Vicar’s Mailings

Sunday 5th December 2021

Dear Godmanchester Church Family,

Firstly, huge thanks to all who contributed in any way to the Christmas Bazaar. It is too early to have a final figure, but it looks to have been at least as successful, financially, as the last one in 2019. But of course it is about more than money – I think we all valued the chance to mingle and enjoy ourselves. Thank you to everyone.

In line with government and church advice, we would like to encourage the use of face masks in church. It is not a legal requirement, but it is recommended, as are other measures such as hand sanitising and keeping a suitable distance.

We will hold a Christingle preparation session in the church hall on Saturday 18th at 10.00 am. All are welcome – the more hands we have, the sooner it gets done. And then of course on Sunday 19th we have our combined Christingle service and Parish Communion – this should be very special. Do come!

With love,

David

Revd David Busk

Vicar of Godmanchester & Hilton

01480 436400 / 077 8636 1041

 

Dear Godmanchester Church Family,

Tomorrow is Advent Sunday, the first day of the church’s year. At 6.30 pm we have our service of Advent Carols. This is a beautiful candle-lit service, full of longing, expectation and hope. I warmly encourage you all to come and begin this holy season in a fitting way, and to stay for wine and mince pies in the hall afterwards. Contributions to cover the costs will be welcome on the night.

We have lost two dear members of the church, and others from our wider community, in the past few days: Mary Summers, Freda Pauley, June Sington, Bette George and Elizabeth Brown. May they rest in peace and rise in glory. June’s funeral is on Thursday December 2nd at 1.00 pm. Elizabeth’s memorial service is on Friday 3rd at 1.30 pm. Mary’s funeral, which will follow committal at the crematorium for family only, is on Wednesday 7th at 1.30 pm. Bette was a member of the Baptist church, but her funeral is in St Mary’s on Friday 10th at 12.30 pm. Freda’s is on Wednesday 22nd at 12.00 noon.

Next Saturday is the Christmas Bazaar at 2.00 pm, followed by the Godmanchester 2020 Vase Auction at 7.30 pm. Come to both!

With love,

David

Revd David Busk

Vicar of Godmanchester & Hilton

01480 436400 / 077 8636 1041

Revd David Busk

Vicar of Godmanchester & Hilton

01480 436400 / 077 8636 1041

 

Saturday 30th October 2021

Dear Godmanchester Church Family,

As you will know, we have the All Souls Service of Commemoration tomorrow at 6.30 pm. All are of course welcome – you don’t have to be remembering anyone specifically to find it meaningful and moving. You can add a name even at the last minute – I just pencil it in on the printed list I read from – though of course it is helpful to have the names sooner.

Dilys Roe and Kate Barkshire will be serving bacon and sausage butties after the 9.30 am service with coffee on Sunday November 7th in aid of service charities. Please come and eat and donate.

With love,

David

Revd David Busk

Vicar of Godmanchester & Hilton

01480 436400 / 077 8636 1041

Sunday 24th October 2021

 

Dear Godmanchester Church Family,

On Sunday 31st October we will hold our annual All Souls Service of Commemoration at 6.30 pm, in place of Evening Prayer. This is a very moving event at which we remember all the departed, and the names of many are read out. All those whose funerals have taken place through St Mary’s in the last three years are named, plus anyone else people ask to be remembered. There is a list at the back of church where you can add names, or you can contact me directly.

Tomorrow, Sunday 24th, we have Evensong, with choir, sung parts, hymns, and a sermon (if the latter is an incentive!) Please come.

We reviewed our Covid policy at last week’s PCC. Precautions remain voluntary and up to the individual, but we would like to remind everyone that the wearing of face masks is officially encouraged, and is done mainly to protect others. A supply is available by the door, with the hand gel, and with the numbers as they stand it should be possible to keep distanced if desired.

We hope to hold a full programme of Christmas services, but of course like everything else this will be subject to circumstances.

With love,

David

Revd David Busk

Vicar of Godmanchester & Hilton

01480 436400 / 077 8636 1041

 

Wednesday 20th October 2021

Dear Godmanchester Church Family,
 
As you may be aware, the Charities Committee is emerging from Covid hibernation, with two very successful events recently, the coffee morning at Jane Nicholl’s house which raised £280 for Thrive, the Christian initiative supporting young people in local secondary schools, and coffee and croissants after church which raised £75 for service charities. Huge thanks to all involved.
 
