My church has been homeless for three months now - it's hard to say where the experience has led us.

Unlike the "established" churches, which have recognisable buildings, the Community Church doesn't have a building of its own, and has met in a number of different locations since its establishment in 1988. For many years we had the use of Pier Hill School on Yew Tree Lane. That venue fitted well with our style because we were able to use a number of different rooms including the large gym, where our kids and teens could run around and play loud games.

When Piper Hill School moved to their new facility at St Paul's, the previous building was closed down, and the church moved to Rack House Primary School. In many ways Rack House was not such a good "fit" for us, but in some ways it was better. Unfortunately after just a few months we had to leave, because the caretaker was not allowed to open up for us on a Sunday. Our last Sunday meeting at Piper Hill was 6^th June.

We have looked at all the public venues in Northern Moor that are large enough to accommodate our church, but they're either unsuitable or unavailable on Sundays.

Over the summer we have had our Sunday meetings in St Michael's Community Hall, in Lawton Moor Methodist church, and even in Wythenshawe Park. We have also have a few "go out" days, where the whole church was involved in some community activity.

Now the summer is over and our future still looks uncertain, but it's not all doom and gloom. There's an old saying - the church is not really the building, but the group of people who worship inside the building. We have certainly proved that to be true over the last three months. Even though we don't have a home, we're still very much a church together.

Northern Moor Community Church will meet in the back hall of Lawton Moor Methodist Church on Sunday mornings in September. After that, we have no idea!

Do you have questions about your home or your neighbourhood?  Need to talk about rent or home improvement?

Then come along to your local neighbourhood surgery and have a chat with your neighbourhood officer. 

The surgeries are from 10am to 12noon . No need to book.

Every Wednesday 

NorthernMoor East- Bryan Fitzsimons- Woodville Community Centre, 130 Sale Road

Northern Moor West - Craig Rigby- Woodville Community Centre, 130 Sale Road

Every Friday

Northern Moor North- Laura Freeman- Woodville Community Centre, 130 Sale Road

You can also talk to us by calling our local rate contact centre PG Direct on 0300 111 0000

Just a few weeks ago it was all luscious and green, but today our garden is very definitely "over".

The bean pole is still standing, but that's only because I re-strung it - a few weeks ago it collapsed under the weight of the beans! I had no idea that could happen. The whole garden is overrun with grass, docks, and a few nettles, although in the few areas where we still have vegetables growing, we've pretty much kept the weeds down.

It's been a calm and peaceful autumn - ideal for reflecting on what we've achieved, and learned.

• When we acquired this little parcel of land, it was full of brambles and bindweed. We spent hundreds of painstaking hours digging out the roots, and I'm pleased to say we've seen very little of either of those pests. So I can confidently say, digging out bindweed by the roots does work!
• At first all the youngsters in the church wanted to help, with a huge burst of enthusiasm. It didn't last though - by early summer it was difficult to get anyone to come and work in the garden. That's not been a surprise - it's difficult to get teenagers to do anything that requires commitment and hard work.
• Even though our site is surrounded by trees and gets only partial sunshine, some of our vegetables did very well. The crops we'll certainly grow again include potatoes, mange-tout, sprouts, sweet corn, parsnips, onions, shallots, elephant garlic, and also flowers for the table.
• The problem with the shade is roughly as serious as I thought it would be. The things we planted at the South end near to the shed didn't do well, and those on the North border did better. But our potatoes did well throughout the garden - they seemed to cope with the partial shade.
• Our primary pests have been slugs and aphids. In the last few weeks an army of ladybirds have appeared and gobbled up the aphids, but they're much too late to make an impression on our productivity. We set beer traps for the slugs, but although they do work, they're quite a bit of effort given the number of slugs we had. In the end we resorted to slug pellets. We also had a pesky squirrel chew our sweet corn.

The garden looked beautiful and organised for a really short space of time. In fact the whole season was very short - it went from bare earth to promising shoots, through tidy and beautiful, to overgrown and productive, in just a few weeks!

Having an allotment is not really a way of saving money on food. Or if it is, the money that it saves is insignificant compared to the effort involved! But it is a great way of keeping fit, of getting more "in touch" with how food grows, and of meeting some great people. It's also good to eat fresh food knowing "what went into it", and to take a pride in the health and quality of the soil.

Ok - 2 weeks in and all is going well. That's not to say the time I've had on board has been without troubles - it hasn't, but I'm feeling good at the mo. For those who don't know (that's most of you 'cos I don't update the blog very often) I have begun my Watch Keeper training, which will last for the next 6 weeks. (Anyone who thinks school is hard, try this out for size!) I'll get a photo of my workbook next week, but its huge. On Monday I have my first "E day" which will be fun (I will explain in a newsletter at some point what that's about, or if you want details email me. My address was on my last newsletter.) Sorry for this - it's a lot of words with perhaps not much said, but hey I'm still new to this!