Worship with us this Sunday!
Use the link below to find out about our services, to sign up to join us in person (where required), or to access our live stream video. See below for a reminder of our latest Covid measures >
Join us in person! Go to our Services & Worship page to find out about all of our upcoming services. You can do that by clicking or tapping on this link:
Join us Online! Head to our YouTube Channel to join us Live for our 10am Sung Eucharist, and access other videos. You can do that by clicking or tapping on this link:
THIS WEEK'S NEWS
Parish Profile
We are now just over one month into our vacancy and your PCC is considering the Parish Profile which has to be created in the coming weeks. The profile is a document which outlines lots of information about our church and congregation, the local area, some ideas about the future and qualities we are seeking in our new vicar. On Sunday morning, in the 'sermon slot' we will all be invited to think and pray about the future. Nicola will lead us and then Sue and Liz will help us to answer some questions which will inform the profile.
If you are not going to be in church this Sunday (10th), you can email the office and request a copy of the questions, or pop in 10am -12 noon any weekday to collect one; we ask you to return your comments either by email or hand written to the office during the week of 11th October, or bring them to church on 17th October. All our comments will be offered on 17th October and then Sue, David and Liz will read them and put the consensus into our profile.
Please pray for all members of our church as we discern the next steps in our search for our new vicar. Thank you, Sue, David and Liz
Our Notices
Eucharistic readings will now be emailed out in full each week with the link to our online Notices. We intend to do this from now and hope it helps your worship on Sundays.
For those of you who can’t access email or who really struggle to read the notices online, please could you ring the office (0191 2514216) and let Sarah know. She will leave a copy of the Notices, with the reading on the reverse side, in your pigeon hole. This will have your name on it and will be waiting for you on Sundays. Please only use this if you genuinely struggle to get the Notices - we’re trying really hard not to use lots of paper!
Thank you, Clare
Birkett and Fisk play Venuti and Lang
On Saturday 16th October, St Mary's will welcome The Birkett & Fisk duo as the next instalment in our concert series.
Bringing together their shared knowledge of early jazz styles, Emma Fisk and James Birkett present an entertaining, virtuosic and informative programme of music associated with and inspired by the first great jazz violin and guitar partnership. The performance will include original compositions by Venuti and Lang, jazz standards of the 20s and 30s and some of James and Emma's favourite tunes played a la Joe and Eddie.
James Birkett (guitar) is one the country’s most acclaimed guitarists. He developed and led one of the UK’s first degree programmes in jazz and related music, which is now run at Sage Gateshead.
Emma Fisk (violin) has been playing jazz violin since she was a teenager when she soaked up classic Grappelli recordings and was lucky enough to meet the man himself after a performance at Sunderland Empire. As well as performing as a duo with James, she leads her own quartet, Hot Club du Nord.
You can sample music by Birkett and Fisk here or book tickets for the concert here ; alternatively, purchase tickets at the St Mary's office in person 10am - 12 noon every weekday.
Earsdon PCC Away Day
On Saturday 9th October, we are delighted to be offering Earsdon PCC the use of St Mary's for their 'Away Day'. The building will be exclusively for their use on this day.
100 Club Winners
Congratulations to our October winners:
£50 Ann Garland
£30 Pat Bottrill
£20 Audrey Searle
Covid 19 October Update
As we can see from the news, Covid remains a huge problem throughout the country.
We have been discussing how we deal with the various issues, and this is where we stand at the moment:
There is no longer any need to register for services
We will only issue red badges as requested to indicate that you're still being very careful about social distancing
Please continue to wear masks
Parish breakfast will not be restarting yet
We have no plans yet to start administering the wine at communion
We will continue to review our Covid risk assessment and make changes when we think it's safe to do so.
Please don't hesitate to speak to us or any of the staff team if you have any concerns or questions. David and Sue, Wardens.
DIARY
Sunday 10th October,
19th Sunday after Trinity
8am Holy Communion
10am Sung Eucharist
Readings -
OT: Amos 5: 6-7, 10-15
NT: Hebrews 4: 12-end
Gospel: Mark 10: 17-31
Monday 11th October
9:30am-11am Toddler Group
Tuesday 12th October
9am Morning Prayer
2pm ‘Welcoming, Integrating and Caring’ (WIC) group meets on Zoom
Wednesday 13th October
9am Morning Prayer
10:30am Holy Communion
Thursday 14th October
9am Morning Prayer
Saturday 16th October
7.30pm Birkett and Fisk in concert
Sunday 17th October, St Luke's Day
8am Holy Communion
10am Sung Eucharist
12pm Baptism of Arabella Christophers
Monday 18th October
9:30am-11am Toddler Group
For your prayers this week:
Your Prayers are requested for
Martin Cooper
Lucinda & her children
Alison Young
Ron House
Sylvia McDougle
Dorothy
Kathleen Dales
Jenny Watling
Please also pray for
Arabella Christophers who will be baptised here at St Mary's on Sunday 17th October.
Don’t forget, you can add someone to the prayer list by emailing or phoning as usual, but you need to get their permission before adding them to the sick list.
Back to top >
Reminders
Remember that News and notices from previous weeks are all available to read by clicking "notices" at the top of the page.
