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Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Finedon.

Parish Magazine

March 2013 50p

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Finedon Parish Church: St Mary The Virgin

Vicar: The Revd Richard Coles, Parish Priest,

St Mary the Virgin Finedon, The Vicarage,

Church Hill, Finedon, Northants, NN9 5NR

01933 681 786, Mobile 07885 967 960

email: revdrichardcoles@yahoo.co.uk

Assistant Honorary Priest Fr Peter Baden,01832 733186

email: p.baden36@btinternet.com

Parish Clerk Mrs Gill Foster Tel: 680364 (To whom first

contact for Baptisms and weddings must be

made).

Churchwardens: Mrs Jane Read Tel: 680522

Mr Neil Forster Tel: 682177

PCC Secretary: Mrs Gill Foster Tel: 680364

Treasurer: Mr Andrew Weatherill Tel: 682212

Magazine Editor: Mrs Janet Millington, Tel: 681161.

E-mail: millingtonjanet@aol.com

(to whom all copy should addressed by

the 15th of the month prior to publication)

Director of Music Mr Jonathan Harris Tel: 01604 881182

Email: Hjonathan83@aol.com

Deputy Organists Mrs. Kathy Roberts

Mr Oliver Grigg

Choirmaster: Mr. Bryan Chapman Tel: 398818

Tower Captain Mr Bryan Chapman, Tel 398818

Web Site www.finedonphotographs.org.uk/

bellringers.html

Archivist Mr John Bailey Tel 680747

St Michael’s Mission Room: Mrs Helen Watts Tel: 01933 398073

Times Of Services: Sundays

8.00 am Holy Eucharist

9.30 am Parish Eucharist.

6.00 pm Evensong (1st Sunday of the

Month)

Visit us on the Web at www.stmarysfinedon.co.uk

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From the Vicarage

March 2013.

What have you given up for Lent? I have stopped drinking, and apart

from a mix up at an Indian restaurant, when my request for a lime and

soda produced something more like a bitter lemon shandy, I’ve stuck

with it – so far.

More importantly, perhaps, than giving something up is taking something

on. With a group of people on Twitter I’ve been reading Milton’s great

masterpiece ‘Paradise Lost’, an epic poem in twelve parts about the Fall

of Man, once read as widely as Dickens, now, I think, all but unread. It

takes us into a world of demons and angels, judgment and hell, and the

cosmic battle between the forces of good and evil. That battle would be

recognisable to anyone who knew ‘Lord of the Rings’ or ‘Star Wars’, but

judgment and hell has become all but unintelligible to most people

today, living in our largely secular world.

You might think that losing our fear of hellfire, so urgent for our ancestors,

is a good thing. You might not. What strikes me, however, is that while our

fear of judgment has declined our capacity for wrongdoing and daily

indulging the devices and desires of our own hearts show no signs of

abating. What can we do about that? Spend some time in reflection,

asking ourselves some honest, searching questions about what we have

done and why we may have done it, and rather than lie awake quaking

with nameless terror, or supine with a sense of powerlessness, maybe just

try to do a good turn for someone we may not care for, give a bit more

to charity than it is comfortable to give, offer God a few more minutes of

our time than we usually offer. It’s worth making the effort, I find, not so

much to allay our fears of the ‘Chaos and eternal night’, as Milton put it,

but to live more fully in the light of the hope Jesus won for us by the

transforming power of his love.

A holy Lent to all,

Fr Richard.

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Our Worship in March

Year C 3rd - 3rd Sunday of Lent Isiaiah 55: 1-9 Psalm 63: 1-9 Corinthians10: 1 -13 Luke: 13: 1-9 Hymns 305 I come with joy 565 Rock of ages 467 How sweet the name of Jesus sounds Anthem: Coleman As water to the thirsty (252) 469 I heard the voice of Jesus say 3rd - Evensong 95 Forty days and forty nights Responses: Plainchant (Peterborough 2008) Psalm 12, 13 99 (Tune Quam Dilecta) My spirit longs for thee Canticles: Plainchant Anthem: J Harris Lent Anthem 98 Lord, teach us how to pray aright 10th - 4th Sunday of Lent (Mothering Sunday) Exodus 2:1-10 Psalm. 34:11-20 2 Corinthians 1: 3-7 Luke 2: 33-35 Hymns 238 For Mary, Mother of our Lord 433 Give me joy in my heart 375 Amazing grace Anthem: Attwood Turn thy face from my sins 507 Lord of all hopefulness 17th – 5th Sunday of Lent Isaiah. 43: 16-21 Psalm. 126 Philippians 3: 4b-14 John 12. 1-8 Hymns 277 All for Jesus! 123 There is a green hill far away 105 Beneath the cross of Jesus Anthem: (121) Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle 376 And can it be that I should gain

