Lenny the Church Mouse is hiding! Lenny has gone into hiding. See if you can find Lenny each week and record where you saw Lenny on a competition form to be entered into a prize draw on Easter Sunday. Lent Lunches Lent lunches start this coming Tuesday in church 12-2pm. Thank you to all those who are providing a Lent Lunch, please support if you can, we will be raising money for Christian Aid. Prayers for the World On Monday between 10-10:30am we will be opening the church for a short period of informal prayers given the ongoing and troubling situations across the world. All are welcome to join us, to bring your prayers or just listen and reflect in our holy place of worship. Reordering Project - Chairs To make the church a more usable community space during the week we need to have stackable chairs which our current main chairs are not. We are grateful to St Michael’s who have loaned us some of their stackable chairs to see what everyone thinks. These are likely to be the best stackable option, but we need your feedback. Could you take a look and a sit on these “trial” chairs and feedback any comments to Paul or Helen please? We will be discussing options at the next PCC Meeting, also taking the plaques, kneelers and pew bibles into account. Electoral Roll Renewal. We will be posting our Electoral Roll renewal notice this week as Karen will be away from 20th March until 5th April, the form will be published this Sunday with application forms available in church. Karen will write to all current Electoral Roll holders before going away.
New Donation Station As you enter church, you’ll see our new donation station which extends our capability for donations and is always on so any visitors will be able to use a card or smartphone to donate, as well as donations at events or after services. We will continue with all current forms of donation alongside the station and are grateful to all who donate to St Leonard’s. Lenny the Church Mouse We introduced Lenny last week and explained that during Lent and Holy Week, Lenny wants to play hide and seek. Each week Lenny will hide somewhere new after the service on a Sunday. Can you spot Lenny? A competition will be running with a prize on Easter Sunday for the person who has spotted Lenny the most, a prize draw if there are multiple winners. A competition form is available in church and a pdf copy is attached to this news article. Good luck finding Lenny! Lent Journey The Church of England’s Lent theme for 2025 is Living Hope, and so we are recommending the Living Hope journey for St Leonards. Booklets are available from Church House Publishing alongside reflections via email or via the Everyday Faith app. See https://www.churchofengland.org/faith-life/what-we-believe/lent-holy-week-and-easter/living-hope-resources-lent-2025 for details or contact Paul Morris or Sandra Goodey for details or help in ordering the booklet.
Gift Aid and Giving Tax year 2021/22 claim has now been submitted. If you could consider a regular donation the church account details are in the bulletin, this enables us to plan our finances more accurately. Please speak with Paul or Helen if you have any questions. Thank you to all for your ongoing giving. Phil’s Surgery Phil is scheduled to have his knee surgery on Tuesday. We may have to reduce the number of communion services during this time, morning prayer will be offered in place. Please check the bulletin each week for updates. News from School The Governors and the Blue Kite Trust are delighted to announce that Mrs Clare Johnson has been appointed as the permanent Headteacher at our school. She has now started her maternity leave, and the school will be led by Mr Andrew Beadnell, an experienced Headteacher in Swindon, until Mrs Johnson returns. Christian Aid Changemakers Conference Message from Yvonne Penn at Christian Aid. Please join us for the Changemakers Conference 2025 on Saturday 8th March 10.30am – 1.30pm. You can watch the Conference at home or join with others at a Regional Watch Party at Purton Methodist Church, Nr Swindon, SN5 4DR. Please register via caid.org.uk/conference.
Coffee Morning, Book & Tabletop Sale The March Coffee Morning and Book Sale will also include a tabletop sale. All proceeds will go towards the Reordering Project. PCC The PCC are meeting this week. If you wish to raise anything, please let Karen know by 5pm on Tuesday. Gift Aid Tax year 2023/24 claim has been submitted! If you have not signed a Gift Aid form and would like to do so, please let Helen know. Note from our Rector, Phil Our Rector has received a phone call from the Great Western Hospital asking him to come in for part one of his knee surgery on the 25th February. This will mean several months recovery time before part two of my surgery, at an unspecified date, which will also require several months recovery. This does sadly mean that the planned Lent Course will be cancelled, we will look to return to this in 2026. The rota for the Easter Services is under review and will be shared as soon as possible.
