Dear All
One of the joys of not having to care for children is the fact that as soon as families return from holiday and paying through the nose for the privilege, those of us without ties can go away and its so much cheaper – sorry to rub it in folks!
So Ian and I and the dogs are going to France on Thursday morning, if you hear of any international incidents involving Sussex Spaniels on a Normandy beach you can be sure it will be us.
One of the down sides of going away in September is that things are just beginning to kick off again after the summer break. There is lots of things planned at church, here is a selection of some of our more important events..
On Sunday 2 October we welcome my old university chaplain Archbishop Barry Morgan to the first of our revived ‘In Conversation’ evensong. As normal we start at 6pm and end with refreshments and an informal Q&A session. Please spread the word!
We celebrate our Harvest Festival on Sunday 9 October at 10.30am, the children will be fully involved and if you are thinking of bring gifts please do so, all donations of food will go to our Foodbank project. If people would like to donate cash it will go towards the church building project of St Simon and St Jude, Namacunde.
At 3pm we will be holding our Pet Service, where once again we will be bringing our pets to give thanks to God for the love and loyalty they show us. Again spread the word. If you could help to distribute flyers at the Chiswick dog show on Sunday 25 September that would be amazing. Please see Suzette or Revd Eileen
Then on Friday 14 October we welcome the Grove Park Music festival for a concert of Monteverdi, it should be an amazing night.
I hear that our Talents project is going very, very well, of course there’s no competition, but I hear of a family who have just raised £200 from their £10. Well done! So is there anybody our there who can beat that amazing figure? Nothing like a bit of pressure!
With love
Simon
Dear Friends
Last Saturday afternoon, unphased by the intermittent rain showers, I joined a group tour of our graveyard, ably led by Malcolm Smith and organised by the Friends of St Nicholas. I was already familiar with Hogarth’s tomb, but it was fascinating to learn about so many other distinguished individuals who are also buried here. I can certainly recommend this tour to anyone who would like to learn more about the history of our churchyard and those buried here.
This week the College of Bishops is meeting in Oxford, when the main item on its agenda is how to follow up the Shared Conversations about sexuality, which have been taking place across the dioceses over the past two years. They bishops have been receiving a number of letters urging them to encourage the Church to be more open to people in same-sex partnerships. We pray for them and hope that their discussions will be fruitful.
The Chiswick Book Festival begins this Thursday and runs over the weekend. It offers a most inspiring and entertaining programme of talks on a wide range of subjects. Do consider going along if your are free – you can find details of the programme on: www.chiswickbookfestival.net
With every blessing
Eileen