24th – Palm Sunday Isaiah. 50: 4-9a Psalm 31: 9-16 Philippians 2: 5-11 Luke 22: 14-23 Hymns 23 There is a green hill far away Processional - 128 All glory, laud and honour 127 (Tune Rockingham) When I survey the wondrous cross * 112 My song is love unknown Anthem: Elgar Ave Verum Corpus 129 (Winchester New) Ride on, ride on in majesty * 29th March – Good Friday 2pm: Stainer’s Crucifixion 31st March – Easter Day Acts 10: 34-43 Ps.118: 1-2 1 Corinthians 15: 19-26 John 20: 1-18 Hymns 157 The day of resurrection Processional: 167 Hail the day that sees him rise 150 Love’s redeeming work is done 147 Jesus Christ is risen today Anthem: S.S.Wesley Blessed be the God and Father 160 Thine be the glory, risen, conquering Son* * Descants Organ Voluntaries following the 9.30am services 3rd March – J.S.Bach: Chorale Prelude O Mensch, bewein’ dien’ Sunde gross 10th March – N. de Grigny: Récit de Tierce en Taille 17th March – Buxtehude: Ciacona in E minor BuxWV 160 24th March – John Stanley: Voluntary VIII in D Op.5 31st March – J.S.Bach: Toccata and Fugue in D minor BWV 565

Organ Voluntaries following the 6.00pm evensongs

3rd March – Olivier Messiaen: Le Banquet Celesta

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From the Registers

Funerals 20th February William Randall, age 91

Floodlight Sponsorship

3rd February Mrs Valerie Holland - In loving memory of her aunty Terry (who lived in Canada & died on 5th January 2013) Sponsored by an anonymous donation. 10th February All the family - in memory of Louisa Love (who died in 1997 and is still missed by all the family) Libby - to celebrate her 40th Birthday Christine & Bryan Chapman - in memory of Edith May, Horace & Sam Gambrell Marlene Becks - in loving memory of Bob 17th February Mr & Mrs Davison - in memory of Maud Davison Debbie & Pete Grindrod - to celebrate the early, but safe, arrival of Samuel David 24th February David Bailey & Janet Millington - in memory of Margery Bailey.

Services to be held in

Lent and Holy Week in

St Mary’s Church & the

Wesleyan Chapel

Lent Faith in Action Lent Faith in Action will be held every Tuesday from 12th February at mid-day in the Chapel Fellowship room. £2.00 including lunch.

Lent course in Church Lent Course in St Mary’s church on Tuesdays 5th March, 12th March and 19th March at 7pm

Holy week The film Jesus of Nazareth will be shown in the Chapel school room in four parts, as it is a very long film, on the 25th, 26th and 27th March at 6pm. Part 4 The Resurrection will be shown at 6.00 pm on Easter Sunday, followed by light refreshments.

Maundy Thursday A united service with the ‘washing of the feet’ will be held St Mary’s Church at 7.00 pm. Volunteers wanted for the feet washing.

Good Friday The Good Friday Procession will meet at the recreation ground car park at 10.00 am . We will be walking to Church for the Stations of the Cross to start at 11.00 am You are invited to join the procession at any stage en route. Hot Cross buns and coffee will be served.

Stainers Crucifixion Stainer’s Crucifixion will be sung in St Mary’s Church at 2.00 pm on Good Friday.

Good Friday united service of Communion A united service of Communion will be held in the Chapel at 7.00 pm.

Lighting of the Easter Candle The lighting of the Easter Candle will be held at St Mary’s Church at 7.00 pm on Saturday 30th March.

