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ONE OF MY HEROES, Didymus the Blind, used to tell his students, ‘The end
and the beginning are one’ – every ending brings with it a new start, for by
the grace of God our journey into him never stops, just changes roads. So as
I draw near to an ending and a new beginning, I have begun looking back over
the past four years and wondering how I have changed, where God has led me
and where he will lead me next.
One of the great privileges of priestly ministry is sharing in other
people’s stories. We tend not to be too good at it – maybe it is something
to do with our catholic roots or our English reserve – and most of the time
in churches like ours we don’t share our stories. It is much easier to get
on with planning a fete or organising a rota, doing something ‘practical’.
But there are moments, particularly on our own with priests, where we can
talk honestly about our life, our journey, where we have come from, where we
are going and, above all, where God is in all this.
It has been my great joy and honour to share in some of those moments
with you, with people who would describe themselves as of great faith and of
none. Sometimes it can be hard to see where God may be in any of it,
particularly times of tragedy and loss. Stories of God working with mighty
power in spectacular ways are few and far between (though they are there,
even here in Prestbury!). And yet God is always there somewhere in
the story, often unrecognised. For as Christians we never bring God to other
people, for he is already there. Our calling is just to point him out, to
say who that mysterious stranger they have known for so long really is.
But therein also lies a great sadness. Because we share our stories so
rarely, often trusting only a priest, whose confidentiality is assured, we
miss out on something that would build us all up. My faith has deepened so
much through hearing your stories – if only you could hear each other’s!
Hearing those stories shows us that faith is not neat and tidy. God moves
in mysterious ways and is never confined by our churches, our prayers or
expectations. It reminds me of the story of Eldad and Medad in Numbers 11.
Moses needs help – he is at his wits’ end, tearing his hair out over his
people’s whinging. So God offers him elders to share the burden of
leadership. They have to be carefully selected, consecrated and lined up in
a set place, at a set time for God’s Spirit to fall on them. All is
precisely regimented and controlled, just like so many of our expectations
of church and faith. But Eldad and Medad are missing, they don’t turn up.
They are stuck in the middle of the camp, in the wrong place, at the wrong
time. And God’s Spirit falls on them anyway! Our God does not need us or our
lives to be all neat and tidy to work his will.
God works in the most unexpected places, but only by sharing our stories
will we ever know that! Thank you all of you who have shared your stories
with me.
 Fr
Grant
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So you think All Saints’ interior is ornate? Go and look at Holy
Innocents’ church in Highnam, just the other side of Gloucester. Almost
everything that can be painted is: walls, pillars, beams, ceilings, even the
stone tracery in the windows. And in every colour imaginable. The mural
covering the whole length of the north wall features a decorative dado
topped with contrasting border, painted curtains and rails above, and at the
top a long frieze depicting all sorts of people following Jesus on Palm
Sunday. Above the chancel arch are angels galore, and bible texts are
painted all over the place. You need never worry about unfamiliar readings
or boring sermons: just absorb what is on the walls!
Thomas Gambier Parry (father of Sir Hubert, who wrote Jerusalem
and was first Director of the Royal Academy of Music) bought Highnam Court
estate in 1837 aged 21. In 1848, widowed with three young children (his
other children having died in infancy), he set about building a church,
parsonage and school for the newly created parish of Highnam with Over and
Linton. The wall paintings in the church are not only his own design but
also his own work, using a medium he invented called Spirit Fresco. There is
no point printing anything here in black and white, but you can see colour
photographs on the website
www.4front.cwc.net. Other examples of Gambier Parry’s work can be seen
in Gloucester and Ely cathedrals.
He also, by the way, built and endowed St Lucy’s Hospital for Children in
Gloucester and helped found the Gloucester College of Art and Science.
 Frances
Murton
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MALCOLM MCKELVEY, organist and choirmaster at St Mary’s 1989-2003, was
director of Music at Christ’s Hospital in Horsham, West Sussex, for
twenty-three years from 1962 to 1985. Christ’s Hospital had been a City of
London school until it moved south in 1902. However, it maintained its links
with London and annually on St Matthew’s Day the school visited St
Sepulchre’s Church on Holborn Viaduct where Malcolm would conduct the
service followed by lunch at the Mansion House.
