A Christmas Café – Sun 18 Dec, 3-5pm:
FREE to everyone! Hosted by Mary’s young people come along to the church hall for some festive cheer! Win festive prizes and enjoy some quality time with your friends and family. Sip cosy drinks and eat yummy Christmas treats in the cheerful and festively-decorated church hall! Just come, bring a friend and receive some Christmas joy!
Christmas Gift Wrapping – Mon 19 Dec, 2-4pm: Do come and join us on Monday afternoon in the hall to wrap the donated Christmas presents and enjoy coffee and flapjacks too!
Still wish to donate? Thank you for all the generous gifts that have already been donated. Please bring any items this weekend and put them in the big box in the church hall for:
1) The Meeting Room’s Christmas Day Lunch at the village hall,
2) The children of CAP’s (Christians Against Poverty) Mole Valley’s clients
3) Surrey’s vulnerable teenagers
4) Supermarket Gift Cards for local supermarkets for B@titude clients.
No homemade and second-hand books in Jan: No stalls in January, but we will be back on Sun 4 Feb. Do pop in and see us then for some home baking and our popular Christmas Present Amnesty. In the meantime, the books are also displayed at the Community Café on Monday mornings. We continue to raise money for Homework Clubs and Apprenticeships in Nairobi’s slums throughout the year. So far this year we have raised £1,893.48.
New Year’s Day – Sun 1 Jan: Reminder that there is only a said Communion Service at 9am that day.
The Community Fridge and Coffee Shop will be closed on Mondays 26th December and 2nd January and will re-open on Monday 9th January.
Rota Unavailability Feb-May: Please enter your unavailability on ChurchSuite for Feb to May inclusive. This is extremely helpful when building the next lot of rotas. Things may well change but it’s easy to swap, but if you know of holidays or diary commitments already it makes it much easier to see any clashes.
Christingle Food Thank You: The Families Team would like to thank everyone who donated food for the supper after the Christingle. The tables looked amazing that the food was hugely appreciated by everybody who came.
Candlelit Carols: A huge thank you to everybody who contributed in so many ways to the service and the refreshments in the hall afterwards. It was wonderful and it even snowed, making us all feel very Christmassy!
Other information
Bishop Jo’s Leaving Service – Sat 14 Jan 2023, 3pm: Bishop Jo warmly invites you to her leaving service, at the cathedral. At this celebration they shall be thanking God for Bishop Jo’s time in Guildford and looking hopefully to the future. Bishop Jo is keen for the service to be one that reflects her heart for global mission and a chance for the diocese to come together to pray. There will be refreshments served after the service. Please register on the Eventbrite link if you intend to attend, so that we can ensure there all can join in the celebrations.
CAP Quiz – Sat 25 Feb 2023: Pop this one in your diary and start pulling your dream team together! CAP will be holding a fundraising quiz night in Dorking for their Mole Valley debt centre. Teams of up to 8 players. More details, including how to enter, will be out in January.
Next Bulletin will be published mid Jan. Karen will be taking annual leave over Christmas and will be back in the office on Mon 9 Jan.
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity will be between Wednesday 18-25 January 2023. This is morning prayer hosted by the local churches from 8.30am each morning for 30 minutes except Saturday which will be at 9am. More details to follow.
Prayers
We continue to pray for those who are unwell: Lynn Alsop, Fay Burroughs John Cooper, Elaine Mead, Graham Hill, Vera Cameron and Anais Featherstone.
We remember Don Lamberth who passed away earlier this month and pray for his family at this sad time
Please also pray for June Williamsin residential care.
We welcome you to join us at St Mary’s:
Monday Morning Prayers : 8:00-8:30am
Saturday Morning Prayer : 9:00-9:30am
Private Prayer in Church : Monday to Saturday 09:00 -16:00
Usual Sunday Services
8am Communion Service : said Book of Common Prayer
9:30am Communion Service : sung Common Worship
11:15am Worship Service : no longer live-streamed
Also Communion Service at 10am every Thursday.
Diary Dates:
Check your MyChurchSuite to see what’s going on and to get more details or prebook. Here’s a brief summary:
Sun 18 Dec – Carols at The Bell, 6pm (under the canopy with heaters)
Sat 24 Dec – Crib Service, 4pm
Sat 24 Dec – Midnight Service, 11.15pm
Sun 25 Dec – Christmas Celebration 10am
2023
Sun 1 Jan – Said Communion Service 9am only
Wed 4 Jan – Bereavement Café, 10-11.30am
Sun 8 Jan – Vision Sunday – Adaptability
Sun 8 Jan – no Homemade Stall and Secondhand Books
Mon 9 Jan – Community Fridge & Coffee Shop returns
Fri 13 Jan – Messy Church, 3:30-5:30pm
Wed 18 – Thurs 25 Jan – Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
Sat 21 Jan – Who Let The Dads Out?!
Sat 28 Jan – Afternoon Tea, 3-4.30pm
Sat 25 Feb – CAP Quiz Night in Dorking
Weekly Regulars
Mondays – Community Fridge 10-11am (not open on Bank Holidays)
Mondays – Community Coffee Shop 10-11.30am (not open on Bank Holidays)
Running in Term Time
Mondays – The Drop-In (School Yrs 7-13) 4-5.30pm
Tuesdays – Youth Night (School Yrs 7-13) 7.30-9pm
Fridays – Footprints Baby & Toddlers 10-11.30am
Friday – Messy Church (all the family) 2nd of the month 3.30-5.30pm
Sundays – Activ8 for under 11s and Sunday Youth for 11+ during 11.15 service
Thank you from Foodbank for all the wonderful support and generosity. It has been so busy at all their centres this month and your continued help is essential as they seek to respond to those who are most affected by the cost-of-living crisis.
In November they fulfilled 281 vouchers to feed 848 people. There was a sharp increase in first-time users at their Foodbank centres.
If you arrange supermarket deliveries direct to them, thank you. They appreciate receiving donations this way. Do let them know if you’ve booked a delivery so that they can let their volunteer team know when to expect it.
They are running low on: Shaving foam (urgent), washing-up liquid (urgent), Tinned vegetables, tomato ketchup, squash, cereal
They would also appreciate any bags for life/very strong bags/Christmas Bags for Life
Please, no more of these items: pasta, pulses, non-dairy milk, peanut butter, baby wash.
Please use our supermarket donation points or bring donations directly to us at Epsom & Ewell Foodbank, Good Company Hub, behind West Ewell Primary School, Ruxley Lane, Ewell KT19 0JG
They are open for donations Monday – Friday, 9am-2pm
Please ensure donations are sealed, in date and do not contain alcohol.
Many thanks for all your support
Rev Pouya Heidari: rector@stmarysfetcham.org.uk 01372 375660 (day off Friday)
Parish Office : office@stmarysfetcham.org.uk 01372 375000 (Mon-Fri 9-12)
Keep up to date with St Marys:
Website: www.stmarysfetcham.org.uk
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stmaryschurchfetcham/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/StMarysFetcham
My ChurchSuite: Log in
Hearing Aid Supplies: contact Jacky on 01372 602092 or family.breadmore@gmail.com
Editor – office@stmarysfetcham.org.uk
Registered Charity No. 1128915