Cyclists from Swavesey raised a total of £537.10 in sponsorship for the Cambridgeshire Historic Churches Trust and St Andrew's Swavesey, reports Naomi Laredo. The principal contributors were Wyn Oakman, who raised £281.50, and Jonathan Kinns with £90.60.
Wyn in particular wishes to thank her sponsors for their contributions.
See the picture in the colour supplement.
The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols this year takes place on Sunday 28th December at 6.30pm in the evening.
28th December is the Festival of The Holy Innocents, another of the special days which fall within Christmas that so often we fail to observe.
The Holy Innocents remembers the children of Bethlehem who were murdered on the orders of King Herod the Great after he realised that he had been tricked by the Wise Men whom he had sent as spies to find out where the child had been born who would be 'The King of the Jews.'
Herod was worried because he had been appointed King of the Jews by the Roman authorities and was jealous of any usurper who might come to take his throne - even a new-born baby. He ruled ruthlessly in Judea for some 37 years before his death in 4 BC.
St Matthew tells how Jesus escaped the massacre of all the children aged two years and under in the neighbourhood of Bethlehem when an angel appeared to his father Joseph in a dream and warned him to take the Holy Family to safety in Egypt.
In mediaeval times, The Holy Innocents was sometimes known as 'Childermas' and in places where a 'boy bishop' was appointed each year on St Nicholas' Day (6th December) to rule over the pre-Christmas festivities, his term of office came to an end on The Holy Innocents.
Today we remember all child victims of cruelty around the world on the Festival of The Holy Innocents.
As a festival of martyrs, the liturgical colour for the day is red. We often sing the carol Unto us is born a Son, which in the third verse reads:
This did Herod sore affray
and grievously bewilder,
so he gave the word to slay
and slew the little childer,
and slew the little childer.
A compact disc is available with recordings of 12 pieces played by local organist George Speed at recitals given in Cambridge and Glasgow with music by Bach, Handel, Parry, Franck and others.
George, who lives in Bar Hill, plays the organ at All Saints', Lolworth, at Holy Communion on the first Sunday of each month.
The CD is priced £10 with all proceeds going to support Harvest Christian Centre, a Christian school in Kinoni, Uganda. A cassette is also available.
To order please contact George on 01954 789 998, e-mail: george-speed@hebrides.freeserve.co.uk or the Vicar. Cheques should be made payable to "Harvest Christian Centre".
A review of the recently published The Ringers' Recipe Book
The Choir sang a festival Te Deum by C V Stanford on Remembrance Sunday and on 7th December we marked the season of Advent at the 11.00 service with an American carol, All Creation shall be at Peace by a contemporary composer, J. Paul Williams and a Tudor anthem Rejoice in the Lord Always by John Redford.
The singers are busy with preparations for the two Carol Festivals - on 21st December at Conington at 6.30pm and on 28th December at Swavesey, also at 6.30pm.
We do hope that the congregation will join us in large numbers for the Christmas festival services.
K M Lofts
With the new arrangements for refuse disposal having recently come on stream, it would be helpful if people attending to graves could now take all their rubbish home with them for disposal.
Please remember that the recycling bins in the car park at St Andrew‘s, Swavesey, can only take the items they are advertised to accept. The car park is not able to accept any other refuse. The local authority does not collect rubbish from the car park and anything left there has to be dealt with by members of the congregation. So please take cardboard boxes, plastic bags and other items home for disposal in the the black and green bins etc in the normal way.
You are welcome to join the Friday morning Bible Study group which meets at 9.30am at 27 Over Road. Details of dates and themes are advertised on leaflets which are available from church or on the Vicarage website on the News Page.
Details of meetings of the Emmaus Group can also be found in the same webpage. The Emmaus Group, which meets on Wednesday evenings at 8.00pm, also at 27 Over Road, also welcomes new members. But do check to see which on dates we are meeting.
The Vicar is always happy to offer the sacrament of holy communion to the housebound at home. Please ring him on 01954 231903 to arrange dates and times. A regular monthly or bimonthly pattern of visits can also be established.
The Vicar is also always ready to talk with parishioners, whether regular churchgoers or not, about arranging weddings, baptisms, funerals, services of thanksgiving, etc.
There is no special Sunday for baptisms, though usually only one service each month in each parish will include a christening. Which Sunday this is tends to be booked on a first-come, first-served basis. So do get in touch with the Vicar early.
Before a baptism we have a Service of Thanksgiving for the Gift of a Child. This can take place during a Sunday Service or on another occasion but preferably as soon as possible after a baby‘s birth.
But, of course, it doesn't have to be that you're trying to arrange a church service of some sort; the Vicar is happy to talk on almost any matter, but especially about spiritual or related concerns.