St Sepulchre’s Church is the oldest parish church in London, and was
designed by Wren. Henry Wood was baptized there, learned to play the organ
there, became assistant organist at the age of fourteen and after he died in
1944 his ashes were interred in a side chapel which has since been named the
Musicians’ Chapel. During the annual Promenade Concerts at the Royal Albert
Hall a wreath is placed on the bust of Sir Henry Wood (who founded the
concerts and conducted them from 1895 to 1944) and after the ‘Last Night of
the Proms’ the wreath is taken to the Musicians’ Chapel where it is placed
on the spot where his ashes are buried. The chapel contains the Henry Wood
Memorial Window depicting him as a boy organist and as a man conducting at
the Royal Albert Hall.
Also in the Musicians’ Chapel is the Book of Remembrance, now containing
over two thousand names of notable musicians. This year, at the annual
Commemoration service on 24th April, Malcolm McKelvey was remembered and had
his name added to the list.
So after his many visits to St Sepulchre’s as Director of Music at
Christ’s Hospital, Malcolm has been honoured for his contribution to the
musical world as teacher, organist, examiner, conductor and composer. More
information about St Sepulchre’s and the Musicians’ Chapel can be found at
www.st-sepulchre.org.uk
 Christine
McKelvey
‘Music for Malcolm’
A series of five concerts in memory of Malcolm McKelvey and to raise
money for work on St Mary’s organ. The first concert is on Wednesday 20th
June at 11am (coffee from 10.30am) in St Mary’s church and will feature
musicians from Dean Close School. Admission is free, but there will be a
retiring collection for the organ fund.
On Friday 20th July in St Mary’s church Charles Hazlewood will be
recording a programme in his ‘Discovering Music’ series. There is no charge
but tickets are required. Please contact the Parish Office if you
would like to come and we will order the tickets from the BBC. The concert,
which will feature arrangements of four waltzes by Johann Strauss the
younger, starts at 6pm, but please be in your seats by 5.45. All are
welcome, and there will be a retiring collection for St Mary’s organ fund.
The other concerts, all in St Mary’s, are as follows:
Saturday 22nd September 7.30pm (Christine McKelvey)
Saturday 13th October 7.30pm (The St Cecilia Singers)
Wednesday 7th November 11am (Peter Greaves).
Christine
McKelvey
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We are hoping (if they can rearrange their holidays!) to say ‘thank you
and farewell’ to Fr Grant, Chris, Bethany and Sarah at a Team-wide social
occasion at lunchtime on Sunday 22nd July. Please pencil this date into your
diaries and look out for further details.
Interviews for Team Vicar designate
As many of you are aware, we held interviews for the post of Team Vicar
designate in the new North Cheltenham Team Ministry on 17th May. Three
candidates were invited for interview; however one withdrew after being
offered another post. Sadly the interview panel did not feel able to offer
the job to either of the two candidates who were interviewed. This means
that we will need to reflect a little and then re-advertise. Unfortunately
it now looks unlikely that anyone will be in post by September which, after
Fr Grant leaves, will mean we only have one full-time priest! Please be
aware that, for a while, some things will have to be ‘scaled down’, or maybe
suspended. However, we are ‘Local Ministry Parishes’ where so much ministry
is already shared with lay members, a rich resource to call upon!
 Fr
Michael
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Three years ago Youth Development Worker, Andy Macauly, started to work
one day a week on a special project called Pittville Youth Action Group,
sharing in the running of an alternative curriculum for a small group of
young people from Pittville School. Without this project, these students,
aged 14 to 16 and from Years 10 and 11, are at serious risk of leaving
school with no educational qualifications and poor prospects of employment,
training or further education.
The project has been such a success that the PPY Executive Committee want
to extend PPY’s involvement with the work to provide support for twice as
many young people. To do this, they are advertising for a new Youth
Inclusion Worker specifically to work two days a week with Pittville Youth
Action Group.
