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ONE OF MY HEROES, Didymus the Blind, used to tell his students, ‘The end and the beginning are one’ – every
ending brings with it a new start, for by the grace of God our journey into him never stops, just changes
roads. So as I draw near to an ending and a new beginning, I have begun looking back over the past four years
and wondering how I have changed, where God has led me and where he will lead me next.
One of the great privileges of priestly ministry is sharing in other people’s stories. We tend not to be
too good at it – maybe it is something to do with our catholic roots or our English reserve – and most of the
time in churches like ours we don’t share our stories. It is much easier to get on with planning a fete or
organising a rota, doing something ‘practical’. But there are moments, particularly on our own with priests,
where we can talk honestly about our life, our journey, where we have come from, where we are going and, above
all, where God is in all this.
It has been my great joy and honour to share in some of those moments with you, with people who would
describe themselves as of great faith and of none. Sometimes it can be hard to see where God may be in any of
it, particularly times of tragedy and loss. Stories of God working with mighty power in spectacular ways are
few and far between (though they are there, even here in Prestbury!). And yet God is always there
somewhere in the story, often unrecognised. For as Christians we never bring God to other people, for he is
already there. Our calling is just to point him out, to say who that mysterious stranger they have known for
so long really is.
But therein also lies a great sadness. Because we share our stories so rarely, often trusting only a
priest, whose confidentiality is assured, we miss out on something that would build us all up. My faith has
deepened so much through hearing your stories – if only you could hear each other’s!
Hearing those stories shows us that faith is not neat and tidy. God moves in mysterious ways and is never
confined by our churches, our prayers or expectations. It reminds me of the story of Eldad and Medad in
Numbers 11. Moses needs help – he is at his wits’ end, tearing his hair out over his people’s whinging. So God
offers him elders to share the burden of leadership. They have to be carefully selected, consecrated and lined
up in a set place, at a set time for God’s Spirit to fall on them. All is precisely regimented and controlled,
just like so many of our expectations of church and faith. But Eldad and Medad are missing, they don’t turn
up. They are stuck in the middle of the camp, in the wrong place, at the wrong time. And God’s Spirit falls on
them anyway! Our God does not need us or our lives to be all neat and tidy to work his will.
God works in the most unexpected places, but only by sharing our stories will we ever know that! Thank you
all of you who have shared your stories with me.
 Fr Grant
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So you think All Saints’ interior is ornate? Go and look at Holy Innocents’ church in Highnam, just the
other side of Gloucester. Almost everything that can be painted is: walls, pillars, beams, ceilings, even the
stone tracery in the windows. And in every colour imaginable. The mural covering the whole length of the north
wall features a decorative dado topped with contrasting border, painted curtains and rails above, and at the
top a long frieze depicting all sorts of people following Jesus on Palm Sunday. Above the chancel arch are
angels galore, and bible texts are painted all over the place. You need never worry about unfamiliar readings
or boring sermons: just absorb what is on the walls!
Thomas Gambier Parry (father of Sir Hubert, who wrote Jerusalem and was first Director of the Royal
Academy of Music) bought Highnam Court estate in 1837 aged 21. In 1848, widowed with three young children (his
other children having died in infancy), he set about building a church, parsonage and school for the newly
created parish of Highnam with Over and Linton. The wall paintings in the church are not only his own design
but also his own work, using a medium he invented called Spirit Fresco. There is no point printing anything
here in black and white, but you can see colour photographs on the website www.4front.cwc.net. Other examples
of Gambier Parry’s work can be seen in Gloucester and Ely cathedrals.
He also, by the way, built and endowed St Lucy’s Hospital for Children in Gloucester and helped found the
Gloucester College of Art and Science.
 Frances Murton
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MALCOLM MCKELVEY, organist and choirmaster at St Mary’s 1989-2003, was director of Music at Christ’s
Hospital in Horsham, West Sussex, for twenty-three years from 1962 to 1985. Christ’s Hospital had been a City
of London school until it moved south in 1902. However, it maintained its links with London and annually on St
Matthew’s Day the school visited St Sepulchre’s Church on Holborn Viaduct where Malcolm would conduct the
service followed by lunch at the Mansion House.
