ALL SOULS SERVICE, 3rd NOVEMBER 2024
At our All Souls service of remembrance we brought a flower for each person we are remembering and made five instant flower arrangements. We also made a cross of lights. Suddenly the church was filled with beauty and the lights shone in the darkness. Love, grief, and hope were all intertwined, and we heard God’s promises to all who cry to him in sorrow- God will never leave us, and he will hold us in everlasting arms of love. It was a beautiful and moving time.
Don’t forget that we also hold our ‘Presence and Absence‘ service of remembrance for Christmas on Sunday December 8th at 5.30pm: An equally beautiful service around the Christmas tree.
ECO COFFEE MORNING, 24th AUGUST 2024
Following the eco team’s service in July, one of the suggestions was that we should have an Eco Cafe in church on Saturdays to discuss environmental topics and whatever else came along. At rather short notice we decided to inaugurate this on the 24th August , and so a poster was produced, the church booked and we met. Of course Saturday the 24th August was in fact a bank holiday weekend, the weather was very wet, and the publicity had not been all that it might be! So it was not surprising to find that there were just 5 people there.
You can find a full report of all the discussions here.
PARISH FETE, 6th JULY 2024
What a fantastic day. Because of rain we used Plan B, with most activities happening inside the church. That gave a great cosy feel to the occasion. Many thanks to those who did brave the outside stalls – programme sellers, barbecue, bar, tombola, books – both during the event and setting up beforehand. And hearty congratulations to Tilly and all her team for their efficient planning, and running of the event. We had many visitors, a great time was had by all, and we raised a significant contribution to parish funds. Felicity took the opportunity to issue yet another welcome to new curate Paul by joining those painting him.
ROGATION SUNDAY, 5th MAY 2024
The annual Rogation Day walk of blessing in Hampton Poyle was a real community event with adults, children, six dogs, a euphonium, a rector on horseback, and the amazing Hampton Poyle spread of cakes.
Everyone enjoyed the walk and we left a biodegradable cross at every prayer station.
Spider the horse held it together and enjoyed munching the garden willow tree (oops! Sorry)
JOSEPH DAY, 21ST APRIL 2024
Our ‘Joseph Sunday’ was an unqualified success: joyful, fun, challenging, and inclusive. What a wonderful day we had with 65 people aged 8-96 all involved. Thank you so much to about everyone for getting involved and being so ‘up for it’. We sang, played, made props and costumes, had makeup, moved furniture and put up staging, shared lunch and afternoon cake, and generally made friends. It was a wonderful day. It would be difficult to estimate the number of photos taken during the day but our gallery is just a selection. Please take time to look at the displays of many more photos when we get them up in St John’s and St Mary’s.
Thank you to everyone.
WINTER TEA TALKS – 2024
The first of our 2024 series of Tea Talks got off to a buzzing start at St John’s on Sunday 28th January, when Andy Pedley spoke on “The Magic of the Hive”. Andy has been keeping bees since 1991. He explained why bees are magical creatures, producing honey, but also vitally important for pollination on which so many of our crops depend. Andy demonstrated the life cycle of the honey bee, their role in the environment, the challenges that they face, and what we can do to help them and their relatives, solitary bees and bumble bees.
Our second talk was on Sunday 11th February at St John’s. David Meara, past Rector of St Bride’s, which is known as “The Journalist’s Church” will talk on “Street of Shame or Street of Adventure? St Bride’s Fleet Street and the World of the Media“.
The final talk was on Sunday 10th March at St John’s, with the title ‘Rolled, flat or folded? – The presentation and preservation of traditional Japanese paintings’. Philip Meredith, the Higashiyama Kaii Conservator of Japanese Paintings Emeritus, Museum of Fine Arts Boston USA, explained the specialized techniques used to present and display Japanese paintings, with a fascinating collection of papers, brushes and other tools for us to look at.
THANK YOU FELICITY
What a good excuse for a party – on Sunday 19th November 2023 members of the parish met together for lunch at St John’s, to say “thank you” to Felicity, who has now been our Rector for just 10 years.
PARISH FETE
Fun was had at the Parish Fete on Saturday 1st July 2023. Thank you to all who came and supported this event.
CHOIR AND CHORISTERS
On 24th-25th June 2023 the St Mary’s Choir and Choristers went on tour to Romsey in Hampshire. We sang two services in the beautiful Norman Abbey, including Choral Evensong on Saturday evening and Sung Eucharist on the Sunday morning, when we were joined by members of the Abbey Choir and Choristers, making almost 60 singers in total! As well as doing plenty of singing the choristers also enjoyed meeting ponies and building dens in the New Forest, playing football and rounders on the Abbey green, camping out in the church hall, and consuming enormous amounts of pizza, cake and apple crumble. A huge thank-you to all who made the trip possible, especially our parent volunteers. If you want to see us in action, the livestream of the Sunday morning service is available on the Abbey website here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4wr9xHSp3Q
COFFEE MORNING
Also on Saturday 24th June 2023 St Mary’s Hampton Poyle was the venue for a Coffee Morning, with Bring & Buy and cake sale. Many people from the village and neighbourhood called in and everyone enjoyed relaxing outside in the sunshine.