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Previous Editions - October 2008
November 2008
Services in November
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Nov 2nd |
8:00am |
Holy Communion |
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10:00am |
All Saints Family Service |
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Memorial Service |
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Nov 9th |
10:00am |
Remembrance Day Holy Communion with Junior Church |
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10:30am |
St@PH: Informal Communion at Park Hill School |
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6:30pm |
Healing Service |
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Nov 16th |
10:00am |
Holy Communion with Junior Church |
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6:30pm |
Youth Service at St Andrews led by Rock Solid |
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Nov 23rd |
10:00am |
Holy Communion with Junior Church |
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10:30am |
St@PH (St Andrews at Park Hill School) Contemporary Worship |
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Nov 30th |
10:00am |
Holy Communion with Junior Church |
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6:30pm |
Evensong to celebrate St Andrew's Day |
Holy
Communion on Wednesdays at
a
half hour service followed by coffee and fellowship
Dear Friends
The story is told of the devout atheist who goes down to the woods and marvels at the trees, the babbling brook and the song of the birds and how such things can arise by some cosmic accident. As he muses, he hears a sound from the forest, and a large grizzly bear emerges, hungry for his dinner. He begins to chase the man who runs as fast as he is able, but to no avail. He trips and the bear lands on top of him, raising a mighty paw to bring his life to an end. In desperation, the man cries out to God for help. Time freezes, an eerie light descends and a voice is heard to say: "do you really expect me to help you now after all these years of rejecting me?" The man concedes this is fair enough, but suggests instead: "you could make the bear a Christian". "Very well" responds the voice. Time unfreezes, natural light returns and slowly the bear raises a second paw, bringing it together with the other in prayer, before murmuring: "For what I am about to receive, may the Lord make me truly thankful".
I tell you this because thanksgiving is the theme of what I want to say this month. First of all, thanks to all those who supported St Andrew’s Harvest Appeal. At the time of writing, I cannot tell you exactly how much stationery we collected for the school in Bethlehem we are seeking to support, but it is a veritable mountain and will surely make a tremendous difference to the lives of those children who will be on the receiving end of such generosity.
Thanks also to all those who supported our lighting and rewiring project. It is now all but finished and it is amazing how much brighter the church is inside as a result. People can now see all my grey hairs in fine detail! We are also grateful to Paul Southwell of Switched-On Electricals for an extremely professional job. Of course, the work goes on, and we will soon be seeking to redecorate our side room and bring it into the 21st Century. Donations towards this project will continue to be gratefully received.
Finally, a personal thank you to all those who sponsored my participation in the Long Mynd Hike. Unfortunately, the weather was not kind to us and soaked to the bone and freezing cold, I was unable to complete the course, along with 50% of the competitors. I did manage forty miles and seven of the nine peaks in question before the deluge became too much for me. The most frustrating element was that my legs were still quite fresh and I am confident I could have finished were it not for the weather. It would be easy under the circumstances to look heavenwards with an attitude lacking in gratitude (to coin a phrase). However, the Christian understanding of life is that it is all a gift from God and the proper response is thankfulness even in the most unpromising circumstances.
May the Lord make us truly thankful for all that we receive.
Greg Smith
Back by Popular Demand ....
There will be a Nightingales Choir Concert at St Andrews Church
on Saturday 6th December 2008 at 7pm. Tickets, £5.00 adults and £2.00 children. Buy your tickets early to avoid disappointment.
Memorial Service
On Nov 2nd at 6.30 p.m., St Andrew’s will be hosting a memorial service to remember by name all those who have died in the parish over the last twelve months or so. Families with whom we have had pastoral contact should automatically receive an invitation. But all are welcome. We are willing to read the names of anyone on request, even if they didn’t live in the parish or live elsewhere. Please contact Greg (7642 2856) or Marc (7640 5324) to let us know of anyone you wish remembered.
St Andrew’s Day
Every seven years or so, St Andrew’s Day (November 30th) falls on a Sunday. This year is one such occasion, and we are going to celebrate our patronal festival with choral evensong with a Prayer Book service at6pm. Do join us. The new lights should ensure you feel safe visiting the church on a dark autumn evening.
Healing Service
Because we believe in the power of healing prayer to deliver people from every kind of sickness, we will be holding a Healing Service on November 9th at 6.30 p.m. where there will be the opportunity for anointing with oil and/or healing prayer for all those who seek God’s healing for themselves or for their loved ones. All welcome.
