VICAR S LETTER setting himself aside and gesturing inwards towards the beautiful, numinous space of the church. Every blessing, Neil.

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1 VICAR S LETTER The weather has been improving of late, and at the time of writing the temperature is expected to be reaching the dizzy heights of 18 o C in the near future. You may not know this yet, but I am not a lover of warm weather, so when the mercury really starts to climb I can be rather miserable! With Spring in the air, it must be nearly time for the Archdeacon s Visitation once more. This takes place on Tuesday 22 nd May at St John s, Broughton. There the churchwardens will be sworn in and we will be encouraged by the Archdeacon s charge. On the following Sunday (6th June) those appointed to assist the wardens in their duties, namely the sidesmen and sideswomen, will be admitted to office in a short ceremony during our regular services. The work of a sidesperson is more than just handing out hymn books with a smile. Theirs is a ministry of welcome to all who enter in to God s house of prayer on a Sunday morning. I recently came across an article in the Church Times by a writer called Malcolm Guite, describing the recent funeral in Cambridge of an eminent astronomer and mathematician, Donald Lynden-Bell. This was said of Mr Lynden-Bell: As a sidesman he had always been a genial, kindly, welcoming presence, ushering people in, handing them their order of service setting himself aside and gesturing inwards towards the beautiful, numinous space of the church. Those magnificent words remind us of the essence of what it means to welcome people into church. And this ministry is not confined to the sidespersons. We are all called to enable others to tread gently into the presence of God, which may as readily be found within our little parish church as in some vast edifice in Cambridge or a grand cathedral. The world often seems a confusing and increasingly dangerous place. The church is not a refuge from all that, but it is a place where people may seek and encounter God, to find renewed strength. With our intention to open the church regularly on a Friday afternoon, more people will be able not only to visit this lovely building, but find themselves drawn towards the hope that comes through Christ. We may not always be sure how to tell people what our faith means, but it is an equally precious thing to help draw someone into the presence of God through a simple act of welcome Every blessing, Neil. 3

2 Annual Meetings. The Election of Churchwardens and Annual Parochial Church Meeting took place on Sunday 29 th April. Thank you to all who were able to take part in the meeting and special thanks to those who have taken up office as churchwardens, sidespersons and PCC members. Please do pray for all who hold office in any capacity at St Michael s, along with those who carry out important ministries often unseen by the majority. Open Church. We have now begun opening the church on a Friday afternoon from 2 till 4 pm (as referred to in this month s letter). The idea is that people will be welcomed in to make use of the church as a quiet space in which to pray, or perhaps just to come and appreciate the architecture and history of the building. On occasions, if things progress well, we might offer some refreshments, but to start with the plan is just to invite people in to enjoy the quiet space we offer. Further volunteers are still needed in order to ensure there are at least two stewards on duty at any one time. Please sign up if you are able to offer to help see the list in the porch. You will not be expected to do more than welcome people in and show them around where necessary. But as I say elsewhere in the parish letter, this is a valuable ministry, especially in today s troubled world. " Thy Kingdom Come " Thy Kingdom Come is a global prayer movement, which invites Christians around the world to pray, between Ascension and Pentecost (this year May 10th - 20th) for more people to come to know Jesus Christ. What started as an invitation from the Archbishops of Canterbury and York for the Church of England to be involved, has grown into an international and ecumenical call to prayer. We are invited to the launch of Thy Kingdom Come in Blackburn Cathedral at 7.30 pm on May 9th, culminating with a service with Churches Together in Longridge and District on Sunday May 20th, 6.30 pm at St Lawrence Church, Longridge Lent Lunches Thank you to those who supported the Churches Together Lent Lunches this year. Thanks to the generous donations we were able to send 672 each to Christian Aid and C.A.F.O.D. 4

