Forget Sochi as battle of churches rages on bayside

Image; Oh, and while we're talking - we're all praying for a fine day next Saturday ... from Redlands Lutheran

THE spectacle of the Winter Olympics faded to a mere bit of fuss over a few sport events when the battle of the churches erupted recently in these columns. Readers of the Classifieds must have been riveted to their seats as Capalaba Uniting Church, Cleveland Baptist Church and St James Lutheran Church, Cleveland, went 'head to head'. It was indeed one of the most exciting Garage Sale columns in publishing history as the three churches promoted their fundraisers. The lengthy lists of tantalising items – complete with the use of capital letters, italics and exclamation marks – showed the palm-sweating anticipation.

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Jokes aside, the churches are firm believers – they know they can get results with prayers and classified notices. Capalaba Uniting Church's Owen Roberts, whose wife Pauline is a church elder, says its February 8 carboot sale was a great success, with about 24 stallholders, about as many as the Ney Road property can hold. The vendors pay $10 a stall, which has helped the church with maintenance and other costs for about the past 15 years, he says. The market is held every two months. Further east, Joye and Evan Kriedemann are the co-ordinators of Cleveland Baptist Church's monthly "Community Car Boot Market". Joye says the market is "going from strength to strength" and the Waterloo Street church was abuzz with activity on February 1. "It was fantastic," Joye says. "We now have about 45 stallholders at each market."

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The church has focused on making the market more than just a buying and selling experience by setting up a special stall to promote community groups and causes. The next market will be on Saturday, March 1.

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Motorcycle leathers, yes – gang patches, NO!

THE Newman government's campaign against outlaw motorcycle gangs appeared to be working when sets of leather jackets, dry riders and helmets featured in the For Sale column. But the vendor, a Wellington Point man, said he was simply having a clean-out after selling his bike and indicated the only patch he would wear would be to give up smoking.

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Bridge lobby general stays optimistic

THE grand old lady of the Russell Island Bridge Lobby, Joyce Webb, 90, says she was not disappointed by a smaller than usual turn-out for the advertised annual general meeting at Redland Bay on February 1 and the failure of a television crew to attend. Joyce said the Toondah Harbour development issue was a distraction on the day. The lobby was just short of a quorum to hold elections but still had its executive serving almost 1500 members around Australia.

This column has appeared in The Redland Times.