St Catherine's, Sacombe

Weekly News - 15th January 2023

This weekend’s Bible readings:

Isaiah 49:1-7 (p 735) and Luke 19:1-10 (p 1053)

Welcome to Mike Duff:

We welcome Mike Duff to our 10.30 service this week. Mike heads up the Patronage team at CPAS, one of our patrons in this benefice. He provides leadership, support and advice to parishes on patronage issues and helps vacant parishes through the appointment process. Mike will speak to us about CPAS’ work, and will preach.

Volunteers still sought:

Our in-house teams are still looking for volunteers on many fronts. In particular, we are now turning children away from the clubs at Roger de Clare because we don’t have enough helpers, and there is a waiting list of 15-20 children. If you can help with this or any of the other tasks listed in recent weeks, please speak to John or the appropriate person.

Tree work at St Mary’s:

The trees along the wall at the High Street edge of Standon churchyard will be cut back this week, starting on Monday morning. Please take care if you are visiting St Mary’s.

Midweek Music at St Mary's Wednesday 25th January:

The next in our series of midweek concerts will be on 25th at 12.30. Refreshments will be served from 11.30am.

FOSM Quiz Night 28th January:

The Friends of St Mary’s annual quiz night will take place at the community centre on Saturday 28th January, 7.00 for 7.30 start. Tickets are now available from Caroline, at £12 each, to include a ploughman’s supper. There will be a licensed bar. Teams may be up to 8 people. Please book early – we already have a number of teams booked in!

Concert in memory of Len Sparks 4th February:

The postponed concert in memory of Len will take place in St Mary’s on 4th February at 7.00 pm (licensed bar open from 6.30). John Petters New Orleans Jazz Stars will play and proceeds will go to St Mary’s. Please speak to Rebecca for more information or for tickets.

Soup ‘n’ Snowdrops at St Catherine’s, 18th February:

The Sacombe folk will hold their annual ‘Soup ‘n’ Snowdrops fundraising event on Saturday 18th February, 12.00 – 2.00. There are some snowdrops out already, but they should be in full flower by then; please come along and admire them, and enjoy some delicious home-made soups.

Tudor evensong 26th February:

The weekend of 25th and 26th February will be a celebration of the completion of the restoration work on the Sadleir tombs. The weekend will culminate in a service of evensong on Sunday 26th at 6.30, where we will, as far as is practicable (and with the exception of allowing women to take part in word and music!), follow an order of service that would be familiar to Sir Ralph. Bishop Alan will take part, and refreshments will be served afterwards.

Games morning at the Boot 7th February:

The Boot in Dane End is setting up games mornings on the first Tuesday of the month from 11.00 am. All are welcome to come along and play board games and meet friends, old and new. The first one will be 7th February.

Kisiizi Hospital parcels:

Thank you to everyone who knits for Kisiizi hospital. In 2022 we sent 38 boxes of knitted items, including 130 vests, 76 blankets and 77 teddies. We are now in need of boxes. Those that hold 5 reams of A4 paper are ideal. Please leave them in St Mary’s church.

Easy Fundraising and Amazon Smile:

Please remember that you can earn commission for the benefice when you shop online. Please sign up with Easy Fundraising or Amazon Smile and nominate St Mary’s, Standon as your chosen beneficiary, then follow the instructions to access the retailers of your choice via those portals. Any commission received is used towards combined benefice expenses. For more information about how to set it up, please speak to almost anyone apart from Caroline!

Sponsored Bible reading marathon – St Mary’s, Ware, 26th to 29th January:

Over 72 hours between Thursday 26th and Sunday 29th January, the whole Bible will be read aloud in the hall at St Mary’s, Ware. You are invited to take part in the reading, the listening and encouraging, or the sponsoring and fund-raising. There are posters in all our churches.

Quiz Night at Thorley:

St James the Great, Thorley is hosting a Family Quiz Night at the St Barnabas Centre on the same evening as our concert, Saturday 4 February. More details can be found on their website.

Website:

Our benefice website is on the www.achurchnearyou.com platform. The benefice page is: www.achurchnearyou.com/church/7825/benefice. Please visit it to see the range of information there.

Services for the next few weeks

Midweek services each week:

Tuesdays, 9.30am Holy Communion (BCP), St Catherine's

Wednesdays, 9.30am Morning worship & Bible study, St Mary's

We are looking in our midweek services at the moment at the later chapters of Acts. Often, study of the book of Acts doesn’t get to the latter part, so we have started at chapter 21, when Paul is taken into Roman custody, where he will spend the rest of his life. Please join us if you’d like to explore these passages with us.

Sunday services:

15th January 8.00am Holy communion, St Mary's

10.30am Holy communion, All Saints