You may have seen in our social media recently the statistics around children in care in the UK. This year 40,000 children will be taken into care, that’s twice the amount that can be seated into the 02 arena! In Cambridgeshire there are currently over 700 children awaiting loving homes.Due to the circumstances around the need for adoption and fostering, many adoptive & foster parents face major challenges with children who have multiple difficulties, such as special educational needs, attachment disorders and insecurities. Therefore, parents can become physically and mentally exhausted; which is why a group of people from St. Peter’s Church are getting together to discuss ways in which we, as a community, can support these families who are doing something amazing. We will be guided by the charity, Home for Good, who’s core aim is to find a home for every child who needs one, but we also need help from the community.We are holding an initial meeting in September at SPC, to discuss ideas of what the support will look like and our hope and prayer is that this will also be guided by others in our community who want to be involved. If you are an adoptive or foster parent, please do come along and talk with us about how we can help support you. If, like many of us involved in this initiative, you’re not an adoptive or foster parent but it is on your heart – come along and chat, share ideas or just listen. Everyone has gifts to offer and we would like to use these gifts to provide the best support that we can for families in our community who are working hard to provide for children who otherwise would not have a loving family.We look forward to meeting you in September! Look out for the meeting date on our social media and on the Yaxley Gazette Facebook page and if you express an interest with us, we will ensure to inform you of the meeting details, once confirmed. If in the meantime you’d like to hear from the charity who will be assisting us, you can listen to their talk from their visit in June, on our website: https://www.saintpeters.co.uk/talks/home-for-good/God Bless,Laura Laura Ashley, St. Peter’s Parish Communications Officer07939 449255, lauraashley@saintpeters.co.uk
Firstly, we would like to thank all those local people who so generously support the food bank. Without your regular donations, we wouldn’t be able to continue to help vulnerable families in our community.This year, we have been busier than ever, having already given out over 2 metric tonnes of food from our base at St. Peters Church. This has meant that with the busy summer holiday period fast approaching our stocks of food items are significantly lower than usual for the time of year. During the school summer holidays, when school meals are not available, we provide weekly food parcels to a number of families struggling to make ends meet. This means we give out a large amount of food during this period.We would like to make an appeal to the folk of Yaxley and the surrounding villages. Would you consider placing a few items in one of the collecting baskets around the locality?We are particularly short of the following items:Tinned meat and fishTinned vegetablesTinned potatoesTinned fruitLong life milkLong life custardTinned rice puddingOur baskets are in the following locations:Yaxley Co-opYaxley Lakeside SurgeryWilliam de Yaxley SchoolFourfields SchoolYaxley Infants SchoolFarcet Primary SchoolAustin HallSt Peters ChurchSt Mary Magdalene Church StiltonThanking you all again for your continuing support.St. Peter’s ChurchFor all enquiries, please contact Laura on 07939 449255 or lauraashley@saintpeters.co.uk
<span style="font-size: 1rem;">We are pleased to announce that the Reverend Sarah Hare will be our new vicar, here at St. Peter’s Church, Yaxley. We are delighted that Sarah is coming to SPC and we look forward to her ministry.</span>Sarah is currently a Team Vicar to 14 churches in the Wenlock Team; within the Diocese of Hereford. We invite everyone to attend Sarah’s licensing on the evening of Tuesday 3rd September, which will mark the start of an exciting new chapter for SPC.We are also pleased to announce that Becky Dyball, currently Assistant Curate at Ramsey and Upwood, is to be Priest-in-Charge of Sawtry, Glatton and Holme with Conington. At the time of writing a date is still to be arranged for her licensing.Please remember Sarah & Becky in your prayers as they embark on a new journey in their lives.God Bless,LauraLaura Ashley, St. Peter’s Parish Communications Officer07939 449255, lauraashley@saintpeters.co.uk
A recent trip to Rwanda reminded me of the huge power there is in forgiveness. It is now 25 years since the Rwandan genocide when almost 1 million people were brutally killed in 100 days. The country has moved forward massively since those days as much work was done, and continues to be done, in terms of forgiveness and reconciliation. Families of victims and perpetrators now live side by side, not always without tension and conflict, but there are many amazing stories of forgiveness.</span>A group from St. Peter’s Church went to Rwanda in 2014 and participated in building a house for one of the widows of the genocide. Remarkably, the land for the house was donated by a neighbour whose family had been killed by the widow’s husband. How hard that must have been? There are many other examples of forgiveness we could quote but we all know how incredibly hard it is when it becomes personal to us. There is however, such a release and freedom in being able to forgive and to receive forgiveness. It is a very healing process and it restores relationships. We all need forgiveness because we all ‘mess up’. The beauty of Easter is that it reminds us that Jesus Christ freely offers us forgiveness, no matter what we have done. The cruel, barbaric death by crucifixion of an innocent man, the Son of God, means He took the punishment for all the wrong that we have done so that we can be set free and our relationship with God can be restored. The wonderful thing is that the story does not end there and at Easter we celebrate the most significant event in human history, Jesus Christ rising from the dead. Forgiveness liberates us, the Resurrection gives us hope. We would love for you to join us at St Peter’s this Easter.Holy Week Meditations: Monday 15th to Wednesday 17th April, 7.30pmBring & Share Reflective Family Meal: Thursday 18th April, 7.00pm (please book in advance)Good Friday: 11am All Age Service2pm Hour at the CrossEaster Sunday: 9am Traditional Holy Communion Service11am Morning Worship with Holy CommunionGod Bless,St. Peter’s Church07939 449255