The group is based at Whaddon Youth and Community Centre but frequently
works away from the centre on community projects. They have worked in St
Mary’s Graveyard, in Prestbury Junior School and at Prestbury Hall. Visits
are also made to other venues, e.g. outdoor activities, banks and colleges.
They use ICT to record their achievements on different practical challenges
and work to gain ASDAN bronze and silver awards which are rated as
comparable to GCSEs.
For more information about the new Youth Inclusion Worker post, contact
Tricia Wilson on tricia.wilson ppy.org.uk.
For information on Pittville Youth Action Group contact Andy Macauly.
 Tricia
Wilson
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Did you notice a photo of any unusual animals in the May magazine? The
more observant may have spotted a couple of paper giraffes in the Editor’s
Corner.
For a Saturday morning at the end of March some fifteen of those involved
in a variety of ways with making Celebrate! happen ‘went away’ to
Andoversford. Our purpose was to reflect on Celebrate! and
prayerfully and actively to consider whether and how it could move forward
and be improved.
 Initially
we were arranged into three teams and instructed to construct the tallest
giraffe we possibly could. The reason for this exercise was to develop our
skills of co-operation and team unity to warm us all up into the spirit of
the day. We had only newspaper and tape. Each team worked well together and
set to with a will. Three giraffes were created. One small(ish), one medium
sized and one huge. Sadly the ambitiously tall one collapsed during judging.
The photo is evidence of the survivors. Great fun and a good team building
exercise. I’ll let you into a secret – Fr Michael was in the winning team,
but then we already knew our church is in good hands.
After this we considered both more mundane matters and also had a chance
of blue sky thinking. Our time ended with enjoying a bring and share lunch
together.
And in case you are wondering, yes, a few things at Celebrate!
have been changed as a result. Why not come along with some friends of any
age who don’t normally ‘do church’ and experience what God is doing in St
Mary’s at 9.30am on Sundays?
 Sue
Read
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At its May meeting, the Education and Nurture Group reviewed recent
activities and considered the future programme. The success of Team-Wide
Sunday afternoon events has encouraged us to plan further events following a
similar pattern and it is also likely that new initiatives will be explored,
to meet the changing needs of the wider Mission Area. This Group would
welcome a couple more members from the Prestbury parish. Please see Father
Michael if you would like to be involved.
 Jennifer
Swinbank
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Once again we have come to the end of the tax year and the claim has been
sent to the Inland Revenue for the final refund. My usual letter of thanks
can be found in the Church for all members of the St Mary’s Gift Aid Scheme.
They will be left in Church to be collected for the rest of this month. It
will be assumed that those not collected by then are not required.
Unfortunately those members who are regularly contributing using Gift Aid
Envelopes are not in the Scheme but if they wish to know their total for the
year, or for that matter would like to join the scheme, they should contact
me.
There are one or two points about Gift Aid Envelopes worth mentioning.
1. The person completing the envelope should be the tax payer and each donor
should complete a separate envelope.
2. Please use the envelopes provided in church as they have been approved by
the Inland Revenue.
3. Gift Aid envelopes from other organizations are no use to us and will be
ignored.
4. When completing the envelope the most important thing is to clearly give
your name and postal code.
5. Those members in the St Mary’s Gift Aid Scheme are those that have
completed an on-going Gift Aid Declaration. If they complete a G.A. envelope
also, this sum will be added to their annual total.
All the support given by everyone who supports our Church is so important
and much appreciated.
Martin Kannreuther
I was absolutely amazed and very honoured by the number of people that
came to the EverestMAX talk in March at St Nicolas’. There was a good
mix of people from church, family friends and locals from the Plough. The
retiring collection and DVD sales raised nearly £400, which has been divided
equally between the three EverestMAX charities: SOS Children’s
Villages, Merlin and Practical Action. On behalf of the EverestMAX
team and charities, thank you. I hope all those who came enjoyed the talk.
