[Leader — to confirm]

Mother’s Day at Harlesden Baptist Church is more than a calendar service — it is woven into the long pastoral fabric of the church’s care for families. The Cradle Roll Secretary specifically sends invitations to the Mother’s Day service to the parents of every child who has been dedicated at HBC in the preceding year, and many of these families travel substantial distances to attend (parents come not only from Harlesden and Willesden, but from Edgware, Colindale, Perivale, Harrow, Southwark, Luton and Lewisham — all having driven past many other churches to be part of HBC’s Mother’s Day service).

The history of women’s ministry at HBC is long and substantial. The Dorcas Society was formed on 15 June 1896 specifically to make clothes for the poor; the Mothers’ Medical Aid and Maternity Society was formed in May 1897. The Women’s Fellowship has restarted multiple times across the years (most recently in 1975, after a previous run). Miss Emily Tyrrell (1887–1957) was the first woman deacon (1919–47) and president of the Women’s Fellowship; Miss May Royston, a member from 1915, served as Girls Brigade captain from 1933 to 1946 and as deacon and life deacon from 1944. The 2015 Anniversary Booklet itself is dedicated to “all the deacons, deaconesses and members of the church” — recognising the central place of women in HBC’s life.

The Mother’s Day Team organises and prepares the annual Mother’s Day service: the special programme, the gifts for the mothers, the welcome of returning families, and the refreshments afterwards.

The 2015 booklet does not contain a stand-alone Mother’s Day Team chapter, so the precise structure and current leadership should be confirmed.

Sources: [125th] p. 48 (Cradle Roll → Mother’s Day invitations); [Centenary] (Dorcas 1896, Mothers’ Aid 1897, Miss Tyrrell, Miss Royston); [Web History].