| Dear
friends,
Hold it right there!
There are lots of times, particularly
when we are enjoying ourselves, that the moment or the experience is so
good that we want it never to end.
Obvious examples would be when we are enjoying
a well-earned holiday, coming to the end of a good book, or maybe being visited
by someone we haven’t seen for ages.
In the church calendar, there is constant
change – just look at the Church Services for October and the beginning of
November - the richness and variety of worship. Add to that, the abundance of
Festivals that occur throughout October – Francis of Assisi (6th), Teresa of
Avila (15th), Luke the Evangelist (18th) and Simon and Jude – Apostles (28th).
I just want to shout ‘Hold it right there,
give me time to stop, and think, and pray and ponder a while.’
As the Christmas lights appeared on
Huddersfield Road at the end of September, I felt, yet again, that we are in
danger of having today and all its worth snatched from us, because we are urged
to focus prematurely on a tomorrow that is still 3 months away.
The Church too, adds to the problem.
We were told two weeks ago, that an image of Jesus is to appear in pint glasses
in commercials this Christmas as part of a campaign to encourage young people
back to the Church. The poster will show his face emerging from the froth on the
sides of an empty glass alongside the words
"Where will you find him?".
It is part of an advertising campaign that
aims to provoke debate and boost numbers at a time when church attendance is in
serious decline.
This is all very well, but does it not encourage us to think ‘Christmas’?
Try to resist!!
For many Christians, the most special moment is in the receiving of the
Sacrament of Holy Communion. Focus on that moment, and hold it right there in
your hearts.
With every blessing,
Graham
This Months Readings
October
1st Harvest
Festival
1 Timothy
6:6-10
Matthew 6:25-33
October
8th 17 after
Trinity
Hebrews
1:1-4,2:5-12
Mark 10:2-16
October 15th 18
after
Trinity
Hebrews
4:12-16
Mark 10:17-31
October 22nd 19 after
Trinity
Hebrews
5:1-10
Mark 10:35-45
October 29th
Bible
Sunday
Hebrews
7:23-28
Mark 10:46-52
November 5th All Saints
Sunday
Isaiah
25:6-9
John 11:32-44
Village Fair
A Village Fair meeting was held in the school
on Thursday the 14th September..
The purpose of this meeting was to try and
finalise what stalls we are to have and also to decide on their exact
location within the school building.
This year’s Village Fair itself is to be
held in the school on Saturday 25th November from
10.30am until 2pm - please make a note of this date in your diary - and
as usual there will be many stalls selling a variety of goods.
In a change from our normal practice and to
allow those attending to be able to get to the stalls quicker, admission
tickets to the Fair are going on sale soon priced at 50p for adults and 20p
for children. Also on sale now are coupons which can be used to pay for
goods on the day - this helps spread the cost.
For further information or to purchase
coupons and tickets please see Sandra Fell or June Swift on Sunday mornings
after the Service.
Flowers
A reminder that money for flowers can be
donated at anytime in the year so that the church is full of fresh flowers
each week.
These wonderful displays are made up each
Saturday by a team of three dedicated flower arrangers and can be given in
memory of a loved one, to celebrate a special anniversary, a memorable
occasion or maybe just because someone has noticed that we have a Sunday
which is vacant.
Whatever the reason your donations are
welcome and the names of those who donate the flowers or who they are in
memory of, is displayed on the small stand as you come through the door.
If you are interested, then please have a
look at the flower list on the notice board for the available dates and then
have a word with either June Swift or Emily Park.
Heritage Open Days
Once again, along with quite a number of
other properties in and around the Rochdale area, we took part in the Civic
Trust’s Heritage Open weekend which this year was held from 7th - 10th
September.
Over that weekend many historic and
interesting properties in many towns and villages all over the country
opened their doors and welcomed any visitors who chose to come to look
around.
Our church was open for visitors to look
around between 10am until 4pm on the Thursday, Friday and Saturday and then
following the Sunday morning Service until 4pm.
On show were copies of some of our old
documents and photographs showing the views of the village from the top of
the spire.
Looking at the entries in our ‘visitors
book’, we had more visitors this year than last and some came from far
afield - Hungary, Southend-on-Sea and even two from North Yorkshire! It
turned out that they were travelling around the area visiting various
properties as they were interested in photographing and documenting all the
information on our brass wall plates.