I would just like to take this opportunity to reiterate what I said to
those who came to the evening: my family and I have received such a lot of
support from you all pre-, during, and post- expedition and for that I am
enormously grateful. In many respects I think it’s harder to be the ones
left at home worrying, rather than off dealing with the situations that get
thrown your way. For all the kindness and support you have shown to my
family and me I can only say thank you.
 Sarah
Lyle
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It is hard to believe that the Open the Book team has been going into St
Mary’s Infant School for two years at the end of this term. They say that
time flies when you are enjoying yourself and how quickly this time has
gone!
Recently I have been reading a book called Transforming Communities –
re-imaging the Church for the 21st Century by Steven Croft. In this book he
tells the story of a church that finds it has one minister for four
churches. The minister makes himself ill trying to do everything so he calls
a group together to think about what it means to be church. He asked the
group to listen to what the church used to be like: ‘Day by day as they
spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate
their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the good
will of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those
who were saved.
Belonging to the Open the Book team is a little bit like Steven Croft
suggests the church could be like. As a group we spend time together, which
means we know each other fairly well. Together we pray and share God’s
message through our work with the school. We are able to support each other
and once a term we attend a training and then meet to plan, share coffee and
some fantastic homemade cakes (thanks Avril).
The team is made up of ten people; some are parents with children at the
school, some have no connection with school, some are young and some are
older and some in between! Just like the early church we know we need to
start to share God’s message in other places but to do that we need to add
to our number, to support the after school puppet group, Junior School
assemblies and to be able to offer Open the Book to other local schools.
If you feel that you would like to find out more or come and join us once
a term, once a month, once a fortnight whatever you can give and share in
God’s love through this work, please speak to one of the team.
Marion Beagley, Avril Keen, Sheila Beer and Mary Turner (St Mary’s),
Linda Jackson and Caroline Sexton (St Nicolas), Julie Jefferies, Karen
Maisey and Julie Clapton (Prestbury URC), and Ian Packer (Holy Trinity).
 Julie
Jefferies
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THE VILLAGE of Taizé stands on a small hill in the lovely Burgundian
countryside of southern France. Atop the hill is a small church, but there
is little to show that, in summer, several thousand people are staying. Most
are young and are accommodated in a large field of tents. The community and
adult visitors are housed in small buildings; marquees are used for meals
and meetings. The one large building is the chapel – more like a huge tent
than a church.
People come to spend a week at Taizé from all over the world. They belong
to different Churches or none. They share the talks, discussion in groups
and above all the worship. Taizé prayers with their music are often found to
be a source of inspiration.
It is a remarkable experience to be caught up in all this but never easy
to share with others of different languages and cultures. I was at Taizé not
long after the end of the Communist regimes in Eastern Europe. The
discussion group I was in had people from five language groups including a
woman from Lithuania, who understood English well. There was not too much
trouble understanding each other until the second session of the group. Then
four more Lithuanian ladies turned up who did not know any English. They
needed to be with their friend who would translate for them! All of them had
so much to share about their lives as Christians under a hostile Communist
regime and their joy at being among Christians at Taizé. All this had to be
translated and our questions and responses translated back again. What a
labour! But it was part of the costliness of sharing with others of
different races and Churches.
That sharing was part of the vision of Br Roger, founder of the Taizé
Community. It arose from his experience as a young man in wartime helping
Jews and others to escape from the Nazis. After the war he formed a small
community to work for reconciliation. He was a Swiss protestant but his work
soon attracted Roman Catholics and members of other Churches including
Anglicans. His vision was to break down barriers not only between Churches
but also across the boundaries of nationality. As more and more people were
attracted to Taizé Br Roger would talk or write about the ‘Springtime of the
Church’. People are drawn to Christ by a pervading sense of Joy and Hope.
The work of Taizé has always reached out far beyond the Burgundian
countryside. Members of the Community have gone into many of the great
cities of Europe and beyond to work among the needy. They have held
Festivals bringing together many people especially the young. Breaking down
barriers, reconciliation, and outreach have been at the heart of Taizé
concern and work.
