St Giles was full this year as many from Codicote community joined us for the Service that follows the Act of Remembrance at the War Memorial. The Memorial, recently cleaned for us all by J J Burgess & Sons, was the focus for the act of remembrance in the churchyard. Village uniformed groups paraded up to St Giles and wreaths were laid at the War Memorial on behalf of the Brownies, Scouts, WI, Police, Parish Council, District Council and our MP. Inside church, Christie led her first Remembrance Service at St Giles. It was good to have Scouts and Brownies contributing to the prayers and so lovely that some of the Brownies laid poppies on the altar. Donations made at the service will be sent to the Royal British Legion. Afterwards we were pleased to use our welcome area to serve refreshments to everyone.
Harvest celebrations start very soon:Sunday 6th October 10am - Cafe Church theme is "Thank You" and a speaker from Codicote Foodbank will be interviewed during the morning. Cafe Church is held in The Peace Memorial Hall Codicote from 10am.Friday 11th October - Codicote Primary School will hold its annual Harvest Service in St GilesSunday 13th October 9:30am - Harvest Festival Service in St Giles with a visiting speaker from The Farming Community Network.Our Flower team are planning some wonderful displays for the weekend of 11th-13th, so please do drop by and see them. You can s some photos HERE .This year our giving will be:Food items to Codicote Foodbank (a collection box is in the church porch) . They have asked for tinned meals, tea and coffee, tinned fruit, tinned tuna and ham, biscuits, shampoo and conditioner and toothpaste. Retiring collection on 13th October for The Farming Community Network. For more information about their work please see the newsletter attached to this article.UPDATE - £300 was raised for FCN at the service on 13th October and many bags of food donated to Codicote Foodbank. Thank you all for your generosity.
Village day was full of fun and laughter at St Giles this year. As usual we provided water for anyone in or watching the parade as it came past our gates. During the afternoon visitors could sit quietly in the church and listen to songs from Welwyn Harmony or piano music played by Caroline Aggarwal. The flower team had set up beautiful displays, with a quiz on the theme of TV adverts and the new children’s corner was well used by our younger visitors. Delicious cakes and reviving cups of tea were available in our new servery area. Many people took their refreshments outside where they could view teddies descending from the tower on our popular zip wire. A teddy tombola and book stall was also set up in the churchyard. It was wonderful to be able to welcome so many visitors to St Giles over the afternoon. For pictures of activities in church see HERE For pictures of the flowers see HERE
Café Church meets at The Peace Memorial Hall, High Street, Codicote on the first Sunday of each month 10am – 11:30am. Hot drinks and freshly baked pastries are served with people sitting at café tables to eat, drink and talk with each other. All are welcome – there are activities for all ages and usually some craft for the young or young at heart to enjoy. It is a good chance to catch up with friends and also an opportunity to meet new people. It is still Church, but perhaps feels more relaxed in its coffee shop style setting. Each month has a theme planned by the Café Church Team. There is often a table challenge to try over breakfast – a topical quiz, word puzzle etc. We bring things together at around 10:30am with a short period of worship often including singing, short video clips, a mini talk and a time of prayer. Recently we asked people what they liked about Café Church. Alongside the very popular food and drink options, the strong sense of community, friendship, support, informal worship, craft activities and a chance to talk and think were all mentioned as being important to people. We are looking to build on this good foundation and will be using comments and suggestions to shape our future plans.During the next 6 months we will be digging deeper into the prayer of St Francis with a series of topics under the title THE POWER OF . . . . . . 4th February – LOVE see some photos here 3rd March – FORGIVENESS see photos here 7th April - FAITH see photos here 5th May – HOPE 2nd June – LIGHT see photos here 7th July - JOY see photos here Revisit this page to see what happens month by month.
