November Services at Ansley Churches
| 6th November
3rd before Advent |
St John’s | 10.30 a.m. | Morning Worship |
| 13th November
Remembrance |
St Laurence’s | 10.30 a.m. | Special Service |
| 20th November
Christ the King |
St John’s | 10.30 a.m. | Morning Worship |
| 27th November
Advent 1 |
St Laurence’s | 10.30 a.m. | Morning Worship
Tree Dedication |
From the Registers
On 14th September the ashes of David Roberts were interred in the churchyard.
The funeral of Tracy Naughton aged 55 from the parish was held in church on Tuesday 18th October. A Scottish piper escorted the coffin into church and then to the grave side – which reflected her Scottish roots. A large congregation attended this funeral. The service was followed by burial in the churchyard. We extend our condolences to Tracy’s family and her many friends.
Remembrance Service on Sunday 13th November
This will follow our traditional pattern. Wreaths will be taken to the altar for a blessing during a short service. After observing the two minutes silence, the congregation will go in procession to the War Memorial, where the wreaths will be laid.
Ride and Stride 10th September 2022
Diana Kealey would like to thank everyone who gave her donations for Warwickshire Historic Churches Trust. Cash donations came to £148 and a further £316 was donated via her Just Giving page. The charity will receive a further £71.50 from the Just Giving donations as Gift Aid. Some cash donations were also gift aided which will also benefit the charity. In due course 50% of amount raised will be returned to St Laurence’s Church..
Samaritan’s Purse – Operation Christmas Child
Please remember that any shoeboxes filled with gifts should be brought to church by 14th November so that they can be delivered to the local collection point.
Christmas Raffle NOT the Cake Raffle!
The PCC felt at the time of planning this raffle that it may be more difficult to sell tickets this year. Because of this there will be four good prizes. Tickets will be in books of five strips at a cost of £1 a strip or £5 a book. Help with selling tickets will be much appreciated. Please collect them from church or ask a church member to bring some to you. The raffle will be drawn in the Annexe after the morning service on Sunday 27th November.
Christmas Tree Festival 2022
It will be good that for our 17th Christmas Tree Festival we will be able to have the full 60 trees in the church together with the larger Remembrance Tree.
The festival commences on Saturday 3rd December and will be open each weekend up to Christmas. The opening times are Saturdays 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. and Sundays 12 noon – 5 p.m. The church can also be opened by arrangement for groups during the week.
During the event there will be hot drinks and mince pies available in the annexe.
Admission will continue to be £2.00 per person and accompanied children under 12 will be free. The proceeds will be in aid of Church funds, with a donation being given to the Mary Ann Evans Hospice.
This Festival is enjoyed by all ages, starting with the “Wow” factor when entering the church with all the lights on. We are sure that our tree decorators will come up with equally imaginative titles and varied displays as in past years.
Jess & Richard Arrowsmith, with Jo Maher, will be returning again this year as part of their Christmas tour on Saturday 17th at 7.30 p.m. They will be performing a concert of traditional English songs and music with many Christmas carols. This lively concert is really well received each year.
There will be the traditional trees that we have each year e.g. the Poppy Tree and The Remembrance Tree, where visitors can put the names of loved ones on a star and make a donation toward churchyard grass cutting. In the vestry there will be the Prayer Tree and the opportunity to light a candle.
Other than the trees, there will again be a selection of Christmas and winter displays in windows and suspended from arches and ceilings. As in previous years, there will be a crib on the altar to remind all of us that the gift to mankind of the baby Jesus is the true meaning of Christmas.
St John’s Hall Events in November
You will be very welcome at the Bingo session which will be held on Monday 14th November, starting at 7.00 p.m.
St John’s Christmas Fayre will be on Saturday 26th November from 2.00 to 4.00p.m. There will be stalls, games and a chance to catch up over a cuppa and cake.
From the PCC
Theft
We have to let you know that unfortunately some unwelcome people came to the service at St Laurence on 9th October. They had visited Mancetter church earlier that day. They made away with £102 -£105 from our collection plates. Much of this was for the Salvation Army as part of our harvest giving. We thank God that no one was hurt and that more was not taken. We also thank everyone who helped and supported us, it is greatly appreciated.
Some people were able to give useful snippets of information which have been passed to the police.
It is such a shame that many of the congregation towards the back of the building felt uncomfortable in church that day and felt they had to leave as soon as possible. Hindsight discloses that our practices were faulty and we will learn from this.
The PCC will discuss what is to be done in the future at their next meeting.
Thank you to everyone who let the treasurer know what they had given so an accurate loss is known. While not a sum we would want to lose, the outcome could have been worse.
Postscript: At our October PCC meeting it was agreed that the church would make up the amount of £75 that had been taken from the plate for the Salvation Army. That would take the total from St John’s and both the St Laurence services to £280. It was also agreed that a jar would be put out at the next St Laurence Service as this had been requested. To our surprise not long after the meeting finished an email was received from Nursery Hill School, as follows,
“One of our Y3 children came to school last week to tell us that the collection was stolen and asked if we could have a non-uniform day for our parish church.”
The PCC would like to say a very big ‘THANK YOU’ to the children and the school for this very generous gesture. We are extremely grateful.
A Lay Reader who has helped us had said after the theft that God would bless us. He certainly has and we thank Him.
Church Halls
We are all very aware of the increase in energy costs. The Church, like everyone else, will have to address these increased costs. Having considered the future effect of these increases, the PCC have decided that it will be necessary to increase the hire charges for the halls as from 1st November. A budget was drawn up once the new energy costs were known (using the 2019 units for energy because of the Covid impact). This reveals that we need £6,000 to maintain each hall. That is £125 per week. The new rates are £10 per hour plus a surcharge of £5 per usage for community activities and £15 per hour plus the £5 surcharge for commercial and private hire. Because there are still many uncertainties, we will consider the figures again in February to ensure these new rates are being fair to all. Now that the Parish Council have applied for the Village Church Hall to be a Community Asset we are sure everyone will want to be reassured that the hall can be kept in good order.
Prayer Requests
If you would like someone or a particular situation to be remembered in prayer, please make contact by email or phone one of the following.
Margaret Antill 018 2787 4520
Moreen Freestone 02476381833
Margaret Oliver 014 5582 2822
Diana Kealey 02476395089