#434: and to think that we timed the whole Hustings to avoid the English Euro matches…
Bertie here, your local resident journo, getting very excited indeed about tonight’s Hustings event at All Sts, with people arriving from 7 and the event starting at 7.30. It is very important and I will be sat there, next to my good friend Phil Creighton who gave me my very first break in the press. He was surprised when my confident voice introduced myself at the scene of the great Cheese Heist at Waitrose back in ’09. We stood there, shoulder to shoulder, puzzling out how they had got into the store and then how they had got away again. He went off to look at the CCTV and I pulled aside a large wheel of Edam to see a very fat looking mouse racing through a pile of cheese. It was my third-cousin, Bert. He was always the dodgy member of the family- and what made me cross and do a citizen’s arrest (which is not entirely a thing, the judge said, and certainly not when issued by a talking mouse, however clear his diction) was the fact that he was in such a hurry to get through as much cheese as possible was that he was not even eating TO THE EDGE OF THE RIND. The crime was bad enough but the disrespect to the cheese composers was the final straw. And I don’t mean a cheese straw. Anyway, good luck to Phil in his next adventures- and here, from me and him, is the News. Cheers, Phil, and bon chance.
THE NEWS
The Hustings event is tonight- Bertie will be there? Will you?
Woosehill have a Strawberry Tea on Sat the 29th of June from 3 to 5pm- please email ruth.a.smith@btinternet.com if you are coming so they know how many strawberries to kill.
THANKS AND OTHER MATTERS
Enormous thanks for everyone who worked so hard last weekend to make Chris’ latest concert such a success, both musically and financially, and to Chris himself- and to our fabulous Social Committee for a superb Parish BBQ on Sunday, and to Nigel and Chris for running the BBQ. It was a great and friendly weekend.
The final recital in this series of organ concerts will be on Sunday 18 August at 6:15pm.
Following the success of last year’s ‘Songs of Praise’ event, this will be a programme of music ‘by request’ in return for a contribution to the organ restoration fund – suggested donation, £20. If there is a piece of organ music you would like included, please contact Christopher Cipkin to discuss no later than Sunday 7 July. It would also be appreciated if you could share a few words on why you have chosen the piece so that this can be included in the programme, anonymised if preferred.
Following a question from the congregation, the Standing Committee have agreed to restore the holy water stoop by the Church door in the porch and to the door from the vestry into church so that people can cross themselves. People are still very welcome to use the font as well, since that also contains holy water. Thanks for the question! Here to help!
Ruth Gibbs (from St Paul’s) is doing the next Walter Lecture on Thur the 18th of July at Church at 7pm.
Prayer in the forthcoming vacancy
Message from Mary Cassidy, Deputy Warden for Spirituality and Mission: As May begins, so the date of Fr Richard’s departure draws ever closer! Changes obviously lie ahead, for the Lamey family as well as for our parish and the responsibilities of the leadership team.
Over the next months, prayer — for the Lameys, for Peter and David our Wardens, for Cara, Jane, Judi and other clergy who will be stepping in to help with services, for the PCC and the whole parish (St Paul’s, St Nicholas’s and Woosehill), for the recruitment process, for the Deanery … — will be vital.
I encourage you all to “add in” an extra, focussed prayer element to your normal routine.
Pray as you can, not as you can’t, but some suggestions to consider that may help draw us closer together in prayer include:
- Join a prayer group, e.g. from June 5th on the first Wednesday of each month at 3.00pm at Jane Creasy’s house (for about an hour)
- Join Morning prayer: Mon, Wed and Thurs at 8.30am on Zoom (Meeting ID: 753 2006 4518 Passcode: 024453)
Tuesdays and Fridays at 9.00 in St Paul’s Church
- Arrange a regular prayer walk with a friend or two around the parish, praying for the area, the people who live there, the right applicants for the post of Rector …
- Arrive early for Mass and spend those extra minutes praying specifically for the parish
- In your House Group or Tithing set aside some extra time to pray together for all the above needs and groups
If you have other ideas for corporate or individual prayer routines, do share them! The coming time of “interregnum” or vacancy can be a very positive time of growth, both individual and as the body of Christ.
mary.cassidy@spauls.co.uk