The national Civic Trust has posted the
following message on it’s website at
www.civictrust.org.uk
‘THANK YOU!!! A huge thank you goes out
from the Open Days team to all those across the country who gave up their
time to and put an enormous amount of energy into creating some wonderful
visitor experiences. We have already received a mountain of returned visitor
survey forms, many people taking the opportunity to recount the wonderful
time they had. A selection of their comments will be posted here shortly’
Our thanks go to the Rochdale Civic Trust for
inviting us to take part and providing all the publicity for the event. Our
own thanks must go to Ian and Barbara Robinson, Joyce and Ted Taylor, Teresa
Stott, Gillian and John Smith, Jennifer Barker, Christopher and Marion Hain,
and Garth and Sandra Fell who volunteered to give up their time to act as
‘tour guides’ and serve our visitors with refreshments. We hope to be
able to take part again next year.
Harvest Sunday
Once again the church
looked beautiful on Harvest Sunday with all the gifts on display.
We are very grateful to the
children of our School, the Sunday School children and the members of our
uniformed organisations who brought so many gifts.
After the morning Service a
number of people kindly stayed behind to make up the parcels ready for
distribution to the sick and elderly in the parish.
We would like to thank all those who came
on the Monday to deliver these parcels and especially Mr Tunnicliffe and
his year six pupils who delivered parcels on Huddersfield Road and in the
Haugh area.
Social Events
As part of our Harvest celebrations we are
holding a Barn Dance in the school Hall on Saturday 14th October commencing
at 7.30pm.
The country dancing will be led by a ‘caller’
who will tell everyone how to do the dances and for refreshments there is to
be a potato pie supper.
To help make the evening go with a swing, ‘mine
hosts’, Derek and Christine Hamber, have once again kindly agreed to
provide us with a licensed bar.
To enable us to be able to cater for the
correct number of people attending you are asked to purchase your tickets in
advance - these can be obtained from Jennifer Barker before or after church
on Sunday mornings or by telephoning her on 01706 844153
This Website
In this technological age I wonder how many
people know that the church has a website?
Well we have had one for well over six years
and the address for those of you with access to computers is
www.newheychurch.org.uk
On the site are copies of all the parish
magazines for the past year, the history of the church, a moveable view of
the village from the top of the spire, the morning, evening and night time
Prayers for yesterday, today and tomorrow, the national religious news
headlines along with links to our day school, the Diocese of Manchester
website, ‘Rochdale on Line’ and other local sites ..... plus email
contacts for the Vicar and PCC Secretary.
Over the past five years the recorded
statistics show that a total of 5156 people have visited the site - of them
3198 were from the UK, 859 from the USA, 175 from Australia, 112 from
Canada, 59 from New Zealand, 54 from Germany, 21 from the Netherlands, 17
from India, 15 each from Argentina and Brazil plus another 398 from ‘unknown’
and 233 from ‘the rest’ - I often wonder who they might be?
In the past we have had emails from people in
Australia, New Zealand and Argentina with requests for further information
or for them to pass on news of former parishioners. It is nice to know that
they appreciate the link to Newhey and what the site has on offer.
Why not switch on the computer now and have a
look around!
You obviously have so it
would be nice to know who (if anybody) reads about our church .... please
email us at webmaster@newheychurch,org,uk
Commemoration of the Faithful Departed (All Souls)
This special Service will be held in church
on Thursday 2nd November commencing at 7.30pm.
If you wish any of your loved ones departed to be remembered by name, please
record their names on the form at the back of church.
Please support this Service by your prayers
and, if at all possible, by your attendance.
Slides of Old Milnrow and Newhey
Yes it’s time once again for
us to take a nostalgic trip down memory lane to see and remember just how
the two villages looked in times past.
Leading us on this journey will
be Bryan Tenny of the Milnrow Literary and Scientific Society and he will be
showing a selection of transparencies from their vast collection of images.
The show is going on in the
school hall on Wednesday (please note the day!) 25th October commencing at
7.30pm.
Tickets will be available soon from Frank Jackson.
Parish Prayers - Our Organist and
Choir
O sing to the Lord a new
song, sing to the Lord, all the earth. Psalm 96:1
We thank you Lord for the gift of religious
music and hymns of worship.
Bless those whose ministry in our church is
through music; our organist and choir, all who play instruments and sing and
those who organise the musical content of our services.
Make us grateful for the time given by many
to rehearsal and preparation.
We thank you also for our gift of hearing and
voice, our ability through music and song to praise you and dedicate
ourselves to your service.
Parish Concerns
* Tune our hearts to worthily
sing your praise in our church.
* Those who tune and service our church organ.
* Further our intention to install a hearing loop in our church.
Wider Concerns
* For all who teach music in schools,
colleges, groups and choirs.
* For all who publish written music and hymn books for public worship.
* For "Songs of Praise", "Premier Radio", and others who
broadcast religious music.
Copyright St Thomas' Newhey © 2006 |