Easter Day Services will be as normal but there will be no Evensong as we will be joining the Chapel for Jesus of Nazareth at 6.00 pm.

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Evensong

Evensong will be held in St Mary’s Church at 6.00 pm on Sunday 3rd March. This will be followed by light refreshments

Women’s World Day of

Prayer

Please support the Women's world Day of prayer to be held in the Wesleyan Chapel this year at 2.00 pm on Friday 1st March. It is an hour long service conducted by ladies from St Mary’s Church and the Wesleyan Chapel, followed by refreshments. The collection goes to help women persecuted and deprived around the world.

Desperate need for food

donations

I am starting a food collection for families who have no food and no money to buy any. The number of families needing this help has more than doubled nationally in the last year and Food Banks are being set up throughout the country. The Daylight Centre in Wellingborough has recently set up a Food Bank to serve the families of Wellingborough and the surrounding villages. Please, please could you buy just one or two extra items each time you shop and put them in the box in Church. I will then pass them on to The Daylight Centre. It may be your donation that stops a child going hungry. If everyone would contribute, just think how many families we could help. Food is only given to people referred to them by Social Services and other agencies.

Suggested items to donate are: rice, pasta, noodles, instant mash, cuppa soup, tins of vegetables, soup, baked beans, spaghetti, meat, fish, puddings, sauces, jams, quick meals ie savoury rice, pot noodles, dried and UHT milk, tea, coffee, squash, long life fruit juice, breakfast cereals. In fact anything that is not perishable or requires refrigeration. The Daylight Centre itself has a great need for washing powder, soap, toothpaste, shower gel. Donations can also be left with me at 1 Avenue Close, Finedon, 01933 680209 I do hope that you will be able to help. Thank you.

Sue Nicholls

New Electoral Roll

A new Electoral Roll is being prepared and will come into effect on Sunday 21st April at the AGM. If you wish your name to be on the Electoral Roll please fill in a form available at the back of the Church and put it in the wooden box by the service sheets or give it to Joanne Wetherall the Electoral Officer. The forms must be returned by Psalm Sunday, 24th March . The new Electoral Roll will be displayed on Easter Sunday 31st March and will be affixed on the notice board near the Church door.

Persons who wish their name to be on the electoral roll should be aged 16 or over, been baptised and have habitually attended public worship in the Parish during the last 6 months unless unable to do so through illness or other sufficient causes when they will still be able to enrol on the Electoral Roll.

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Parochial Church

Council

People wishing to serve on the PCC will need to complete their forms by 7th April. They are the green forms which can be found on the wooden box near the service books at the back of Church.

Gardeners Question

Time

BBC Radio Northampton’s Gardeners Question Time, will be held at the Bowls Club on Wednesday 20th March at 7.30pm. Entrance is by ticket only. Tickets priced £5.00 and question forms are

now available from Jane Read 680522, Janet Millington 681161 and Mary Hendry 680414 Questions to avoid are slug and snail control, pests on indoor plants which they are asked most weeks. They encourage you to bring samples of unusual and exotic plants, questions that introduce humour, queries on landscaping, greenhouses, planning and design, vegetables and fruits, show blooms -anything. It would be helpful for the Church fund raising team who are organising the event to have the questions in beforehand just to ensure we have enough to make an interesting evening. Money raised will go the organ fund.

Church of St Mary the virgin, Finedon

Easter Egg Hunt

on Sunday 31st March

In the churchyard after the 9.30 Eu-charist

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Marie Curie Coffee

Morning

A coffee morning will be held to raise funds for Marie Curie on Monday 4th March at Marjorie Wood’s house, 39 Miller’s Close between 9.30 am and 12.00 noon.

Finedon Local History

Society

The next meeting of the History Society will be held on Monday 25th March 2013 in the Mission Room, Well Street at 7.30pm. The speaker will be Helen Crabtree who will give a talk on ‘Telephone Kiosks.’ Admission is £2.50 for members and £3.50 for non-members including light refreshments. A raffle will also be held.

