A SHORT HISTORY OF THE MOTHERS’ UNION BRANCH
ST MARKS’ ANGLICAN
CHURCH SADLEIR
(26 FEBRUARY 1976 -
17 NOVEMBER 2020)
The branch opened on 26 February 1976 with 24 members. Jan Livingston was the President of the branch and originally the members held weekly meetings. Over the years this changed to meeting once a month on a Tuesday.
There was a change of presidents over the years due to change of situations in the church, and the following were presidents: Anne Milton, Eunice Tutt, Beth Taylor, Pat Herron jointly with Mary Davidson, Mary Davidson, and lastly a committee of three, being Mary Davidson, Nola Wood and Emma Condren.
From the beginning, there was a constant giving of money from the members for raising money for outreach, such as donations to the following:-
Moore College Ladies
World Vision Africa (Horn refugees)
Russian Family Fund
Bible Society Fund
Hulme Moir Scholarship Fund
MU Hospital Bibles
Christian Blind Mission
Hospital visiting literature
Leprosy Mission
MU Australia – Burundi
Gumbella Ethiopia
“Egg a day” for children in Rwanda
Sewing Machines Project Tanzania
Jitegemee Tailoring Centre & Hostel program
Nungalinya College iPads (final donation on closure of branch)
Members spent many hours knitting teddy bears, stuffing and sewing on faces, to give to mothers when visiting maternity wards. Hospital visiting was one of the many activities held in conjunction with the Liverpool MU branch, visiting every 2nd and 3rd week of the month.
Mary Davidson also attended the Childrens’ Court with other branch members, to hand out tea and coffee to people waiting to attend court.
For a number of years our MU branch provided meals for the church’s Mens’ Dinner nights, which was a great help in raising money for our branch. A BBQ lunch held on a Sunday after morning church also proved to be a great help in raising money for MU overseas projects.
One important aspect of our activities was meeting half an hour before our meetings to spend that time in prayer.
We give thanks to God for all his wonderful support to members for all that was achieved as this branch of the Mothers’ Union during those 44 years. Praise be to God.