Many thanks
to all the ladies (and two men) who willingly gave of their time to help decorate the Church for Harvest. And ‘thank you’ to those who sent donations towards the decorations, along with all the gifts of stationery. St Andrew’s enjoyed a truly special Harvest.Ann Dove.
Welcome Statement
St Andrew’s Church Council has just approved the following welcome statement:
St Andrew’s Church welcomes all-comers, whether this
is your first time or thousandth time in church. You are welcome whatever your age, gender, marital status, race, disability or sexuality. You are welcome whether you have a deep and mature faith in Christ; are uncertain and still seeking; or have no faith. If you are new to church, please do take a welcome leaflet to be found in the pews; and do not hesitate to ask one of the welcomers if you have any questions.
We trust this conveys how seriously we regard the importance of welcoming all to our services. If you have been thinking about it, why not give Church a try?
Wedding Fayre
St Andrew’s is planning to host a wedding fayre next spring. We are interested in hearing from suppliers who would like to have a stall at the fayre, displaying their goods/services and also couples who are thinking of getting married as to what they would value most at a fayre.
Please contact Rebecca on 7645 1608 to discuss further.
Police Surgeries
Sadly, due to lack of support, the community police have decided to finish the surgeries which St Andrew’s has been hosting over recent months. We are grateful to WPCs Bennet and Allen for their time. We trust that the lack of locals attending the surgeries reflects a low crime rate in the district.
From the Registers
Baptisms
Holly Louise Kerr
Jade Danielle Masterson
Weddings
Paul Richard Wild and Katy Edwards
Christopher Smith and Sarah Jane Blakey
Gary Whitmore and Alison Sheila Foley
Luke Fisher and Laura Morgan
Funerals
Sue Viola
Raymond Waterworth
Eric Lovatt
Doreen Hornsby
Patricia Clarke
Eric Lovatt
Friends, neighbours and family were shocked at the sudden death of Eric Lovatt of Handsworth Crescent at the age of 70, suffering a heart attack while he was swimming. In many ways, this was a fitting end, for he was a man who loved physical activity (known by some as "Mad Eric"), a marathon runner, a keen walker despite stenosis of the spine and a popular member of the keep fit club at the Butts.
He worked for many years at Rolls Royce as a Plant Engineer and will be missed by his many friends.
He will be missed most by his family to whom he was devoted. He leaves behind his wife Brenda; and children Tom, Mark, Dave and Jane.
St Andrew’s C of E Infant School
The children have settled once again after the summer break and are busy preparing for the Christmas season ahead!
Our youngest children in reception have coped amicably with the new routines that faced them at the beginning of term and have very quickly become part of the school.
Over the summer holidays we had our library and computer area refurbished. I am once again very grateful to the PTA who donated funds for our new library equipment and books. This area looks lovely
and is much more practical for the children to use.The whole school performed their Harvest assembly for parents and for the Golden Years Club, which
focused on the theme of thanksgiving. The school supported the Global Care appeal this year in line with St Andrew’s Church and we collected a very pleasing amount of stationary for the Bethlehem School project. Thank you to all that supported this appeal.
We are now thinking ahead to our preparations for Christmas – the annual Autumn/Christmas Fayre will be held in school on Friday 21st November 3.30-5.30. All welcome! Rehearsals for the Christmas plays are well under way and the pantomime and parties are already booked!
Again, busy times ahead!
Angela Driscoll,
Headteacher.
Eastern Green Golden Years
We enjoyed a lovely visit to Trentham Gardens at the beginning of the month.
And on Saturday 13th September we boarded our Coach at the Poachers ready for the drive to Weymouth and the Annual Golden Year’s Holiday. En-route we stopped at the Clarks Village in Street for a late lunch and a browse around the shops and then we continued our journey to the Crown Hotel, Weymouth.
Our first day was for us to do as we pleased so most of us headed for the Esplanade and the following day a few of us took a trip on one of the Open Top buses.
The Tuesday was our first excursion and we enjoyed a visit to Portland Bill to see the lighthouse. Barry, our Driver, then took us on to Wimborne Minster for lunch and a look round the lovely Church and shops.
