#3 x 3=9 (or, 339)
Hey hey- Bertie here, back from the land of fika and huge woods and very friendly people. I had an excellent time in Richard’s pocket as we went to Sweden for the 850th Anniversary of the foundation of the Diocese- although I did have a slightly close encounter with a cat called Sirius Black who wanted to be friends with me a lot more than I wanted to be friends with him. Shudder. I understand lots of great stuff has been happening here without me, like the Quiet Day which Cara led and Mary and the team organised, and the online 5,6, 7, 8 group- and here’s what is happening soon…
In person 5,6, 7, 8 Group happening tonight, and every Wednesday, from 6.30 to 7.15pm in the upstairs Room. The code to get in is #5678, which is easy to remember. It’s a great group for people in or around those School years and we have started to look at the Gospel of Luke.
The next session of the Bible Study on the Creeds is on Thursday evening at 8pm in the Rapsey Room (the smaller upstairs room) and it is not too late to join in.
Choir Trip to Tewkesbury on Saturday- don’t forget to turn up if you have booked a place on the coach!
This Sunday is Harvest at St Paul’s and St Nick’s- do bring a small parcel of food or goodies to auction after the service for our three Charities and do book in for the Harvest Lunch if you haven’t done already- you would be very welcome indeed. MaryCassidy said this:
“as part of our Harvest celebrations, and in order to raise money for our three charities, we will have an auction of harvest gifts over coffee after the service – things like CAKES, BISCUITS, FRESH fruits, veg etc which need eating quite soon, or structured boxes of goodies that can be auctioned as a lot. So – next Sunday please bring things to auction AND money to bid with!”
There is also a sealed bid auction of a beautiful quilt and cushion made by Margaret Davies. Bids over£51 should be put in a sealed envelope with your name and address on and handed to Mary Cassidy, Pippa Sutton or Peter Wells by 2pm on Sunday the 2nd of October. Thanks.
PCC meet on Monday night in the Carpenter Room at 8pm, with Peter Wells in the Chair as PCC Vice-Chair- do speak to a PCC member if you would like to find out what is going on, or if you would like them to raise something at the meeting as AOB.
The Mothers’ Union has invited a speaker from the Commonwealth Graves Commission to give a presentation at the forthcoming meeting on Thursday 6th October at lunchtime in St Paul’s Parish Rooms. The members would be very pleased to welcome anyone else who would like to hear this talk to come along. If you are interested in attending, please could you contact Teri Austen (teri@theaustens.uk Tel:0118 978 9123) or Jean Vaughan (jeanvaughan@hotmail.co.uk Tel: 07796 263677).
And in other news…
Here is a link to the September update from Soulscape, one of the three charities we support:
The link is as follows:
http://mbf.cc/5Ggb60
Concert for Ukrainian refugees, Sunday 9th October, 7pm. Wokingham Methodist Church
This concert is in support of Wokingham Borough Council’s “Chance to Thrive” campaign – a fund aimed specifically at supporting the children and young people of Ukrainian families in the Wokingham area. The concert is a mixture of wind band music and singing, with Second Wind (part of the Bracknell & Wokingham Community Band organisation) and Cantata Conviva, a ladies’ choir form Twyford. It promises to be a fun evening of light, entertaining music!
Tickets are £12.50, available by emailing: secondwindbwcb@outlook.com
or they will be on sale in Café Mosaic (The Bradbury Centre, Wokingham Methodist Church). Please do support us if you can. Thank you.
Here is the Deanery Prayer List for October:
An Update from Liz Jackson on the Diocese and Ukraine
Firstly, thank you for you support of the Oxford Diocese Homes for Ukraine scheme. It has been a busy six months but here are the headlines, so far:
- 160 people have been offered a safe place to live, including 60 children.
- We have identified a deanery lead for most of the deaneries – this is someone who receives the name of a new host and helps them and their guest to settle in the local area.
- We have enrolled more than 200 Ukrainians in online English lessons, and many more are joining local face to face sessions.
- We have employed Tanya, a Ukrainian refugee, to support the work, ongoing matches and our guests.
We know much more is going on at a local level and are deeply grateful for it and all your hard work
We also know that the whole process has brought to light problems with wider processes and systems – claiming benefits, registering with GPs and dentists, getting visas in the first place, and longer-term settlement plans.
There are frustrations locally and nationally about how to find solutions to these issues as well as how to be fairer and more inclusive of other people seeking refuge and asylum in the UK.
We want to work with our partners in this process, Citizens UK, to work with YOU to find ways forward.
To that end Citizens UK and Oxford Diocese are offering a series of FREE sessions which will include training to hear you and support you locally as we do this.
Keith Hebden of Citizens UK writes:
“Communities for Ukraine – From Hospitality to Solidarity
The compassionate response to those who have fled the war in Ukraine remains an incredible but challenging. Hundreds of people have opened their homes for hosting or other practical support. But as we have done so we have discovered strains and stresses in the system of care and planning that make it hard for hosts and guests alike. There is an urgency to come together as civil society to share those challenges, dream our own solutions, and campaign for the change we need.
The Diocese of Oxford and Citizens UK are partnering to offer training to anyone working in our Communities for Ukraine matching scheme who wants to play a part, small or large, in voicing and winning the change we need.
Citizens UK is a charity that works with over 500 civic institutions around England and Wales on local and national issues through Community Organising. It’s the home of campaigns such as the real Living Wage and Settle Our Status. This training will introduce tools of Community Organising and give you an opportunity to meet and work with other people in Oxford Diocese see God’s Kingdom come through even the challenging times we face today.”
We would like to invite you to 5 evening sessions (attending all would be ideal) to help to move the issues around Ukrainians and refugees forward through excellent training and community engagement. It doesn’t matter what part you have played in this project so far – you may be a host, or supporting in some other way, or you may have registered an interest but not yet been able to work out how to support – you are very welcome to join.
Please share this email to those you think may be interested.
The dates are 5th October, 9th November, 23rd November, 30th November and 11th January.
And finally…
Referring back to a previous email when Bertie unwisely and courageously described Louise Cole as his Assistant (!), Louise has sent a message in: Now that I’ve been promoted to being Bertie’s assistant, I’ve found I have so much more time on my hands. No more annoying printing! No more tricky wedding admin! All my new boss needs me to do is to source interesting cheeses and .. well, that’s all he seems to need really… So I’ve had plenty of time to do a Harvest jigsaw featuring the Mouse himself..
