All eyes on St Ives [252]
Congratulations to Tim Stannard, the lone winner (and sole entrant, in truth) who recognised John Betjeman staring up at the roof of St Pancras Station. I will indeed, as requested, put the non-existent prize in your probably equally non-existent Swiss bank account. If it transpires that you do indeed have a secret Swiss Bank account then I imagine the Parish treasurer will be turning up on your doorstep very soon with a box of chocolates and a Standing Order form.
The Order of Service is the same this week as for the last couple of weeks, so do check back for that.
The Services this Sunday are many… 8am Eucharist using the BCP form, and with lots of space for anyone who is a bit nervous of being near too many people at once- 9.30 Mass led by Jane at St Paul’s, 10am Communion led by Richard at Woosehill and then 11am at St Nick’s- which you need to book a place for with Liz Gallagher. All of the services you can just turn up for.
Then, at 6.15pm, we have our Outdoor Service in St Paul’s Churchyard, with a creation theme- lots of hymns to sing in the open air, do please bring a chair or blanket to sit on. It will be great to be able to sing together once more.
Other Notes and News
Bertie put a heartfelt plea for help in email 251- his competitive juices are flowing and he is keen to do well in the Beat the Street initiative. It is really easy to join in with- on your regular walk or jog take a small card with you and tap it on the boxes on 100 lampposts around Wokingham and get points each time. Bertie needs more teammates- please see the previous email for full details.
Next Sunday (the 20th) sees an Introduced Eucharist at St Paul’s- we go through the service as usual, with Cara almost commentating on it and introducing each key section and explaining what to think about. It is a really good way of finding out more about the service which is so much at the heart of our faith- make a diary note now.
St Paul’s needs more people to volunteer to help serve Coffee after Church, probably from the 4th of July- if you are relatively new to St Paul’s and are wanting to help with something this is the perfect place to start! Email Louise at church.office@spauls.co.uk to find out more or to make an offer you will not regret.
Bearwood Flower Festival– this weekend- poster in email 251- don’t forget!
And finally, another Epistle from the Scilly Isles…
Dear Bertie,
I was fascinated to read in a recent email from the Rector, that you have a cousin Agnes who has also taken the cloth. By a strange coincidence we are at present in the Isles of Scilly.
So we thought it appropriate to drop in to her benefice just to check that she had sufficient supplies of the local Cornish blue cheese (which is delicious by the way).
Sadly, she did not appear to be at home. At first we thought she might have gone sailing. But then we realised that all good ships have a Ship’s Beast-that-Must-Not-Be-Named, which makes it unlikely that sailing would be a favourite pursuit of hers. So perhaps she had taken the opportunity to enjoy the wonderful sunshine and go for a swim (do mice go for a swim?)
However, we did pop into the church and found some beautiful stained-glass.
Colin and Val
