Sunday 16th February, The Third Sunday before Lent11:00am Parish Communion6pm Choral EvensongFriday 2pm The Funeral of Margaret Perry RIPSunday 23rd February, The Second Sunday before Lent11:00am Parish Communion6pm EvensongMid-week service: Wednesday 10am Holy CommunionPlease see David’s excellent Music Notes for February attached. These include some really helpful preparatory reading for all the services coming up, including this evening’s Choral Evensong.The popular coffee afternoons at the Institute continue on the second Tuesday in the month, at 2pm. The next one is on Tuesday 11th March.Please see the Calendar of services attached.Parish MagazineThe new Winter/Spring issue of the Parish Magazine is now ready to be delivered to regular subscribers, who should receive their copies shortly.Extra copies also available (£2 each) from the back of church.If you don't normally read the Parish Magazine, this first of the year's 5 issues might be a good time to try it: Parish news, local news, biography, local history, wordsearch...and more!Foodbank – Weekly message from Lynda Delf: On 9th February £40 and 10 kg of food was donated in Church, another gave 8kg of food and £10, the food will provide meals for 24 people, and the money used to buy much needed food. Many thanks for your kindness and genorisity.We currently need kettle food such as noodles and soup. sugar, jam, biscuits, coffee and rice, as well as tins of meat, fish, potatoes, spaghetti hoops and rice pudding.We always need toilet rolls, household cleaning materials and longlife milk and fruit juice.Thank you for all you do to support local people who need to use our foodbanks.World Day of Prayer:The service this year has been written by Christian women from the Cook Islands.Our service will be held at North Road Methodist Church at 10.30am on Friday 7 March. Confirmation: The Deanery Confirmation will take place on Saturday 7th June 2025 (The Eve of Pentecost). At this service adults, including students, as well as children from throughout Durham Deanery will be confirmed. Please let Peter know if you would like to be confirmed next year. The venue for the Deanery Confirmation this year will be St. Luke’s Ferryhill.Independent Safeguarding Audit: commissioned by the Archbishops’ Council in 2023, please see the attached document for more information about that, including a survey.Durham Union Society debate at St. Oswald’s: Whilst the Union Society’s Chambers are being refurbished, they are meeting at various venues around the City. The debate on Friday 21st February, on the motion: This house believes that human nature is corrupt, will take place at St. Oswald’s, at 8:30pm. Two bishops are scheduled to speak as well as student speakers. You are warmly welcome to attend this evening.Amongst the sick please pray for Angie Robley.Please pray for the repose of the soul of Margaret Perry RIP. Margaret’s funeral will take place at St. Oswald’s on Friday 21st February at 2pm, and will be followed by a gathering at the Institute over refreshments.Please pray for the repose of the soul of Martin Stancliffe RIP (Clare’s brother).Please pray for the repose of the soul of Richard Hird RIP.With All Good Wishes and Prayers, PeterThe Reverend Peter Kashouris
Sunday 26th January, The Third Sunday of Epiphany11:00am Parish Communion6pm EvensongSunday 2nd February, Candlemas11:00am Parish Communion6pm Come & Sing Choral EvensongPreacher: Mary Yasini, Curate at St. Cuthbert’s DarlingtonMid-week service: Wednesday 10am Holy CommunionPlease see the Calendar for the services during this season of Epiphany.Evensong continues every Sunday, with Choral Evensong on February 2nd (Candlemas), February 16th, March 16thFoodbank – Weekly message from Lynda Delf: On 17th January £30 and 10kg of food was donated in Church, this will provide meals for 12 people, the money is used to buy much needed food, many thanks for your continuing support.In 2024 our 39 local foodbanks provided food and support for nearly 25,000 people including 16,000 adults and 8,500 children.We are in need of long life milk and fruit juice, jam rice, sugar, biscuits, instant soup and noodles, as well as tinned meat, potatoes, spaghetti hoops, rice pudding and fruit. We always need household cleaning materials and toilet rolls. Thank you for your generosity and kindness.Parish magazineThere are still a few copies of the current issue available from the back of the church at £1:50 each.Thanks to those who have already submitted articles or ideas for the