3 FAF Meeting Monday 21 st May, 7.30pm, 204 Preston Road On Monday 21 st May we will be planning the Garden Party and other events planned for the summer months. A very warm welcome awaits. Please join us. Garden Party, Saturday 16 th June, 1pm. The Garden Party will take place on Saturday, 16 th June at 1pm. Having practised their dance moves for many months, the school children will be performing their dance routines, the culmination of hours of rehearsal. If you can volunteer your services in any way, please sign the list at the back of church. We are hoping that there will be the usual much loved stalls. In addition, if you have any new ideas, please contact one of the FAF committee or message Jayne Woollam. Car Wash Saturday 30 th June Following on from the huge success of last year s car wash, organised by James Cowell and the Cowell family, another car wash morning has been planned for Saturday 30 th June. The event raises much needed funds and you will leave the carpark smiling and with your car gleaming. More details to follow! Open Gardens Saturday 14 th July On Saturday 14 th July, at least 6 breath-taking private gardens in Grimsargh will be opening for the Church. The day is very much at the planning stage. If you are interested in opening your garden or just helping on the day, it would be greatly appreciated if you could attend the FAF meeting on Monday 21 st May. On the day, you will be able to visit beautiful Grimsargh gardens which are not generally open to the public. There will be a treasure hunt for the children, stalls and quizzes. Afternoon teas will be served at the end of the visit. Tickets are 5 per adult and 1 for children; the price includes refreshments. This is our first Open Gardens event, featuring some of the finest gardens in Grimsargh. Please contact Jayne Woollam if you think that you can help in any way. Family BBQ Saturday 28 th July, 2018 After the great success of the family BBQ last year, FAF is organising another family BBQ. It will take place at 204 Preston Road. There will be something for all the family, including a quiz, delicious BBQ food and children s and adult s games. Please put the date in your diaries. A signing up list will be placed at the back of church. More details to follow. 5

4 MOTHERS UNION We were very fortunate that Mick Baines was able to step in at short notice for our March meeting. The presentation he gave was "Everest Base Camp, Renjo La and Cho La passes". On taking retirement, he decided to go on a grand trek up to the Everest base camp. He joined a group of trekkers in Kathmandu and spent time there acclimatising to the altitude as it is about 4600 feet above sea level. This gave him the opportunity to see the city and its people, but also the damage that had been inflicted on this area by the earthquake of The group flew to Lukla, and with two Sherpa guides and two porters set off on the trek. They had been briefed on the importance of water and were recommended to drink up to twelve litres a day, which meant carrying the water and the purification tablets as well as their kit. In order to acclimatise to the ever greater altitudes, the group would trek to a higher level, and then go down and sleep in lodges at a lower level, all through the trip. The photographs we were shown were fantastic, of breathtaking scenery, of juniper and rhododendron forests, of monasteries, of rope bridges that the group had to transverse, as well as yak dung stoves and heating water using the sun's reflection. You cannot actually see Everest from the base camp, so Mick and his group went a little farther to Kala Patthar, where they gained a close up view of the mountain. By giving us such an excellent presentation, Mick, took us on the journey with him to see Mount Everest, thank you! Dates for your diary Thursday May 10th. Ascension day service in church at 6.30pm, followed by our 87th birthday party in school, Jacob's Join please, and a flower arranging demonstration by Anne Seed. All welcome! Please remember in your prayers, especially at this time, all those families affected by conflict, to give then strength and hope. God s blessings, Catherine. 6

5 SCHOOL REPORT Our Summer Term has started off well with lots of exciting things to look forward to as well as a lot of hard work to get through! We are delighted to announce that we have had our Quality Mark status renewed for another three years. This is a national award, gained through the Education Authority, that focuses on high quality delivery of maths and English throughout the school. We continue to work hard towards all our academic targets and this term sees a lot of national testing occurring in school. May 14 th is the start of our Y6 SAT Week and May 21 st is the start of our Y2 SAT Week. Please keep the children and teachers in your prayers as they prepare for these important weeks. The rest of the school are also preparing for their end of year assessments too. However there is also much to look forward to! Y5 and Y4 have a number of different activities planned with Longridge High School. There a number of different sporting fixtures planned for the half term and this is reflected in the change of sports clubs on offer cricket, rounders and athletics to name just a few! We are also practising hard for our dancing for the annual Garden Party on June 16 th. We hope to see you there! One of the bigger projects we are undertaking this term is the Longridge Cluster Armistice Day Project. Along with most schools in the Longridge area we will be taking part in the project that will culminate in performances at the Guild Hall on Sunday November 11 th to mark the centenary of the end of the First World War. This follows on from the highly successful 2013 Forget Me Not project which was based around the events of World War Two. For further information please visit the Facebook page or if you wish to donate towards the cost of the project you can at One of the challenges set is to ask the Longridge community to help knit 19,240 poppies one for each soul lost on the first day of the Battle of the Somme. If you, or anyone you know, would like to take part and help with the knitting more information can be found at The project is still in its planning stages but I shall keep you updated with information as it becomes available With kind regards, Miss Jo Moss. Associate Headteacher. 15