It is tragic that on 15 August 2005 Br Roger, at the age of 90, was
killed during Evening prayers. It is difficult to imagine what was on the
mind of the woman concerned. She was probably a deeply troubled soul. But
the work goes on and the message is clear. It is summed up in the chant:
Laudate omnes gentes
Laudate Dominum
Sing praises to the Lord all peoples
Sing praises to the Lord
A group is going to Taizé from Gloucestershire on 21 July. It will
include young people (ages 16 to 30). Please contact me on 220787 for more
information.
 John
Gann
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 On
Sunday 13 May it was the turn of Prestbury URC to host the annual ecumenical
service for Christian Aid Week. We were joined by about 80 of our friends
from the other Churches in CTiNC: St Mary’s, St Nicolas’, All Saints’, St
Michael’s, Holy Name Hall, St Mary Magdalene’s, St Lawrence’s and St
Peter’s. The music for this thought-provoking service was provided by the St
Gregory’s Music Group, who accompanied all the worship and led the inspiring
singing. Tony Wadley, their leader, had even composed a Kyrie for the
occasion.
This year’s theme was ‘Growing a Future’ and during the service we
watched a moving video about the work of Christian Aid and its partner
organisations – Aprodehni and Procares – in El Salvador, one of the poorest
countries in South America, which has suffered from natural disaster and a
recent civil war. We were also invited to fill out a card to be sent to the
Prime Minister to protest about global warming. The collection raised a sum
of £224 for Christian Aid.
The next CTiNC event will be a Taizé workshop and service at St Nicolas’
in October – please do come along if you haven’t been to a joint service
before – they really do recharge your spiritual batteries!
 Fiona
Hall, URC
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I HAD NO IDEA what to expect when I first made
contact with a girl I was at school with back in 1955. At that time, aged
eleven, she quite confidently announced that on leaving school, she wished
to become a nun. How could she possibly make that decision at such a young
age we all asked and I suspect we were not too sympathetic about her choice
of career?
However, many years later, when preparing for
our first trip to Walsingham, Julia Ingram kindly lent me a book that would
explain about Walsingham. To my astonishment it was written by a Sister
Elizabeth Ruth Obbard, who was the Novice Mother at Langham, the Carmelite
convent close to Walsingham. Surely, this name couldn’t be a mere
coincidence? On arrival at Walsingham I made enquiries only to find that
Sister Elizabeth had recently moved from Langham to The Friars at Aylesford.
Further enquiries led me to make contact with her at Aylesford and at the
end of April I had the pleasure, with another school friend, to travel to
Kent to stay with her for the week-end. She was indeed our school friend of
old and what a joy and a privilege it was to renew old friendships.
What a treat and delight was also in store for
us both. No sack cloth and ashes or bread and water to be found on this
retreat. The Friars are a group of eleven Carmelite brothers, eight of whom
are ordained, who live in a small community in the same spirit as their
medieval forebears. Sister Elizabeth is the only Carmelite contemplative nun
in their community whose life is devoted to prayer and service to God. Much
of the brothers’ work is done outside the complex, in prisons, schools,
hospitals and even on local radio. They go out and work among people,
spreading the gospel in whatever way is appropriate to the time and place.
They are supported by a team of workers from the outside community who work
in administration, the tearoom, the bookshop, the pottery and in the general
running of the conference centre. On average, over 200,000 people visit The
Friars every year for differing purposes, be it conferences, retreats,
fellowship, services, or simply to worship God in this idyllic place of
peace and quiet.
The building and surrounds are breathtaking and
parts of the Great Courtyard date back to the thirteenth century. There are
several chapels, all beautifully decorated with many ceramics created for
the Priory by a distinguished Polish artist by the name of Adam Kossowski.
He had spent years in a Soviet labour camp during World War II and his
ceramics were his way of thanking God for bringing him safely through those
years of ordeal. Services happen all through the day starting with Morning
Prayer, then Mass, Evening Prayer and Compline, all of which anyone (of
whatever denomination) is welcome to join. We were able to worship at eight
services during our week-end, many of which appeared to be less Catholic
than some services at St Mary’s!