St Sepulchre’s Church is the oldest parish church in London, and was designed by Wren. Henry Wood was
baptized there, learned to play the organ there, became assistant organist at the age of fourteen and after he
died in 1944 his ashes were interred in a side chapel which has since been named the Musicians’ Chapel. During
the annual Promenade Concerts at the Royal Albert Hall a wreath is placed on the bust of Sir Henry Wood (who
founded the concerts and conducted them from 1895 to 1944) and after the ‘Last Night of the Proms’ the wreath
is taken to the Musicians’ Chapel where it is placed on the spot where his ashes are buried. The chapel
contains the Henry Wood Memorial Window depicting him as a boy organist and as a man conducting at the Royal
Albert Hall.
Also in the Musicians’ Chapel is the Book of Remembrance, now containing over two thousand names of notable
musicians. This year, at the annual Commemoration service on 24th April, Malcolm McKelvey was remembered and
had his name added to the list.
So after his many visits to St Sepulchre’s as Director of Music at Christ’s Hospital, Malcolm has been
honoured for his contribution to the musical world as teacher, organist, examiner, conductor and composer.
More information about St Sepulchre’s and the Musicians’ Chapel can be found at
www.st-sepulchre.org.uk
 Christine McKelvey
‘Music for Malcolm’
A series of five concerts in memory of Malcolm McKelvey and to raise money for work on St Mary’s organ. The
first concert is on Wednesday 20th June at 11am (coffee from 10.30am) in St Mary’s church and will
feature musicians from Dean Close School. Admission is free, but there will be a retiring collection for the
organ fund.
On Friday 20th July in St Mary’s church Charles Hazlewood will be recording a programme in his
‘Discovering Music’ series. There is no charge but tickets are required. Please contact the Parish Office
if you would like to come and we will order the tickets from the BBC. The concert, which will feature
arrangements of four waltzes by Johann Strauss the younger, starts at 6pm, but please be in your seats by
5.45. All are welcome, and there will be a retiring collection for St Mary’s organ fund.
The other concerts, all in St Mary’s, are as follows:
Saturday 22nd September 7.30pm (Christine McKelvey)
Saturday 13th October 7.30pm (The St Cecilia Singers)
Wednesday 7th November 11am (Peter Greaves).
Christine McKelvey
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We are hoping (if they can rearrange their holidays!) to say ‘thank you and farewell’ to Fr Grant, Chris,
Bethany and Sarah at a Team-wide social occasion at lunchtime on Sunday 22nd July. Please pencil this date
into your diaries and look out for further details.
Interviews for Team Vicar designate
As many of you are aware, we held interviews for the post of Team Vicar designate in the new North
Cheltenham Team Ministry on 17th May. Three candidates were invited for interview; however one withdrew after
being offered another post. Sadly the interview panel did not feel able to offer the job to either of the two
candidates who were interviewed. This means that we will need to reflect a little and then re-advertise.
Unfortunately it now looks unlikely that anyone will be in post by September which, after Fr Grant leaves,
will mean we only have one full-time priest! Please be aware that, for a while, some things will have to be
‘scaled down’, or maybe suspended. However, we are ‘Local Ministry Parishes’ where so much ministry is already
shared with lay members, a rich resource to call upon!
 Fr Michael
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Three years ago Youth Development Worker, Andy Macauly, started to work one day a week on a special project
called Pittville Youth Action Group, sharing in the running of an alternative curriculum for a small group of
young people from Pittville School. Without this project, these students, aged 14 to 16 and from Years 10 and
11, are at serious risk of leaving school with no educational qualifications and poor prospects of employment,
training or further education.
