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Communion is a big part of our church life here in the parish, as it is all over the world. Many of our children and young people are in services where we celebrate it, but we don’t often teach on it specifically, and it’s even rarer we talk about it in a way aimed at children and young people. This October all that will change!

Beginning on October 2nd and running before Choristers rehearsals for four weeks (Oct. 2nd, Oct. 16th, Nov. 6th, Nov. 13th), we are going to have a kid-friendly session for choristers to learn about communion: why we do it, what it means, and why it’s important. If your young person is interested, we’d love to have them there. At the end of these sessions, if you and your children want, they can be admitted to communion, which means they will be able to take it during the services, receiving bread and wine with everyone else. We will be in St. Mary’s refectory from 4:45pm till 6pm, and we’ll feed them pizza and pasta (or something different if they have allergies etc) before choristers begin. This will primarily be aimed at those in Key Stage 1 and 2, but if you have a young person/young people older than that we can happily accommodate them.

Please email Paul (curatepaul@kidhp.org.uk) if you’re interested.

Over the course of this year we’ll be taking a journey through the Old Testament, so we can both better understand scripture as a whole, and the one who fulfils it. Most months, after the joint service at 11:30am, we’ll have an approx. half hour talk followed by Q and A.

We begin on September 27th, as Paul will be speaking on the foundational stories in Genesis 1-11. Grab your coffee and biscuit and join us as we delve deeper into this curious text.

Saturday 14th November, 7pm, St Mary’s Kidlington

Our Castaway is Yo Davies, interviewed by Jan Jeffreys.

Tickets, £12.50 each, include a glass of wine and nibbles.

To help with catering, please book in advance if you can, by clicking here

Please note that this is raising money for the Live Nativity in December (“camels”). The cost of the camels does not come from our church budget. Do come and support these events, thanks all.

Sunday 20th September 5.30pm

Following a well-earned summer break the choir and choristers restarted their monthly offering of Choral Evensong on the third Sunday of the month. The first was Sunday 20th September, when the music included the Ayleward Responses, the Stanford in B flat Mag and Nunc, and the anthem “Rejoice in the Lord alway” (Anon). There were also two congregational hymns and an organ voluntary.

We hope that everyone is enjoying a relaxing (if hot) summer right now. But if you want to know what you can look forward to later in the year, here are some dates for you (more details to follow):

• Sunday 6th September – Friends of St Mary’s welcome a production of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by This is My Theatre
• Saturday 12th September – Moses Day – Do you know Oh, what a beautiful morning? We Will Rock You? Safe and Sound? I whistle a happy tune? All of these songs feature in a retelling of the story of Moses as a ‘jukebox musical’ (a stage musical told through pre-existing well-known songs) and everybody is invited to join in. The day will run from about 11am to about 5pm (exact timings to be confirmed) at St Mary’s Kidlington, and there will be something for everybody. Do you sing? Do you dance? Do you make brilliant cups of tea? Can you use face paint? We will include a shared lunch. .
• Friday 25th September – Coffee Morning in aid of MacMillan Cancer Support
• Saturday 24th October – From Bach to Bollywood – remember that fabulous show we had before, well this will be even bigger and better!
• Sunday 8th November – Organ Recital by David Briggs to celebrate the 50th birthday of St Mary’s organ
• Saturday 14th November – Desert Island Discs, when the castaway will be Yo Davies, raising funds for the Live Nativity (with camels!)
• Saturday 21st November – Friends of St Mary’s present a feature on sporting achievements – Going for Gold

And then it will be Advent and Christmas to think about!

Thanks to everyone who has joined our “Loo Roll Survey” by taking a sample pack after the service on 26th July. Each pack contains 6 rolls, together with information on the samples and a feedback form.

We will be reporting back when the survey is completed by the end of September. Of, course, how you go about trying these out will be different for everyone, but one organised person is all set up ready:

For more background information on the ethical questions when considering loo roll do see below.

We are certainly back in action after the summer holidays. Besides our morning services in St Mary’s Kidlington and St John’s there are two special events (and you can make both of them):

3pm Pet Service in Hampton Poyle

5pm Performance of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in St Mary’s Kidlington, organised by Friends of St Mary’s