St Mary’s News – The “Summer Vibe” Edition

St Mary’s News – Summer Vibes, Cèilidh & More

Summer Vibe image, happy people with musical imagery

This Summer Vibe edition of St Mary’s News starts with Revd. Emma Barr reflecting on the joy that music can bring.  It then continues with a number of events:

… the usual listings of services and contacts.

 Message from Revd. Emma Barr

What’s your Summer Vibe?

The wedding season is most definitely in full swing. What a privilege it is as a member of the clergy to walk alongside a couple as they make their preparations to marry and then be front line and centre to witness their big day.

There is so much that makes the service bespoke but for me it all starts literally with the first piece of music. We have had allsorts whether it is super traditional:

Continue reading “St Mary’s News – The “Summer Vibe” Edition”

Old Church Annual Call to Mulled Wine & Mince Pies

Invitation To Enjoy Music, Mulled Wine & Mince Pies

This coming Sunday, 26th November, the Friends of St Mary’s Old Church invite you to enjoy ‘lunchtime’ Mulled Wine & Mince Pies with them. This is a free event and all are welcome between 11 am – 1 pm in the Old Church on Hall Road (CO6 3DU). This is also an opportunity to view the Mediaeval Paintings.

You might also want to take a winter walk before or after, if so you might want to check this history walk out on this website.

Fundraising

Mediaeval Painting

The Friends would be happy to receive donations, of course. This will help them with the maintenance of the Church and Grounds. In recent years they have received great support from the Churches Conservation Trust who funded significant structural repairs. There still remains, though, much work to be done including expensive conservation costs for the mediaeval paintings.

Continue reading “Old Church Annual Call to Mulled Wine & Mince Pies”

Planning for Festival Field 2022

Festival Field 2022 – Our Next Village Fete

Festival Field is 2022's Village Fete

Festival Field 2022 is the working title for next year’s Village Fete. Planned to take place on 4th June 2022 it will be closely linked to the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations with the beacon lighting on 2nd June. Planning started in September with a group of parish councillors and members of the public sharing ideas. Their outline plans for Festival Field include:

Sports

Sporting plans so far include:

Continue reading “Planning for Festival Field 2022”

Day 86 of (stairway to) Lockdown – the ‘MC Escher’ edition

Family cycling

Escher impossible staircaseDay 86 of (stairway to) Lockdown

Day 86 starts off with an update from the Parish Council.  It is also MC Escher‘s birthday who was famous mostly for his ‘Impossible Stairs’ – navigating the pandemic sometimes seems a bit like this!

A couple of mini-snippets:

  • Recycling back to normal apart from textiles on 22nd June,
  • Colchester Zoo opens tomorrow pre-booked entrance only,
  • If you are going into town, remember to keep left on pavements.

After all that we have:

Quality Local Council AwardParish Council Work Continues During the Pandemic

Continue reading “Day 86 of (stairway to) Lockdown – the ‘MC Escher’ edition”

Day 84 of (shopping) Lockdown – the ‘Primark’ edition

Heart of methodists thoughts

Day 84 of (shopping) Lockdown

Day 84 is also day 3 of the Siege of Colchester some 372 years ago, that siege only lasted 77 days and here we are at day 84 of our COVID-19 siege.  With the shops reopening, are we at the beginning of the end, or the end of the beginning?  If we want it to be the former then I guess we need to stay alert?  Today is also the start of Loneliness Awareness Week, other news:

Loneliness Awareness WeekLoneliness Awareness Week

The Marmalade Trust started Loneliness Awareness Week (LAW) 4 years ago to raise awareness Continue reading “Day 84 of (shopping) Lockdown – the ‘Primark’ edition”

Day 81 of (easing) Lockdown – the ‘Wot, no kick-off?’ edition

EURO 2020 logo

EURO 2020 logoDay 81 of (easing) Lockdown – the ‘Wot, no kick-off?’ edition

Day 81 is when we should have been gathering around TVs seeing the EURO 2020 kicking off – hey ho.  Instead, we can:

St Mary’s Church

St Mary’s is pleased to announce that they will be reopening, Continue reading “Day 81 of (easing) Lockdown – the ‘Wot, no kick-off?’ edition”

Day 70 of (surreally) Lockdown – the De-Lockdown edition

Older People Active at Home

Day 70 of (surreally) Lockdown

So, is this day 70 of Lockdown or is it day 1 of De-Lockdown?  Heathlands School saw around 70 children attending today so, for them, it is pretty much over until the Summer Holidays in just over 7 weeks.  Other news:

Older People Active at HomeOlder Adults Keeping Active

Sport England have published Active at Home, co-funded by them & PHE.  It aims to help older adults keep up their activity levels while isolating Continue reading “Day 70 of (surreally) Lockdown – the De-Lockdown edition”

Day 58 of (is it?) Lockdown – the Life in Lockdown edition

Life in Lockdown

Life in LockdownDay 58 of (is it?) Lockdown

On day 58 we get the chance to finish what we started on day 57;  the Essex Life in Lockdown article inviting you to share your lockdown story. After that:

The People of Essex – share your stories

The Research and Citizen Insight team at Essex County Council are reaching out to residents of Essex to hear their experiences and share stories of what it has been like for you during this extremely challenging time. How has COVID-19 and the lockdown has impacted your life, how you’ve been getting on, how you have managed to stay connected with friends, family and your community and how you’ve been feeling throughout the lockdown period? Continue reading “Day 58 of (is it?) Lockdown – the Life in Lockdown edition”

Day 57 of (is it?) Lockdown – The Heinz edition

Day 57 of (is it?) Lockdown

Slim pickings in terms of news on day 57, just 2 items and one of those is incomplete.  A little bit of trivia to start with. Heinz has always been known for its 57 varieties but even when it was first introduced in 19th Century Pittsburgh they had more than 60; Henry J Heinz simply thought 57 was a lucky number.  Of course, Heinz now has over 5,700 varieties, read more here.  The news:

Continue reading “Day 57 of (is it?) Lockdown – The Heinz edition”

Day 45 of Lockdown – the “What did they do” edition

Dave Vera Lynn aged 103

Plans for the weekend gameDay 45 of Lockdown

Day 45 and we are all agog to see what plans Mr Johnson will reveal on Sunday.  The little game on the right might help you predict.   Other news:

Last Few Days of Free Access at Ancestry

Linked to the VE day 75th-anniversary, Ancestry has been offering free access to their website – this expires on Sunday so if you are keen to track your roots this is the weekend to do it!

I (webmaster) have been impressed to Continue reading “Day 45 of Lockdown – the “What did they do” edition”

Skip to content