The project has been such a success that the PPY Executive Committee want to extend PPY’s involvement with
the work to provide support for twice as many young people. To do this, they are advertising for a new Youth
Inclusion Worker specifically to work two days a week with Pittville Youth Action Group.
The group is based at Whaddon Youth and Community Centre but frequently works away from the centre on
community projects. They have worked in St Mary’s Graveyard, in Prestbury Junior School and at Prestbury Hall.
Visits are also made to other venues, e.g. outdoor activities, banks and colleges. They use ICT to record
their achievements on different practical challenges and work to gain ASDAN bronze and silver awards which are
rated as comparable to GCSEs.
For more information about the new Youth Inclusion Worker post, contact Tricia Wilson on
tricia.wilson ppy.org.uk. For
information on Pittville Youth Action Group contact Andy Macauly.
 Tricia Wilson
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Did you notice a photo of any unusual animals in the May magazine? The more observant may have spotted a
couple of paper giraffes in the Editor’s Corner.
For a Saturday morning at the end of March some fifteen of those involved in a variety of ways with making
Celebrate! happen ‘went away’ to Andoversford. Our purpose was to reflect on Celebrate! and
prayerfully and actively to consider whether and how it could move forward and be improved.
 Initially we were arranged
into three teams and instructed to construct the tallest giraffe we possibly could. The reason for this
exercise was to develop our skills of co-operation and team unity to warm us all up into the spirit of the
day. We had only newspaper and tape. Each team worked well together and set to with a will. Three giraffes
were created. One small(ish), one medium sized and one huge. Sadly the ambitiously tall one collapsed during
judging. The photo is evidence of the survivors. Great fun and a good team building exercise. I’ll let you
into a secret – Fr Michael was in the winning team, but then we already knew our church is in good hands.
After this we considered both more mundane matters and also had a chance of blue sky thinking. Our time
ended with enjoying a bring and share lunch together.
And in case you are wondering, yes, a few things at Celebrate! have been changed as a result. Why
not come along with some friends of any age who don’t normally ‘do church’ and experience what God is doing in
St Mary’s at 9.30am on Sundays?
 Sue Read
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At its May meeting, the Education and Nurture Group reviewed recent activities and considered the future
programme. The success of Team-Wide Sunday afternoon events has encouraged us to plan further events following
a similar pattern and it is also likely that new initiatives will be explored, to meet the changing needs of
the wider Mission Area. This Group would welcome a couple more members from the Prestbury parish. Please see
Father Michael if you would like to be involved.
 Jennifer
Swinbank
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Once again we have come to the end of the tax year and the claim has been sent to the Inland Revenue for
the final refund. My usual letter of thanks can be found in the Church for all members of the St Mary’s Gift
Aid Scheme. They will be left in Church to be collected for the rest of this month. It will be assumed that
those not collected by then are not required. Unfortunately those members who are regularly contributing using
Gift Aid Envelopes are not in the Scheme but if they wish to know their total for the year, or for that matter
would like to join the scheme, they should contact me.
There are one or two points about Gift Aid Envelopes worth mentioning.
1. The person completing the envelope should be the tax payer and each donor should complete a separate
envelope.
2. Please use the envelopes provided in church as they have been approved by the Inland Revenue.
3. Gift Aid envelopes from other organizations are no use to us and will be ignored.
4. When completing the envelope the most important thing is to clearly give your name and postal code.
5. Those members in the St Mary’s Gift Aid Scheme are those that have completed an on-going Gift Aid
Declaration. If they complete a G.A. envelope also, this sum will be added to their annual total.
All the support given by everyone who supports our Church is so important and much appreciated.
Martin Kannreuther
I was absolutely amazed and very honoured by the number of people that came to the EverestMAX talk
in March at St Nicolas’. There was a good mix of people from church, family friends and locals from the
Plough. The retiring collection and DVD sales raised nearly £400, which has been divided equally between the
three EverestMAX charities: SOS Children’s Villages, Merlin and Practical Action. On behalf of the
EverestMAX team and charities, thank you. I hope all those who came enjoyed the talk.