The grounds and chapels enabled us plenty of
quiet reflective times as well as the opportunity to think about God’s love
for us and our many blessings.
Of course, it was fortunate that Sister
Elizabeth wasn’t in a silent order as we did have well over forty years of
chat to catch up on as well. So our meal times, at which the food came in
abundance, were spent in talk and getting to know her all over again. What a
wonderful life of devotion and service to God she has had and how fortunate
I feel to have been part of that wonderful community at The Friars, albeit
briefly, during that week-end.
If you are ever in need of a quiet time of
reflection and re-dedication to God, do visit The Friars, where I know you
will be warmly welcomed and you will return home, as I did, with a wonderful
feeling of refreshment and renewal, which sadly often eludes us in our very
busy life-styles.
 Marion
Beagley
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Due to the clash with the
Skip ’n’ Chips we had to call on
some outside help for the five-a-side tournament at Bentham on 19th May,
giving a team of four regulars and four extras. Eight teams, including a new
team for next year’s league, each played seven ten-minute matches in the
fast-paced round robin format.
We comfortably beat Diamonds 2-0 in our first
match, but then lost 2-1 to Trinity and an unlucky disallowed goal denied us
a victory against St Matt’s with the final score 3-3 in that game.
Tewkesbury Tigers held on for a tense 1-1 draw but then we lost 2-0 to
Gloucester. This was followed by a creditable 2-2 draw against last season’s
league champions, Cambray, and we finally lost 4-0 to Ecclesiastical, who
won the tournament and will be tough opponents when they join the league
next season. We finished sixth with six points.
Thank you to Tim and Ruth who came to support us
and to all who played, especially Paul Bennett who, after crashing into the
barrier, taped his injured fingers together and manfully played on to the
end of the tournament. All in all it was a good performance and a fun
morning; hopefully the enthusiasm and confidence will carry on into next
season.
 Andrew
Murton
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“As the new heavens and the new earth that I make
will endure before me,” declares the LORD, “so will your name and
descendants endure. From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to
another, all mankind will come and bow down before me,” says the LORD.
“And they will go out and look upon the dead bodies of those who rebelled
against me; their worm will not die, nor will their fire be quenched, and
they will be loathsome to all mankind.” Isaiah 66:22-24 (NIV)
In his revelation St John the Divine sheds further light on Isaiah’s
vision of verse 22 and sees ‘a new heaven and a new earth, for the first
heaven and the first earth had passed away’ (Revelation 21:1). The listener
is clearly told that God dwells with men and lives with them and wipes every
tear from their eyes, no more death, nor mourning, nor crying nor pain. Our
God is not a vicious tyrant who enjoys punishing his wayward children.
Rather he is a righteous God who will never impose himself on his creation.
However, the eternal connection is only made between Creator and created
once it has been chosen and a decision has been made to ally oneself with
God through Christ.
For Christians there is no place for any hint of self-righteousness here
but rather a spur to act on our Lord’s entreaty and to take His words of the
Great Commission seriously. Jesus says (Matthew 28:19-20) ‘All authority in
heaven and earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of
all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of
the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.’
We know from what He says about the Holy Spirit that we are not left alone
in the task.
Between the beginning and the end of the book of Isaiah is a wealth of
treasures contained in his vision. We could do worse than to heed the words
in chapter 55 verse 6: ‘Seek the LORD while he may be found, call on him
while he is near.’
Other threads weaving through these verses from the end of Isaiah are
taken up in the New Testament. Take time to consider what kind of life we
ought to live – in view of the end of life as we know it coming unexpectedly
and incontrovertibly – ‘But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The
heavens will disappear with a roar … you ought to live holy and godly lives
as you look forward …’ (2 Peter 3:10-13) and Jesus’ teaching about the
implications of ‘if anyone causes one child who believes in me to sin it
would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone
tied round his neck ...’ (Mark 9:42-48).
