This Sunday marks the beginning of Her Majesty the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee - 70 years since her accession to the throne. We will be marking this day at our 10am service on Sunday, and giving thanks for the Queen’s life of duty and service to the people of this country and the Commonwealth.

The Platinum Jubilee is more than one day, of course. There will be lots more events during the year - including a pudding competition! - and at the beginning of June a four-day bank holiday with a large number of celebrations. At St Mary’s we are planning our contribution to the celebrations, and I hope that the event we are planning - of which more news soon - will be a chance to welcome not just our church but our village community to celebrate and have a fun-filled day. Watch this space for details!

Before then of course we will be journeying through Lent towards Easter. One of the things we do during Lent is to raise money for our Lent Appeal. Last year we raised money for churches in Hull that are part of the Mustard Seed - growing seeds of hope in places where life is tough - and for Covid vaccines in poorer parts of the world.

We need to chose our causes for this year. Once again it would be good to have one local cause and one international. Is there a cause that is close to your heart that you would like to suggest? I would love to hear from you. The PCC is meeting on 16th February and we will make a decision then, so please get in touch before 15th February with any ideas you have.

with my prayers and blessings, Nicola