Holy Family News
A very warm welcome to any new readers, and to visitors and newcomers to St Michael's. A special welcome-back and thanks to Fr Paul Matthias, our celebrant this morning, who will also kindly be saying Mass for us on Thursday at 10.30 am. If you are new to St Michael's, do join us in the Vestry Hall after the service, so that we can welcome you properly.
Warmest Thanks to everyone – visiting celebrants, musicians, decorators, altar party, readers and sound engineer – whose efforts combined to make our worship memorable on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Additional help is always welcome; please let us know of any way in which you would like to serve the St Michael's family.
Valerie Stickland, a devoted member of our congregation, died peacefully at home in the early hours of Saturday morning. Educated at Old Palace School, Croydon, and Homerton College, Cambridge, she was Headmistress of the St Michael's Schools from 1969 until her retirement. Gentle, astute and imaginative, she will be remembered for the astonishingly beautiful garden she created in a tiny space at her final home in Matterdale Gardens; for the bicycle-crowned cakes she produced for Ride and Stride; for the brown-and-gold kneelers she rescued from a skip outside another church and re-homed at St Michael's – and, most of all, for the interest she took in everything, which made her such fun to be with. We pray for her, and for her nephews and their families. May she rest in peace.
As you clear up the Christmas wrappings…. Are there any interesting stamps among them? Please think of bringing them to church, and putting them in Jacqui's box in the narthex, for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.
Epiphany – when we remember the visit of the wise men to the infant Christ – will be transferred to Sunday 7th January. At St Michael's we shall celebrate it with Mass as usual, but also with an extra Service of music and readings at 5pm. There will be an augmented choir, and seasonal refreshments in the Vestry Hall will follow. Everyone is welcome - please come, and invite your friends.
Have you ever made a pilgrimage to Walsingham? This isn't as rarefied an activity as you might think; it's a chance to spend time with God and with our Lady (whose example loving obedience points us towards Him) while enjoying the beautiful countryside of north Norfolk and the company of other Catholic Christians. Fr Peter Harnden of Harbledown will next month be making a preliminary booking for the pilgrimage he is leading on August 19th-24^th,^. If you think you might be interested in joining parishioners from Folkestone, Harbledown and Deal on this pilgrimage, please speak to Eleanor; a notional idea of possible numbers is all Fr Peter needs at this stage, and no one is committed, but it would be so encouraging to have plenty of enquiries from St Michael's. It is usually possible to arrange lifts for pilgrims who would need one.
Can someone very kindly take charge of washing and ironing the altar linen (corporals, lavabo towels and purificators)? We are most grateful to Katja, who has done this in the recent past but is now unable to continue. We can arrange to deliver and collect if transport poses a problem. Please speak to Jonathan if you think you may be able to help.
From Our Tower
Kent County Association, Maidstone, Kent: St Michael and All Angels
Friday, 22 December 2023 in 43m (6–1–24 in C)
1272 Norwich Surprise Minor
- Jacqueline Barlow
- Charlotte Elvers
- Lucy Harvey
- Mark Elvers
- Philip Jarvis
- Neil Jones (C)
1st in m: 2 & 3. Rung in anticipation of Christmas.
Thursday, 28 December 2023 in 2h 43 (6–1–24 in C)
5040 Stedman Triples - W A Cave's six singles variation
- Jason R Turnock
- Adam A Brady
- Jacqueline M Barlow
- Michael A Birkbeck
- Andrew M Hills
- Paul N Mounsey (C)
- David J Dearnley
- Neil W Jones
Rung half-muffled on the Innocents' Day
Could you pass this sheet on to someone else who might like to see it?