This is the end of Isaiah’s message from God to His rebellious people.
Isaiah did not shirk from what he was told to write. The Israelites are
clearly informed that obedience to God leads to one conclusion, disobedience
to a different one. Doom and gloom is not inevitable; but it is the result
of one of the choices Mankind has available. In the words of the author and
lecturer Philip Greenslade about this passage ‘God’s people receive a future
and a hope in connection with the renewal of the heavens and the earth. The
alternative is too awful to contemplate.’
Sue
Read
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Christian Aid Week May 13th-19th
Thank you to all those who helped in any way during Christian Aid Week:
donors, organisers, collectors, counters of money, those who organised the
ecumenical service on 13th May, and to all of you for your prayers.
St Mary’s raised £4399.47, St Nicolas’ £1211 and the collection at the
ecumenical service raised £224. This makes a wonderful parish total of
£5834.47 to date!
Gill Ashman for St Mary’s
Paddy Spurgeon for St Nicolas’
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PLANT SALE
Last month’s plant sale at St Nicolas’ raised £296 for the
church funds. This excellent result was due to all the generous gardeners
who gave us plants and the helpers who sold so persuasively to the willing
customers. Many thanks to everyone.
 Janet
White
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Corpus Christi
On Thursday 7th June we celebrate the Feast of Corpus
Christi, when we give thanks for the gift of Our Lord’s body and blood in
the Eucharist. This year we will keep this Feast in a Team-wide Sung
Eucharist in All Saints’ at 7.30pm. Do join us – refreshments usually
follow!
Traidcraft at St Mary’s
Sadly, the Traidcraft stall has been discontinued at St
Mary’s but I would like to thank all the people who have supported it over
the last few months. If anybody would like to see a catalogue or place an
order then they can still contact me and I would be happy to drop a
catalogue round or take an order.
There is still a Traidcraft stall at St Nicolas’ on the second Sunday of
each month.
 Janet
Waters
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St Mary’s Bakestall
This month’s bakestall at St Mary’s is on Sunday 17th June
with contributions from those with surnames A-F. Do contact one of us if you
would like to join the rota.
Margaret Waker & Linda Matthews
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Mothers’ Union
A few of us were just able to keep the Wave of Prayer
going on our allotted day in April the Upper Room. Thank you to those who
were able to join us at that very inconvenient time on a Sunday morning.
Our April meeting saw Canon Pat Harris speak about some of
her work during her presidency of The World Wide Mothers’ Union. What an
inspiration she was in telling of her adventures from all around the world
and the types of projects that the Mothers’ Union are running overseas. We
all were left feeling very inadequate about our own role within the MU, when
hearing of women who sometimes have to walk for three days to attend
meetings, some of which are held despite threats to the members from local
and government sources. Would we be as willing to put our lives on the line
for God? The bottom line to all her accounts was: ‘Isn’t prayer a wonderful
thing…’ and we felt very privileged to have Pat with us.
Our June meeting will take place on Tuesday 26th June at
7.30pm in the Upper Room at St Mary’s when we will welcome Mr Ken Brightwell,
the Town Crier for Cheltenham. All will be welcome to join us on this
occasion.
Marion
Beagley
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Prestbury Open Gardens
Saturday, 16th & Sunday, 17th June 2 to 5 p.m.
With Cream Teas available in St Mary’s Church, 3 to 5 p.m.
All proceeds to Church funds
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Glastonbury Pilgrimage 2007
The next pilgrimage at Glastonbury Abbey is on Saturday
16th June, at which the intention will be for those without water and for
the work and partnership with ‘Water Aid’. The principal celebrant at the
Eucharist will be the Bishop of Plymouth and the preacher will be the well
known Anglican catholic evangelist Lindsay Urwin, Bishop of Horsham.
Jen
Swinbank
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Midsummer Fair
– Date for your Diary!
St Nicolas’ Saturday, 30th June 2 to 4 pm:
- Teas and refreshments
- BBQ
- Stalls
- Tombola
- Games
- Raffle
All proceeds to Church funds
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