a member of the trustees, but will be taking a rear seat for a while. He thanks all who have helped Seer Ministries during his time as Chairman, notably Bob Gass, for his support (both financial and prayer), Rick Spurway for producing our DVD, and not least our founder Gary Lester, and printer Ralph Hyde.

Time to Move Onward!

noreply@blogger.com (Seer Ministries) — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 09:42:00 +0000

The extension is now complete - Praise the Lord! Howard and Sean travelled to Romania on business and took Billy Dixon to just finish off the last trimmings. The floor is down and machinery has been moved into their new home.
The yard has been concreted and the ramp now facilitates movement of paper in and out of the new printshop. What used to take several hours of hard slog and sweat now takes a fraction of the time with the pallet truck.
The old Booklet-maker, held together with binding tape, constant care and a lot of prayer, is to be retired. The Trustees have purchased a replacement double-tower Duplo Line System, which is due to arrive in Romania in July. This system should cut the man hours considerably, particularly those hours spent in repairing a machine that packs up!

The following is from a recent Email from Ralph in Romania: -

The printing is going well on the next ROM edition, 96500 copies. We have done 60% so far. The new print shop is fantastic with the space to move around in - what luxury :-)

Team of helpers set out for Jibou

noreply@blogger.com (Seer Ministries) — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 21:17:00 +0000

With the footings of our print-shop extension almost complete, a team of volunteers is heading for Jibou to assist in the construction process. The aim is to complete the extension as soon as practically possible. In January, builder Dave McGuire came to Seer Green and spoke at a Church "Men's Breakfast" meeting about his schedule for the work this spring. As a result of his talk, the trustees asked for volunteers to travel out in the month of March to help build the extension. Dave has already started the work, despite freezing temperatures in Jibou.

Sean O' Flanagan, Howard Measham & Bill Dixon (a retired builder) are heading out on the 5th March, some to stay until the project is completed. On the 9th March, Gary Lester heads out along with two young men from the village - Jamie Zealey & Gareth Quinton - and will stay until the 18th. Peter Bannister & Joseph O’Flanagan will join them on the 13th March, and Tim & Marion Cox are going out on the 18th March, and will stay until the 30th March. So there's a lot going on.

Seer Ministries thanks Chris Mercer for her assistance in promoting our work on her recent concerts tours to Romania. We were blessed by a visit on the 18th February when she sang for us at a special evening event. It is, therefore, a real pleasure to announce that Seer Ministries is assisting Chris by jointly organising a concert tour for her in the North of Romania in June – for nine days.

We anticipate 92,000 copies of the next edition of the Word for today, plus 3000 for the Chris Mercer tour.

Our film "Under a Free Blue Sky" has been shown again on the UCB-TV network.

Our Chairman is Baptised

noreply@blogger.com (Seer Ministries) — Mon, 14 Nov 2005 10:00:00 +0000

The chairman of Seer Ministries, Howard Measham, was baptised in Seer Green Baptist Church on Sunday 13th November - on his birthday. As part of the celebration, Christian singer Chris Mercer sang several of her latest songs. See here. Chris was recently on concert tour in Romania where she also preached in churches.

Our Documentary on UCB-TV / Sky Digital TV

noreply@blogger.com (Seer Ministries) — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 09:34:00 +0000

A 54-minute documentary "Under A Free Blue Sky" about the work of Seer Ministries was screened by UCB-TV on Sky Digital Channel 677. The transmission was at 3pm Saturday 19th November and was repeated throughout the following week. The film explains the story of the original foundation of Seer Ministries and the establishment of a printing press in Romania to publish a translation of Bob Gass's devotional - "The Word For Today". The documentary also provides a useful impression of Romania today, and the way God is working in the lives of people there, whatever their denomination. The film's title is a quote from one of the Romanian interviewees. He explains that he meets with God everywhere... "not just inside walls created by people, but under a free blue sky." A DVD version is available from Seer Ministries. Just click the "Info" link on the menu above.