Dear All

I hope the dust has settled for you after The Scarecrow Festival and that you have managed to have a bit of relax and refresh time.

As you will already know (after an e-mail earlier this week) there is an impromptu drinks party at the Rectory this Friday 13th September from 7.00 pm for all of you who have engaged and worked hard for this year’s Scarecrow Festival, as my way of saying, ‘thank you’. I hope I have included everyone but if you know a neighbour or a friend that was involved that I may not know about, please do invite them. It might be a good idea if you can let me know if you are coming so that I have enough glasses, etc but don’t worry if you can’t for any reason – you are very welcome whether you tell me first or not.

This week saw the first session of Jim’s Café at the Coffee Lounge and was a great success. The children that came seemed to really enjoy it and said they would be bringing their friends next week. Please pray for this venture as it is very important for our church to engage with the youth of our villages to be able to be part of their lives as they begin their journey into secondary school. They have moved from a year group of 30 to a year group of 240. The children we saw on Monday were all now from different classes and so Jim’s café maybe one of the few places they get to see their primary school friends. 

Gemma Martin and Cath Sharples are currently helping me with this venture but if you would like to be involved please have a chat with me.

As to Jimmy’s baby and toddler group – we will be 1 year old this Thursday and so are having a first birthday party. We had a great time on the field for the Scarecrow Festival offering a safe place for babies and toddlers and tired Mum’s and Dad’s to be and this proved very popular. A big shout out for the work that went in to delivering this and for the people that helped make it happen.

This week we only have the one service of communion at St James from 9.30 am and it is no longer being followed by the Door Dedication as this has been postponed for the near future. We hope to put a date in the diary on Joy’s return to health.

For those of you who were in church last Sunday, this is the prayer I closed my sermon with that I promised I would give to you. I find it very helpful and it reminds me that all that I do, I do for God, this may help you too:-

Father, help me to live this day to the full,

Being true to you, in every way.

Jesus, help me to give myself away to others,

Being kind to everyone I meet.

Spirit, help me to love the lost,

Proclaiming Christ in all I do and say. Amen

I look forward to seeing you all on Sunday, if not Friday.

Every blessing

Alison