Archivist’s Report for

2012 for PCC AGM

Search fees of £58 were paid into the Church Funds. I have supplied information to a descendant of Thomas Burton, one of our intruding incumbents. £48.10 was taken in admission fees to the Monk’s Cell at the Flower Festival. As usual, I was assisted by Jamie Smith, who for the first time gave some of the talks. I am hopeful that Jamie may eventually succeed me as Archivist. I have amended the List of Incumbents to add the name of the Revd. Richard Coles. I have written a new edition of the Church Guide to replace the previous edition, which I wrote in 1977.

At Philip Powis’s instigation, I have rewritten the information panel for the triple portrait of Fell, Dolben, and Allestree, which Philip generously paid to have framed. I have provided information to the P.C.C. regarding the unlikely existence of a Lay Rector, or any other person, likely to be responsible for the maintenance of the chancel.

John Bailey, 10th

February

2013

Inter Church Group

Velma Munns has worked on the Inter Church Group since its instigation in the interregnum. Due to health problems Velma has resigned from the group. I would like to thank her for all her support, her ideas and help during that time. The whole team send their best wishes and hope you get better soon.

Jane Read

St Mary’s Church, Finedon

The Royal & Derngate Community Choir

will be singing in

St Mary’s Church on

Saturday 2nd March 2013,

at 7.30 pm.

Tickets priced £5.00 are available

from Jane Read, 680522 and Janet

Millington 681161

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The Ladies of the WI

Group

Finedon Ladies Social Club will be meeting at the Mission Room, Well Street on the 2nd Monday in the month,11th March at 7.30pm. At the moment there is no charge, except for tea/coffee. For any ladies coming to the March meeting, please bring oddments of double knitting yarn and size 8 knitting needles, we plan to make squares for a blanket. We also plan to have trips out and lunches and maybe a speaker or two.

Townswomen’s Guild Our Annual General meeting will take place on Thursday 7th March. Our speaker for the evening will be Mike Hollowell who will talk about a visit to Greenland, illustrated with slides. There will be a ‘Bring and Buy’ table and a ‘Grand Raffle’ as well as the chance to chat over coffee. Visitors will be very welcome for a small fee of £3.

National Gardens

Scheme

The dates of the 2013 National Gardens Scheme openings times in Finedon are as follows:

29 Eastfield Road, 67-69 High Street and 11 Thrapston Road

Sundays 2nd and 30th June - 2.00pm - 6.00pm, combined entry £3.00 [children free]. Teas, plant

sales etc available at 67-69 High Street 67-69 High Street

Thursdays 6th,13th,20th and 27th June - 5.00pm - 8.30pm, entrance £3-50 including a glass of wine

Unwanted Televisions

Have you recently purchased a new television, or are about to do so? Most people agonise over what to do with the old TV – some end up at the Council tip whilst others end up in the loft never to be seen again. Help is at hand. The Spinneyfields Care Centre at Bates Way, Rushden will gladly take any television in good working order off your hands. The sets are checked over and placed in individual rooms for the use of people having respite care. Just ‘phone 01933 352840 to arrange delivery.

Church of St Mary the Virgin

Meat Bingo

on

Friday 8th March

at the

Mulso School Wellingborough Road

at 7.30 pm

Admission Free Refreshments available

Raffle

Everyone Welcome

Transport is available. For details please telephone

Andrew Weatherill on 682212

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Whatever happened to

‘Mucky’ Celery?

There is nothing like a stick of ‘mucky’ celery for Christmas tea. The crisp, fresh crunch of the celery and the fulsome flavour does not

compare with the stiff straight stuff that is on offer in supermarkets. What has happened to it? Not only mucky celery has disappeared from out supermarket shelves but what has happened to the juicy peach. Years ago a bite into a peach which was a little smaller than a tennis ball sent sweet nectar dribbling down your chin. Now peaches are ‘take home and ripen’. They are either hard as iron or go mouldy before they are ripe. Another moan is tomatoes. They have lost their flavour and their skins are like leather that is unless you are lucky enough to grow them yourselves in the summer. One little tip to enhance the taste of tomatoes – put them in the microwave for 20 seconds it makes a difference and brings out the flavour. Back to the mucky celery search. Just before Christmas spread eagled and covered in sooty loam in an Earls Barton greengrocers was a crate of mucky celery. Location top secret and is only known to mucky celery addicts. Christmas Day tea in 2012 was complete for some lucky people in Finedon. Let’s have more mucky celery. Now on the hunt for juicy peaches, tasty tomatoes, fruit and vegetables you can really taste.

