14 million people are currently on the UK Transplant List. However, some 90% of the population are in favour of donation yet are doing nothing about it. If relatives have not discussed donation during life then decisions become difficult and sometimes impossible to make on their behalf when they die. Jane Wyles talks to donor families, a recipient, and a specialist.

 “Transplants work well and improve people’s quality of life, but what stops this happening is people aren’t clear about their intentions,” said Keith Rigg, Consultant Transplant Surgeon at Nottingham City Hospital, and Vice-President of the British Transplantation Society. He is concerned that 40-50% of family members refuse donation when their loved one dies - and the figure is going up…

Reaching the Starbucks Generation

We’ve been hearing a lot about ‘Fresh Expressions’ and  different ways of ‘doing church’ - so Bryony Wood went to see what’s brewing at a Cafe church in Lenton.

Faced with an average congregation numbering single figures the Revd Martin Kirkbride knew it was time to try a new approach to Sunday evening services. “We have an eclectic congregation,” he explained. “Quite a lot of young professionals, but the area has a particular dynamic because 65% of the local population is students. We also have many people who live in socially disadvantaged situations”.

So after much prayer and discussion with the congregation, Martin and his team have introduced a new style of ‘doing church’ that is starting to make a mark on the area.

Branded as ‘NG7’, the evening service at Holy Trinity now offers a fresh expression of church that has quadrupled the attendance on Sunday evenings and is poised to spread out into the wider community…

Interview with…

Sylvia’s Meaty Issues

Sylvia Michael farms 450 acres and keeps 200 beef cattle in Caunton, near Southwell. She is also Chairman of Newark & Sherwood District Council. With some strong but well founded views on both farming and politics, springing from her long experience as a third generation farmer, and more recently as a District Councillor, it soon became evident that Sylvia is a woman who likes to tackle meaty issues writes Jane Wyles.

 “When the local teacher used to say: ‘Can I bring the children to see the lambs?’ I would say: ‘Yes, as long as you teach them to eat lamb chops – because you can’t have one without the other!” she said. And when she and her team went out canvassing, she told them that if they weren’t prepared to knock on doors they couldn’t expect people to vote for them...

In communion – with our Natal Neighbours

South Africa… so what? I don’t want to bore you with stories of shocking poverty, courageous children or even sun-kissed beaches so this time... it’s personal! I joined a party of nine people from Nottinghamshire and spent just over two weeks in our link diocese of Natal, writes Rachel Farmer. Each of us was changed by the experience, each of us challenged in different ways. We all have different stories to tell, mine started in a shop.

It was Saturday morning, I could have been in Nottingham’s Victoria Centre...I’d been to the supermarket, popped into the Chemist’s and now there was just time to pick up a South African sim card for my phone. Inside the glass fronted shop a woman sat trembling at a table, staring at us fearfully, across by the counter a mother crouched holding a small child against her, tears running down her face, there were no staff in sight. It was a strange scene to run into on my first morning in Durban, but apparently not an unusual one. As my host pieced the story together, I discovered we had walked in minutes after an armed gang had held staff and shoppers at gun-point to rob the store, locking the staff in a room at the back and warning the shoppers they would be shot if they left the store...

Where’s your church in a Spiritual Age?

Today’s culture tends to differentiate between ‘religion’ and ‘spirituality’. The stereotypical church-goer is perceived as old, traditional, set in their ways and seeking to impose their beliefs on other people. Spiritual people, on the other hand, are perceived as young, charismatic, affirming and non-judgmental. However, perceptions can be misleading and often come from people with little understanding of religion or spirituality. For example, David Beckham once said ‘I want Brooklyn to be baptised, but I don’t know into which religion yet.’ In our occasional series on spirituality we ask: How can the Church change these perceptions and engage in mission in this new age?

900 Now – Southwell Minster celebrates its 900^th anniversary

Southwell Minster is celebrating this year as it looks back 900 years – when the present building was started. But it isn’t all about the past, explains the Dean, the Very Revd John Guille: “This is so much more than an ancient building, although the Norman church, much of which is still standing, was started in 1108, it is what happens here today that is important and that is why our year of celebration is all about welcome…”