Hexham Abbey News. Volunteers Congregation Staff. Farewell to Jane. Christmas Services. Christmas Fair Countdown! Donations

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1 Farewell to Jane After 19 years of working for Hexham Abbey, there is not much about this place that Jane Musto does not know. Indeed, there are not many people she does not know and who do not know her. Jane started here as Parish Administrator in 1999, working with the then Rector Michael Nelson, and has lived through all the changes since, finally becoming our Events and Volunteer 26th November Manager. We are sad to say good bye to her as she leaves her post at the end of the year, and she is about to 2017 embark on the next exciting stage of life's journey for her. Did someone say India? However, there is a chance to say thank you and farewell properly to her on Sunday 14th January, after the 10am service. Any contributions to the Parish Office, please, where you will also find a book to sign with a little message from you to her. Volunteers Congregation Staff Hexham Abbey News Christmas Services Look out for the Hexham Abbey Christmas card with details of all the services taking place throughout Advent! There are a few new services, Sankta Lucia and the Children s Carol Service, as well as the Abbey s traditional choral services such as Choir and Candles for Advent and the Service of Nine Lessons and Carols. For families there is the Crib Service (with donkey!) and, new again this year, a Messy Christingle, a very special Messy Church gathering. Come along to the Community or the Dementia Friendly Carol Service, there really is something for everyone. Thank you in advance to all who will be playing a part in some way with any of these services. Your help, as always, is much appreciated. Thank you also to Joan Barker for the wonderful art work on the front this year s Abbey Christmas card. It shows the Abbey looking especially warm and welcoming in the snow. Also, just another reminder about Christmas tickets tickets for both services of Nine Lessons and Carols ( on Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th Dec) and the Children s Crib Service (3pm on Sunday 24th) will be ticketed this year. Tickets are free and unallocated and are available from the Hexham Abbey Gift Shop or from Chris Wilson, Church Warden, before or after 10am Sunday services. Christmas Fair Countdown! With just under a fortnight to go before the Christmas Fair your donations are urgently needed! We are down on last year s totals (see table) and with new categories this year (toys and sweetie jars) all your donations will go towards making each Abbey stall a success. Thank you to everyone who has donated items so far, this is much appreciated. Any donations to the Christmas Fair can be dropped off in the Parish Centre. Donations Countless jars of jams and chutney Boxed chocolates for the Tombola Bottles of any type and any contents Luxury Christmas hamper items All costume jewellery Cuddly toys of all shapes and sizes 27 Jars filled with sweeties 12 Cakes (just before the day of the fair)