I would just like to take this opportunity to reiterate what I said to those who came to the evening: my
family and I have received such a lot of support from you all pre-, during, and post- expedition and for that
I am enormously grateful. In many respects I think it’s harder to be the ones left at home worrying, rather
than off dealing with the situations that get thrown your way. For all the kindness and support you have shown
to my family and me I can only say thank you.
 Sarah Lyle
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It is hard to believe that the Open the Book team has been going into St Mary’s Infant School for two years
at the end of this term. They say that time flies when you are enjoying yourself and how quickly this time has
gone!
Recently I have been reading a book called Transforming Communities – re-imaging the Church for the 21st
Century by Steven Croft. In this book he tells the story of a church that finds it has one minister for four
churches. The minister makes himself ill trying to do everything so he calls a group together to think about
what it means to be church. He asked the group to listen to what the church used to be like: ‘Day by day as
they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and
generous hearts, praising God and having the good will of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to
their number those who were saved.
Belonging to the Open the Book team is a little bit like Steven Croft suggests the church could be like. As
a group we spend time together, which means we know each other fairly well. Together we pray and share God’s
message through our work with the school. We are able to support each other and once a term we attend a
training and then meet to plan, share coffee and some fantastic homemade cakes (thanks Avril).
The team is made up of ten people; some are parents with children at the school, some have no connection
with school, some are young and some are older and some in between! Just like the early church we know we need
to start to share God’s message in other places but to do that we need to add to our number, to support the
after school puppet group, Junior School assemblies and to be able to offer Open the Book to other local
schools.
If you feel that you would like to find out more or come and join us once a term, once a month, once a
fortnight whatever you can give and share in God’s love through this work, please speak to one of the team.
Marion Beagley, Avril Keen, Sheila Beer and Mary Turner (St Mary’s), Linda Jackson and Caroline Sexton (St
Nicolas), Julie Jefferies, Karen Maisey and Julie Clapton (Prestbury URC), and Ian Packer (Holy Trinity).
 Julie Jefferies
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THE VILLAGE of Taizé stands on a small hill in the lovely Burgundian countryside of southern France. Atop
the hill is a small church, but there is little to show that, in summer, several thousand people are staying.
Most are young and are accommodated in a large field of tents. The community and adult visitors are housed in
small buildings; marquees are used for meals and meetings. The one large building is the chapel – more like a
huge tent than a church.
People come to spend a week at Taizé from all over the world. They belong to different Churches or none.
They share the talks, discussion in groups and above all the worship. Taizé prayers with their music are often
found to be a source of inspiration.
It is a remarkable experience to be caught up in all this but never easy to share with others of different
languages and cultures. I was at Taizé not long after the end of the Communist regimes in Eastern Europe. The
discussion group I was in had people from five language groups including a woman from Lithuania, who
understood English well. There was not too much trouble understanding each other until the second session of
the group. Then four more Lithuanian ladies turned up who did not know any English. They needed to be with
their friend who would translate for them! All of them had so much to share about their lives as Christians
under a hostile Communist regime and their joy at being among Christians at Taizé. All this had to be
translated and our questions and responses translated back again. What a labour! But it was part of the
costliness of sharing with others of different races and Churches.
That sharing was part of the vision of Br Roger, founder of the Taizé Community. It arose from his
experience as a young man in wartime helping Jews and others to escape from the Nazis. After the war he formed
a small community to work for reconciliation. He was a Swiss protestant but his work soon attracted Roman
Catholics and members of other Churches including Anglicans. His vision was to break down barriers not only
between Churches but also across the boundaries of nationality. As more and more people were attracted to
Taizé Br Roger would talk or write about the ‘Springtime of the Church’. People are drawn to Christ by a
pervading sense of Joy and Hope.
