This year our procession, on Sunday 25th March, welcomes another donkey called William. We meet in the car park of the “Fox & Hounds” at 11am, and process down the road to St Michael’s Church for a short service. Refreshments will be available after the service, and everyone is very welcome.
Our thanks to Chris & Henry Hill for the loan of William.
This year our Service of Remembrance at St Michael’s Church on Sunday 12th November takes place in the late afternoon at 5pm. The Sawtry Branch of the British Legion will be in attendance, and the service will be taken by Revd Mandy Flaherty. Before the service, the restored Roles of Honour will be re-dedicated. These were subject to water damage as a result of the lead theft from the roof.
There will be no morning service.
A few aerial views of St Michael’s Church and Main Street in Great Gidding taken on one of the few still days in October 2017.
(Everyone welcome to either or both)
• Please bring cake or biscuits to share
• Beverages provided
• Outside seating in fair weather
Any queries please contact Mrs Purllant on 01832 293943 / clarabeth@hotmail.com
We are fortunate in having a willing team of people who regularly mow the churchyard. However there is a limit as to how close the mowers can get to gravestones and the church building. So we need someone who can devote some time to strimming around the gravestones etc. in the churchyard. If you can help please contact either John De Val (293417) or Michael Keck (293357).
The Tuesday morning services of Matins on 8th, 22nd and 29th August are cancelled – services will resume again in September. However the scheduled service of Holy Communion will take place on Tuesday 15th August at 8am.
The Induction of Revd Mary Jepp took place at Holy Trinity Church, Kilmarnock on Thursday 15th June. A number of people from the Benefice travelled north to attend.
The church was packed for the service taken by the Bishop of Glasgow & Galloway. Besides Mary’s parishioners and members of other churches, the Provost (Mayor to you and me) of Kilmarnock and the local MP attended. After the service, there was an amazing spread in the church hall attached to the church, and we ‘Sassenachs’ were made to feel very welcome. We were left in no doubt as to the warmth of a community in very different surroundings from ours, and feel Mary and Mike will be very happy in this new chapter of their lives.
The two pictures reflect two aspects of the evening. The first might be said to show the formal Mary, with the Bishop. The second shows the real Mary with two of her new parishioners.
Michael Keck
The Revd Mary Jepp’s final service took place on Sunday 21st May at St Michael’s Church. The service was one of Choral Evensong. We were delighted to welcome back “Divers Voyces” to lead the music, and they sang settings by Bruckner, Morales, Holst and Peter Phillips. The organist, appropriately, was Paul Herring, one of Lois Jordan’s sons.
Before the service Mary re-dedicated the organ in memory of Lois, whose legacy paid for the additional work to be done. After the service, Mary Read made a presentation to Mary of a book on Icons and a cheque for £450. After the presentation, the two Mary’s were seen dancing down the nave together like the conclusion of a Morcambe & Wise Show. An appropriate ending, which highlighted the joy and happiness that Mary Jepp brought to her ministry in our community.
We wish Mary and Mike every success and happiness in the latest chapter of their lives, about to start in Kilmarnock.
Michael Keck
José Hopkins (Diocese of Ely Organ Advisor) will give a short talk about the organ builder Denman of York, following which Stephen Barber (Kings Cliffe Parish Church) will give a 50 minute recital demonstrating to advantage the work recently completed on our own organ.
Light refreshments
Free Admission – there will be a retiring collection.
Work is in progress on the Denman organ in St Michael’s Church to achieve what might be termed “the completion” of the instrument. When the organ was built in the late nineteenth century; like today, money was obviously tight for the then congregation (nothing changes!). Accordingly certain things weren’t included, and this work seeks to remedy those omissions.
The work – being carried out by E J Johnson & Son (Cambridge) Ltd – has three elements:
It is with thanks to Lois Jordan for her legacy which has enabled this work on the organ to be carried out.
