Religion:Pram service

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Short description: Informal Anglican Church religious service


A pram service is an informal Anglican Church religious service, such as eucharist or morning prayer, specifically tailored for babies and toddlers (up to five years of age), along with their parents, guardians, or child minders, and which is named for the British word for what United States call a baby carriage. The short, informal service typically includes communion or prayer, singing, and age-appropriate Biblical stories, followed by a snack and hot beverages, play time, and informal conversation.[1][2][3][4][5][6]

The service may be led by the vicar,[7] or, more often, by a layperson,[2][5][8] or Mothers Union volunteer.[9]Cite error: Closing </ref> missing for <ref> tag It is sometimes referred to as a 'toddler service'.[10]

Setting

The chapter house of St Robert's Church, Pannal, at which a pram service is conducted.

A pram service is often held on a weekday morning,[1][4][8][9][11] but may be held mid-afternoon (2:00 or 2:15 p.m.), with sufficient time for the children's guardians to pick up older children after the end of the school day.[2][3][6] While it can be held in the church,[4] the informal service can also be conducted in the chapter house[2] the chancel,[3] church house,[3][6] or community center.[11] A popular "how-to" guide to children's programming advises that when running a monthly pram service, make it as simple and in familiar circumstances as possible, to draw in parents who might "not feel at ease in a church."[10]

The purposes of the service are to provide an opportunity for adults to meet others, as well as catechism and new friends for the children.[3][5][6] Some parents just use the chance to get away from housekeeping for an hour.[5][9] The cost is usually free; however, the church may ask for a small donation.[11] The service can be used for evangelism of younger people.[10]

Notable churches with pram services

  • Church of St Michael and All Angels, Beckwithshaw[8]
  • St Robert's Church, Pannal[2]
  • Wymondham Abbey[1]
  • St Oswald's Church, Sowerby[12]

In popular culture

Pram services may be used as a plot device or back story in British fiction. For example, in the novel Heaven Spent by Janice B. Scott, Polly uses the service to entice young parents with "an old-fashioned high tea" that church was worth attending on Sunday afternoons, but it involved hours of preparation.[13] The Harlequin novel, A Secret Infatuation, includes a scene in which a parishioner must see the priest about helping the Mothers Union form a pram service.[14] In the dramatic novel The Dark Mirror, the church starts a successful pram service.[15]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Pram Service". n.d.. http://www.wymondhamabbey.com/children/under5s. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 "Pannal Area News". Ripon Gazette. 25 October 2005. http://www.ripongazette.co.uk/news/local/pannal-area-news-1-2684724. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 "Pram Service". n.d.. http://www.welwyn.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=112&Itemid=188. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "Holy Trinity Church Pram Service". n.d.. http://fid.leics.gov.uk/kb5/leics/fsd/event.page?id=yIRb7umWjqU. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 "Purton Pram Service". n.d.. http://www.vas-swindon.org.uk/directory/view/Purton-Pram-Service/18/. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 "Pram Service". n.d.. http://stmichaelsbtree.co.uk/website/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=10&Itemid=13. 
  7. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named District
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 "Who's Who photos". n.d.. http://beckwithshaw.2day.ws/beckwithshaw/section/WhosWhophotos/. 
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 "Pram Service Group". n.d.. http://www.stpeterschurchredcar.co.uk/pramservicegroup.html. 
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Whithers, Margaret (2002). Not Just Sunday: Setting Up and Running Mid-week Clubs for Children. Church House Publishing. pp. 2, 3, 25. ISBN 978-0-7151-4982-9. 
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 "'Little Tiddlers' (Pram Service)". n.d.. http://fisd.oxfordshire.gov.uk/kb5/oxfordshire/fsd/service.page?id=QkAAHTHBdn4&familieschannel=100. 
  12. ↑ "Children & Young People | St Oswald's Church, Sowerby, Thirsk, North Yorkshire". http://www.stoswaldsowerby.org.uk/candy.shtml. 
  13. ↑ Scott, Janice B. (2010). Heaven Spent. Strategic Book Publishing. pp. 112, 120, 124, 152, 155, 199, 276. ISBN 978-1-60976-445-6. https://books.google.com/books?id=RIlAtggcs-cC&q=%22pram+service%22&pg=PA149. 
  14. ↑ Neels, Betty (2012). A Secret Infatuation. Harlequin. pp. 112, 120, 124, 152, 155, 199, 276. ISBN 978-1-4592-3952-4. https://books.google.com/books?id=VGxfmfv9YUAC&q=%22pram+service%22&pg=PT20. 
  15. ↑ Hobson, G. B. (2011). The Dark Mirror. Dare Empire. pp. 40, 42. ISBN 978-0-9808709-8-5. https://books.google.com/books?id=d4BH5eYKhykC&q=%22pram+service%22&pg=PA42. 

Further reading

  • Alabaster, Heather (2007). The Clever Clogs Children's Guide. Clever Clogs Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9537385-1-9. 
  • Nick Whitehead; Hazel Whitehead (1998). Baptism Matters. Church House Publishing. p. 91 ff. ISBN 978-0-7151-4900-3. 

External links



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