The work of Taizé has always reached out far beyond the Burgundian countryside. Members of the Community
have gone into many of the great cities of Europe and beyond to work among the needy. They have held Festivals
bringing together many people especially the young. Breaking down barriers, reconciliation, and outreach have
been at the heart of Taizé concern and work.
It is tragic that on 15 August 2005 Br Roger, at the age of 90, was killed during Evening prayers. It is
difficult to imagine what was on the mind of the woman concerned. She was probably a deeply troubled soul. But
the work goes on and the message is clear. It is summed up in the chant:
Laudate omnes gentes
Laudate Dominum
Sing praises to the Lord all peoples
Sing praises to the Lord
A group is going to Taizé from Gloucestershire on 21 July. It will include young people (ages 16 to 30).
Please contact me on 220787 for more information.
 John Gann
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Sunday 13 May it was the turn of Prestbury URC to host the annual ecumenical service for Christian Aid Week.
We were joined by about 80 of our friends from the other Churches in CTiNC: St Mary’s, St Nicolas’, All
Saints’, St Michael’s, Holy Name Hall, St Mary Magdalene’s, St Lawrence’s and St Peter’s. The music for this
thought-provoking service was provided by the St Gregory’s Music Group, who accompanied all the worship and
led the inspiring singing. Tony Wadley, their leader, had even composed a Kyrie for the occasion.
This year’s theme was ‘Growing a Future’ and during the service we watched a moving video about the work of
Christian Aid and its partner organisations – Aprodehni and Procares – in El Salvador, one of the poorest
countries in South America, which has suffered from natural disaster and a recent civil war. We were also
invited to fill out a card to be sent to the Prime Minister to protest about global warming. The collection
raised a sum of £224 for Christian Aid.
The next CTiNC event will be a Taizé workshop and service at St Nicolas’ in October – please do come along
if you haven’t been to a joint service before – they really do recharge your spiritual batteries!
 Fiona Hall, URC
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I HAD NO IDEA what to expect when I first made contact with a girl I was at school
with back in 1955. At that time, aged eleven, she quite confidently announced that on leaving school, she
wished to become a nun. How could she possibly make that decision at such a young age we all asked and I
suspect we were not too sympathetic about her choice of career?
However, many years later, when preparing for our first trip to Walsingham, Julia
Ingram kindly lent me a book that would explain about Walsingham. To my astonishment it was written by a
Sister Elizabeth Ruth Obbard, who was the Novice Mother at Langham, the Carmelite convent close to Walsingham.
Surely, this name couldn’t be a mere coincidence? On arrival at Walsingham I made enquiries only to find that
Sister Elizabeth had recently moved from Langham to The Friars at Aylesford. Further enquiries led me to make
contact with her at Aylesford and at the end of April I had the pleasure, with another school friend, to
travel to Kent to stay with her for the week-end. She was indeed our school friend of old and what a joy and a
privilege it was to renew old friendships.
What a treat and delight was also in store for us both. No sack cloth and ashes or
bread and water to be found on this retreat. The Friars are a group of eleven Carmelite brothers, eight of
whom are ordained, who live in a small community in the same spirit as their medieval forebears. Sister
Elizabeth is the only Carmelite contemplative nun in their community whose life is devoted to prayer and
service to God. Much of the brothers’ work is done outside the complex, in prisons, schools, hospitals and
even on local radio. They go out and work among people, spreading the gospel in whatever way is appropriate to
the time and place. They are supported by a team of workers from the outside community who work in
administration, the tearoom, the bookshop, the pottery and in the general running of the conference centre. On
average, over 200,000 people visit The Friars every year for differing purposes, be it conferences, retreats,
fellowship, services, or simply to worship God in this idyllic place of peace and quiet.
The building and surrounds are breathtaking and parts of the Great Courtyard date
back to the thirteenth century. There are several chapels, all beautifully decorated with many ceramics
created for the Priory by a distinguished Polish artist by the name of Adam Kossowski. He had spent years in a
Soviet labour camp during World War II and his ceramics were his way of thanking God for bringing him safely
through those years of ordeal. Services happen all through the day starting with Morning Prayer, then Mass,
Evening Prayer and Compline, all of which anyone (of whatever denomination) is welcome to join. We were able
to worship at eight services during our week-end, many of which appeared to be less Catholic than some
services at St Mary’s!
