This has been a busy week for St Mary our Lady. On Thursday the 28th of November, Father Stephen, with 3 of the Congregation attended a special service at Westminster Abbey in thanksgiving for the Churches Conservation Trust on its 60th anniversary. Our beautiful Church had been nominated as a favourite church on the Trust's website, so we were invited to attend the service. The Abbey was filled with about 1000 people who support their work. The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester represented the Queen, the Archbishop of Canterbury gave the address and the work of the Trust was presented in the form of three interviews with representatives of churches who had received grants from the Trust. These were conducted by Huw Edwards of the BBC news.

Our Representatives outside the Abbey

Sunday the 1st of December, Advent Sunday was our Family Service. We  also celebrated  Christingle at the Service,
The Service opened with the lighting of the first Candle on the Advent wreath, followed by the Choir singing the Advent Responsary set by Palestrina. The Sunday School told us about the work of the Children's Society and then the Christingles were lit and distributed during the singing of the Christingle Hymn.
We welcomed three new young Choir Members, Lucy, Hazel and Seth, who are the first of the new Junior division of the choir. They will be joining the Senior Choir for the Family Services and for special events, they will be an important part of the Nine Lessons and Carols on the 22nd of December.

Distribution of the Christingles.

This afternoon we continued our Advent Celebrations with our Advent Wreath making activities in the Church Hall. 16 Wreaths were prepared and placed on the table for Father Stephen to bless before we had a splendid tea provided by Anne and Marilyn . It was a lovely relaxing afternoon and the resulting wreaths were all beautiful. Many thanks to Anwyl Allistone for organising this event once again. In addition we raised £138 for the New Annex project.

working on the wreaths

The first Candles are lit

Father Stephen blesses the wreaths

The finished wreaths