Our next trip was to Dorchester Market and we also visited the local cinema to see the ABBA film – a brilliant idea of Barbara’s!
Our next visit was to Swanage where we saw the Old Harry Rocks and the beautiful beach and our last trip was to Sidmouth where there was a superb selection of Scarecrows celebrating harvest outside many of the houses.
We returned home on Saturday 20th September and Barry, our Driver, took a different route home.
Thanks go to Barbara for organising a fantastic holiday, Barry our Driver who was wonderful throughout and Mary Goodwin: your prayer for good weather worked a treat!
Sylvia Cobbold
Eastern Green History Group
On 6th October 2008 we visited The Weaver’s Cottages in Upper Spon Street. A lot of work has been done to show one of the cottages through the ages of its occupancy from the 15th Century with a replica of a loom. Work is going on to maintain the garden as it was. This was a very informative visit and we would encourage anyone, who gets a chance to go and visit, to do so.
On 3rd November 2008 at 7.30pm in the St Andrew’s Church meeting room, Joe Davies from Eastern Green will speak, and show slides about ‘The Historical Buildings, Events and People of Coventry.’
The AGM will be on 1st December at 2pm in the St Andrew’s Church meeting room.
Volume 1 of the book ‘Eastern Green Past and Present’ is available for £4.95 at our monthly meetings or by contacting Graham on 76 461954.
With thanks ….
Fred and Sheila Pearce and family would like to thank Greg, the shawl ministry and all our friends, for their prayers, kindness and messages of sympathy following the sad loss of our daughter Susan, who died on 4th September,
God bless you all,
Fred and Sheila.
EASTERN GREEN W.I.
Our October meeting took the form of the traditional harvest theme and proved to be a relaxed and informal time together. After going through the business side we quickly took advantage of the harvest supper which had been prepared by our committee. We took our time to enjoy the savouries and sweets and the table soon looked a lot "lighter." As we did not have a speaker booked, we had the chance of enjoying each other’s company and have a good chat. To round off the evening, we had a quiz and a game which caused much merriment.
In February 2009 there is a small group of people who are to visit Uganda to carry out necessary charity work amongst children there. We have been asked to knit as many teddies as possible for them to take and distribute amongst the children, who literally have nothing in the way of toys and these simple knitted teddies are their only toy. We will certainly do our best to answer this plea. In addition, to knitting we are forming a darts team in the New Year which should prove interesting!
We are now nearing the end of another year and November is our Annual Meeting when the officers will be elected for 2009. December we will be shown some miniature rooms which have been made by a very talented couple.
We meet on the first Wednesday of each month at 7.30pm in the Village Hall, Church Lane, and we are always pleased to see new faces – so come along and see for yourself.
Beryl Allen, 76 466574.
DO NOT MISS
DO NOT MISS
DO NOT MISS
Saturday November 22nd 2008 In the Village Hall, Church Lane, Eastern Green
9am for Sellers, 10am for buyers
To book a Table £5 if paid in advance
Please telephone 76 464079 or 76 469869
St Andrew’s Church
2009 Calendar
St. Andrew’s Church has produced two calendars for 2009.
The Church calendar has views of the church, both interior and exterior.
The Village calendar has views around Eastern Green, including some of its historic buildings.
If you would like to purchase a calendar, please complete the order form below indicating the quantity of each calendar required and return with full payment (cheques made payable to: St. Andrew’s Church) to the address on the order form.
Calendars will be delivered to you by hand (this service is only available to addresses within the Eastern Green area). Calendars will also be available for sale at St. Andrew’s Church after the Sunday Morning Service.
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Address:
Saturday November 22nd 2008 In the Village Hall, Church Lane, Eastern Green 9am for Sellers, 10am for buyers To book a Table £5 if paid in advance Please telephone 76 464079 or 76 469869
St Andrew’s Church 2009 Calendar St. Andrew’s Church has produced two calendars for 2009. The Church calendar has views of the church, both interior and exterior. The Village calendar has views around Eastern Green, including some of its historic buildings. If you would like to purchase a calendar, please complete the order form below indicating the quantity of each calendar required and return with full payment (cheques made payable to: St. Andrew’s Church) to the address on the order form. Calendars will be delivered to you by hand (this service is only available to addresses within the Eastern Green area). Calendars will also be available for sale at St. Andrew’s Church after the Sunday Morning Service.
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