Church Monthly Draw

Total receipts of £289.00 are divided equally between the winners and the church funds. Winning numbers for the February monthly draw are:

1st prize 170 £72.50 2nd prize 283 £43.50 3rd prize 269 £29.00

If you would like to join the monthly draw (£1.00 per share per month) which takes place in the church on the first Sunday of the month, please contact Kathy Hobbs on 01933 398794.

Lilies

The Easter lily (Lilium longiflorum) is a white trumpet-shaped flower that symbolizes hope, life, innocence and virtue. Tradition also

recounts lilies sprung from Jesus Christ's sweat in the Garden of Gethsemane. Easter lilies celebrate the resurrection of Christ and the promise of life everlasting.

The calla lily (Zantedeschia aethiopica) symbolizes sympathy, resurrection, faith

and purity. At Easter, the cone shaped flowers are resurrection trumpets proclaiming victory. Paintings of the Virgin Mary frequently feature calla lilies representing her faith and purity.

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In My Day

the ramblings of Hubert James In my day it was about this time of year that you’d plant some seeds. Things like

tomatoes ready for your summer salad or herbs like mint. You’d be reminded that you needed the mint because you’d spot little lambs bouncing around the fields. All through the winter you’d never have seen a tomato or lettuce or cucumber. In my day food was seasonal. You’d never have a jacket potato in the spring and you’d never taste a strawberry until Wimbledon fortnight. Now I’m not saying we didn’t have stuff out of season. A few folk managed to tinker with the garden season with a cold frame or the occasional greenhouse. Course, you have to remember that the only fridges in the town were owned by the greenhouse elite and nobody had a freezer. The milkman delivered your milk daily and the local butcher would keep your Sunday joint in his cold room until you picked it up on the way back from church. All this meant that you knew what you was eating. In my day beef came from cows, pork from pigs and seafood well not much of that got this far from the seaside unless it was battered and served with chips. That was until Ralph Kibble left Finedon and went to sea on a Whaling ship for 18 months. When

Ralph got back he was full of new skills. He could make nets, which was very useful for Finedon Vics and well, he had unusual ways of fishing. In fact some of you will remember what happened when he was harpooning pike down the embankment one Saturday morning. Just as he was about to spear a fish there was a huge tidal wave and a baby Orca was washed ashore, flapped a fin, blinked and died. To be fair Ralph tried to push the beleaguered creature back into the crowded waters of the Nene but it was far too big and now a dead weight. Quickly folk from as far afield as Easton Maudit and Great Doddington turned up to see the sea monster. The Council decreed that it was treasure trove and Ralph was able to take it home to Kenmuir Avenue. But what to do with it? Given that most of us had barely got over food rationing we were all willing to try the odd steak – very odd! Some folk reckoned it tasted a little like chicken but I found it a little blubbery and within a couple of weeks most of us were moved to tears at the thought of another whale fricassees .(which of course is how to blubber became to mean to sob). We all quickly got fed up with the stuff with the emphasis on fed. Still local singer Veer-Off Lynn did get a hit single out of it; Whale Meat Again……….

Henry’s looking for a

new home

Would you like to give Henry the vacuum cleaner a new home. In excellent condition and complete with tools. £40. Tel: 01933 680219

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The Bishop of Peterborough

writes

Money and growth

Last spring I wrote to thank our parishes

for a rise in the payment of parish share

in 2011. This month I return to that

theme and say a big Thank You for a

further increase in 2012.

It is not just the cash amount paid by

parishes to the diocese that is going up,

but also the collection rate - now over

93% of what we requested. In 2010 it

was less than 90%. These are small

percentage rises, but represent large

cash amounts; and a second year of

increase is very welcome after a number

of years of steady decline. When we bear

in mind the economic climate, and a

number of church members who have

seen their incomes frozen or declining, it

is a huge encouragement that we are

seeing increased financial support for the

diocese. Thank you.

Please don’t get me wrong: Christian life

is not all about money. But the diocese

bears the full cost of parish clergy

(training, stipends, employers’ national

insurance, pensions and housing), and

receives no external funding for that. We

pay our vicars around £24,000 but the

real cost to us is about double that figure.

