It won't be the first time that the sermon to be preached at the Good Friday services in the benefice has been heard, at least in Swavesey. 'The Wounds of Jesus' was first delivered 125 years and one day before by the Revd Henry Isaac Sharpe, the then Vicar of Swavesey, on the Wednesday of Holy Week in 1878.
The present Vicar was given the manuscript of the sermon last summer after it had been passed down through the family of Canon Sharpe's son-in-law, Fr Robert Myles Stapylton, who was Rector of Lolworth from 1895 to 1909.
Mr Sharpe's sermon is still remarkably fresh today and is well worth revisiting even if slightly lengthier than our present fare. It will be preached almost without editorial amendment!
This year the concert, entitled 'From Horns to Hosepipes', is being given by The Three Counties Horn Quartet. The programme includes their own arrangements of Mozart's Magic Flute overture, Brahms' Hungarian Dance and Elton John's music from the Lion King. The quartet will also perform a musical trip around Europe, taking in famous 'hosepipe' melodies en route.
The date is Friday 6th June; the time is 7.30pm and tickets price £8 (£4 concessions) are available from Le Shopi (Swavesey Newsagents) in Market Street, Swavesey, (01954 231914) or the Cambridge Arts Box Office (01223 503333).
Thank you to everyone who contributed to St Mary's Gift Day and Churchyard Working Party at the end of March. For the first time, every corner of the churchyard was reached with mower, strimmer or scythe. Much cleaning and polishing was also accomplished inside the church. Thank you to all concerned.
A sad discovery was the extent of deterioration in the south porch (vestry) roof. This will now need to be rebuilt as a matter of urgency in much the same way as the north porch was attended to a couple of years ago. Plans to make a start on the general re-pointing of the south side of the church will have to be delayed while this is attended to.
A number of candidates from the parishes of the benefice are to be confirmed by the Bishop of Huntingdon at a confirmation service at St Peter's, Papworth Everard, on Sunday 27th April at 6.30pm. Because of this, Evensong at St Mary's, Conington, will be at 3.30pm on that day and not at the usual summer time of 6.30pm.
A note for your diary: This year's Cambridgeshire Historic Churches Trust Sponsored Cycle Ride will take place on Saturday 13th September between 10.00am and 6.00pm.
Last year the ride raised £32,259 across the county. Half goes back to the churches sponsored by the cyclists and walkers; the rest is loaned by the Trust to churches to enable them to get on with urgent repairs and restorations while fund-raising is still in progress.
Since the beginnings of the Trust in 1984, one million pounds has been granted in 201 loans to 132 churches (including All Saints', Lolworth) in this way. A special service is to be held at St Mary's and All Saints', Willingham, on Sunday 15th June at 3.30pm to mark this achievement. Lady Pamela Wedgwood, one of the founders of the Trust, will speak and the singing will be led by the Peterborough Chamber Choir.
Sunday 6th April 2003 saw two extra items in the usual service of Holy Communion at All Saints' Church in Lolworth.
First, the painting, 'The Raising of Lazarus' which has recently been conserved and restored was re-dedicated in a new oak frame which has been made by Eric Wakefield who lives in Lolworth and is a member of the Parochial Church Council. Eric has also constructed a new sink and storage unit for the tower/vestry in All Saints' Church and this was also dedicated at the same time 'to the glory of God and for the benefit of his Church.'
'The Raising of Lazarus', which originally came to Lolworth after being rescued from a battle-damaged church during the Great War, has been restored by conservatrix Sally Woodcock under a grant from the Council for the Care of Churches.
The Christingle Service on Sunday 1st Dcember at St Andrew's, Swavesey, was a great success. £116.59 was raised, which is £11.00 more than last year. Again, the children of St Andrew's Sunday School worked hard to raise this amount.
Later another £24.00 was added to that with a cheque from Gill Henderson of Conington, money she had raised from selling cards. This made a final total of £140.59. So, many thanks to Gill, to the Sunday School children and to all the people who attended the service.
As in every year, we rely on people to assemble the Christingles, so thanks to Jackie Few who organised this, helped by Wyn Oakman and Caroline Stevens, to Peter Marriott who provided the oranges and to St Andrew's music group for their playing.
Dorothy Gilbert
The following Sunday, there was a further Christingle service at St Mary's, Fen Drayton. This was followed by a children's party. Many thanks to all who organised and helped with these events and helped to raise the further £50.00 that was sent to the Children's Society.
Carol singing around the villages in December raised £81.56 at Lolworth for Meldreth Manor School, over £200 at Conington for the Cambridgeshire Cancer Research Fund and £91.33 at Fen Drayton for St Mary's Church. Thank you to all singers, musicians and providers of refreshments for a very successful (and even harmonious) week of carol singing.
The Vicar is always happy to offer the sacrament of holy communion to the housebound at home, particularly at Easter. Please ring him on 01954 231903 to arrange dates and times. A regular monthly or bimonthly pattern of visits can also be established.
Alternatively you may like to join the regular monthly communion service in the Community Room at Thistle Green, Swavesey. This usually takes place on the first Monday of a month, but please check the Diary pages (pp. 2-3) for details of planned dates.
The Vicar is also always ready to talk with parishioners, whether regular churchgoers or not, about arranging weddings, baptisms, funerals, services of thanksgiving, etc.
And, of course, it doesn't have to be that you're trying to arrange a church service of some sort; he is happy to talk on almost any matter, but especially about spiritual or related concerns.