Hello- Bertie here, having failed in his quest to find the legendary Holy Grail of cheeses- and so it is back to the drawing board and the Victorian diary entries and the dusty ledgers. It will be worth it when my quest is fulfilled and my name is immortalised. Early update this week... here is the news...

Coming Soon

Please note that there is no House Mass this Wednesday because everyone is basically away on holiday- but next week is Ash Wednesday so do come along at either 10.30am or 8pm so we can start Lent properly and together.

This helpful file holds the key dates you need to know for the next few months, so you don't miss out on anything.

This just missed the Diary document so please can you particularly look out for it and book asap:

Please come along to the LENT LUNCH

Organised by the Social Committee & Mothers Union

Saturday 11th March 12 noon - 1.30 pm.     Donations to our Charities

Please sign up at the back of the church or email a Social Committee Chair

Alan    al_harrison@hotmail.co.uk        Trish    trishgatland@hotmail.co.uk

And here is another Lent Course, at All Saints, if you can't make the ones in the parish and would like to do something still:

Notes, News and Useful Suggestions

This Letter is a useful and challenging way of thinking about how to keep Lent this time round- what do take up? What to give up? What to commit to? Do read it and take the time to think about it- and do look out for the Dust and Glory books which cost £2 and can be an excellent place to start:

Dust and Glory - Resources for Lent 2023 | The Church of England

And Susannah Riley sent his helpful email recommending some Lenten input a few weeks' ago:

Judi challenged us this morning at St Nic’s to start reflecting on how we are going to mark Lent this year. During Advent I discovered Brian Draper’s email series which was a beautiful series of reflections. If you are looking for something different this year then do check out his website and sign up to receive his Lent series which starts on 22nd February. 

https://www.briandraper.org/

This is the way Justin Welby framed the conversation last week at Synod around same-sex marriage- it is an interesting and heartfelt plea, whether you share his view or not:

General Synod: Presidential address from Archbishop Justin Welby | The Archbishop of Canterbury

Here is the latest update from Bishop Hall in Madagascar:

Louise Cole has also put together a word cloud from the comments in the questionnaire which make an interesting and encouraging read: