The theme for Family Matins on 14 February was the Parable of the Good Samaritan. Twelve of our young congregation members took part in the bible readings and the telling of the story. They did it beautifully. One young member also played the piano and Anthony Hodson played the final hymn. Many thanks to everyone.

Revd Patrick led the Family Praise service on Sunday 31 January. It began with the swearing in of the Church Warden, a service usually held for all Church Wardens in the Deanery at a local church. This year this was not possible, because of Lockdown rules so all Church Wardens were sworn in at their own local church. The service continued with the story of 'The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple'. One of the young members of the congregation gave us two excellently played performances on the guitar, and there were three readings by the children of the congregation.

Morning Prayer followed at 11am, and was a very special occasion because a wonderful detailed description of artifacts in St Mary's church was presented during the service.

This was the culmination of the work of The Church Recorders, who had finished their project of cataloguing and describing these objects in mid 2020, and then turned their work into a beautiful illustrated book of their findings, full of photographs and details of the history of each item. It is a truly wonderful record of our church.

Jonathan Holl then delighted us all with a performance of 'Nun Komm der Heiden Heiland' by Buxtehude (JS Bach's tutor at one time), followed by Bach's ingenious 'Wie schon leuchet der Morgenstern' ('How brightly shines the morning star!'). This familiar hymn tune is introduced at different speeds, sometimes all at the same time, and Jonathan played the interweaving musical lines with clarity.

As a final treat, the Hand Bell Ringers played their own beautiful anthem before the final hymn. It was a most enjoyable service.

The music list can be found HERE.

In spite of the snow families turned out for the 9:30am Crafty church yesterday - it was all about New Beginnings. The story of Christ’s baptism was told and the activity was to make a promise, write a prayer and complete the word search. The children were engrossed for some time. Two of the children gave the Bible readings and the service ended with the playing of the Bell Plates by one family. The 11am Morning Prayer service followed, and instead of a sermon Jonathan Holl gave a most enjoyable mini organ recital. The music list can be found HERE.

The children, once again, took part in The Family Matins service at St Mary’s yesterday, the First Sunday after Epiphany. Epiphany is sometimes called 'The Three Kings Day' and so we began the service with once verse of “We Three Kings of Orient are! played on the organ by Anthony. Nine young members of the congregation told the story of 'The flight into Egypt' beautifully and another youngster gave two excellent piano performances. Anthony ended the service with one more verse of 'We Three Kings'

In this popular service, the children are encouraged to participate in craft activities that help them remember a particular bible truth or story. Usually there are between 6 – 8 activities. Obviously at this time we cannot continue that arrangement so we are trying a new format 'Activity in the Pew'. All youngsters will collect a bag as they enter the church containing all they need for the activity. The service will begin and when it is time for the activity the instructions will be shown on the screen.