#392: a good moment to invest in temporary School buildings. And Tents.
Dear friends,
I don’t have a lot of time to talk now because my amazing guest appearance in the legendary Wokingham Today has meant that my social media profile has soured and I am left wondering whether I really need this small publication anymore. At the very least my agent is going to be in touch with the Rector to talk about doubling my pay from one wheel of cheddar an article to a wheel of cheddar and a slab of Stilton. At the least. I am sure we can come to an arrangement as long as the Rector understands my true worth and value as an advocate, journalist, shopwindow and cult figure. Do please be sure to tell him that he needs to properly appreciate my importance. Here is the news…
[For those who didn’t get to see Bertie’s article in the local paper: Mystery over donation of goodies left on doorstep of Wokingham church – for its mouse – Wokingham.Today]
Also, the Lameys and Colin and Val and Lynne Judge all had an excellent time at the Greenbelt Christian Festival at the end of August and we were thinking that it would be great to take a small group of people from the parish to the next one- 22-25 August 2024. The Lameys took a tent, Lynne took a camper van and the Weedons were in a local B and B and they would all be happy to talk about their experience of the weekend. A lot of other people have been before or would like to go- so why not make 2024 the year? There are programmes for children and teenagers as well. There are religious talks, and charity talks, and talks about fighting poverty and climate change, and comedians (Milton Jones was great), and loads of music, and communal singing, and small groups and you can do as much or as little as you want to. Do talk to us, do look it up and do come along!
Greenbelt Festival – Greenbelt
This Weekend…
… is a busy one. Do pop in to see what is happening for Heritage Weekend on Saturday- do sponsor people who are Riding and Striding, Mary Cassidy has worked really hard to put up a lot of excellent boards explaining the building, Colin Weedon is leading guided tours of the stained glass at 11 and 2. And thank you to everyone who has signed up to be in Church welcoming visitors. Mary sent this note in:
“I think Bertie was watching me in the church this morning as I put up information boards and moved pews to allow people closer access to the stained glass windows on Saturday – Heritage open day.
Certainly someone gobbled up the crumbs I inadvertently dropped when I had my coffee break! (Chris had gone home by then). He must have also heard me telling Christopher whose superb photographs of window details I had used, and how very interesting I found Colin Weedon’s book about the stained glass. I discovered so much in the windows that I had never noticed before, and I wouldn’t have been able to put up as many descriptions and explanations as I did, had it not been for Colin giving me permission to quote from the book.
I am sure Bertie is looking forward to seeing lots of people in the church on Saturday.”
There is also a Coffee Morning for Christian Aid at the Methodist Church on Saturday from 10 to 12.
Church on Sunday is as usual (including 8am)- and there will be the chance after the 9.30 to talk to Richard about the Diocesan workstreams which we preached on over the summer, to answer any questions and hear suggestions and priorities. Also, on Sunday- J-Club are back! Hooray!
and then we have a Games Evening on Sunday from 7pm for anyone who feels new-ish to Church and would like to get to know some other people. You bring some good games and a drink and we will offer nibbles and tables and chairs and warm smiley faces. Just turn up- and if you’re free and would like to come along even if you are part of the furniture at Church!
Coming Soon And News
The Environmental Lecture Series Andy Clark has organised starts very soon- do please come along! and do tell your friends and neighbours and colleagues!
SPLOG is a welcoming group for gentlemen who gather every other month for a meal and
conversation. John Sutton is the convenor. He writes: “Our next Splog will be on Friday 29th September 2023 at Chalk in Wokingham at 8pm, meeting at the Broad Street Tavern beforehand, at 7pm. As last time, they will do us two courses from the attached menu for us for £25, excluding service. As always, drinks will be paid for individually. For more info or to sign up, please email splog.wokingham@gmail.com
We are currently waiting for the arbicultural survey on the oak tree on the Reading Road in the Churchyard. We are going to have to do a lot of work on it and it is going to cost several thousands of pounds. The big question is whether the expert thinks that the top branches of the tree can be saved or if we need to reduce the whole tree to basically a trunk. It is all very sad because the tree is at least 300 years old- but safety is clearly and rightly the priority in this whole conversation and decision.
A spam email came round last week over the weekend which asked for money from parishioners. It was not from a real email address and no member of the clergy team would ever ask you to send them money over email. It just would never happen. Thank you to those who sent the emails on to us so we can see them, and please always be suspicious of any email asking you for money. Peter Wells has asked for this note to be included: “If you receive an email which purports to come from Fr Richard (Or any of the other members of the St Paul’s clergy or lay team) asking for a confidential email discussion, or asking for you to pay money or buy vouchers on their behalf. Please check that it is genuine. You can do this by simply forwarding it to administrator@spauls.co.uk. We will then send you a reply confirming whether it is genuine or spam. We would also like to investigate any of these emails to determine the origin, so if you are happy to help please will you do the following:
If you use a mail client such as Outlook, or Thunderbird, create a email to be sent to administrator@spauls.co.uk then drag and drop the original spam email to this new email so that it is added as an attachment, then send it.
If you use a web browser to access you emails such as through webmail or similar, you will need to save the spam email (this is usually and additional option on an opened email to ‘Save as a file’), then you can add the saved file as an attachment sent to administrator@spauls.co.uk .
N.B. The current spam is being sent from an email address ‘richard.lamey.spauls@email.com’ rather than the genuine email of ‘rector@spauls.co.uk’.
The Parish Bazaar is from midday on Sat the 11th of November. Please put the date in your diary now and think about whether you would be able to help run a stall or make coffee. Teri has sent this note: “I’m still keen to run a Bric-a-Brac stall, but no-one else is! It made quite a bit of money before. Perhaps we could put out a notice in Bertie asking if anyone who isn’t already involved would like to run a stall? If so, get in touch with me.”
Bishop Hall has sent this thank you note for the money we sent to support their MU Conference:
“Jane, thank you to you and your friends at St Paul’s for facilitating as much as you did getting the Mahajanga delegation to the MU National Zaikabe. But please, when appropriate, assure them of my thanks. I had no idea how many “extras” there were going to be until we got there, and I don’t think they did either.”
And also, don’t forget the Quiet Day looking at how we pray and new ways of praying on Sat the 21st of October at Winnersh. It will be a great intro to prayer and also a good day to slow things down and think about faith and God. Put it in your diary now. Mary Cassidy has the details.
