Commemoration of the Faithful Departed ( All Souls )
Thursday 2nd November                      7.30pm Holy Communion

All Saints Sunday                      9.45am Holy Communion
5th November                                    3.00pm Evensong

3rd Sunday before Advent – REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY
12th November                                  9.15am Holy Communion
Act of Remembrance at the Cenotaph, Milnrow Park at 10.45am

2nd Sunday before Advent
19th November                        9.45am Holy Communion & Baptism
                                                                         3.00pm Evensong

Christ the King                         9.45am Holy Communion
26th November                         3.00pm Evensong

Advent Sunday                          9.45am Holy Communion
3rd December                           3.00pm Evensong

Dear friends,
Getting ready……
I am using this months letter to share with you some thoughts about our worship for the Sundays in Advent.
We have been used to commencing our service with an Advent Wreath ceremony, and this will continue.
However, this year I would like a different family ( or a group ) to be responsible for preparing a prayer station for each Sunday of Advent and Christmas Day.
The focus of each prayer station will be as follows…..

Advent 1 People. God's people. 
We will remember people, individuals and families, neighbours. We will remember them
by writing their names or using photos.

Advent 2 Places. Prophecy happens in particular places. 
We remember places that are special and/or important to us. We will use photos, maps, drawings as a means of recording them.

Advent 3 Pursuits. The coming of Peace and Justice. 
We remember how we spend our time with each other - striving to live
and work together in love and peace. We will use symbols of our work and pastimes.

Advent 4 - Presents. 
We look forward eagerly to all that has been promised in God's kingdom. We pray that we all may know the richness of God's blessings. We might want to leave presents for a loved one to be opened on…..

Christmas Day 
The God of people, places, pursuits and presents is THE Present born among us. 
The waiting is over.

As I hope you will appreciate, all this needs some planning, and volunteers!!
Would you be willing to take on the responsibility for one of the prayer stations?
Let me know and I will give you further details and my support and assistance.

With every good wish,

                                      Graham

Yellow Pages

St Thomas’ School is taking part in the race to recycle your old Yellow Pages and help protect woodland in England
The competition is a great way of diverting old directories away from landfill sites whilst educating our youngsters about the wider environment.
Please help by getting your old directories to school before November 24th.

Village Fair

Our Village Fair is to be held in the school on Saturday 25th November from 10.30am until 2pm. Admission tickets are on sale priced at 50p for adults and 20p for children. Also on sale are coupons - see Sandra Fell or June Swift.

Derek Hambler and Lee Bagshaw are asking for donations of bottles for their bottle stall, Marie Williams - cakes and home made produce and Judith Jones, needs a few more old Yale keys for her ‘Open the Box’ game. Can you help?

A Visit to our Sister Church in Weston-Super-Mare

We enjoyed a five day break to Weston Super Mare the first week in October. The weather was good until the Thursday when it turned wet and windy.

Our first excursion was to Bath and on arrival we joined a tour bus which was well worth it as we saw and learned much more about Bath than we could have found ourselves. Bath is built on seven hills like Rome so we had many panoramic views. We stopped off at various points of interest and we were entertained by the very knowledgeable guide who had a wealth of information.
We were glad we had opted for the bus tour as we could not have seen all this ourselves.

Wednesday’s excursion was to Cheddar and Wells. At Cheddar we decided not to go to the caves but had a very pleasant walk through the village sampling lots of different cheeses before going on to Wells.

This is a very compact city with a lovely Cathedral, Bishop’s Palace and gardens.

After our evening meal back at Weston, we set off to walk to Holy Trinity Church - an almost exact replica of our own church - externally it is just the same and is also up a very steep hill!!

As there were some lights on, we walked round until we found an open door but once inside we got quite a shock. It now no longer belongs to the Church of England but is an Elim Evangelical worship centre. No pews, no pulpit, chairs all set out in a semi-circle with a huge stage, lots of musical instruments, cameras and a big screen where our choir stalls are. A young man came out of a side room and explained it was regular worship practice on Wednesdays evenings. We left with a news letter which we have passed on to Graham when we got home.

Thursday turned out wet and windy but we found the park which houses the Jill Dando garden. This very beautiful spot is delightful; The planting was done by the Ground Force team and the upkeep is paid for by the BBC. There are boards telling about the planting for all year round beauty and there is a water feature and lots of seating. We were very glad we made the effort to visit.

All too soon it was Friday morning and time to return home - we now look forward to our next November jaunt.

Organist and Choir

I am very pleased to formally announce that Andrew Stewardson has taken on the responsibility of Organist and Choirmaster at St Thomas Church. Andrew has played for us occasionally during the summer months and is known to most of you already.

Please support him and the choir as they lead our music in worship.

It is a good time to remind you that new choristers are always welcome - if you want to understand what's involved then please speak to Andrew.

Barn Dance

Due to our lack of understanding of the government’s new Events Licensing laws we were forced to postpone the planned October Barn Dance.
This is now to take place on Saturday 18th November and tickets can be obtained from Jennifer Barker.

Christian Aid Collection

The total proceeds from house to house collections and events organised by Rochdale Churches during Christian Aid Week were £29,935.37 - a 6% increase on the £26,412 in 2005 and almost up to the 2004 record of £28,250.

The outcome is a tribute to the efforts of Rochdale Christians of all denominations who carried out the collections and the high reputation which Christian Aid has earned with the public by its forthright and unceasing action amongst some of the most disadvantaged people in the world. Under the Gift Aid Scheme, Christian Aid will be able to reclaim tax on more than one quarter of the total raise because the donors signed the declaration on their envelopes thus boosting the total amount raised by Rochdale churches to over £30,000.

St Thomas’ collected £939.02 including £320.57 which were Gift Aided and I thank the members of the congregation, the PCC (and their families!) who volunteered to deliver and collect the envelopes and all those people in the village who kindly donated. This is a record sum and something to be proud of especially as we were not able to cover all the households in Newhey - let’s hope next year more volunteers will come forward so that we can achieve this.

We trust that we will be able to continue to support Christian Aid in their vigorous efforts to assist the poorest of the world’s poor to help feed and care for themselves so that successive generations are increasingly able to enjoy a life free from poverty and exploitation by others more powerful than they, and which should be the right of everyone living in this world.

Parish Prayers
Will you remember before God the names of those from the two war memorials in our church

At the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them.

The names of the fallen in the 1914-1918 War

The names of the fallen in the 1939-1945 War

Parish Concerns
* For Channings and Newhey Manor. All those who provide for the young and those who care for the elderly and infirm,
* For carers, nurses, doctors, teachers and all those involved in helping the lives of others,
* Our local Health and Welfare services,
* Our milkmen, postmen, dustmen, mechanics and tradesmen.