See www.Cremeofnature.co.uk for more information.

At the heart of the U.K lies a jewel in the crown…

Birmingham’s jewellery quarter has been famous as a centre of excellence for jewellery making for over 200 years. It’s listed by English heritage as an area of historic interest.

At the heart of the Jewellery Quarter lies a little shop, where skilled jewellers work with much love to share the Gospel through silver and gold.

Yet, as I look out through the shop window I see the museum which once employed over a hundred people, the factories are empty or converted to flats and our own building which once employed over fifty people now employs just four.

But what if that could change? What if we could create more U.K jobs filling these building with dedicated, yet disadvantaged young people seeking hope, genuine skills, an income and a future?

Treasured by Silver Fish Jewellery is the charitable foundation of the Silver Fish Jewellery Company. We are dedicated to making jewellery change lives through mentoring, jewellery skills training and employment. As well as our jewellery quarter project we also train disadvantaged people around the world including recent projects in Haiti and India.

Our U.K standard is excellence. We are training young people at the heart of our nation, to be the master goldsmiths and silversmiths of the future.

Our track record speaks for itself we have already trained seven young people at our Jewellery Quarter workshops in partnership with the Salvation Army, however we need your help to train more.

Winning the Crème of Nature community award would enable us to purchase much needed new equipment such as more jeweller’s benches, bench tools and a new polishing machine to continue our mentoring project in Birmingham’s famous Jewellery Quarter, leaving a lasting legacy of craftsmanship for this and future generations.

Text Caa Vote5 to 07786 200690 to vote for Treasured by Silver Fish Jewellery and together we will make Jewellery change lives!

Browse and buy Silver Fish Jewellery online at: www.silverfishjewellery.com
Love and blessings in Jesus,
Norma<Murrain
Jewellery Designer
www.silverfishjewellery.com

The workshop was supported by four women from Cosham Baptist church in Portsmouth and one from Streatham Baptist church in London. We travelled together as the house of Grace Team.

The aim of the jewellery workshop was to give the women, new skills, hope, dignity, employment and a future.

On day one of the workshop the women arrived with excited and nervous smiles, by day two they were relaxed having fun and laughing. We made beaded crosses, bracelets, necklaces and earrings.

They were overjoyed at being given most of the jewellery they made to keep. Eyes lit up as they exclaimed at how much it would cost to purchase similar items in the shops.

The trip was at once life changing, full of emotional highs as well as more challenging moments, like our visit to a leper camp, but that’s another e-mail!

On the last morning of the workshop I recounted the message of the cross and asked if anyone would like to accept Jesus, I was thrilled when all 18 women stood up and I had the privilege of leading them in the sinner’s prayer, I was so overjoyed; I literally jumped for joy… I explained that all the angels in heaven rejoice when one person accepts Jesus. There and then I knew that is why I came to India, to gather up these precious gems for Jesus, to see this harvest of souls!

One woman shared her story:
“No one has ever treated us with such kindness, people come, abuse us and leave, no one ever touches us unless they want to abuse us, but you hugged us every day, you washed our feet, anointed our hands and made up feel like princesses. I’ve never seen anything like this before. I’ve never seen Jesus, but I see Jesus in you” The whole team was in tears.

Another woman shared how she felt something change in her heart as she made the cross on the first day, her heart just opened up.

We are keen to continue to support our new sisters at the House of Grace in India and to take the message of the beaded cross around the world, through jewellery skills training and micro enterprise development.

Wear, share or give Silverfish Jewellery today and make jewellery change lives! To book jewellery making demonstration, workshop or presentation about our charitable projects contact Norma, the jeweller on: 0121 554 4575. Browse and buy online at: www.silverfishjewellery.com

Love and blessings in Jesus,

Norma J Murrain<
www.silverfishjewellery.com

“The silver is mine and the gold is mine, declares the Lord Almighty” Haggai 2:8
The clock struck midnight on New Year’s Eve and the crowds began to sing “Auld Lang Syne.”

I have always wondered what those words meant and a quick search online revealed the meaning as: Old Scottish for ‘times gone by’.

I began looking back over the past year in a mood of thanksgiving. I looked back over some of our newsletters from last year. Our newsletter from this time last year was entitled ‘how to move a mountain’. It was going to be a tough year, the economic recession loomed as large as any mountain and we would move it, with God’s help, by digging deep into our faith reserves, we would tunnel through until we saw the light at the end!

Then one day when I was somewhere deep in the mountain, a dark place of fear and worry, I saw the light, was this, the end of the recession? Was this the financial breakthrough that we had been praying for? The light came closer and closer, until it touched me. That light was and is Jesus, as I recognised His radiant presence, He lifted me out of the tunnel and placed me on the mountaintop, to proclaim His name and His faithfulness to the nations, so here I stand!

In August we had the riots and for a while, it felt like being back inside the mountain, retailers were advised to keep shutters closed and a spirit of fear and uncertainty seemed to hang over the jewellery quarter. There were riots and rumours of riots. When a shop just a few doors up from us was attacked, it seemed like the mountain was closing in on us!

On the third day of the riots, James asked, “shall I open the shutters today? “Yes” I replied, we must not act out of fear, God’s word stands true even when it seems like there is chaos all around us.

Also in August, we received our charity number for our charitable foundation ‘Treasured by Silverfish jewellery’ and we successfully completed our mentoring programme with the Salvation Army’s future jobs fund where we trained seven long termed unemployed young people at our Jewellery Quarter premises.