next issue. The copy deadline for the next issue is Sunday Jan 26th. Please let Sarah Knight or Stevie Taylor have any contributions by that date. Thank you.Confirmation: The Deanery Confirmation will take place on Saturday 7th June 2025 (The Eve of Pentecost). At this service adults, including students, as well as children from throughout Durham Deanery will be confirmed. Please let Peter know if you would like to be confirmed next year. The venue for the Deanery Confirmation this year will be St. Luke’s Ferryhill.Amongst the sick please pray for Angie Robley.Please pray for the repose of the soul of Julian Chadwick RIP. Julian died peacefully on Friday December 20th. His funeral will be on Monday 27 January at 1130 at Holy Trinity Church, Church Road, Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol, BS9 3EQDear family and friends - a note from Andrew Chadwick in regard to Julian's funeral.The service will take place at 1130 on Monday 27 January. Should you wish to watch online, the link below will take you to the livestream. It will also be available for some weeks after the funeral.https://www.youtube.com/live/qbBtX8JNowoBarbara has asked that any floral tributes be replaced with a donation to Alzheimer's Society. This can be done by the JustGiving page below, which will collect any donations in memory of Julian.https://www.justgiving.com/page/julian-chadwickWith many thanks again for all the many kind words of condolence and remembrance that have been sent in recent weeks. With best wishes, AndrewIndependent Safeguarding Audit: commissioned by the Archbishops’ Council in 2023, please see the attached document for more information about that, including a survey.Retreat in Daily Life:The annual Retreat in Daily Life will be starting at the Catholic Chaplaincy next Sunday, 26th January. The retreat is based on the spirituality of Ignatius of Loyola, which is part of the Catholic tradition but in recent years has also gained a following across different Christian denominations.Participants in the retreat are offered the opportunity to meet with a trained prayer guide for 30 minutes each day, Monday to Friday. The prayer guide will offer suggestions for prayer and Bible texts to reflect on, with the aim of helping the retreatants to deepen their prayer life. There are also evening workshops on different styles of prayer. The team of guides come from various Christian churches, including an Anglican priest. St Antony's Priory very kindly collaborates with us and provides rooms for some of the prayer guides.Obviously, the retreat is mostly of interest to Christians, but it's open to anyone who may be exploring faith and spirituality. I've attached a flyer with some more information. Please share this with any students or staff who you think may be interested, and ask them to contact me on this email address if they want to find out more.Thanks,Andrew Rev Andrew Downie Durham University Catholic ChaplainWith All Good Wishes and Prayers, PeterThe Reverend Peter KashourisSt Oswald's Vicarage, Church Street, Durham pzkashouris@gmail.com
There has been a bonfire every year in the churchyard for hundreds of years, and this year's bonfire took place, for once, on 5th November itself. Our usual crowd was even bigger than previously, with St. Oswald's schoolkids, students, and longstanding residents enjoying the fire, the sparklers, and the refreshments. Thanks to everyone who came and made it such a lovely evening, to Roz Layton for organising everything brilliantly, to everyone who contributed toffee, biscuits and sweets, and to Giles Radford, Scout Leader extraordinaire, silhouetted in the photo, for building and superintending the magnificent fire.
Oswald, King of Northumbria 634–642ᴀᴅ, was instrumental in bringing Christianity to this region, and is celebrated on 5th August every year with a choral evensong at the cathedral in which we traditionally join to celebrate our patron saint. Generally, we meet in church for a short prequel, and then peregrinate the 715 yds. (0.65 km) across Kingsgate Bridge to the mother church, though this year for a variety of reasons we made our own ways there. Nonetheless, we were very graciously welcomed by the Dean as the 'pilgrims' from St. Oswald's, and three of our younger members made a fine job of processing His Northumbrian Majesty's banner to the high altar.The banner party is pictured here with other members of the congregation, in an image that has been watercolourised to try and rescue a truly dreadful snap.