We would also like to raise funds for two overseas charities we regularly support, Mashambanzou Care Trust in Zimbabwe, and our link parish of Maaya in Uganda.
 
Mashambanzou Care Trust
 
MCT was established in 1990 to provide care and support for people affected by HIV/AIDS, particularly children.
Its care centre in Harare houses 30 patients, providing nutritional care and life-prolonging anti-retroviral drugs. MCT reaches out to the community on many fronts: it provides home-based care for the sick, counselling for patients and their families, and outreach for orphans.
The Trust runs a crèche in a high-density suburb which provides day care for 60 children, aged three to six years old, many of them orphans, and most of whom live in extreme poverty. By giving them a safe environment, lunch every day and some preparation for schooling, the children are provided with a ray of hope.
Robert and Anne Francis visited Mashambanzou some years ago, but more recently in 2017, their son Edward, who works for a UK youth charity with projects in many African countries, visited MCT and was very impressed by the work being carried out there.

Maaya School 
 
Rachel Harris and Ken Berkin, who run the Friends of North Kigezi Diocese, our link with Maaya,  discussed with their friends living in that area and they were reminded that the church- founded primary school is in great need of finishing building.
It provides education for some 168 village children including nursery in a school where some classrooms have no roof and others with no doors, windows or floors.
It’s a wonder it survives in this harsh climate but it is located on the edge of the Rift Valley where life is hard and challenging.
They will be needing building materials of sand, cement, bricks and iron sheets for the roof and wooden shutters and doors and solid floors.
Local labour will also require payment.
The government provides no help to build these schools or facilities so children have to sit in cold and sometimes wet classrooms until the building can be finished.
They love their schooling and we are keen to help them the best we can.
Ken and Rachel have visited the place and the children are a delight.
It’s good time to carry out work as the children are currently at home due to lockdown.
It seems a lot but the villagers are hard working and you can see from the pictures what they have already achieved.
Whatever you can manage will be greatly appreciated, like the water tank you gave them (see bottom picture below).
 
 
If you would like to make a donation, in cash or a cheque made out to St Mary the Virgin Godmanchester PCC, please give it to Robert Francis either at 20 Post Street, or in church over the next couple of weeks, or to Colin Thirlwall at 19 London Road. Special envelopes will be available in church. All money received will be split equally between the two charities.
 
With thanks and love
 
David
 
Revd David Busk
Vicar of Godmanchester & Hilton
01480 436400 / 077 8636 1041
 

Sunday 17th October 2021

Dear Godmanchester Church Family,

A rather late-in-the-day reminder of the Messiah concert tonight in church at 7.30 pm – tickets are available on the door. Flier attached, as is this week’s newsletter. Please remember that all are welcome to the AGM of the Friends of St Mary’s at 2.30 pm tomorrow in church, followed by very good refreshments! Please come and learn more about what the Friends are doing to support and develop the church building.

Total donated to date for Gift Day.  

 

TOTAL DONATED 2021

1,816.00

GIFT AID

    

454.00

  

TOTAL

    

2,270.00

  

 

Total 2020

    

5,811.25

  

It’s not too late to donate!

With love,

David

Revd David Busk

Vicar of Godmanchester & Hilton

01480 436400 / 077 8636 1041

 

12th October 2021

Dear Godmanchester Church Family,

The Friends of St Mary’s have asked me to circulate this invitation and the £15 ticket application form with further details of an exciting event to be held in the Church to raise money for the Transformation Fund on Saturday 30th October at 7.30pm.

GODMANCHESTER AT WAR

THE INCREDIBLE STORY OF THE PEOPLE OF GODMANCHESTER WHO SERVED THEIR COUNTRY AT HOME AND ABROAD

AN ILLUSTRATED LECTURE AND BOOK LAUNCH FROM ROGER LEIVERS

AUTHOR OF GODMANCHESTER AT WAR

Further details are in the ticket application form.

With love,

David

Revd David Busk

Vicar of Godmanchester & Hilton

01480 436400 / 077 8636 1041

 

Sunday October 10th

Dear Godmanchester Church Family,

A quick reminder of the Civic Service tomorrow at 11.00 am. Please come and thank God for the life of this town – it is a special and rather splendid occasion, and is for us all (with very good refreshments afterwards in the Queen Elizabeth School, courtesy of the Town Council, for all who attend the service!)