And what we receive in parish share, even

with the increase in collection rate, still

does not quite meet the costs of our

parish clergy. So the collection rate needs

to rise further, and I encourage all our

Christian people to think realistically and

give generously if they value having

parish clergy.

Parish share is not just about paying

diocesan bills. I am committed to

reversing our long-term decline in

numbers of regular worshippers, to

seeing real numerical growth across the

diocese. This is not about numbers for

their own sake (although introducing

more people to a living relationship with

Jesus Christ is a very worthy goal). It is

also so that we can be strong as churches

to make a difference in our communities:

to be salt and light and bring kingdom

values to society. And if we want to grow

the churches we need to grow the

numbers of clergy, in particular full-time

clergy.

We have more stipendiary clergy in post

than this time last year, and we are

planning to continue that increase (again

following years of reducing clergy

numbers.) But clergy cost money. I hope

more people and more parishes can

catch the vision of Peterborough as a

growing diocese, and can support that

with their prayers, their enthusiasm, and

their money – for the sake of Christ, his

gospel, and our towns and villages.

With best wishes

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Around the diocese

Learning to walk alongside

toddlers

When St Martin’s Church at Welton,

near Daventry, planned to re-establish

their links with children and families,

they were thinking about ages 5 and

upwards. But God had other ideas, as

Gilly Beardmore explains:

“Instead of the older children we

expected, God sent toddlers with families

preparing for baptism. What a blessing it

has been for us to learn to walk again

alongside them!

I am in training as a Licensed Evangelist

and have learned how important it is to

listen, rather than start with our own

ideas of how we think things “ought” to

be done. The congregation were eager to

find ways to encourage children and

families and I was able to listen carefully

to their views and examine those areas

where God had priorities for us in

mission.

As a co-opted member of the PCC I was

given a representative voice for children

and was truly encouraged by our

incumbent and the PCC members.

Gradually these toddlers have begun to

teach us all to walk in step with their

needs.

During Advent a small team (age range

21 to 65+) built a carpeted area for

toddlers and their parents to use during

the weekly service. Children’s books were

donated, we sorted out toddler toys and

bought new ones from charity shops at

very little cost. An indoor play tent

became a “stable” and playdough nativity

characters took shape. At Christmas an

angel named after each toddler, and the

gift of a small wooden animal, waited on

the tree for each child.

Now we enjoy God's presence on that

carpet each week as youngsters play and

toddle up the aisles occasionally. Adult

worship is taking place alongside them

and we are able to watch relationships

being built between the parents and

toddlers and our church family. This is

very much an all age church family

endeavour and members of the

congregation are always welcoming and

show a keen interest in the toddlers after

services.

The smiles count at church has risen

significantly! Young parents are visibly

relieved that it is OK for the toddlers to

move about, and last week one three year

old cried because he didn't what to go

home.

It's early days and God is teaching us to

patiently watch and pray with him but

already there have been many blessings.

Please remember us, and all churches

who find themselves in similar situations,

in your prayers as we move from toddling

to walking together in Christ.”

Photo: PCC member, Pam, plays with Amelia

during her parents’ Confirmation service.

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Around the diocese

Love and return thy neighbour

To love and return your

neighbour is the aim of

the new “Neighbourhood

Return” scheme in

Northamptonshire. The

scheme aims to act

quickly to find people with

memory problems, such

as dementia, who have

got lost.

Neighbourhood Return

was launched in

Oxfordshire last

November and is now

expanding into

Northamptonshire. To

enable this to happen, organisers are

now recruiting volunteers to join

searches in their immediate area.

Volunteers need to have a mobile phone

which is regularly charged and kept in

credit, and be able to use text

messaging.

If a volunteer is not available when they

receive an alert that someone is

missing, they can just text back “no”. If

they are free to help, the Neighbourhood

Return Care Centre will tell them where

to start looking.

“This isn’t a huge commitment,” says

Ben Simpson of Neighbourhood Return.

“You will rarely, or may never, be called

to help, but by registering not only will

you help carers to feel supported by

their local community, but should

someone in your local area go missing

you could help save a life.”

You can sign up as a volunteer at

www.ourturn.org.uk or by phoning 0116

229 3118. If you are a carer of

someone with memory problems, you

can register them free of charge, using

the same contact details.

The idea for the scheme came from

consultant psychiatrist Dr Rupert

Macshane, from Oxford Health NHS

Foundation Trust. It is funded by the

National Lottery Silver Dreams Fund and

is a Neighbourhood Watch Project.

March events

Daily until 10th: Snowdrop Spectacular at Launde Abbey. 2pm-4pm. Garden walks, teas. Tel: 01572 717254. Tuesdays: Lent lunches at St Matthew’s, Eye. 12 noon-2pm. £3. Thursdays: “Questions of Life", Lent talks at St John’s, Peterborough. 7.30pm Eucharist, 8.15pm talk. Thurs 7, 14, 21: Sermon-Sonnet-Song: Lent meditations in word and music. 1.10pm after 12.30pm Eucharist at All Saints, Northampton NN1 1DF. Sat 9, Bishop's Bible Day at Northamp-ton High School. Tel: 01604 887049. Thurs 14, An evening with Adrian and

Bridget Plass, 7.30pm at Peterborough Salvation Army Citadel. 01903 705360.

Sat 16, Dallington Spring Fayre, 2pm -

4pm at The Old Schools, Dallington,

Northampton NN5 7AA

Sun 24, Come and Sing Stainer 2pm-7pm at All Saints, Northampton.

Sun 31, Easter Dawn Service, broadcast live by BBC Radio Northampton from St

Martin's, Welton NN11 2JP. Traditional first Communion of Easter, with bonfire,

singing of the Exultet, and renewal of baptismal vows.

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Available for hire weekdays and Saturdays. Suitable for most social functions, charitable events, children's parties (no late

discos)

All enquiries and information

Mrs Helen Watts Tel: 01933 398073

(Between 6 pm & 8 pm or by letter to 46 Well Street, Finedon)

St Michael’s Mission Room, Well Street, Finedon

March

1st 2pm Women’s World Day of Prayer

2nd 7.30 Royal & Derngate Community Choir, St Mary’s Church

4th 9.30-12.00 Coffee Morning for Marie Curie, 39 Millers Close

5th 9.45 Coffee Morning Bowls club 7pm Lent Course, St Mary’s Church

7th 7.30 TG Town hall, AGM & Mike Hollowell ‘A visit to Greenland’

8th 7.30 Church Meat Bingo, Mulso School

11th 7.30 Ladies of the WI Group, Mission Room

12th 10.00 Coffee Morning, Football Club 7pm Lent Course, St Mary’s Church

19th 9.45 Coffee Morning, Bowls Club 7pm Lent Course, St Mary’s Church

20th St Mary’s Church Gardeners Question Time, Bowls Club.

25th 7.30 History Society, Mission Room, Tele-phone Kiosks.

26th 10.00 Coffee Morning, Football Club

28th 7pm St Mary’s Church, Washing of feet’

29th 10am Procession of Witness 11am Stations of the Cross, St Mary’s Church 2pm Stainers Crucifixion, St Mary’s Church 7pm United Communion Service, Chapel

31st St Mary’s Church, Easter Egg Hunt

April

4th 7.30 TG Town Hall, Denise Legge "Elizabeth Tudor".

22nd 7.30 History Society, Mission Room, con-sumption & the Georgian Country House

27th Bell Ringers outing to Worcester.

28th Crowning of the May Queen in Church

May

18th 3pm Northampton & District Organists' Association to visit St Mary’s Church 7.30 ‘Boobs & Brass’ St Mary’s Church

20th History Society Rive Trip

22nd Lyra Ensemble, St Mary’s Church

June

2nd 2-6p NGS Open Gardens

6th 5-830 NGS Open Garden 67-69 High Street

13th 5-830 NGS Open Garden 67-69 High Street

20th 5-830 NGS Open Garden 67-69 High Street

27th 5-830 NGS Open Garden 67-69 High Street

22nd St Mary’s Church Fete on The Green.

24th 7.30 History Society, Mission Road, Treshams: A family of mysteries

30th 4pm Song of Praise on the Green 2-6 pm NGS Open Gardens

Town Diary

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