Community, Parish Council & Village
This edition of St Mary’s News starts with Daffodils & Hope and then continues with:
As March beckons, spring bursts onto the scene. The words of William Wordsworth might come to mind as we see the daffodils emerging from beneath the ground:
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This edition of St Mary’s News starts with “hopes for 2023″Love is all around me”, and continues with other news including:
‘I feel it in my fingers, I feel it in my toes, Christmas is all around me and so the feeling grows’
… say the lyrics of the Christmas film, which has just celebrated its 20th anniversary, Love Actually.
It doesn’t seem five minutes since we were celebrating Christmas, and yet in the world of advertising and card manufacture, we have definitely moved on, into a season more appropriately linked to the original lyrics of the song, first performed by the Troggs in 1967 ‘I feel it in my fingers, I feel it in my toes, Love is all around me, and so the feeling grows.’
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This edition of St Mary’s News starts with hopes for 2023, and continues with other news including:
A New Year Reflection from Revd Heather
With each New Year, comes a time of reflecting back on the past 12 months, and a moment to look ahead and dream about what the future might hold.
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For the first time since 2018, the Friends of St Mary’s Old Church are holding a Candlelit Service in the Old Church. Following the success of their Mulled Wine & Mince Pies event, the Friends look forward to welcoming you on Sunday 18th December at 2:30 pm. The service is free and open to all and there’s now dedicated car parking opposite the church. Reverend Heather Wilcox will lead the service.
In 2019, the Friends were able to hold a Carol service but, because of redecoration works at the time they could not run it by candlelight. Since then, of course, the services have been unable to run due to Covid. So do come along and welcome this annual tradition back to the village.
This edition of St Mary’s News starts with Christmas 2022, and continues with other news including:
We look forward to welcoming you to our Christmas services this year:
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Next Sunday, 27th November, the Friends of St Mary’s Old Church invite you to enjoy Mulled Wine & Mince Pies with them. This event will also afford you the opportunity to renew or join the friends.
Octavia will be performing during the event, which runs from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm. Octavia is a ‘sub-group’ of Quire.
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This edition of St Mary’s News starts with the Advent Experience of Posada, and continues with other news including:
Posada originates from Mexico where people dress as Mary and Joseph and re-enact the journey to Bethlehem, travelling from house to house asking for a place to stay (the word Posada means an inn). In recent years, this idea has been modified by churches in this country by sending the figures of Mary and Joseph and the donkey from house to house during Advent.
This year, we are offering the Posada experience in our village. From Sunday 27th November until Christmas Day, figures representing Mary and Joseph will travel round our community from home to home, stopping by arrangement, where there is a place for them and a warm welcome waiting.
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This edition of St Mary’s News starts with Liz Dixon reflecting on Jesus being “the bread of life”, and continues with other news including:
Then Jesus declared ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.’
John 6:35
In an effort to live more sustainably, I decided to try and grow some vegetables in my garden for the first time this year. I made lots of mistakes so the results were very mixed. The broad beans were covered in black fly, the dwarf pea plants produced about 6 peas from 20 plants, and the carrots were very tiny. But I did manage to grow some passable red peppers!
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The Friends of St Mary’s Old Church are holding a quiz at Orpen Hall on 8th October. All funds raised will go towards the continued upkeep of the Old Church. Renovations have gone well but more remains to be done so the more you raise the closer we get.
Why not call your friends now!
The Friends work supplements the support of national charity, The Churches Conservation Trust (CCT), which is responsible for the preservation of this and over 350 other redundant churches in England.
There will be a Commemoration Service for Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in St Mary’s. It will start at 6 pm on 18th September. It would be great to see representatives at that service from all the organisations within the village. This is a service for the whole community to come together.
A Book of Condolence is open at the New Church from 9am to 7pm each day. Flowers can be left by the flag at the Orpen Hall (no plastic wrappings please).