Please see the attached newsletter for details of a coffee morning on Wednesday 13th at Jane Nicholls’ house, 14 Corpus Christi Lane,  between 10.30am and 12.00pm.  We are raising money for Thrive a Christian youth project working with young people locally.

With love,

David

Revd David Busk

Vicar of Godmanchester & Hilton

01480 436400 / 077 8636 1041

4th September 2021

Dear All

Please note we have Holy Communion at 8.00 am tomorrow Sunday 5th September, kindly taken by Christopher Leffler, and Evening Prayer (a spoken service without music) at 6.30 pm; and that next Sunday, 12th, there is no 9.30am Eucharist – we have Worship in the Park at 10.00 am. Please come and sing and pray with our fellow Christians in the open air – just over the Chinese Bridge, by the children’s play area.

With love, David Revd David Busk Vicar of Godmanchester & Hilton

01480 436400 / 077 8636 1041

29th August 2021

Dear Godmanchester Church Family,

A reminder that we now have a weekly Communion service on Zoom every Wednesday at 2.30 pm: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82459088697

Next Sunday, September 4th, we will once again offer prayer for healing during the 9.30 am Sung Eucharist. The only difference from pre-Covid times is that there will be no physical contact between those praying and those being prayed for – those praying will extend a hand as a sign of God’s healing touch, but will not place their hand on the shoulder of those coming forward for prayer, as used to happen. For those who don’t know what this is, anyone is welcome to come forward to ask for prayer at the time communion is being distributed, before, after, or instead of receiving communion. You can ask for prayer for yourself or for anyone else, or any other concern in the world. If you mention a subject for prayer, those praying will pray out loud – although quietly – for what has been requested, but if you prefer to remain silent, then they will offer silent prayer – the Lord knows what is in our hearts. In either case, the time of prayer will end with a short word of blessing. Please come forward if you would like to do so; equally, if you don’t feel this is for you, please feel entirely comfortable in not doing so.

One or two people have mentioned to me the matter of standing and sitting during services. I hope that everyone feels free to do what suits them – it is traditional to stand at certain points, such as for hymns, for the Gospel and the Creed, and during the Prayer of Consecration over the bread and wine, but this is merely a convention, there to be followed if you find it helpful as an act of devotion, and to be ignored if you don’t. I think none of us finds it easy to stand out and do something different from what most people around us are doing, but I would like to encourage an atmosphere in church in which we simply don’t mind – I mean this very seriously – what the person next to us is up to by way of standing, sitting, kneeling, raising hands in the air, etc, and we feel equally free to do as we feel led by the Spirit. 

With love,

David

Revd David Busk

Vicar of Godmanchester & Hilton

01480 436400 / 077 8636 1041

 

PARISH FINANCE

As our church has been closed we are clearly not getting any plate collections, fees or donations in the wall box or votive candle holder.  Although our outgoings have reduced we still have to pay our standing orders of around £8,000 per month including our parish share of £6,647.  We have reserves that will keep us going in the short term so there is no immediate panic.  Although many of our congregation donate by bank transfer (BACS), Standing Orders or the Parish Giving Scheme, for which we are extremely grateful, I know that some people are concerned that they are not able to support the work of the church under the current restrictions.  May I offer the following suggestions:

Free-Will Envelopes – please keep your (filled) envelopes until things return to normal as I am trying to avoid handling cash and hence visits to the post office to pay it in.

Bank transfers – if you wish to donate by BACS transfer, even temporarily,  please let me know and I will email the church bank details to you.  You can then a give one-off donation without any long-term commitment.  Please include your name as the reference.

Cheques – you can send cheques payable St Mary the Virgin Godmanchester PCC  to 49 London Rd, Godmanchester, PE29 2HZ as I have a applied to our bank for postal deposit envelopes.  Please let me know if the donation is for anything specific.

Parish Giving Scheme – this is the preferred method for regular donations as we get a single monthly payment for all of the income followed by a single payment of Gift Aid.  However,  the Parish Giving staff are currently operating from home so they cannot process any new applications.

If you already have a Parish Giving pack with an addressed envelope please note the new address below and wait until things return to normal before sending in the form.

Parish Giving Scheme (PGS) Team will be operating from a new location.