Sadly the Palm Sunday procession and service have had to be cancelled thanks to the dire weather we are experiencing this weekend. We apologise for any disappointment.
A big ‘thank you’ to everyone who contributed to making the Chilli Evening with the “Auction of Promises” such a huge success. It was a really enjoyable evening, mainly as a result of the wonderful food and drink, followed by the excellent performance of our auctioneer who succeeded in persuading people to bid generously (and occasionally unwittingly!) for the many items up for auction. We were delighted to welcome friends from Winwick and to be able to “get our own back” – in the nicest possible way! The evening raised the staggering sum of over £2000 for church funds.
None of this would have happened but for the hard work of Mary Read, Sue Shepherd, Jane Edwards, Anthea Keck and all the team who organised the event. Yet this effort would have been for nothing had not the evening received the tremendous support it did from people far and wide.
Once again thank you to everyone for your time, generosity and support.
Revd Mary Jepp, Lois Jordan & John DeVal
Blast away the winter blues with a night of chilli and tequila, and auction of promises, at the village hall on Saturday 26th January.
The bar opens at 7pm, followed by a chilli meal (mince or veggie option if you prefer), and then the bidding begins!
Tickets cost £7.50, price includes entrance and evening meal; contact Sue Shepherd, tel: (01832) 293479; email: shepnsue@btinternet.com
In aid of St Michael’s Church.
Look out for the posters!
Due to the recent continuous deluge, it was decided that this year the Giddings Wassail celebrations would be run in a slightly different format.
Avoiding the mud
This not only prevented participants from being sucked into the cold and unwelcoming mud of the Jubilee Wood and the allotments, but also meant we could all keep relatively upright in the warmth of the village hall. It all depended on how much mulled cider you had of course.
A car park wassail
Refreshments including homemade nibbles, and beer and cider went down very well and we finally remembered to berate one of the crab apple trees in the car park which should bring us all a plentiful supply of jam next year even if we don’t get any eating apples.
The Giddings Bard
The highlights of the evening included another very eloquent poem from the Giddings Bard, our very own Paul Burgess, who was able to make us smile and nod our heads at the memories of 2012 and that took some doing!
It was amazing to see how quickly recipients of a table tennis bat took to the challenge and almost as quickly remembered the excesses of Christmas as they staggered back to their seats for some light refreshments and bottled oxygen.
Could the Wassail evening encourage the return of the table tennis club we wonder????
Sue Jarvis, January 2013
The big clean out
Townsend Pond or the Horse Pond as it is known in the village had reached crisis point. Almost completely silted up and giving off a foul smell when the water was low, it was becoming a bit of an environmental hazard. Long gone are the days when you could just get a gang organised and clear it out. Forms have to be filled in,notifications given and other ponderous red tape hurdles jumped.
Pond cleaning comes way down the list on priorities for any level of local government or agency so step in the Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire Wild life Trust along with some determined Parish councillor activity and you get a result courtesy of a Lottery Environmental Grant for £10,000. Certain criteria had to be met and managed but the result is a clean deep pond with a vibrant wildlife habitat and a viewing platform for serious pond dippers.
The work was carried out by Lattenbury Services who did a first class job.
A couple of thing of particular note were the benign weather conditions in January 2011 when the project started. No rain, the pond already low because of previous dry weather and the sunny days whilst the work was undertaken.
The second point was the remarkable cobble base that had been laid in previous times. When it was done, nobody’s quite sure but it was a sturdy piece of work and the lads carrying out the work this time were careful not to break this surface.
Another fact about Townsend Pond is that it used to stretch right to the road edge with a modest single rail wooden fence as the barrier. The pond was partially filled by using excavated soil when Great Gidding was put on to Mains Sewage in the late 1960’s.
Christingle service
Our annual Christingle Service takes place in St Michael’s Church on Saturday 15th December, starting at 4pm.
The Christingle story
Whilst the Christingle has its origin in the Moravian church, the idea of the three poor children who took their decorated orange to church as a Christmas gift for Jesus has been adopted by churches worldwide.
The three children, who were very poor, wanted to give a gift to Jesus, like the other families at church were doing. The only nice thing they had was an orange, so they decided to give him that. The top was going slightly green, so the eldest cut it out, and put a candle in the hole. They thought it still looked dull, so the youngest girl took her best red ribbon from her hair and attached it round the middle with toothpicks. The middle child had the idea to put a few pieces of dried fruit on the ends of the sticks. They took it to their church on Christmas Day, and whereas the other children sneered at their meagre gift, the priest took their gift and showed it as an example of the true understanding of the meaning of Christmas.
Make your own Christingle
Children (and mums and dads) are invited to come to the church at 3.30pm to help make the Christingles. Don’t worry if you cannot come before the service, there will be Christingles available at the service.
Avoid the Boxing day sales, do something you’ll enjoy !
A long distance walk (approx 15 miles) has been organised for Boxing Day which happens to be Thursday 26th December 2013.
Start point is the Village hall car park
Start time 9am
Allow yourselves 5 to 6 hours for the walk duration and bring drink and snack lunch.
This is a reconnaissance walk for a longer LDWA walk in March 2014. I can promise you a modest walking pace, I dont do fast.
For further details use the contact email below.
Advent Carol Service, St Michael’s Church
Tapestry chamber choir, CambridgeshireWe are delighted to welcome the return of the choir “Tapestry” for our Advent carol service, which provides a prelude to the coming festival of Christmas. Besides carols sung by the choir, there will be an opportunity to sing the great Advent hymns.
At the start of the service, another candle will be lit on the Advent Wreath. The Advent wreath is a Christian tradition that symbolizes the passage of the four weeks of the season of Advent. The wreath is a horizontal evergreen wreath with four candles (three purple and one pink) and a fifth, white candle in the centre. Beginning with the First Sunday of Advent, a candle is lit. An additional candle is lit during each subsequent week until, by the last Sunday before Christmas, all four candles are lit. The fifth white candle in the centre will be lit at the Midnight Communion on Christmas Eve in St Michael’s Church.
Our Advent Carol Service takes place on Sunday 9th December starting at 6pm.
As if the weather hasn’t been gloomy enough this year, the onset of the clocks going back will compound this feeling. So why not join the Monday Night Meander’s for our weekly walk around the Luddington Loop. Its 3.3 miles and takes an hour and ten minutes at a very sedate pace. We meet outside the shop at 6.55 pm for a prompt 7 pm start.
You may need a torch as the road up to Rectory Farm is a bit rough (surface wise) Only a monsoon or a blizzard will stop the walk otherwise come along.
The first one is on Monday 29 th of October and every Monday evening through to March 2013
For Cable Laying
The main road (B660) has been temporarily closed so that BT engineers can work safely by the roadside at the long blind bend near the Recreation Field and the blind hump near Oak Tree Corner. This closure is for daylight working hours only and full access to properties and emergency vehicles is still possible.
