Harvest Gifts 2002

This year we are collecting Harvest Gifts on behalf of the Birmingham charity CARE (Christian Aid to Romania and Elsewhere) based at Knowle Parish Church in Solihull. The group will shortly be taking a shipment of goods to Romania for use in an orphanage and a new home for teenagers who have to leave the orphanage and have nowhere else to go to.

The list of gifts which would be useful and appreciated includes:

Further details of the work of CARE can be found on www.care-online.org.uk.

De Merc Chamber Choir Concert

St Andrew's, Swavesey : Saturday 9th November

Those of you who have been to any of the 'Sounds of Summer' concerts held in St Andrew's over the last few years will know what a good venue it is for musical events. It has a particularly good acoustic. For some time we have wanted to expand this use of the building and we have been very fortunate in being able to arrange a concert by the de Merc Chamber Choir on Saturday 9th November at 7.00pm.

The choir, which is based in Harlow, was formed 26 years ago and specialises in singing unaccompanied secular music. They like to take their music to small and unusual venues such as rural churches but have also given concerts in more august settings such as Lincoln Cathedral.

The main items on the programme are listed below. This year marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of Charles Villiers Stanford and the centenary of Duruflé's birth, so inclusion of works by them is particularly appropriate.

Duruflé4 motets
Stanford8 part-songs Op. 119 (includes 'The Blue Bird' but the remainder of the set are little-known, so this is a rare chance to hear the full work)
StanfordPeace, come away
HamiltonDidn't it Rain? (first UK concert performance of this work by a New Zealand composer)
SwingleL'amour de Moi (beautiful Swingle Singers arrangement)
Blue Moon / I Got Rhythm / Over the Rainbow(superb standards, all in arrangements for unaccompanied choir)
Tickets (£5, £3 concessions) are available from the newsagent in Market Street, Swavesey.
Refreshments will be available in the interval.

Come along and discover what a good concert hall you have in your own neighbourhood!

Christingle Services

This year there will be two Christingle Services in the benefice, both of which will, as usual, be held in aid of the Children's Society.

The Christingle Service at St Andrew's, Swavesey, will be held in church on 1st December, at 3.30pm, accompanied as usual by the St Andrew's Music Group. There will be no Choral Evensong at 6.30pm.

The following Sunday there will be a Christingle Service at St Mary‘s, Fen Drayton, also at 3.30pm.

This service is to be followed by a party for the children of the village. Details nearer the time.

Christian Aid Week

Final figures are now available for the sums raised locally during Christian Aid Week last May. In Swavesey the total raised was £1,005.76; in Fen Drayton, £472.04; in Conington, £206.94, and in Lolworth £115.42.

Thank you to all the many people who collect and to those who have contributed to this annual appeal.

St Andrew's Summer Fête

Many thanks to all who supported the Swavesey St Andrew's Summer Fête on 13th July. The total realised was £1,417.

The retiring collection in August for the Southern Africa Famine Appeal enabled us to send £65 to Christian Aid towards this appeal.

The Quiz Night, finally held in the refurbished Memorial Hall on 20th September, raised £224. Thank you to all concerned.

Keith Lofts

St Andrew's Choir

St Andrew‘s Choir had a busy spring and summer with well attended practices throughout the period from January to July. Anthems were sung during worship in Lent, on Easter Day, on Ascension Day and on Whitsunday (Pentecost). Thirteen members went to the Choirs‘ Festival in the Cathedral at Ely and we have sung at four weddings.

Our activities were overshadowed by the death of Annette Little in July. Holding Annette in our prayers, we sang Compline on Friday 5th July and Sunday 14th July and again on the eve of her funeral which took place on 24th July, again with a full choir. We shall all miss Annette and the contribution she made to our singing.

Harvest Festivals are now approaching and we shall commemorate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Charles Villiers Stanford this year by singing perhaps his best loved setting of the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis (in C) at the Festival Evensong on 6th October. Anthems are also planned for the morning service and for the Harvest Festival at St Mary‘s, Conington, the following Sunday at 6.30pm.

Keith Lofts

Commemoration of the Faithful Departed

It is our custom to commemorate the faithful departed on the Sunday nearest to the Feast of All Souls (2nd November). The names of all whose funerals have taken place in the benefice since last year will automatically be included, but other names for remembrance may be given to the Vicar.

Relatives and friends of the recently departed are warmly invited to join in the commemoration, which will take place this year during Choral Evensong on Sunday 3rd November in St Andrew‘s, Swavesey, at 6.30pm.

Concert at St Andrew‘s

A concert is to be given by the Cambridge String Players on Saturday 22nd February 2003, beginning at 7.30pm. The programme is planned to include Introduction and Allegro by Edward Elgar, Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis by R. Vaughan Williams and Les Illuminiations by Benjamin Britten.

back to Fisherman index