Join us, join in

Glenys Payne, Diocesan President of the Mothers’ Union, looks forward to an exciting 150th anniversary year

In Mothers’ Union (MU), we act as God’s hands, feet and heart in God’s world, reaching out to support those who need our help most.

It was Mary Sumner who was inspired to set up the first MU groups in 1876 and to date there are four million members worldwide working to support people of all faiths and none in 83 countries, promoting stable family life and the protection of children through praying, enabling and campaigning.

As we prepare for our 150th Anniversary in 2026, the path ahead remains uncertain - people have many calls on their time, and we know that, here in Wales, membership has been slowly declining for over 30 years.

We could easily accept the certainty of a continuing decline, yet the issues that drove Mary Sumner to take action 150 years ago remain as real as ever. Many parents still struggle to provide for and bring up their families; gender injustice remains a major problem and too many people are having to leave their homes and rebuild their lives elsewhere.

There are so many projects worldwide and they are different in every country, in every diocese, in every archdeaconry, in every LMA and in every branch. In our diocese alone, our projects include working with the Plant Dewi Baby Bundle project, providing knitted items and toiletries to seafarers, and many branches are involved in the Cross in my pocket project shared through hospitals.

The Away From It All scheme is one of our longest-running projects, which supports families through the provision of holidays and trips, offering much-needed respite to those unable to afford or access trips and holidays due to difficult circumstances.

We need more people to Join us, join in – our theme for this year. For more information contact www.mothersunion.org; email stdavidsmu@googlemail.com or follow us on Facebook – St Davids Diocese Mothers Union.