What's On
SERVICES IN OCTOBER
8am at Holy Cross.
9.30am at Holy Cross.
11.15am at Holy Cross - Currently Suspended
The pattern of services and covid precautions will be kept under review and any change in information will be reported in the weekly pewsheet. At the present time the main morning service will be kept at 9.30am. This is so that it fits in with the rota if we have to reinstate the 11.15 and to enable the clergy to help out in other churches in the North Down Team Ministry.
10.30 New Way at Memorial Hall - 1st and 3rd Sundays only
Out latest Notice Sheet is here
ALL SOUL'S ALL SAINT'S
Sunday 31st October 9.30am. Please sign the list at the back of church clearly with the name of the person you would like to be remembered at the All Souls service.
DETLING PLAYERS' PRESENTS
‘Pressure’ by David Haig at Detling Village Hall on 11, 12 & 13th November at 7.30pm and 13th November at 2.30pm. Tickets £10 each from 07842 169725 or see website
REMEMBRANCE - HOLY CROSS CHURCH
75th +1 Anniversary of the end of WW2
Armistice Day – 11th November – 11am Act of Remembrance at the war memorial
Remembrance Sunday – 14th November
9.30am Service including biographies and speech extracts from VE and VJ Days.
11am Act of Remembrance at War memorial.
GARDENS WORKING PARTY - 30 OCTOBER - 9.30
As mentioned in our September pew sheet, we are hoping to plant bulbs in the cemetery during the 30th October Working Party.
To help us with this, we are hoping for donations of daffodil bulbs of all shapes, sizes and colours. Please could we ask that you leave bags of bulbs at the back of the church, for us to find.
On 30th October , which will be the last working garden day for the year, it would be very helpful if as many volunteers as possible come along for an hour, to help dig in the bulbs and continue with the general maintenance of shrubs. Please bring a spade, gloves and wear stout shoes to protect your feet and legs.
Over the year, we have had success in clearing weeds, ivy, elderflower and other unwanted shrubs, dead flower arrangements, old plastic coverings and soggy oasis. We’ve strimmed around Headstones and Plaques to neaten up the individual graves, and all in all helped to make visits to the cemetery a good experience.
Coupled with the above, the Fabric Committee keep the church buildings in good repair inside and out and if you see anything that you feel requires our attention, please let us know. We have a gutter cleaning exercise planned, and if you would like to join us, please do let Andrew Knatchbull know. We are all volunteers and we do have a laugh and lots of chatter during our morning in the fresh air.
Our grass cutting programme is overseen by outside contractors, for which we have a yearly invoice.
If there are any suggestions or you have queries, please contact Patricia on 630451
COP26 OR COP-OUT AT HOLY CROSS
Join us for a solutions focused discussion on the climate emergency - Bearsted
Speakers:
•Rev.Dr. Jonathan Arnold, Former Dean of Divinity, Magdalen College Oxford, & current Canterbury Diocese Director of Communications.
•Mr John Halladay, Greenpeace, Canterbury Group leader.
Date: Sunday 24th October 2021 6pm to 7.30pm
Admission: By ticket only – click here to book your free ticket.
Venue: Holy Cross Church, Bearsted, ME14 4EE
HOLY CROSS/NEW WAY ECO IDEAS HUB
See our new page for information and slides from New Way talk on 17th October.
TODDLER GROUP
The Toddler Group has restarted. Karen Hill has taken over the running of the group. She used to attend the sessions with her children and has recently been doing cleaning at Holy Cross. It was lovely to have the toddlers back in church. We do need some extra help with teas and coffees. Please speak to John if you are interested.
Groups run Tuesday morning 9.45-11.45am and Thursday 9.45-11.45am
CHURCH MAGAZINE
It is with regret that the magazine will not be produced this month or next month because of deadlines. So far we have been unsuccessful in finding a new Editor and unless someone comes forward in the next month we will not be able to carry on with the magazine. If you could help out with this please email or speak to the vicar 01622 737135 or email
Being Editor is a relatively simple task there is no typing of articles or setting out of articles onto the pages. The main task is to receive copy and to let the printers know which page to put items on.
DIARY DATE - CHURCH CHRISTMAS FAYRE
December 4th – Saturday 4th December – Church Christmas Fayre.
Dear All, your fundraising committee have had a first meeting to discuss fund raising plans.
We have decided to go ahead with planning AN INDOOR Christmas Fayre, to be held in the Church as in pre-covid years, on Saturday 4th December from 10am- 2pm. We hope to have a good selection of stalls including tombola and raffle tables.
We will be hoping for various donations of jams, cakes and tombola items. (We will not have a bric a brac stall nor a knitwear stall).
We will be carrying out a risk assessment of the church, setting out a oneway system, and will be covering all aspects of C19 safety issues, including any new orders from Government.
If you would like to be involved in any way, by manning a stall on the day, or helping with refreshments, or selling raffle tickets, or any other form of volunteering, please do let us know.
Please keep us in your prayers. People to contact in the first instance: Sue Jackson, Pauline Johnson and Patricia Sutch.
On-line, New Way & Morning Prayer.
Mark Pavey continues to produce online services for the team each Sunday morning at 10.00 am - see details below. They will be no on-line services throughout August.
"Zoom Morning Prayer" 9.00am Monday to Thursday each week, continues. A simple 20 minute service with music, Scripture reading, reflection and prayer. This Week's Topic is "Thy Kingdom Come" all are welcome. See "Links" Section below for log in details.
