Long time, no blog!

Apart from periods of extreme busyness I was struck down, nay, felled be some sort of a virus earlier in the year, leaving me feeling out of sorts for nearly three months. That meant that I missed most of Lent and all of Easter here. Fortunately, John was on hand with his camera for the Easter celebrations, including:

Bishop Christopher at the Easter Vigil













Confirmations














Blessing the Easter Garden













and not forgetting the chocolate Easter eggs!

The beginning of Lent

I usually post from home, however my computer is currently out of action, so I apologise for the lack of posts recently. I can assure you we are all still here!

Remember to have your pancakes tonight(!), as Lent starts this Wednesday (Ash Wednesday) with sung mass at 8pm with imposition of ashes (or said mass with hymns at 10.30am if you're a daytime person).

We have a special weekly Lent housegroup and visiting preachers each Sunday, so I'll add the details when I'm next in the office. If you are local, details of everything are on our noticeboards, so do come and have a look.

Meanwhile, in the centre, the main hall and kitchen are having a facelift this week and the painters are hard at work preparing and undercoating. The other rooms are in use as usual, and I'm looking forward to the parish office being painted! (but not looking forward to moving all the stuff ...)

Merry Christmas!

Preparations for Christmas are well underway. Finishing touches are being made to the crib and the trees in time for the crib service and this evening’s midnight mass, which takes place at 11.30 tonight after carols in the church at 11pm. Tomorrow’s services are mass of the dawn at 9am and family communion at 11am.

It feels unseasonably mild at the moment, rather than ‘deep and crisp and even’! I shall be having a quiet Christmas (once all the service sheets are done!) and will be posting again in the New Year.

Happy Christmas!

Carol Service

A Festival of Nine Lessons & Carols at 6pm this Sunday - the traditional 'carols by candlelight'.

Advent - a time of preparation

A very busy time in the office, of course, which is why I haven't posted lately. This week the Christmas cards should be ready and will be distributed from this Sunday (they contain details of all our Christmas services).

Coming up this weekend, we have a quiet day on Saturday, starting at 10am. On Sunday our visiting preacher in the 'cathedrals' series will be Robin Osbourne.

An online Advent calendar worth visiting is here and meditation and readings for the first week of advent can be found here.

Parish Anniversary celebrations

It has been a very busy morning in the office, preparing for this Sunday's celebration of the 120th anniversary of the parish. We are having a guest preacher, The Revd George Nairn Briggs who used to be curate here and went on to be Dean of Wakefield Cathedral. Following the service there is going to be a reception where other guests (including local representatives from other faiths) will be giving speeches, before we have lunch together.

At the moment the printer is churning away, producing the service sheets (which I shall be folding after lunch!). The flower ladies are in, making the church look beautiful; microphones have been checked; our gardener, Julie, has been tidying the flower borders and sweeping up leaves.

The menu has been arranged, and 'the team' will be in bright and early on Sunday to start cooking. The wine and glasses are due to arrive this afternoon.

I have checked stock of all those things that always run out at the most inopportune moments, such as photocopier toner, batteries for the microphones, giving envelopes etc. No doubt there will be something I haven't thought of!

Never post in haste ....

Our choir are indeed back, but of course it was The Lambeth Singers who treated us to a wonderful evening for All Saints - oops!