JOSEPH DAY, 21ST APRIL 2024
Last week’s ‘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 and these few photos can only convey a tiny bit of it. 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. Or see a wealth of photos at https://photos.app.goo.gl/5u6mGUBWZ1oZZDSC9
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.
