April Services at Ansley Churches
| 2nd April
Palm Sunday |
St John’s | 10.30 a.m. | Morning Worship |
| 6th April
Maundy Thursday |
St John’s | 7.00 p.m. | Holy Communion |
| 9th April
Easter Day A.M. |
St Laurence’s | 10.30 a.m. | Holy Communion |
| 9th April
Easter Day P.M. |
St Laurence’s | 6.30 p.m. | Holy Communion |
| 16th April
Easter 2 |
St John’s | 10.30 a.m. | Morning Worship |
| 23rd April
Easter 3 |
St Laurence’s | 10.30 a.m. | Morning Worship |
| 30th April
Easter 4 |
St John’s | 10.30 a.m. | Songs of Praise |
From the Registers
Funeral
The funeral of Raymond Coxon, 93, took place in church on Tuesday 7th March. Ray was born in Nottingham. After a short time in the mine he joined the army and saw action in Korea. He was happily married to Honoria for 43 years but had no children. Ray could put his hand to anything, especially in the building trade. He moved to Ansley just a few months after Margaret’s first husband died. After a short while they married and enjoyed manytimes together, especially holidays. They spent nearly 15 years together. He loved his dogs and garden, especially roses. He was a wonderful stepfather to Margaret’s three sons and their families. He will be sadly missed. We extend our condolences to all his family.
Interment of Ashes
The ashes of Kenneth Horton were interred with those of his wife on Wednesday 22nd March.
Easter Services
Palm Sunday: This service will be at St John’s. Palm crosses will be blessed and distributed.
Maundy Thursday: Holy Communion and Supper at St John’s at 7.00 p.m.
Good Friday: St Laurence Church will be open from 11.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. for reflection and private prayer.
Holy Saturday: The church will be decorated for Easter Day from 9.00 a.m. Flowers and help will be much appreciated.
Easter Day: Holy Communion at St Laurence at 10.30 a.m.
Holy Communion at St Laurence at 6.30 p.m.
Prayer Meeting
The next meeting will be at St John’s at 2.00 p. m. on Tuesday 25th April.
St John’s Hall Bingo
An Easter Bingo Session will be held at St John’s Hall on Monday 3rd April starting at 7.00 p.m. Do come along to enjoy the competition and chat.
Salvation Army Clothes Bank
It is very easy to drive or walk past the clothes bank at the top of the car park without really noticing it. As well as being a ‘green’ way to dispose of unwanted textiles, shoes or bags, the churchyard fund also gets a proportion of the profit made from sales. Since the beginning of this year, £20.62 has been received from the charity. This represents half the annual cost of the green bin.
Reuse2Repurpose is a new fashion campaign being promoted by the Salvation Army Trading Company. The environmental impact of reusing is 70 times lower than producing new clothing. The company receives over 62,000 tonnes of textiles each year and has 8,000 collection banks around the country.
It is good to know that our community is contributing to this campaign.
Advance Notice – Coronation Weekend
There will be a service of Holy Communion at St John’s on Sunday 6th May (the day after the Coronation). It is hoped that there will be a small celebration after the service but plans are still to be finalised. Please ask for details nearer the date.
World Day of Prayer
Although numbers were small, those attending greatly appreciated this service which had been prepared by Christians living in Taiwan.
From the PCC
Interregnum: The Mission and Ministry Team for the Leys Group is now in place. The Reverend Steve Medley and his wife joined us at our morning worship in the Annexe at St Laurence on 12th March. The team members are using the next few weeks for familiarisation and planning.
Annual Parochial Church Meeting
This meeting will be held in the Annexe on Thursday 27th April at 2.15 p.m.
Revision of the Electoral Roll:
If you would like to be on the electoral roll please ask a churchwarden for a form. You do not need to be on the electoral roll to attend this meeting but if you are you have the right to vote. If you have already been placed on the roll you do not need to fill in a new form. You can apply to be on the roll at any time of the year but a reminder is given in the weeks before the annual meeting. The requirements for being on the Electoral Roll are on the application form. Forms will be available before the meeting to nominate PCC members.
Parishioners meeting: The first business of the meeting will be to elect churchwardens for the year ahead. People who are on the electoral roll, live in the parish and are on a local government register of electors can propose, second or vote for a candidate.
Candidates for the post of churchwarden must be baptised, be on the electoral roll, 21 years of age or older and be communicants and ready to be confirmed if not already confirmed. Criteria that would disqualify someone from the post of churchwarden can be found on the nomination form.
Churchwardens are elected for a year at a time. Candidates are admitted to the office of churchwarden later in the year by the Bishop or an Archdeacon at a Visitation. Outgoing churchwardens continue until their replacement is admitted or until 1st July if no one is elected in their place.
APCM The business of the rest of the meeting will be to receive reports on the past year, including work done on the church and the accounts, to appoint an independent examiner and to elect Deanery Synod representatives and PCC members.
Finance: Energy Costs:
There is some good news to report. Since last month all non- domestic buildings which were not connected to the Gas Grid received £150 rebate from the Government. St Laurence was one of the buildings that has benefitted from this payment. Also the Church of England released some of its assets and gave each church a payment in proportion to the amount paid for fuel in 2022. St Laurence has received £689.24 from this initiative. This will be a great help to us. The bill for December was over £1,100, although there was extra usage during the three weekends before Christmas and Christmas Day itself.
Another cost we are now facing is bank charges. Paying in of both cash and cheques incurs fees. However, if you can pay by BACS or use the Parish Giving Scheme there is no cost at all. If you would like more details, please have a word. We are of course very grateful for donations however you wish to give. They are always much appreciated. Every penny is welcome and contributes to church funds or charity. Thank you to everyone who supports the church in any way.
Parish Giving: Regular giving of a set amount can be set up in three ways.
By Telephone: Set up a Direct Debit by calling 0333 002 1271, Monday to Friday between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.
Online: At www.parishgiving.org.uk You can manage Gift Aid and keep up with inflation.
By Post: Using gift forms. Name of church and parish plus parish code must be clear.
For all the above the Parish Code is 110611060. You will be sent a start date of payment.
Hall Bookings: There have been recent instances of people booking a hall and then not turning up. Hirers will now be required to meet the caretaker to fill in forms and pay a deposit of £20 before a booking is finalised.
We wish our readers a ‘Happy Easter’.
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Hallelujah!
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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 following.
Margaret Antill 018 2787 4520
Moreen Freestone 024 7638 1833
Margaret Oliver 014 5582 2822
Diana Kealey 024 7639 5089