As I write, St Mark’s members are looking back on a number of great events including: Our Bric-a-Brac sale and Coffee morning, which raised £224 for Church funds, Mike Keats’ 90th Birthday celebration on 22nd SeptemberWe are also looking forward to a number of special events: Our Harvest Service, followed by a Bring-and-Share lunch on Sunday 20th October St Mark’s School Harvest Service on Thursday 24th October Our Autumn Action Day on Saturday 26th October, 10am - 1pm Pearl’s 70th birthday celebration on Sunday 27th October Jenny’s 90th birthday celebration on 3rd NovemberWe work hard to keep up our reputation as a party church at St Mark’s!The Herston Singing Club re-started on 15th October after a bit of a prolonged summer break. This group, for school years 3-6, meets after school on Tuesdays. After some snacks, to keep up our strength, we sing a variety of music. We look forward to our first engagement – singing at the Christmas Tree Festival in December. Some of us attended an excellent Deanery Synod open meeting in October. Rev. Jo Levasier, together with 2 Purbeck Headteachers, told us about the Churches’ involvement with local primary schools. The church/school/community partnership in Wool was particularly inspiring, and there were good news stories from many other places. Carol and I came back encouraged to re-double our work to strengthen the growing links between St Mark’s Church and School. Please pray for this work.We are sad to report that Oli Johnson, Anne’s husband, passed away peacefully in September, and Sheila Guy, a former St Mark’s member, passed away in early October. Our love and prayers are with those who mourn.As the days grow darker and we look towards Advent we are reminded that Jesus came to bring light into a dark world. We see all sorts of darkness around us, but even a small candle flame makes a huge difference in a dark place. Let us pray that we are able to show this light of Jesus to the people and places of Herston. Rev David Richards
September has not been the ‘Indian Summer’ we had all hoped for and the cold ‘wind of change’ has certainly brought about an Autumn chill this week, so we now look to October and the autumn season of Harvest and its splendid colours. A time to reflect on God’s creation and its riches. At St Marks we have certainly had a busy summer and there’s no sign of us slowing down as we’ve just held our third fund raising event this year, our Coffee Morning & Bric-a-Brac Stall on 21st September. We raised £224 for St Marks Church, while enjoying great fellowship, fun and of course plenty of cake!. So far, this year, thanks to the generosity of friends and neighbours attending events we have raised well over £1000 for charities, both local and national. Well Done St Marks. Both our Bible Study and Prayer & Share groups continue. Prayer is an important part of our Christian life and our worship at St Marks and, following the Prayer walks during August, we continue to use our Herston Prayer Cycle to pray for our local community, within the Herston area, each week. A time to reflect. We are looking forward to our Harvest Festival Service when we will be donating foods to Swanage Food Bank, as we have in previous years. Please note, this service will begin at 11am. We will then share a ‘Bring and Share Lunch,’ which I’m sure will be very enjoyable with plenty to eat include more cake!! We are also looking forward to welcoming the pupils from St Marks School for their Harvest Festival services later that same week, when they too, will bring their offerings for the Swanage Food Bank. We will, as before, be supporting the Parish funds, through the sale of Christmas Cards, which will be on sale in the meeting room after the Sunday services at the end of October. St Marks’ reputation as a Party Church continues, therefore we will be planning some future social events including our Christmas Meal at the Village Inn, possibly a ‘Pizza Night’ and another ‘Gathering at The Globe,’ supporting our local hostelry! Don’t forget on Sunday 27th October, British Summer Time Ends, and so the clocks go back – giving us an extra hour in bed. How lovely!!May God Bless and Keep YouAnne Roper Church Warden
That was a very eventful August! Following the very welcome rebuilding of the boundary wall after many weeks in which its stones had been lying on the ground (and had been dubbed St Mark's Rockery) in July, we were able to hold our Pimm's and Hymns afternoon on 4th August. Although the area where the rockery had been was looking a bit worse for wear, the rest of the garden was splendid and in full bloom, thanks to our faithful gardening team. As a consequence of the date, a number of our regular members were unable to attend but we were delighted to welcome friends from other churches who enjoyed a rousing afternoon of hymns and stories to accompany them. Our musicians were on good form and it was a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon. In addition, the donations received for the Breast Cancer charity amounted to over £200 and this was doubled by an anonymous donor. Many thanks to all who contributed, including that anonymous person!This followed the very successful Swanage Carnival as July turned into August, an event in which the Christians of the town had played their part. What else happened in August? Ah, yes the sun shone (at least some of the time) and the wind abated, things which couldn't be said (as we remember it) for July. Swanage filled with people and there were yet more festivals and although the national and international news was as concerning as ever, much enjoyment was had by many people. I hope that most of you had an August to remember and had some relaxation to take you into the coming months.As we start September, the schools return and we send our friends at St Mark's School all our best wishes as they start the year armed with their good Ofsted report from last term. We look forward to continued good relationships with the school leading up to their Harvest and Christmas services later in the term.Our activities in and around the church restart. The first Bible Study as we continue Mark's Gospel is on 3rd September and they continue fortnightly from there. Prayer and Share which turned into Prayer Walks for August returns to its usual form weekly, although sometimes changing its day of the week, so listen to notices and read the weekly sheet for the latest information. Both Bible Study and Prayer are valuable aspects of a Christian life, as well as the life of a church and so if you would like to try these meetings out on occasion, do come to join the regulars.One date that isn't on the diary above is our next social event. We're hoping to have a Bric-a-brac sale with coffee and cakes sometime in September. As I write, the date isn't quite agreed but, again, listen to notices.How often do we find ourselves saying "is it that time of year already?" Even if the early summer weather wasn't all we might have wished, at least it was a talking point and as we go from summer to autumn we can look forward to whatever the weather in God's wonderful world sends us. Think of the seasonal fruit, the lovely colour of the trees - I wish you a glorious autumn!John WayChurchwarden
ST. MARK’S MAGAZINE – AUGUST 2024As I write (mid-July) we expect the St Mark’s boundary wall to be repaired within the next few weeks. This will allow us to use the whole garden for our popular Pimm’s and Hymns on the afternoon of 4th August. There will be favourite hymns chosen and introduced by members of St Mark’s, afternoon tea and a glass of Pimm’s – just right for a (hopefully) lovely summer afternoon.We are also looking forward to the amazing Swanage Carnival, with lots of Churches Together involvement through the Carnival Praise Service on 28th July, our entry in the Carnival procession, and a tent on the field throughout Carnival week. It is so good to join in with this great community event.As part of our commitment to the wider community, St Mark’s aims to pray for Herston. During August our Prayer and Share Group will be going walkabout, with a series of Prayer Walks to cover the whole of Herston. Please see the weekly pewsheet, or the St Mark’s Facebook posts, for exact details of times and meeting places. We will also launch our Herston Prayer Cycle on Sunday 4th August.St Mark’s Church continues to support St Mark’s School. We prayed hard for the OFSTED inspection and were delighted with the result. The inspector said St Mark’s is a good school, and said lots of nice things about the life and work of the school. There was a special occasion on 20th June as the Year 6 Leavers from St Mark’s School took part in a special service at Salisbury Cathedral. The School asked us if we had a banner they could take to the Cathedral, and we checked the banner that normally hangs on the Church wall and found it to be in a very good condition (a tribute to the people who made it), and it just needed a few small repairs. We understand it was made for a Children’s Festival at Salisbury Cathedral in 1989, and it was wonderful to see it carried with such pride by the children of St Mark’s School in 2024. Have a blessed August. Dave Richards