2 Who s Who This week Margaret Massey tells us a little bit about herself! What is your name and how long have you been involved with the Abbey? My name is Margaret Massey and I m often refered to as Brian s wife and we have been worshiping in the Abbey for about 10 years. Before that we attended St Aidans United Reformed Church. What do you do in the Abbey? I don t have ay special role but I m very keen on welcoming visitors. I also love going to the Monday afternoon House Group. Can you describe a typical day in your life? For the last 27 years I have run a B&B business; so that s a lot of washing and ironing. What do you do outside the Abbey? Outside the Abbey I help raise funds for Muscular Dystrophy through the local branch that Brian and I started soon after we came to Hexham in 1969 What did you want to be when you were little? I wanted to be a girl groom but I actually went to Domestic Science Teacher Training College before becoming a Needlework teacher. When you re not working, what do you like to do in your spare time? I love walking Bertie our dog and enjoy walks around our home in the Shire. If you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be? Roast lamb, mint sauce and mashed potato, or a fresh laid boiled egg my Mum gave me after a long day in the saddle. oh and plums and custard. What's the most daring thing you've ever done? I went parapenting in Alpe d Huez. This involves skiing down a mountain, taking off with a parachute and landing some time later on the snow. (I was attached to a very dashing Frenchman!) What is your favourite childhood memory? Riding my pony round a cross country course and jumping fences at Pony Club Camp. ( My first kiss was behind the hay bales!) What three things do you hate the most? I hate people saying see you later or enjoy, or people who don t smile. Tell us a littleknown fact about yourself: Favourite things to wear are wellies, an old jacket and a pair of corduroy trousers. Congregation News ROYAL NORTHERN SINFONIA TICKETS The Abbey Gift Shop has a limited number of tickets to sell for the Northern Sinfonia Baroque Christmas Concert on Tuesday 12th December. If anyone would like a ticket pop into the Shop this week. Cash sales preferred. SUPPORT CRISIS There is a donation point for Crisis (charity supporting homeless people) in the Slype (inside old porch, Beaumont Street entrance) to support their work over Christmas. Items for the donation point include clothing (new or like new), dried food stuffs, and art and stationary materials. WANTED: SEWING ANGELS Help from a team of sewing angels is needed to complete the 40 costumes for singers in the Sankta Lucia service on Wednesday 13th December. Cut out pattern pieces will be provided. Please get in touch with David Ratcliff if you can help. CHRISTMAS FAIR VOLUNTEERS Wendy and Carol are looking for volunteers to help run the Abbey stalls and welcome visitors on Saturday 9th December. Anything from 2 hours to all day would be much appreciated! Get in touch with Wendy and Carol via the Parish Office. CAR PARK CLOSURE The car park will be closed on Saturday 9th December to everyone other than Christmas fair stall holders and volunteers.

3 Upcoming Events THIS SUNDAY It's November, its dark, its cold... time for a Hygge afternoon at the Abbey, starts 2pm. CHRISTIAN MEDITATION Two sessions left! The final two sessions of the Christian Meditation group will take place on Monday 27th November and Monday 4th December at 5.45pm in the Abbey. No previous experience needed, just come along on the night. SILVER SCREEN Thursday 30th November, 2.00pm This month s film will be The Wizard of Oz. Follow the yellow brick road all the way to the North Transept for cinema and scones! SCREEN@6 Saturday 2nd December, Get into the festive spirit with the Christmas classic It s a Wonderful Life. ADVENT A RECITAL FOR THE START OF ADVENT Saturday 2nd December, 5.45pm Stephen Halliday will be giving a recital of TS Eliot s Four Quartets in the Abbey to welcome in Advent this year. After this event, the Hexham Abbey poetry group will be meeting throughout Advent and continuing into to Epiphany, as they follow Malcolm Guite s anthology Waiting on the Word. For further information please contact Stephen Halliday, via the Parish Office on or by at hexhamabbeypoetry@mail.uk BIBLE SOCIETY ADVENT LUNCH Wednesday 6th December pm A short Advent Reflection followed by a simple lunch of soup, bread and cheese. No charge but donations welcome. To be held at St Mary's RC Church, Hexham. WELCOME YULE Tuesday 19th December, 7.30pm Trinity Methodist Church Hall Hexhambased chamber choir Antiphon will be supporting West Northumberland Food Bank with a prechristmas concert of good music and good company. There will be an interval with refreshments provided (no alcohol) and an opportunity to make additional cash donations during the evening. Tickets: 10 from Cogito Books, Hexham (from Friday 1st December) and at the door. All proceeds to boost WNFB s work over the Christmas season God With Us December may be a time of year when moments of peace and quiet reflection are in short supply. God With Us: Your Christmas Journey is designed to help you make the most of such moments whenever you can. It offers thirteen short and simple reflections to help you explore the message of so many Christmas readings and carols that God is with us. There is one for each day from Christmas Eve to New Year's Day, as well as one each for the four weeks of Advent. Each reflection is accompanied by a picture, a challenge and a short Bible reading to help you make connections between the Christmas story and your own life, and take the next step on your journey of faith. Available from the Abbey Welcome Desk and also in the shop at 3. Posada: A Community Advent Countdown! Make room for the meaning of Christmas! Mary and Joseph, and the donkey, are travelling through our parish this Advent. Can you give them a room for a night? Posada is a South American Christmas tradition. The word is Spanish for lodging or accommodation. In Mexico and Guatemala, two young people dressed as Mary and Joseph travel from house to house in the last days of Advent, asking for a room for the night, telling people about the imminent arrival of Jesus. In Hexham, we shall have figures of Mary and Joseph, and, of course, the donkey, setting off from the Abbey on Advent Sunday, 3rd December. They will travel around Hexham, staying at a different home every night and will finally take their place in the Abbey crib on the morning of Christmas day to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Join in as this part of the prechristmas story crisscrosses the Abbey community. Sign up sheet available TODAY. Journey begins Advent Sunday, 3rd December.