The grounds and chapels enabled us plenty of quiet reflective times as well as the
opportunity to think about God’s love for us and our many blessings.
Of course, it was fortunate that Sister Elizabeth wasn’t in a silent order as we
did have well over forty years of chat to catch up on as well. So our meal times, at which the food came in
abundance, were spent in talk and getting to know her all over again. What a wonderful life of devotion and
service to God she has had and how fortunate I feel to have been part of that wonderful community at The
Friars, albeit briefly, during that week-end.
If you are ever in need of a quiet time of reflection and re-dedication to God, do
visit The Friars, where I know you will be warmly welcomed and you will return home, as I did, with a
wonderful feeling of refreshment and renewal, which sadly often eludes us in our very busy life-styles.
 Marion
Beagley
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Due to the clash with the Skip ’n’
Chips we had to call on some outside help for the five-a-side tournament at Bentham on 19th May, giving a
team of four regulars and four extras. Eight teams, including a new team for next year’s league, each played
seven ten-minute matches in the fast-paced round robin format.
We comfortably beat Diamonds 2-0 in our first match, but then lost 2-1 to Trinity
and an unlucky disallowed goal denied us a victory against St Matt’s with the final score 3-3 in that game.
Tewkesbury Tigers held on for a tense 1-1 draw but then we lost 2-0 to Gloucester. This was followed by a
creditable 2-2 draw against last season’s league champions, Cambray, and we finally lost 4-0 to
Ecclesiastical, who won the tournament and will be tough opponents when they join the league next season. We
finished sixth with six points.
Thank you to Tim and Ruth who came to support us and to all who played, especially
Paul Bennett who, after crashing into the barrier, taped his injured fingers together and manfully played on
to the end of the tournament. All in all it was a good performance and a fun morning; hopefully the enthusiasm
and confidence will carry on into next season.
 Andrew
Murton
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“As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me,” declares
the LORD, “so will your name and descendants endure. From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to
another, all mankind will come and bow down before me,” says the LORD. “And they will go out and look
upon the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; their worm will not die, nor will their fire be
quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind.” Isaiah 66:22-24 (NIV)
In his revelation St John the Divine sheds further light on Isaiah’s vision of verse 22 and sees ‘a new
heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away’ (Revelation 21:1). The
listener is clearly told that God dwells with men and lives with them and wipes every tear from their eyes, no
more death, nor mourning, nor crying nor pain. Our God is not a vicious tyrant who enjoys punishing his
wayward children. Rather he is a righteous God who will never impose himself on his creation. However, the
eternal connection is only made between Creator and created once it has been chosen and a decision has been
made to ally oneself with God through Christ.
For Christians there is no place for any hint of self-righteousness here but rather a spur to act on our
Lord’s entreaty and to take His words of the Great Commission seriously. Jesus says (Matthew 28:19-20) ‘All
authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising
them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I
have commanded you.’ We know from what He says about the Holy Spirit that we are not left alone in the task.
Between the beginning and the end of the book of Isaiah is a wealth of treasures contained in his vision.
We could do worse than to heed the words in chapter 55 verse 6: ‘Seek the LORD while he may be found, call on
him while he is near.’
Other threads weaving through these verses from the end of Isaiah are taken up in the New Testament. Take
time to consider what kind of life we ought to live – in view of the end of life as we know it coming
unexpectedly and incontrovertibly – ‘But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will
disappear with a roar … you ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward …’ (2 Peter 3:10-13) and
Jesus’ teaching about the implications of ‘if anyone causes one child who believes in me to sin it would be
better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied round his neck ...’ (Mark 9:42-48).
