St Mary the Virgin Church

Dear Friends The weather may not seem like spring but we are certainly well into spring, nature may well be a bit confused and so might we. In this season we think about awakenings and new beginnings, of life waking from a dormant time into a bright and vibrant time. Wow it make me feel tired just thinking about it! I wonder whether any of the things we gave up for Lent we have continued to do without. We can get used to going without something and then find we don’t need it. But there is something that none of [...]

Dear Friends As I write this Easter is well ahead, but when you get to read this Easter will be upon us and for some of you it might even have arrived by the time you get around to reading this. As we passed through those 40 days of Lent was there any difference in the previous 40 days? Perhaps you gave something up or even took on something, how did that make you feel? Often a change of routine does you good, we can get stuck in the old ways of being and even in the old ways of [...]

Dear Friends Doesn’t time fly? I can hardly believe we are now into Lent! What have we given up I wonder, I go through a range of things and then always find an excuse for not giving this or that up. No doubt you like me are very good at making excuses for not doing something whether that’s completely true or you just think it’s true. We can quite easily deceive ourselves. Lent of course does not have to be about giving up, it can be taking something on, which in itself requires dedication and stamina. What we should be [...]

Dear Friends I hope the New Year has started well for you. I must say the weather has not been our usual chilly days which is such a shame. My usual comments later in the Spring will not be new as so many of our plants are shooting through the ground already. Let’s hope we don’t get late frosts and kill them off. Sometimes it’s good to kill things off particularly if they are unpleasant, just think of those weeds popping up through the gravel on driveways and patios! But there are other things that need killing off in some [...]

Dear Friends The New Year is upon us and what will it bring? What resolutions have you made what are your New Year wishes, hopes and aspirations? Our TV’s are full of sales adverts tempting us to try something new or different after being full of round ups of last year, does that encourage us or just make us discontented? Next we have the adverts for losing weight after the excesses of the festivities. All these adverts unsettle us; make us think that things should be different or better than they are. Perhaps at the beginning of a New Year, [...]

CRIB EXHIBITION The church is holding an exhibition of “Cribs” (Nativity Scenes) on the weekend of 16th Dec. The cribs can be in any form and entry forms are available from me or at the shop. Friday 16th Dec: Cribs to be staged between 4—7pm (or other times if not convenient) Saturday 17th Dec: Church will be open for viewing from 12 midday to 7pm; tea & mince pies will be served. A wine & cheese evening will follow—tickets from me £5 each to include food & a glass of wine. Sunday 18th Dec: Church will be open from 12 [...]

Dear Friends  This last month has been one of remembering loved ones lost, especially those lost in conflicts over the years and those lost in conflicts which continue. I was reflecting on Armistice Day, when we have silence for two minutes at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, which was instituted following the 1st World War, that this was the war which was supposed to be the war to end all wars. The hope was that peace would reign and we could all get on with living in peace and presumably harmony. A wonderful concept, [...]