Afternoon Tea in a box
As part of our Mini Autumn Fair on October 30th 2021, Carol Nesbitt and her team are offering beautiful Afternoon Tea boxes - ideal as a gift, or just to treat yourself!
You can eat your afternoon tea in church with friends, take it home to enjoy at your leisure, or perhaps gift one to someone else?
Afternoon Tea boxes can be collected from St Mary's between 1-3pm on the day of the fair. To order (tea for one costs £3, tea for 2 costs £5.50), please put your money into an envelope with your name clearly written on it and place it in the box in the vestibule. Alternatively, email Carol Nesbitt to place your order and receive further instructions on how to pay.
There will be 100 Afternoon Teas available so don’t wait too long before you order yours or you might be disappointed!
See you on 30th October,
Carol and her Team.
Autumn Mini Fair 30th October 2021
We are very much looking forward to our Autumn Fair this month! Our Fair website is now live - do take a look! For what's going on on the day itself, here's a taster to whet your appetite.
Home Produce
On the day of the Fair, we are going to have a fabulous home produce stall. St Mary's folks are great cake makers - please do contact Ruth Blake if you would like to make one (or any jam, chutney, etc) as a contribution. Items would need to be delivered to the church on the morning of the Fair for setting up / pricing.
'Attic Treasures' and 'Past and Present'
We are seeking vintage, old or new good quality items for an online auction as well as for a stall on the day of the fair. These could include boxed items, good quality jewellery, nests of tables or cameras - please no books, plastic or electrical goods. Contact Tom Savage if you have anything to offer to the fayre - if you have treasured it, someone else will too!
Eco Church
As a church community we have joined Eco Church and shown our intention and commitment to making a difference to the present environmental issues. We continue to look at the changes we can make to lessen our impact on the environment and increase the awareness our actions have on the local and global community. We all have the ability to make small changes and we can all make a difference.
As a more normal way of church life returns and we open up for meetings and social events, we have the opportunity to take important steps to make a difference and demonstrate our wish to care for those around us and the environment. We can renew our commitment to using Fairtrade products in church and at events, ditch disposables and single use plastics, look at the sustainability and composition of products we buy and support our local tradespeople. To mention but a few.
I would love to hear your ideas, comments and the actions you're taking. Please, if you haven’t already, have a look at the eco board in church. It may give you ideas for some new actions.
Marion Oakes.
Announcement from David, Sue & Liz
As most of our community know, Rachel was installed as the Archdeacon of Northumberland on Sunday 5th September.
This means we went into 'vacancy' from Monday 6th September. Of course, we still have Clare, Ben and the other staff members, so other than there being no Rachel, all should appear smooth on the surface. But underneath, we're all paddling like mad. There's a lot that needs to be done and we (Sue, Liz and David) have already met with Tim Mayfield, the Area Dean, and have another meeting booked shortly. Liz, Sue and David have begun to prepare the Parish profile, but this will take some time. After we're happy with the profile, we'll start the recruitment process for our next vicar. Please pray for us and bear with us as we undertake these tasks for our parish and we will do our very best to respond to queries or sort things out.
David and Sue (churchwardens)
Liz (Chair of PCC)
Concert Series 2021 - Tickets available now!
Tickets for the upcoming Birkett and Fisk concert on Saturday 16th October, and for 'The Miranda Wright Singers' on Saturday 27th November, are now available either from our website (10% off with discount code EARLYBIRD10) or from the church office, open 10am-12pm every weekday.
Roadmap out of Lockdown:
A reminder of our latest Covid Measures (valid from Sunday 25th July 2021)
All government restrictions have ended, but we have been following the latest Church of England advice to ensure that we can continue to worship together safely and with confidence.
Some measures are being relaxed, moving our worship slowly towards the way things were pre-Covid, but some measures are being retained for now. Please do get in touch if you have any queries or concerns.
Measures we are keeping:
The wearing of masks.
The sign-up for the 10am Eucharist (not essential but helps to speed up the arrival process).
Doors open for ventilation.
Hand sanitiser available.
Rows of seats will be well spaced.
Washing and sanitising for the President and Deacon at the Preparation of the Altar and Distribution of Communion.
We will not be sharing the wine at Communion yet.
We will not be having regular refreshments after the 10am Eucharist yet.
The 10am Eucharist will continue to be live streamed.
At the 8am Holy Communion, no changes will be made from current practice.
Elements we are relaxing/introducing at 10am:
Introduction of a traffic-light sticker system: you can choose a red, yellow or green sticker to wear, which will show others immediately how comfortable you are with social interaction.
We will be responsible for our own distancing and seating arrangements. Please be bold in sharing your preferences with others around you. This is particularly important at the Peace, which may be shared physically (with immediate neighbours), with their consent.
We will be able to sing (if masks are worn; just the Eucharist Setting and Offertory Hymn to start off with).
We will come up to the front for Communion.
The Noah's Ark children's corner will be available for little ones.
Increase maximum capacity (though still retaining spaced seating).
Removal of the one-way system (i.e. exit via the Main (West) Door).
Sign up below to receive our weekly email by joining our mailing list.