St. Thomas' Episcopal Church Mens Club

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St. Thomas' Episcopal Church
315 Lindsey Street • Reidsville, N.C.

MENS CLUB

The Men's Club, The Laymen of St. Thomas, is a social group open to all adult male members of the church for Christian fellowship. Dinner meetings are held on the first Thursday of the month in the Parish Hall.

Officers for 2008 are:

Kris Rogers, Bill Sutton, Co-Presidents

Some of our current programs and activities include:

Coordinating and serving the weekly Coffee in the Pipkin Parlor following the 11:00 Sunday service.

Planning and serving the annual pancake supper on Shrove Tuesday. This event is well attended by the whole community, and it generates funds for selected outreach projects and for the upkeep of church grounds.

Work days to clean up and prepare the church grounds for special services and events.

Volunteering as Bell Ringers for the Salvation Army.

Serving the Advent & Easter Breakfasts in the Parish Hall.

Planning & Serving the Annual Shrimpfest (in mid-September)

Coffee Hour schedule (2008):

January 2006 Bob Lee Watt & Chuck Rhodes

February 2006 Bill Horsley & Bill Sutton

March 2006 Jay Donecker & Richard Piazza

April 2006 (Open)

May 2006 (Open)

Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper

The Men's Club sponsors this annual affair to raise funds for the upkeep of our building and grounds. We view this as an opportunity to invite our friends in the community to join us in fun and good food. Approximately three hundred people annually attend this event on Shrove Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday.
Here's a good description of Shrove Tuesday and the tradition of pancakes from the "Universitetsforlaget" web site:

Shorve Tuesday: Also known as Pancake Day. In the old days the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday was the day when the priest "shrove" his parishioners -- meaning that he heard their confessions, so that they could enter the fasting season, Lent, with a clear conscience.

People were not allowed to eat milk, eggs or fat during Lent, and to use up all these things they made pancakes. Traditionally the pancake is turned in the pan by tossing it in the air. In many places this is done by women while running in a pancake race! An ancient ceremony at Westminster School, called the Pancake Greeze, involves the cook tossing a large pancake over a high bar before the boys scramble for it.