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Christmas Tree Festival on Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th of December 2025

Building on last year’s success, St Mary’s Kidlington will once again be hosting its Christmas Tree Festival on Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th of December. There will be live music and refreshments and many hundreds of people will pass through the doors to enjoy the Christmas spirit.

This year the festival will be in aid of Papyrus, which works to prevent suicide in Young People, and the Noor Society, which works with disabled people in refugee camps in Bethlehem, see
https://www.papyrus-uk.org/
https://noorsocietyfordisabled.wordpress.com/home/

If you would like to support us again and advertise your business / organisation by sponsoring a tree, please fill the form out here: https://forms.gle/qtPZQ94JCj9HQY2k8

To view a short video (1min) of last year’s festival here with the choir singing live in
the background: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PYBMS_5eRQ

Any questions at all, no matter how big or small, feel free to email me on office@kidhp.org.uk
Thanks all, Malc

What a great celebration – find out more here

Getting closer and closer

We are looking forward to the usual fun and action packed afternoon that is the annul Parish Fete. Do come along and enjoy.

You can also sign up for the fundraising quiz night on Sat 7th June at the link below!   Thank you !

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSddmyP3fxEBVa6grPJ-mGqoJthLzx3a0UBBwkktx7fHzkGLOA/viewform

Below is the message from Felicity announcing the appointment of our new Team Vicar, Oliver Harrison, who will be joining us in September. But if you want to know more about him “in his own words” just go to Our New Team Vicar

Dear Friends,

It is a great joy to announce that we have been able to appoint someone to join our clergy team as Team Vicar.

The Rev’d Oliver Harrison is currently vicar of Wilnecote in Tamworth (NE of Birmingham). As an experienced incumbent he has done a lot of work in schools and is passionate about children’s work. The interview panel was unanimous in wishing to appoint him and we are really looking forward to Oliver and his wife Jessica joining us. They also have two adult daughters.

Oliver has a lot to bring to the team and is a real people-person. He loves motorbikes and fly fishing too – and I guarantee he will make us all laugh!

There are no dates for arrival or licensing as yet but it is normal to give three months’ notice and then have a time of transition, so we are not planning a licensing in the near future – NOW LICENSING IS SET FOR 7PM ON THURSDAY 4TH SEPTEMBER IN ST MARY’S KIDLINGTON – ALL WELCOME.

This was announced in St Mary’s at our joint service on 23rd March and also in Holy Trinity Wilnecote.

Please pray for the parish of Holy Trinity Wilnecote as they prepare to say goodbye, and for Oliver, Jessica and their daughters.

A big thank you to everyone who helped with a very busy and complex interview day – it was a great team effort.

With every blessing

Felicity

Make sure you’ve got the date booked in your diary as it’s going to be a really great day.

We will be holding our monthly Joint Parish Communion service at 10am in St Mary’s Kidlington. After the service, as well as the usual tea and coffee, there will be a Cake/Bake Sale organised to raise funds towards the Away Weekend for our young people coming up this October. The weekend is a chance to encourage our young people in their faith journeys, to continue to build friendships, and to make memories together. This year some of the costs have gone up (with inflation), so they are fundraising to help pay for the weekend, making it more manageable for families. Please do support them (and advance notice that they are also organising a Parish Quiz in St John’s on Saturday 7th June).

And this will be followed by a Church Family Party, from 12noon to 4pm – read all about it below

WE REGRET THAT OUR THIRD PLANNED TEA TALK, SUNDAY 9TH MARCH, HAS BEEN CANCELLED.

PLEASE ACCEPT OUR APOLOGIES.

The second of our annual series of Winter Tea Talks was on Sunday 9th February, 3pm in St John’s. Our speaker, Professor Dermot O’Hare talked on “Chemistry for Tomorrow’s World”.

The first talk in the series was given in January by our friend – Professor William Whyte, who is a Fellow of St John’s College, Oxford and an architectural historian, specialising in churches and universities. His talk was entitled “The accidental university – a short(ish) history of Oxford“.

The parish electoral roll is a register of the lay members of the parish who are entitled to vote at the Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM). FOR 2025 A NEW ELECTORAL ROLL WILL NEED TO BE PREPARED INSTEAD OF THE USUAL REVISION. So we need everyone who wants to “have a say” in running our parish to complete a new form. You can find out more and download an application form here.