It was early in 1996 that the then minister of Moortown Baptist Church, Stephen Ibbotson, suggested to Wilfred Wyatt that maybe they should think about starting a bible study cum prayer group especially aimed at catering for the needs of the elderly people in the congregation.
Today after 22 years of continuous ministry that group, which soon adopted the title Autumn Leaves marked its final meeting with a special buffet lunch.
Originally run by Wilfred, Margaret Barr and Rosemary Glover Autumn Leaves first began meeting on a Thursday afternoon. However, it wasn’t long before Thursday afternoon became Friday morning and such was its success that within just a few weeks up to 30 regulars were attending.
The name Autumn Leaves was chosen by Irene who as a keen botanist drew on the analogy of the wisdom and maturity of those it was designed to serve being like the mature, established leaves of a tree… a notion that Irene was equally keen to reiterate again at today’s lunch.
Presenting Wilfred with a photograph frame, which will soon be filled with a montage of pictures taken at the event, Graham paid tribute to Wilfred and Irene, to Margaret who unfortunately couldn’t be there and to Rosemary for giving so much of their time and energy to run such an important programme.
As Wilfred and Rosemary cut into a suitably decorated cake the warmth and love that those present felt for one another was tangible. So much so that one can’t help thinking that Autumn Leaves II or something similar might be with us sooner than we think.