The Emmaus Group meeting on Wednesday evenings plays an established part in the pattern of Christian nurture in the churches of the benefice. A new version of the Emmaus foundation course, exploring the basics of Christian faith and designed for those aged between 11 and 16, has recently been produced.
This Youth Emmaus course is now offered at St Andrew's, Swavesey, on the first Sunday of each month during Sunday School term at the same time as the 11.00am Parish Communion service. Full details from Caroline Stevens on 01954 231433.
The Archdeacon of Ely, the Venerable Jeffrey J S Watson, is retiring this summer.
Jeff came to the Diocese in 1993 and has worked as the Archdeacon of the southern area. His most recent appearance in the benefice was with the Cambridge Chord Company (a prize-winning barbershop choir) in a concert at Swavesey Village College last year.
To mark his retirement and to give thanks for his ministry in the Dioceses and the contribution of Rosemary his wife, a service was being held in Great St Mary's Church, Cambridge, on 27th June 2004.
On Saturday 5th June the Swavesey Bell Ringers entered the annual Ely District (of the Ely Diocesan Association of Church Bell Ringers) Striking Competition held at All Saints' Church, Cottenham. I am pleased to let you know that we managed to retain both the trophies we won last year!
The results in the Call Change (novice) section were:
The ringers in the Swavesey band were:
The results in the Method section were:
The ringers in the Swavesey band were:
The rules allow you to "borrow" one ringer if you meet short; we borrowed Ruth. All the others are regular Sunday service ringers at St Andrew's, Swavesey. Faults are accrued when the judges hear bells clashing.
Caroline Stevens
The final total realised from the annual opening of the Children's Society boxes and from people who give yearly by cheque is £362.73. I am very pleased to report that this is £50.00 more than last year - a 16% increase - an excellent result. My thanks to everyone who contributed.
Together with the amount raised at the Christingle Service and a donation, the total for this year is £458.23, only marginally higher than last year, actually £4.00 higher, because the collection at Christingle was lower than usual.
As I wrote in my last article, the projects supported by the Society at this point in time are, amongst others, developing and implementing anti-bullying strategies in schools, helping young runaways and using its experience to influence the government for improvements to make life better for all children - really worthwhile projects.
On behalf of the Society, I would like to thank everyone for this year's efforts; may we do even better next year.
Dorothy Gilbert
It would greatly assist the task of those who help to keep our churchyards tidy if parishioners could take note of new arrangements for churchyard refuse which have become necessary since the introduction of the wheeled bins last year.
At St Andrew's, Swavesey, parishioners are invite to use the two wheeled bins provided, but please to be very careful that only compostible waste is placed in the green bin. Any wreaths or floral arrangements including wire, oasis or plastic trays can only go in the black bin. Also, please note that plastic bags cannot go in the green bin.
At St Mary's, Fen Drayton, parishioners are asked to ensure that they take all churchyard refuse home with them for disposal.
Further to the report in The Fisherman for Summer 2003, the Chancellor of the Diocese has further amended his regulations regarding memorials in churchyards. For instance, trees and even small shrubs may not now be planted on any grave without express written permission. Please remember to consult the Vicar before making any alteration to any grave space or memorial.
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.
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.
Enormous thanks go to everyone who helped with or contributed to this year's Christian Aid Week collection in May.
The total raised in the benefice was £2002.59, of which £1146.97 came from Swavesey, £523.78 from Fen Drayton, £219.08 from Conington and £112.76 from Lolworth.
This is in addition to donations made to the special appeal earlier this year towards the work of Christian Aid in northern Uganda. Sadly the need goes on - western Sudan now bringing forth the latest catalogue of needless tragedy.
The Revd Dr David H Williams of Aberystwyth has written an account of the history of Devotions to The Five Wounds of Jesus (Gracewing 2004). He was inspired to do so after reading the Sermon on the Five Wounds given in Swavesey Church by the Revd Henry Isaac Sharpe in 1878 and which the present Vicar preached again on Good Friday last year.
The book also includes a memoir of Miss Madaline M Stapylton who was a daughter of a former Rector of Lolworth and for many years a friend of Lolworth Church.