#367: Boris Johnson has had a haircut
Good evening. After Dr Leonard Onugha, the Rector of Finchampstead and California, collapsed and died this week it doesn’t feel quite the moment for Bertie so this will be a more straightforward list of announcements than usual. If you know people who are part of those congregations- our neighbours and friends to the south eats then please do check in with them and say that we are thinking of them. And please can you pray for the clergy and people of the parish, and especially for Leonard’s family- his wife Joanna and their three children.
May he rest in peace and rise with the saints in glory.
Coming Soon
Clocks go forward on Sunday- don’t be late for Church, especially if you are coming to the 8 o’clock which will feel like 7 o’clock but actually will be the new 8 o’clock because the clocks will have changed. d’you see?
Please do come along to the Confirmation Service at St Paul’s at 6.15pm on Sunday evening- with Bishop Olivia- we have six candidates and there will be people there from six churches so it will be a big evening all round. If you would like to bake or buy a cake please can you let Alan Harrison know? and please can you pray our candidates, all of them part of our 5, 6, 7, 8 groups- Hugo and Rufus, Ella, Jacob, Stella and Freya.
Link for Confirmation Service:
Confirmation Service (26/03/2023) – YouTube
The house mass will be at Jean’s house: 11 Copse Drive not 10 Ashton Road on Wednesday 29th March.
And here is the latest Deanery Prayer Cycle:
Holy Week and Easter
There will be some more services during the day in Holy Week but this is the list of the main services- do please print one for yourself and one for a friend, and do come to as much of Holy Week as you possibly can because it really matters that we all walk as closely with Jesus as possible in this most vital of weeks.
And this booklet can be printed double-sided and handed to your neighbours and friends:
Thank you to those who have offered to host three of our guests from Westcott House Theological College in Cambridge. That is really helpful and really important. We would like to be able to offer the hosts some money to pay for some of the food they will need to buy- perhaps you couldn’t offer to host but would like to buy an ordinand a meal while they are here? If so, please could you put cash in an envelope and hand it in to the office, or speak to Lyn Austen? Our hosts are offering to welcome our guests on behalf of us all so it is important it doesn’t cost them a lot of money to welcome them for us.
Jean Beaven: 17th June 1934 – 6th March 2023
Jean Beaven passed away peacefully at Alexander Grange, Wokingham on the 6th March 2023 aged 88.
Beloved mum of Sara and Jo, grandmother to Frances, Natasha, Jess and Micheal, great grandmother to Harlie, Harper and Theia.
She will be very sadly missed by all her family and friends.
Funeral service to be held at Easthampstead Cremation, Wellington Chapel on Thursday 6th April at 10 am.
Donations in memory of Jean to Cancer Research or the Salvation Army can be made via JB Hall
We are hugely looking forward to everything about Holy Week. In particular, we are doing another Good Friday Messy Church in the Parish Rooms and in Church as well. We will have about 8 tables and we will need 2 people on each table- perhaps and adult and someone from 5, 6, 7, 8s? If you would like to help- and it is important that we don’t really look to our J-Club leaders because they should be going round with their own children- please can you let Richard know? It would be a really good thing for someone perhaps who used to lead Sunday School to do because it is a one-off and really exciting!
Easter Sunday Breakfast
Sunday , 9th April from 7:30 am. Donations to our Lent Appeal. Please sign up at the back of the church or email Alan or Trish: al_harrison@ hotmail.co.uk trishgatland@ hotmail.co.uk
Post-Easter
Soulscape’s Prayer Space, PAUSE is running at Emmbrook School from 24th – 28th April 2023.
We really need volunteers to help with the project and would really appreciate it if you could please put a note in your newsletter / weekly church communications. Many thanks.
You can be part of the set up or / and take down team or be present in the space for 1 hour or so.
Please contact Andrea if you would like to join the team or find out more. Andrea.caplin@soulscape.org.uk
PAUSE is Soulscape’s interactive prayer space for young people at school.
Running in Emmbrook 24th – 28th April 2023.
Carving out space during the busy school day for personal reflection and prayer, it invites young people of all faiths and none to think about what and who is important in their lives. There are opportunities to remember people loved and lost, opportunities to explore hopes and dreams and opportunities to recognise and let go of regrets. PAUSE is a time to ‘be’, an opportunity to stop looking at the clock.
Mary has sent in two links to local retreat houses for people to book some time to breathe and pray:
Clicking on this link https://www.stcolumbashouse.org.uk/your-retreat/our-events/ will take them to the events diary from where they can seek more information and details of how to book.
A retreat house that I have not yet visited is St Katharine’s Parmoor, (Henley-on-Thames) which also organises days and longer retreats for which anyone can book – some of the events planned for this year sound very interesting – the link is here; https://www.srpf.org.uk/events/ . (I also found the history of the house and its various owners interesting!).
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At last.. the Lucky Numbers you have been waiting for
The Lucky Numbers draw normally takes place monthly at either St Paul’s or St Nicholas’s, but due to an “administrative hiccup”, the February and March draws both took place at St Paul’s after Mass on Mothering Sunday, 19th March 2023.
Congratulations to the lucky winners who were:
February:
£50 # 38 Judi Hattaway
£25 # 60 Liz Gallagher
£15 # 81 David & Janet Charlton
£10 # 43 David & Lesley Ruddock
March:
£50 # 10 Alan Harrison
£25 # 73 Gordon Lupton
£15 # 56 Mike Dyer
£10 # 27 Chris Platten
One share (number) costs £24 per year, and you can have as many shares as you wish. Funds remaining after the distribution of the prizes go to the Restoration Fund, for repairs and renewals to the church building. For more information, please contact Tony Roberts (979 5351), Liz Gallagher (989 1176) or Mary Cassidy (979 5096) – talk to Mary at St Paul’s, or Tony or Liz at St Nicholas’.