4 Sunday 26th November 8.30am Holy Communion Christ the King President & Preacher Michael Jackson 10.00am Parish Eucharist President Dagmar Winter Reader Shelagh Carter Preacher Michael Jackson Intercessor Rachael HaywoodSmith Readings Ezekiel 34:1116, 2024; Matthew 25:31end Setting Schubert in G Organ Langlais Fête Motet Bairstow Let all mortal flesh Hymns Choral Evensong Officiant & Preacher Nigel Warner Reader David Ratcliff Readings 2 Samuel 23:17; Matthew 28:16end Psalm 100 Leighton Responses Canticles Blair in B minor Hymns Anthem Stainer How beautiful upon the mountains Organ Buxtehude Prelude, Fugue and Chaconne Abbey Services for the week beginning Monday 27th November 9.00am Morning Prayer and 5.00pm Evening Prayer (unless Choral Evensong) Tuesday 28th Nov 12.00pm Holy Communion Dagmar Winter Wednesday 29th Nov Thursday 30th Nov 10.15am Holy Communion Mary Warner Tots Praise Choral Evensong Matthew Hunter Holy Communion Matthew Hunter Prayer Group (Elizabeth Fish tel ) Choral Evensong Matthew Hunter Saturday 2nd Dec Light Up a Life Sunday 3rd December Advent Sunday 8.30am Holy Communion President & Preacher Matthew Hunter 10.00am Abbey Praise: A Taize inspired Eucharist for Advent Led by Dagmar Winter 12.00pm Holy Communion Book of Common Prayer President & Preacher Matthew Hunter Choir and Candles for Advent Led by Dagmar Winter & Matthew Hunter For Your Prayers We pray for those who are unwell or who have asked for our prayers: Edna O Neil, Sheila Jackson, Yvonne Roberts, Doreen Beniams, Peter Barclay, Christopher Brown. We pray for those who have died and all those who mourn: Betty Gibson, Paul Tully, Kathleen Akhurst. CHRISTMAS TICKETS Both Services of Nine Lessons and Carols (23rd and 24th Dec, ) and the Children s Crib Service (24th Dec, 3pm) will be ticketed this year. You can collect your free tickets from the Gift Shop. Contact the Parish Office: /admin@hexhamabbey.org.uk

5 Advent & Christmas 2017 December 2017 Sunday 3rd Choir and Candles for Advent Saturday 9th 102pm Hexham Abbey Christmas Fair Wednesday Sankta Lucia Thursday 14th 2.00pm Women s Institute Carol Service Friday 15th 11.00am Dementia Friendly Carol Service Sunday 17th Thursday 21st 11.00am Community Carol Service Saturday 23rd Sunday 24th A Messy Christingle Children s Carol Service Service of Nine Lessons and Carols** Joint Parish Eucharist Children s Crib Service** Service of Nine Lessons and Carols** 11.30am Midnight Communion of the Monday 25th 8.30am Holy Communion for Christmas Day 10.00am Family Festive Eucharist for ** These services are ticketed to avoid overcrowding and to ensure everyone s safety, comfort and enjoyment. Tickets are free and unallocated and are available after Sunday services or from the Abbey Gift Shop. If you no longer need your ticket please return it to the Gift Shop so that someone else may make use of it. Thank you.