What's On
BARTY HOUSE AND HILLBECK
Following
on from Ashburnham and its emphasis on service, we thought this would be a good
time to ask for two or three people to join our small team taking communion
services at Barty House and Hillbeck once a month. This is a very important
ministry, highly valued by staff and residents alike. Currently there are only
four of us and problems arise when not everyone is available as it really needs
at least three people to do the job properly. Please do pray about this and
contact Ann Harrison or Peter Ashford if you would like more information.
CHRISTMAS FAIR 7TH DECEMBER
Doors
opening at 10am – 2pm. Our plans are all coming
together for the Christmas Fayre on 7th December
at Holy Cross Church. We are now putting
out a plea for gifts for the Tombola
please. Tins,
chocolates, bottles etc, all will be most gratefully
received. There will be a storage box at the back
of church if you would like to drop items into
church. The Volunteers List is also at
the back on the
table, and we are asking for you to put your name down
for an hour to help man the stalls. If you have a
preference for knitted, stitched or book stall,
please
just note that on the list. Raffle tickets
– if you would
like to sell raffle tickets before the event to
friends and family, please ask Peter Richardson for a
book or two. Once again we have some really good
prizes. Finally, the Fayre will only be a success if we all
enjoy ourselves on the day, so please pass the word
around. Any further queries, please contact on
630451.
CHANGING LIVES PRAYER NETWORK CARD FOR ADVENT
Please take a prayer card from the back of church.
HOLY CROSS CHRISTMAS CARDS
Available from the back of church and at the table at New Way.
HOLY CROSS CHRISTMAS CHARITIES 2019
Christmas collections this year will be divided between:
Christian Aid: This year’s Christmas appeal is supporting women, particularly mother’s, around the globe. The money raised will support projects that help empower women, providing for those forced to leave their homes due to conflict or drought, providing them with the maternal health care that they need and teaching them skills that can help them support themselves. By supporting these projects, we can empower women and break the cycle of poverty
Choices Maidstone: Choices provides support for those suffering domestic abuse. It’s projects include housing for young women, education work with secondary school children and help for children and young people who suffererd from being in homes where there has been domestic abuse.
Beachy Head Chaplaincy: Sadly, the beautiful location of Beachy Head is a place where many people seek to end their lives. Last year a mother from Maidstone jumped off the cliff with her young son. The chaplaincy seeks to engage with those visiting the cliffs with this in mind.
Food and Hygiene items collection: In addition, between now and the New Year the food and hygiene items collected at church will go the to Maidstone Refuge for women and their children. This is run as part of Clarion, a national housing association. The refuge provides accommodation and support workers.
CHRISTMAS FAIR – CRAFT MAKERS
The day of our Fair is approaching rapidly and it is time to collect in all of your wonderful craft efforts. Please could you either:
Bring them to Church and give them to Pauline Johnson, Patricia Sutch or Jane Tricker. Or
Drop them off at Sue Jackson’s (97703808436) or Pauline Johnson’s (07713288864) In order to see how much we have to sell and to price everything, we need them by the week beginning November 18th at the latest. If you have unfinished items please let us know what they are and when they will be ready. Thank you very much.
CHILDREN'S SOCIETY
On behalf of the Children’s Society I would warmly like to thank all the boxholders for their wonderful donations. The work given by the Society supporting and helping children in many different ways is invaluable. A total of £647.33 was raised. Thank you. Jill.
CHURCH OFFICE – WEDNESDAY EVENINGS
The last Parish Office for Wednesday evenings this year will be on 11th December. Please note that
from the New Year 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.
MIXED BLESSINGS CONCERT A light-hearted evening of festive music and readings at Holy Cross Church on Tuesday 17th December at 8pm. Tickets £10 includes complementary festive drink and mince pie. Proceeds for the ‘Raise the Roof Fund at Holy Cross Church. Box Office: Or Md. 739523
MAIDSTONE CHURCHES WINTER SHELTER Volunteers needed: Please help us to provide a warm welcome overnight for homeless people in the coldest months. Without volunteers we won’t be able to open the Shelter. This winter the Shelter will run from 3rd January until the morning of Monday 30th March 2020. The Shelter will provide hot food, a warm bed in safe surroundings and support for up to 15 people living on the streets of Maidstone. Recruitment for volunteers for this year has now started, Can you help?
Volunteering for just 1 or 2 sessions will make a huge difference to many homeless people in Maidstone. The overnight and morning shifts are the hardest to cover!
More information about the work of the Shelter and its volunteers can be found at www.maidstoneshelter.org.uk Please contact our office on 01622 296450 or email mewsoffice@maidstoneshelter.org.uk for more information.
PRAYER PASTOR VOLUNTEERS NEEDED Now in our 11th year of service, we are in need of more volunteers to join our Prayer Pastor teams. A Street Pastor team should NOT go on patrol WITHOUT a Prayer Team to support them and Maidstone’s Night Time Economy. The commitment is once a month from around 9.45pm on a Saturday night to approx. 3am on a Sunday morning. There is safe and secure parking at the base and if you haven’t got transport, we can arrange lifts for you. If you would like to volunteer or find out more information, please contact Street Pastor Coordinator Nigel Downes at: maidstone@streetpastors.org.uk
HELP WITH OUR WEBSITES I would firstly like to say a big thank you to those who support us on the IT side of things, especially keeping our websites up to date. This is not something I am knowledgeable of so your skills are very much appreciated. But I also have a request for everyone else. Our IT team would appreciate some assistance, especially now the New Way website is quite active with weekly blogs, facebook/twitter posts etc. If you are IT competent and able to offer some time your support would be gratefully received. If you would like to find out more please contact Ian Clark who can give you some more details.
HOME GROUP IN THE AFTERNOON For anyone thinking of joining a Home Group, could we draw your attention to the one we have on Thursday afternoons. We meet most weeks but sometimes fortnightly and there are currently 7 to 8 of us. Home Groups are a great way to get to know a small group of people really well and to learn more about our faith and how it works out in our daily lives. Contact Les Smith or Peter and Meryl Ashford.
SAMARA AID APPEAL
Latest update can be found here
TALKS/SERMONS
These can be found on Sermons and Talks page of the web-site including last Sunday's at Holy Cross. Click here or select "Sermons and Talks" from the "What's On" menu bar above.
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 running at the moment:-
- Every or every other Thursday afternoon - Les Smith (8 members)
- Every other Monday evening - Julie Osborn (7 members)
- Every other Monday evening - Ian Clark (5 members)
- Every 1st & 3rd Tuesday evening - Peter Richardson (12 members)
- Every Tuesday evening - Jim Gibson (10 members)
- Every other Thursday evening - Emma Clark (7 members)
- Every Wednesday morning (ladies group) - Diana Sandford (10 members)
- Every other Thursday evening - Juliet Mee (9 members)
All these groups welcome new members. If you are interested in joining a group please contact
Liz Richardson - 738463