January Services at Ansley Churches
| 4th January
Epiphany |
St John’s
|
10.45 a.m. | Holy Communion |
| 11th January
Epiphany 1 |
St Laurence | 10.30 a.m. | Morning Worship
Annexe |
| 18th January
Epiphany 2 |
St John’s | 10.30 a.m. | Morning Worship |
| 25th January
Epiphany 3 |
St Laurence | 10.30 a.m. | Memorial Service
Church |
From the Registers
Interment of ashes
The remains of Mrs Pamela Foster were interred in a family grave on Monday 24th November.
We remember her family and friends in our prayers.
Annual Memorial Service
This service will be held on Sunday 25th January at 10.30 a.m. in St Laurence Church. It is an opportunity to come together to remember those loved ones who are now deceased and to give thanks for their lives. Names are read out during the service as an act of remembrance. The bereavement may have been over the past year or some time ago. Please make sure that your loved one’s name is on the list before the service begins. You don’t have to be present yourself but if you can come you will be very welcome.
Sponsor a Cut
Winter has begun and Christmas wreaths have appeared in the churchyard, mostly replacing floral tributes. The PCC ensures that the churchyard grass is mown regularly during the growing season. Each cut costs around £? . Please consider sponsoring all or part of a mowing session, as you feel able. If you wish, a loved one’s name could be displayed on the churchyard notice board during a month you choose. Any sum would be very much appreciated. You can give by Q code, by BACs, by cheque or by cash to our Treasurer, Margaret Antill.
Confirmation Report
It had been a good number of years since a Confirmation Service had been held at St Laurence Church, so we were delighted to hear that one had been arranged for Sunday 23rd November at 2.00 p.m.
People came from several local parishes to support 11 candidates as they committed to following Jesus and were confirmed by the Right Reverend Sophie Jelley, Bishop of Coventry, into the faith of Christ – making them full members of The Church of England. During the service Bishop Sophie referred to what had brought the individual candidates to this special day. Below are extracts from St Laurence’s confirmation candidates.
“I chose to get confirmed as I feel it is more of a commitment to God….I’ve never felt so at home ….loved and supported than I have at St Laurence. The flower festival brought me back into the church and I am happy to be part of this one.” Linda Cooper
“It was a real joy to take part in the recent confirmation service. We have both spent most of our Christian lives in non-conformist churches (Janet –mostly Baptist, with a smattering of Presbyterian, Andy –Methodist and Baptist.) As we had both been baptised by total immersion in our 20s, taking part in the confirmation was an opportunity for us both to publicly re-affirm our faith in God and our relationship with Jesus our Saviour.
Having been prompted by God to move churches almost two years ago and to serve Him in our local community (Ansley), we started attending St Laurence and St John’s and wished to continue our spiritual journey by confirming our faith in this way. We are excited about the future for our local area and await God’s prompting for this next chapter! Janet and Andy Down
Visiting Ringers Report
A group from Coventry Diocesan Guild of Bellringers posted this on Bell Board, the website for ringers.
Ansley St Laurence Church End, Monday 1st December 2025 in 2 hours 54 minutes.
(8-1- 4 G#) – the weight of the tenor bell and its key.
5040 Treble Dodging Minor (7) – the number of methods rung.
1 extent each Annable’s London Surprise, Netherseale Surprise, Taxzal Delight, Humber Delight, Old Oxford Delight, Neasden Delight and York Surprise.
The ringers were:
1.Christopher Pickford 2. Nicola J. Turner 3. Anthony J. Rowan
- Colin M. Turner 5. Michael Angrave 6. Michael Chester. (Captain)
An acrostic peal rung as a 70th birthday compliment for 6th December to Tony Rowan. (See title letter of each method rung.)
This is the 4,000th peal rung for the Coventry Diocesan Guild.
Christmas Tree Festival 2025
The first weekend of the festival took place just before this magazine was sent to the printer. Thank you to the many people who prepared the church, paid for trees, potted them up and moved them into church, decorated them, cleaned the buildings and helped to achieve the amazing spectacle that is this year’s festival. Thank you too to the volunteers providing refreshments, staffing the Annexe, stewarding in church, organising the raffle and selling tickets.
The Saturday was very wet, with a small number of visitors through the day. Numbers increased markedly on the Sunday, in spite of continued rain and blustery wind. The comments were extremely positive with several visitors declaring it the best display yet! A full report will be in next month’s magazine.
Prayer Meeting
The next meeting will be Tuesday 27th January at 2.00 p.m. in St John’s.
Ansley Village Church Hall
The church architect has visited the hall and has identified the reason for most of its problems. Rainwater is not getting away from the building. Professional advice is now being sought as to how best to proceed. Once the building is dry, other issues will be addressed.
The hall is being well used and is well able to meet its running costs. Its reserves however are very low as over £2,000 has been spent this year on the much improved access to parking space in the new parking area at the rear of the hall and other improvements. Once costs are better known, we will be better able to decide how to obtain the funds for this necessary work.
St John’s Hall
It is a pleasure to report two improvements at the hall. A welcoming image has been placed in the round window above the main door, depicting a rainbow, a dove with an olive branch and the words Faith, Love, Hope and Peace. St John’s used remaining funds from the Bingo sessions to pay for this.
A new window frame has been inserted above the kitchen sink as the previous one had extensive rot. This was funded by a Borough Councillor’s Grant.
Churchyard
The tulip tree on the corner near the Annexe was commented on by our arboreal adviser this year.
“The tulip tree is planted in an ‘uneasy’ location close to yew, annexe and structures. It needs regular pruning to keep it in harmony with its cramped location and to stop branches hitting the building.
Tulip trees can grow huge if unchecked.”(Jim Unwin, Arboreal adviser.)
The PCC applied for a faculty to remove the tree. The diocesan ecological adviser reported,
“Uncomfortably, I have to agree with the petitioners and the consultant. The tree is in an ‘uncomfortable and uneasy’ location from no fault of its own! This is a classic ‘wrong tree in exactly the wrong location, again as the petitioners say. So with heavy heart I have no objections as even with substantial regular management the roots would still impact on the nearby structures (not the path as this is minor cracking and can be resolved) of the building and wall.”
The faculty has been approved and the tree will be felled sometime in January. The PCC intend to choose, with the help of expert advice, a more suitable specimen to be placed in a different part of the churchyard.
St. Laurence’s Church on YouTube – November 2025
Have you a computer? Do you have access to YouTube?
If the answer to these questions is yes, you may be interested to view the following videos. with connections to St. Laurence’s church –
Christmas Tree Festivals
2011 Christmas Tree Festival –
https://youtu.be/eVT-MzpnZi0?si=vIW9FhDC_zGq0xIf
St Laurence’s Church, Christmas Tree Festival 2012 – https://youtu.be/AJIn6m_j6_A?si=WX0XHNnp8VQv21m0
St Laurence’s Church, Christmas Tree Festival 2014 -https://youtu.be/AJIn6m_j6_A?si=JmBhfBaOBgNUF8w-
St Laurence’s Church, Christmas Tree Festival 2021 –
https://youtu.be/C1_1hoQObRs?si=S-yeEIYeItaDF-1q
St Laurence’s Church, Christmas Tree Festival 2022 – https://youtu.be/RGp7AL6wd0g?si=o0F0LPBx5aByYpsn
St Laurence’s Church, Christmas Tree Festival 2023 –
https://youtu.be/-S8eQO_RK1k?si=4oUKUWdVTnVJloZD
St Laurence’s Church, Christmas Tree Festival 2024 – To follow shortly
May you enjoy a happy and healthy 2026
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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 contacts on the front cover.