Newsletter

#326: Going to need a smaller table for the cabinet to gather at tomorrow

Bertie here. I had a very exciting trip out this week in Cara’s bag- you can nearly see me sticking my head out of her bag. She and Richard and I had a tour of St Cecilia’s School, the new Church of England Primary School in the parish, which is due to open in September 2023. It was amazing to look round and a real joy to see Mr Thomas, the Headteacher of the School, who taught at Emmbrook Juniors some years ago, including some of the servers and choir-members. It is a superb building and incredibly well designed and it is going to be amazing to build links in the years and decades to come.

Anyway, enough of what I have been up to this week- here is the news… as an endearing variation on the usual structure of these epistles I am going to turn everything into an instruction:

Remember the 8am Service on Sunday morning, and the gathering over coffee with Fr Richard about worship and values at St Paul’s. 9.30, 10 and 11am services happen as usual- and here is the Service Order for the 9.30 which we are using most weeks over the Summer, in ordinary time:

Join in with the Choir on the 17th of July in the Festival of Peace– and do tell your friends about it so they can come along too, either to sing or to be part of the event:

Relax in August, as and when you can- the PCC have decided to let everyone catch their breath a bit by delaying until September most things which will wait until then. August is being kept as a kind of sabbath, where we do the things we need to do but not more than that. And if you are away on holiday, do send our love and prayers to whichever church you attend, or/ and join in with the Livestream- there will be a small, inexpensive and highly sought-after prize for the best and most exotic/ most well balanced photo of the service being enjoyed on a beach, or a mountain top, or a bar, or an aeroplane, or… do use your imagination. Just to stress- very underwhelming prize, but just imagine the pride you will feel when Bertie includes your photo in a future epistle.

Attention J-Club– there will be things to do in Church every Sunday in the summer but you have only two more sessions of J-Club to enjoy this term- so don’t miss out! Come along! See your friends! Meet with Jesus! Have fun! See you there! (In other words, July the 17th is the final J-Club session of the year).

Come along to the next Meditation Group:

Meditation Group Tuesday 12th July, St Paul’s Church.

Arrive from 1pm for 1.15pm start: Susannah

Listen to this interview, says Jean Vaughan and the MU:

You’ve been really helpful by buying chicks, stars and lambs to help Mothers’ Union to raise funds for the charity Children Heard and Seen.  They are based near Oxford and help families with a parent in prison. Some of you who regularly listen to Radio 4 might have heard the edition of All in the Mind on 21st June. You can hear the programme by going to BBC Sounds.  Sarah Burrows and James Ottley, from Children Heard and Seen, were joined on the programme by a mother, who explained how the fact that her husband had been imprisoned for sexual offences has changed the lives of her and her children for ever.  Do try to catch it on BBC Sounds if you can. It really explains why the charity is so important. 

Enjoy this update from Soulscape, one of our three parish Charities

As the end of the Summer term fast approaches we’d like to update you on what we’ve up to and thank our individual and church supporters for making it all happen. Without your support and the support of so many volunteers we wouldn’t be able to do all we do. There’s more information in the vlog than on the attached, so please take a few minutes to watch! Why not grab a tea/coffee? 😊

Wishing everyone a warm, happy Summer!

Dear Social Committee, the BBQ was pretty good all in all, but there was one huge opportunity missed- why was that not more grilled cheese? You can grill so many cheeses. You could have had an entire BBQ covered in cheese and I could have helped you out by eating all of it to make sure it was properly cooked. Just a thought for next year… you know it makes sense. (And thanks to everyone who put on such a fab social event- it was brilliant to have it again and it was great). Thanks too to everyone who chipped in to help wash up and clear away- the parish at its best.

Finally, as we come to the end of the School year, and reports go home, here are some genuine extracts from School reports sent into the Telegraph some years ago:

French- “Sheila attended the lessons.”

Houseamaster: “Ian has an overdeveloped unawareness.”

French again: “By the time Bill has mastered French he will be too old to cross the Channel.”

English: “His improved handwriting has revealed an inability to spell.”

Headteacher: “I am really sorry to have to tell you that he is doing his best.”

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