Church Organisations

Church is not just on Sundays, there are lots of ways to make friends and get involved at St Mary’s. For example, you could join the prayer network, or, ask them to pray for someone who is in need. There is also the ladies group, if you like cream tea and fund raising!

Another organization for people aged 13+ is this manga cafe.

Hello

I’m a retired teacher, and one of the subjects I taught, Media Studies, required me to know something about Japanese manga comic books. I began to read them myself, impressed by the dynamic visual storytelling and wildly imaginative plots and the portrayal, frequently of young people, whose lives were often tales of triumph over adversity.

I had the idea of starting a manga café at St Mary Magdalene’s Church when I realized how few alternative free meeting places there were in the parish for young people who wanted to spend their leisure simply reading manga stories about characters and situations with which they could identify or, inspired by manga-style drawing, wanted to try it for themselves. All the Japanese refreshments served (snacks, sodas and ramen) are free, and we hope to make the books themselves (which are imported and quite expensive) available to borrow.

As the café is mainly staffed by volunteers from St Mary’s, there is also the opportunity to meet and chat with people who are kind, patient and believe in making every individual feel very welcome at Heaven’s Gate Manga Café.

Linda Ainsworth