Join us this Sunday using the links:
For 10.00 am On-Line Service (Not in August):
Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/northdownschurches
Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4KnCwLrj4ACApkv_UEyXvg
They are first streamed at 10am on Sunday and remain available after being lived streamed to be watched at a convenient time.
To Join the Zoom "Zoom Morning Prayer" 9.00am Monday to Thursday each week:
Click here and enter Meeting ID & Passcode (624122) between 8.45-9.00am.
Notice Sheet for 24th October.
Notice Sheet for 17th October.
Services each Sunday until further notice:
8.00am Eucharist Holy Cross
9.30am Eucharist Holy Cross
11.15am Eucharist Holy Cross - currently Suspended
New Way Services 10.30am at Memorial Hall 1st and 3rd Sunday of the month.
Daily Prayers will continue to be offered by the Rector in Holy Cross at the usual weekday time of 9.15am.
The Church is open for private prayer while socially distancing, please follow the instructions displayed.
We will regularly update our Pew Sheet / Notice Sheet on this page so please revisit each week for an update.
Sunday Mornings
As well as the On-line service (not in August) mentioned above which are available after being live streamed consider.
1. Radio. BBC Radio 4, Sunday Worship at 8.10am, Radio 3, Choral Evensong, Sunday 3pm,, Weds 3.30pm. The BBC can be accessed at anytime for recordings of these services.
2. TV. BBC 1 Songs of Praise Sunday 1.15pm.
3. Internet, search All Souls, Langham Place,London and St James,Muswell Hill, London for recordings of services and talks. Take care esp of content, you can always check something out with vicar. Please email office if you come across good internet resources.
4. Do more of personal devotions – pray and read the bible. Also read other Christian books.
NOTICES
WAR MEMORIAL BIOGRAPHIES
The original computer files for the WW2 Biographies for the War Memorials at Holy Cross and St Mary’s have been lost. One or more volunteers are needed to retype from printed hard copies so that they are readily available. If you can undertake this task it does not have to be done immediately.
Please email the office if you are interested.
SAMARA'S AID APPEAL - MEDICAL CENTRE SYRIA
Help save lives in Syria by donating towards life saving equipment
March 21
Samara’s team is in the process of opening a new medical centre in Syria in the middle of the Covid crisis. Dependable medical services are urgently needed in this poor area, and especially those which can be accessed free of charge by the poorest and most vulnerable.
Samara is raising funds to support this essential and life saving medical service now the building work is almost complete. Samara has recently got quotes for the following items which she would like to buy to equip and run the new medical centre emergency room and high dependency unit:
2 ventilators - £5,500 each,
6 – 8 patient monitors - £3,500 each
10 -12 syringe pumps - £540 each
This medical centre will be the first step towards enabling a larger Grace Hospital to be built through allowing a smaller, more manageable service first. It will run on a not for profit basis.
Please donate to help buy this life saving medical equipment by visiting MEDICAL AID: SYRIA — SAMARA'S AID APPEAL
Please continue to pray for Samara’s team in Syria led by Dr A who are making and continue to make such a difference to lives in Syria.
For more information on Samaras other current projects include an building long term Grace Hospital , running an outreach centre for orphans and widows with a food bank and children’s safespace, educational support programme, running livelihood courses for widows & farming local land to grow wheat visit here
FUND RAISING COMMITTEE
The Fund Raising Committee for the Holy Cross Church Bearsted, under the logo ‘Raise the Roof’, would like to bring you up to date with news of our fund raising activities.Since October 2017 we have held numerous events, including: quiz evenings, a murder mystery evening, a weekend flower festival, an ecumenical music hall evening with churches from Bearsted and the wider community, and 3 Christmas Fayres. We have received generous gift donations from various local concerts, and from the Bearsted and Thurnham Summer Fayre Committee.
Our fund raising efforts are as a direct result of the recent Quinquennial Report which highlighted the need to have our roof repaired. The repairs are extensive and costs will reflect this. Therefore in addition to our efforts, we are approaching Charitable Trusts to seek financial support. At the time of going to press, we have been successful in being voted a Grant donation from The Cobtree
Trust. Their Grant of £10,000 plus an offer of £10,000 as an interest free loan is a tremendous start.
We have so far raised £21,396.00 and this is due to the wonderful support given to all the above events by the People of Bearsted and the surrounding communities. This is also due to the commitment and sheer hard work of all those involved in organising and volunteering their time and energies to making the above events happen. Thank you.
CHURCH OFFICE – WEDNESDAY EVENINGS
Please note that for an experimental time the Parish Office will be discontinued on a Wednesday
Evening. The office is open as usual Monday mornings and Thursday all day.
SAMARA AID APPEAL
Latest update can be found here
HOMEGROUPS Homegroups at Holy Cross continue to meet regularly providing an opportunity to enquire about and discuss our faith and also to meet socially in an informal setting.
These are the groups, some are temporarily suspended at the moment:-
- Every Thursday afternoon - Les Smith (8 members)
- Every Monday evening - Julie Osborn (7 members)
- Every Tuesday evening - Andy Haines (10 members)
- Every Tuesday evening - Richard Sutch (6 members)
- Every other Thursday evening - Sandra Brabyn (9 members)
- Every Wednesday morning (ladies group) - Diana Sandford (11 members)
- Every other Thursday evening - Juliet Mee (9 members)
All these groups welcome new members. If you are interested in joining a group post Covid-19 please contact
Sandra Brabyn 01622 630500