6 JIGSAW CLUB For the children of St Michael s, Grimsargh. This month we will begin a new topic looking at the book of Acts. Pentecost is on 20 th May this year, so during our first session we will look at the story of Jesus ascension from Acts 1 and consider how the disciples felt watching Jesus go higher into heaven. How might we have reacted if we were there? After this we will look at how God sent his Holy Spirit to fill us with the power to spread the good news about Him. Our sessions will be on Sunday 13 th and 27 th May. I look forward to seeing you there! We meet on the 2 nd and 4 th Sunday of each month during the 10am service. New members always welcome! Contact Sue Holt sueandben.holt@tiscali.co.uk 16

7 CHURCH COLLECTIONS March 18th March 25th March 28th (Maundy Thursday) April 1st (Easter Day) April 8th FLOWER ROTA May 6th Vacant May 13th P and N Cowell May 20th B Croft and S Fisk May 27th Vacant SIDESPERSONS, READERS AND COFFEE ROTAS 8.30am 10.00am Communion Readers Coffee Assistant May 6th T Platt C Kelly S Cartmell S Cartmell J Eccleston M Buckley L Thompson May 13th B Mackley F Blatcher N Cowell B Croft J Woollam B Croft Vicar Nicole May 20th N Maudsley R Woollam Youth P Thompson R Buckley Reader L Fisk May 27th J Cowell K Thompson B Mackley J Eccles Alison J Eccles Vicar Danni CHURCH REGISTERS HOLY BAPTISM March 18th March 18th WEDDING March 31st Jesus said Let the children come unto me" Felicity Lily Garry Archie Oliver George Bal Wayne Creer and Suzie Hamilton 17

8 ST MICHAEL S DIARY DATES FOR MAY 4th 10.00am 11.30am Coffee Morning in Church 2.00pm pm Church Open 6th Easter am Holy Communion 10.00am Morning Worship 4.30pm Confirmation Class 9th 7.30pm Blackburn Catherderal - Launch of Thy Kingdom Come 10th Ascension Day 6.30pm Holy Communion in Church followed by the Mothers Union Birthday Party in School 11th 10.00am 11.30am Coffee Morning in Church 2.00pm pm Church Open 13th Easter 7 (Sunday after Ascension day) 8.30am Holy Communion 10.00am Holy Communion and Jigsaw Club. 2.30pm ' Music in the Afternoon ' Christ Church Longridge (Proceeds Christian Aid) 4.30pm Confirmation Class 16th am to 12noon Coffee Morning at Whitechapel 8.00pm Churches Together Meeting, St Lawrence, Longridge followed at 9.00 pm by Compline 17th 9.00am pm Longridge Market Coffee Day (Proceeds Christian Aid) 18th 10.00am 11.30am Coffee Morning in Church 2.00pm pm Church Open 20th Pentecost (Whit Sunday) 8.30am Holy Communion 10.00am Family Service 4.30pm Confirmation Class 6.30pm Ecumenical Service St Lawrence Church, Longridge 21st 7.30pm FAF Meeting, 204 Preston Rd. Grimsargh 22nd 7.30pm Archdeacon s Visitation at St Johns Broughton 25th 10.00am 11.30am Coffee Morning in Church 2.00pm to 4.00pm Church Open 27th Trinity Sunday 8.30am Holy Communion 10.00am Holy Communion and Jigsaw Club. 4.30pm Confirmation Class 30 th 2.00pm Mothers Union, Preston Deanery Festival, St Martins, Broadway NB All items for the June magazine to be given to Mrs Cowell by 10 th May 18