In October we travelled to Haiti with Haiti Hospital Appeal to train a group of people who were left paralysed by the earthquake of January 2010. Our five day intensive course in jewellery making, using locally found materials is aimed at changing lives by giving disadvantaged people hope, jewellery making skills and an income.

It certainly was a privilege and a life changing experience for me, there I found a real spiritual hunger, a genuine, humble and childlike faith in the Haitian people even in the mist of the terrible social injustice that they face. I was inspired by the faith, hard work, dedication and vision of the charity founders.

In November we reached a milestone as we celebrated seven years of service at our shop. The shop is central to our ministry and work. It’s always a pleasure to meet, serve, inspire and to pray, prayers of blessing and healing. People come into a jewellery shop that might never go into a church. “The silver is mine and the gold is mine, says the Lord of hosts” and my earnest prayer is that we will continue to be and open door into His Kingdom and a light for Jesus on that high street.

We launched many new designs as well as a range of affordable, solid silver communion chalices and patterns for home, church and travel use. We started using Eco gold alongside our recycled silver as we continue to promote ecological and ethical practices in precious metal mining and gemstone industries.

Looking ahead, we continue to move forward with our eyes fixed on Jesus, the future is bright in the light of His love and we are really excited about that!

Thank you for your continued friendship, support, prayers and purchases, together we are making jewellery, change lives!

Love and blessings in Jesus,
Norma Murrain<
Jewellery designer.

One of my favourite things about the advent season is watching the children as they take part in the nativity play. It always brings a tear and a large smile.

This verse always takes me back to my youngest son, Daniel’s first nativity. He was just three years old and he was dressed up as the angel Gabriel, the cutest angel Gabriel I ever saw. All was going well until Mary and Joseph got to the scene at the inn where the inn keeper says “No room”.

As those words were spoken, Daniel burst into tears and attacked the little innkeeper, he was totally inconsolable! The innkeeper started to cry, other children started to cry, embarrassed and apologetic his dad and I with the help of a couple the teachers managed to remove him from the scene, still crying inconsolably whilst his elder brother and sister fought back fits of laughter….

As the angels in heaven rejoice when one sinner repents, I wonder if they cry, like Daniel did, when Jesus comes knocking at our hearts and finds no room. I wonder how they will feel as they watch our festivities this Christmas will they laugh and celebrate or will it break their hearts, will you make room in your heart for Jesus, will you make the angels smile, or cry?

Here is my Christmas prayer; will you pray it with me?

Dear Lord Jesus, Please forgive the times I’ve shut you out, my heart is open now, will you come in? Please cleanse me from anything that might cause you pain and fill my heart with your love this Christmas and forever.
In Jesus name Amen.

Dear Friends,

“In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus Himself, It is more blessed to give than to receive” Acts 20:35

I’m back in the U.K and our mission trip to Haiti was a great success!

Thank you for your thoughtful prayers, words of encouragement and generous donations.

Tools and bead supplies for this project were donated by Cookson’s Precious Metals, Sutton’s Tools, T H Findings and Davran Jewellery. All based in Birmingham’s famous Jewellery Quarter.

It was all very exciting and life changing, both for my-self and the rehabilitation patients at the hospital in Cap Haitian. I had the privilege of working with around fifteen delegates who were mostly rehab patients, left paralysed by the recent earthquake.

I expected to find pain and despair but thanks to the great work of Haiti hospital appeal with the Baptist Convention of Haiti who built the hospital in partnership, and the God given resilient Haitian spirit, I found just the opposite!

Each day in the Rehabilitation vocational room (now called the jewellery workshop!), training began with thankful prayers. The delegates often sang as they worked and we laughed a lot as we sang songs familiar in both languages, such as ‘the old rugged cross’, ‘amazing grace’ and ‘blessed assurance’.

The room was filled with the electric yet peaceful presence of God, the simple joy of being alive, friendship and warmth, both from the Haitian smiles and the Caribbean sunshine! There was much hope and optimism for a much brighter future.

There was a hunger for knowledge as delegates concentrated on making beautiful jewellery as well as a hunger for God as we shared the biblical inspirations behind each design.

It was my great privilege to share how to make a range of jewellery including crosses, pendants, bracelets and earrings using found, recycled and natural materials, such as co-co nut shell, seeds, up cycled aluminium cans and horn.

By the end of the five day intensive training period delegates could all make locally saleable jewellery and were already taking orders from NGO staff and visiting missionaries!

My hope and prayer for all our delegate/rehab patients in Haiti, now my new friends, is that they will continue to use their new tools daily and keep developing their new jewellery skills and their relationship with God!

Love and blessings in Jesus,
Norma

Nelson Mandela

Hi,

I’m Norma Murrain, founder of the Silver Fish Jewellery Company, jewellery designer, mum of three and blog author…

In this blog I will  sharing news about the work of the Silver Fish Jewellery Company.

I hope that through this blog you will be encouraged to do your best work and live your best life.

Love and blessings in Jesus,

Norma.

Leaving on October 10 we will be working with delegates who have bee paralysed by the recent earthquake, showing them how to make jewellery using coconut shell and locally found objects.

The aim is that the jewellery they make will be sold locally, through tourist outlets, enabling them with hope, a new skill and an income…

Love in Jesus,

Norma<><

www.silverfishjewellery.com