This is the end of Isaiah’s message from God to His rebellious people. Isaiah did not shirk from what he
was told to write. The Israelites are clearly informed that obedience to God leads to one conclusion,
disobedience to a different one. Doom and gloom is not inevitable; but it is the result of one of the choices
Mankind has available. In the words of the author and lecturer Philip Greenslade about this passage ‘God’s
people receive a future and a hope in connection with the renewal of the heavens and the earth. The
alternative is too awful to contemplate.’
Sue Read
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Christian Aid Week May 13th-19th
Thank you to all those who helped in any way during Christian Aid Week: donors, organisers, collectors,
counters of money, those who organised the ecumenical service on 13th May, and to all of you for your prayers.
St Mary’s raised £4399.47, St Nicolas’ £1211 and the collection at the ecumenical service raised £224. This
makes a wonderful parish total of £5834.47 to date!
Gill Ashman for St Mary’s
Paddy Spurgeon for St Nicolas’
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PLANT SALE
Last month’s plant sale at St Nicolas’ raised £296 for the church funds. This excellent
result was due to all the generous gardeners who gave us plants and the helpers who sold so persuasively to
the willing customers. Many thanks to everyone.
 Janet White
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Corpus Christi
On Thursday 7th June we celebrate the Feast of Corpus Christi, when we give thanks for the
gift of Our Lord’s body and blood in the Eucharist. This year we will keep this Feast in a Team-wide Sung
Eucharist in All Saints’ at 7.30pm. Do join us – refreshments usually follow!
Traidcraft at St Mary’s
Sadly, the Traidcraft stall has been discontinued at St Mary’s but I would like to thank all
the people who have supported it over the last few months. If anybody would like to see a catalogue or place
an order then they can still contact me and I would be happy to drop a catalogue round or take an order.
There is still a Traidcraft stall at St Nicolas’ on the second Sunday of each month.
 Janet Waters
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St Mary’s Bakestall
This month’s bakestall at St Mary’s is on Sunday 17th June with contributions from those
with surnames A-F. Do contact one of us if you would like to join the rota.
Margaret Waker & Linda Matthews
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Mothers’ Union
A few of us were just able to keep the Wave of Prayer going on our allotted day in April the
Upper Room. Thank you to those who were able to join us at that very inconvenient time on a Sunday morning.
Our April meeting saw Canon Pat Harris speak about some of her work during her presidency of
The World Wide Mothers’ Union. What an inspiration she was in telling of her adventures from all around the
world and the types of projects that the Mothers’ Union are running overseas. We all were left feeling very
inadequate about our own role within the MU, when hearing of women who sometimes have to walk for three days
to attend meetings, some of which are held despite threats to the members from local and government sources.
Would we be as willing to put our lives on the line for God? The bottom line to all her accounts was: ‘Isn’t
prayer a wonderful thing…’ and we felt very privileged to have Pat with us.
Our June meeting will take place on Tuesday 26th June at 7.30pm in the Upper Room at
St Mary’s when we will welcome Mr Ken Brightwell, the Town Crier for Cheltenham. All will be welcome to join
us on this occasion.
Marion Beagley
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Prestbury Open Gardens
Saturday, 16th & Sunday, 17th June 2 to 5 p.m.
With Cream Teas available in St Mary’s Church, 3 to 5 p.m.
All proceeds to Church funds
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Glastonbury Pilgrimage 2007
The next pilgrimage at Glastonbury Abbey is on Saturday 16th June, at which the intention
will be for those without water and for the work and partnership with ‘Water Aid’. The principal celebrant at
the Eucharist will be the Bishop of Plymouth and the preacher will be the well known Anglican catholic
evangelist Lindsay Urwin, Bishop of Horsham.
Jen Swinbank
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Midsummer Fair
– Date for your Diary!
St Nicolas’ Saturday, 30th June 2 to 4 pm:
- Teas and refreshments
- BBQ
- Stalls
- Tombola
- Games
- Raffle
All proceeds to Church funds
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