Where does the time go? It seems a while since we circulated our last newsletter on the way to celebrating the start of Easter. We have since celebrated Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Eve and then the great day of Easter when we celebrated the Risen Lord.
Since then we have of course celebrated Ascension Day, followed by Pentecost, and here are now in the season of Trinity.
In amongst that we also celebrated His Majesty the King, Charles III’s Coronation and we hope that you all enjoyed both the prayer book beforehand and the “Crowned King” book the day after the event. We think that the prosecco after the service on the Sunday, with cake and Alison’s crown biscuits went down very well.
So what’s been happening:
In the last newsletter, we reported that we had made great leaps forward with the reordering of the church. We are currently out to tender for the majority of the works, and depending on the tender cost, this will dictate if we are able to complete all the works in one phase, which we certainly hope that we are able to. We are of course currently working on grant applications, and once the tenders are returned, we will be in a position to submit those grant applications.
A competitive tender has been accepted to lay in the new drains and water supply to the new Servery and WC position. This will be the first job as soon as we have a start date from the appointed contractor.
Following the granting of a Faculty for the works to the North Aisle Crenellations,
St Martins Church Conservation Trust applied for a grant, but they are still awaiting the outcome. Hopefully it will not be too much longer and that they will have been successful.
When Mark was installed as minister in charge of St Martins, by Bishop Nicholas, part of his swearing of the Oath in his licencing, he was charged with looking at the liturgy that St Martins was using, as it did not conform to the C of E rules.
Following consultation with the PCC Rev Mark produced two draft service books, one in Contemporary Language and one in Traditional Language. Both of these have been trialled over several weeks, and taking parishioners comments into consideration, the PCC voted on the two and with some text change, the majority was in favour to use the traditional language service.
Rev Mark will work on producing a new draft taking into account the suggestions from the congregation and the PCC. This will then go before the PCC to be agreed before going to print – we can assure you that it will be less complicated and much easier to follow.
They say the sun shines on the righteous. What an occasion we had on June 10th when we were blessed with glorious sunshine for our summer Parish / Conservation Trust Luncheon, which was held at Shacklewell Hollow Scout Site.
There were nearly 50 people who enjoyed a three-course luncheon and drinks; mostly parishioners but with a few new faces who the congregation don’t normally get to talk to. It was lovely for people to meet and chat in a relaxed setting, especially for people to meet new friends and we are already being asked when is the next one!
St Martins also took part in the Churches Together in Stamford Schools Festival on Wednesday, with two groups of year 4 pupils coming to St Martins Church to learn about stained glass with Julie and then do craft activities to make stained glass lanterns and stained glass crosses to hang on their windows at home. The more ambitious of the pupils also managed a stained glass quiz kindly supplied by Alison and some brass/heating plate rubbing as well. This is the first time the Church Wardens have been involved in this and we hope to be asked again next year. Julie is already thinking of new things to keep the pupils entertained!
A message from Rev Mark:
Mark and Alison At Home
Since I was licenced to St Martin’s in December, it has been mine and Alison’s intention to welcome members of the congregation to our home to get to know everyone a bit better.
Somehow, it has never seemed the right time, but we have decided to take the plunge and invite everyone in July when we are a bit more free, when there is more chance that the weather will be fine and we can use our outside space ( I cannot call it a garden !) as well as inside.
There is a list of dates/times on the table at the rear of the church and we ask you to sign up to a specific occasion, please, so that we know who is coming when - our home is not a parsonage and does not have the space for everyone at once! We are outside the parish on the north side of the town centre, so some of you may need to arrange transport: in case of difficulty, I can fetch people in my car if you let me know.
I look forward to seeing you all then
Mark
The Rev Canon Mark Warrick
With very best wishes.
Alan & Julie
Church wardens
m.scott603@btinternet.com 07860 658748 / 01780 762405
Safeguarding Officer
Ms Jo Keogh
07918 983146
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