#282: How much do you think we could sell all of the petrol for the Church lawnmowers for at the moment?

Dear all,

Bertie is not able to write at the moment because he has donned one of the Church’s yellow jackets and is volunteering at the BP Garage in Winnersh as a director of traffic. They have given him a tall stool to stand on and he is doing an excellent job of directing the cars to the next available pump, while singing cheesy songs to keep everyone’s spirits up, like “Brie my darling” and “We built this city on Roquefort on a roll.” So I, the humble rector, am left with the password and the keyboard and all of the power…

This Sunday

… is Harvest at St Paul’s and St Nick’s– please bring along your pocket money to pay for the auction items you successfully secure, as well as auction items to auction- baskets of fruit, interesting veg, a cake or some biscuits, a bottle of something- the auction will happen over coffee at both St Paul’s and St Nick’s. The Order of Service is here, for what will be an All-age service-

And don’t forget to come along to the Harvest Lunch at 1pm if you have signed up for that- and if you haven’t, please email Louise to put you on the list. A message from Margaret Davies:

Harvest Lunch 

Sunday 3^rd October for a 1pm start in the St Paul’s Parish Rooms.

We will be serving soup and bread and  cheese board and fruit crumble, please bring your own drinks.

There will be no charge but donations will be gratefully received for the three charities.  We will have the card reader in the Parish Rooms. if you have not got cash with you. Also, please can you share lifts as much as possible because we have baptisms in Church at 12 and 1 which will make parking spaces doubly precious.

Please wear warm clothes as we will have the windows open and sanitize your hands when entering the hall.

So we can have an idea of how much soup and crumbles are needed please could you either email Margaret Davies and let her know that you would like to come and also if you have any dietary needs  on margaretanndavies@hotmail.co.uk or let Louise in the office know if you would like to come.

A Key Letter from Mary Cassidy, our Deputy Warden for Mission and Spirituality

Important Things

We are trying hard to think of ways to encourage the online congregation to get to know each other- please email Louise if you have any ideas, or if you would like to get to know people over virtual coffee in small groups, or have some kind of discussion group or any other good idea which you know has worked at a different church…

Geraldine Lea’s funeral will be on Monday the 18th of October, with a Requiem Mass at St Paul’s at 11am followed by a Committal at Easthampstead Park Crematorium at 12.30, and then refreshments at Woosehill Church. We will need people to make cakes and possibly sandwiches (more to follow) and please can you notice from the start that the Church Car park will be very busy that day already with Tumble Tots being in so it would be really helpful if people could share cars or park on Jubilee Avenue or St Paul’s Gate and walk over. Thanks.

There are some people interested in being part of the St Frideswide Pilgrimage to Oxford on Saturday the 16th of October. Please let Louise or me know if you would like to go. St Frideswide Pilgrimage | Christ Church, Oxford University

We have two sung evensongs on 17^th October and 21^st November happening hopefully and we would like to serve wine and nibbles so if you could spare a bottle for these events could either give it to Margaret Davies or Alan Harrison. Thank you

The number of people on the Social committee has reduced, we are a very friendly team and we would love if we two people would join us to spread the load. Please speak to Margaret Davies, Trish Gatland, Alan Harrison, Janet Charlton, Susanna Allen or Jean Davies to find out more.

St Cecilia’s CofE Primary School, which will be opening in a year’s time, has Open Days coming soon and would like to get as many potential students and their families to look round:

Quench Bookshop at Holme Grange are having to consider their future, and send you this message:

In the meantime, we would appreciate your help. Here are a number of suggestions as to how you could do this…

1. Please pray for the ministry of Quench, and for the trustees to hear clearly what God is saying.
2. Please encourage everyone you know to use Quench! We believe that people want to see an ongoing Christian presence in the high street and craft village. There have been many amazing conversations with people over the years, particularly with people who find it much easier to walk in to a shop than to walk in to most churches…
3. Quench is a registered charity and we already receive financial support on a regular basis from a number of you. Is this an area of mission that you or your church could contribute to?
4. Quench Maidenhead currently has an empty bedsit above the shop available for rental. Do you know anyone who is in need of accommodation?

Thank you for reading this email. Please feel free to contact Jeremy Hyde, one of our trustees, if you require further information. You can email him at jeremy@quenchshops.com or phone him on 07909 917432.

If you wish to see the latest play, which is ‘Anne Boleyn’ at Wokingham Theatre and you have not been able to obtain a ticket, Easthampstead Rotary Club has organised a special performance on Wednesday 20th October. There are plenty of seats available. Please contact Derek Porter on 0777 576 2326 to book your tickets.

A Poem from John Sutton (which came out on just the right day, as the weather became autumnal)

A Day in Autumn by R.S Thomas

It will not always be like this,
The air windless, a few last
Leaves adding their decoration
To the trees’ shoulders, braiding the cuffs
Of the boughs with gold; a bird preening

In the lawn’s mirror. Having looked up
From the day’s chores, pause a minute,
Let the mind take its photograph
Of the bright scene, something to wear
Against the heart in the long cold.