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About


Maghera Parish Caring Association was founded by the Church of Ireland Parishes of Maghera and Killelagh, in response to a vision over the needs of our local community. The MPCA employs staff to cover multiple project areas, including Youth, Children & Family, Seniors, and Community Outreach.

This blog brings together writing from many different people on our staff team and beyond. As such, what appears here may not always represent the viewpoint of the MPCA or the joint parishes!

For more on the MPCA and the churches it works with, click to the main website here.

If you're familiar with our work, and would like to contribute to this collaborative blog, just e-mail your scribblings, photos, links, etc. to blogs@magheraparish.co.uk. We can't promise that everything will get past our Basement-dwelling censorship elves, but if it's good, we'll share it with the world!

Following

13 April 10

New Primary Afterschools Programmes

Next week sees the start of two brand new MPCA afterschools programmes in Maghera and Upperlands, aimed at the Primary school age bracket.

Explorers starts on Wednesday 21st April in St Lurach’s Parish Hall, Maghera, from 3pm to 4.15pm.  Following on from the success of the Easter scheme run in conjunction with Maghera Primary last month, we hope to extend this style of program on a weekly basis - a great mixture of sport and games, make and do activities, action songs, competitions, and bible discovery.

Explorers is open to anyone, from any Primary school.  We hope to run the opening on a drop-in basis, so that children coming from other schools can make it in before the organised activities really kick in at about 3.20.

Please consider bringing your child along - and if you’re really proactive, we’re also looking for a few parents to help out with supervision on an irregular basis.

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KCAlso this term, we are working together with Ampertaine Primary school to bring Kwik Cricket to Upperlands!  Every Tuesday after school (starting on April 20th), we will be running Kwik Cricket coaching for everyone in P5-P7 from Ampertaine Primary.

Cricket offers something different for most children’s sporting experience, but in turn is not also one of the few sports that exercises the entire body, but also is excellent for concentration and coordination.  We’re very excited to get to play it for the term with the pupils in Ampertaine.

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For more information on either of the above schemes, please contact Peter at the MPCA office.

8 March 10

Reminder - Let’s Talk About Drugs March 8th and 15th

Just a quick reminder that the last two sessions of our ‘Let’s Talk About Drugs’ course, led by TIPSA and facilitated by the MPCA, are on tonight (Monday 8th) and next week (Monday 15th) in the Minor Hall in Maghera.

If you’d like to know more, you can read the recent Derry Post article about the course’s success here.

3 March 10

MPCA and ACET-NI short courses - Spring/Summer 2010

MPCA have teamed up with ACET-NI to offer THREE intensive short courses, all angled towards issues around Sexual Health.  Each of the courses is only two days long, but is accredited to full OCN (Open College Network) Level 2 - that’s comparable to GCSE grades A*-C.  (If you don’t believe us, read more about it here.)

Following on from the success of past courses, we’re very proud to be able to facilitate these days - and here’s the clincher: they’re completely free!

The three courses on offer are as follows:

1] Men’s & Women’s Sexual Health - Wed 24th and Wed 31st March 2010

2] HIV, STI’s & Contraception - Wed 14th and Wed 21st April 2010

3] Parent/Teen Communication Skills - Tues 27th April and Tues 4th May 2010


Each session will last from 10am to 4pm, and will take place in St Lurach’s Parish Hall, Maghera.

E-mail MPCA Youth Worker, Oscar Spence, at youth@magheraparish.co.uk, contact the Parish office on 028 79 549 290, or visit our website at http://www.magheraparish.co.uk for more information or application forms.

Posted: 11:23 AM

Somme Centre Outing THIS SATURDAY (6th) - Senior Youth Club Off

Somme

Our trip to the Somme Heritage Centre (see here for more information - two spaces left!) is taking place this saturday.  As a result, we have decided to call off Senior Youth Club this week as many of the young people will be away with the group.  Junior Youth Club will (provisionally) be on as usual.

SYC will return next week, as normal.

16 February 10

‘Let’s Talk About Drugs’ Hits The Headlines

Local Parish Centre Hosts Information Sessions - Derry Post, 16th Feb. 2010

TIPSA-LTAD

TIPSA Staff Eugene O’Goan (left) and Martin McCann (right) display some of their free resources at Monday’s launch of the ‘Let’s Talk About Drugs’ programme in Maghera Church of Ireland.

A Maghera-based church group has launched a series of information evenings designed to warn people of the dangers associated with drugs and alcohol.

Representatives from TIPSA, local community groups, the PSNI and Maghera Parish Caring Association, who are hosting and facilitating the five-night series, came together for the launch last week.

The information course for all local parents and adults seeks to educate and inform the community about local drug and alcohol issues.

Delivered in a professional, balanced way, TIPSA are seeking to give local people all the information they need to make informed choices themselves, and to be able to speak to children and young people authoritatively.

The course, which will take place every Monday until March 8th, and starts at 8pm each night in St Lurach’s Parish Centre (in the Minor Hall), is also backed by Magherafelt District Council.

Speaking after the launch, Maghera Parish Caring Association’s Youth Worker, Oscar Spence, urged people to attend the events.

He said, “This is a great opportunity for the local community to explore their perceptions around the impact of drugs and drug-related crime in our local society.  And with the quality of the work that TIPSA put in, the sessions are not only easy to participate in, but really unmissable for anyone who might be interested.”

1 February 10

Let’s Talk About Drugs - starts 8th Feb

Themed by Hunson. Originally by Josh