Author: admin

Grenfell Fire Disaster – what can we do?

14/06/2017
The Grenfell Tower fire is very much on my mind today. Mark O’Donoghue, who was my neighbour when I was training to be a vicar, is Dean of Kensington, and he’s been interviewed several times on the news today, helping co-ordinate the response by the churches in the area. (Also in the Daily Mirror).
Anyway, it set me thinking about the best way to give a financial gift to help those who have lost all they own. Someone has already set up a Justgiving page, which as I write has already raised over £250,000.
However Justgiving accounts aren’t charities, so generally aren’t gift-aidable. So if you’d like to give a gift online, and have the government top it up with Gift Aid (turning a £25 donation into £31.50), then a better way to give is either through:

In the meantime, please be praying for those who have been injured, or who are mourning loved ones. Pray for the fire service and healthcare professionals working beyond the point of exhaustion to save lives. And pray for the Health and Safety Executive who will no doubt have to investigate the situation and make recommendations on how we can better build in the future.

Music Programme at St Peter and St Paul, Upton, April-July 2017

06/03/2017

Music at St Peter and St Paul, April – July 2017

Saturday April 8th 7.30 pm Hanley Voices – A Celebration of 25 Years. Will Todd – Mass in Blue

Friday April 14th 7.30 pm Philomusica present a programme for Good Friday including Bob Chilcott’s ‘Requiem’.

Wednesday April 19th 12.30 pm Organ Recital by Simon Dinsdale, organist at The Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst.

Saturday May 13th 7.30 pm The Arrow Valley Band are joined by the Church Choir and Jayne Swann (soprano).

Monday May 29th 2.00 pm Upton Choral Festival.

Sunday June 11th 6.00 pm Choral Evensong Upton Church Choir.

Saturday July 1st 7.30 pm Philomusica present a Summer programme.

 

Tickets are available from Hanley Voices and Philomusica for their events and from members of the Upton Parish Church Choir for The Arrow Valley Band concert.

A date for your diary: Saturday September 30th in St Peter and St Paul – Come and Sing Mozart’s Requiem.

Beer & Ethics

27/02/2017

Join us for Beer and Ethics!

What? – A chance for some grown-up discussion on issues that people encounter every day in their professional lives.

Who with? – Members of our own community and wider church

Where? St Mary’s Church heated Lechmere Chapel, with a beer in the hand (or a glass of wine) a

When?  Starting 8pm, then from 9.00pm in the Three Kings afterwards for further chat.

Why? Traditionally Lent is time for reflection and thought, and discussion , so why not?

Topics and Dates

Wednesday 8th March PROFESSIONAL SPORT
Peter Walton, Scottish Rugby, Newcastle RC coach English U18 Coach & Manager

Monday 13th March CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Sir Nicholas Lechmere, High Sheriff for Worcestershire

Monday 20th March THE CHURCH, MARRIAGE, and SEXUALITY
An opportunity to discuss the outcome of General Synod with Sue Adeney, member of General Synod.

Tuesday 28th March PLANNING & HOUSING
Mrs Nickie Inchbald Group Chair Rooftop Housing Assoc

Thursday 6th April MEDICAL ETHICS LIVING ORGAN DONATION
The Rt Revd Graham Usher, Bishop of Dudley and board member of the Human Tissue Authority

Everyone is welcome!

Lent Events

21/02/2017

This year, Lent begins on Wed 1 March.

To mark the beginning of Lent we’ll be holding three Ash Wednesday services across our family of churches – hopefully there will be time to suit you!

10:00 Upton
18:00 Hanley Castle
19:30 Earls’ Croome

 

 

We’re also going to be running two lent courses this year, one on a Monday morning and the other on a Monday lunchtime.

The Monday morning course will run at 10am, in Naunton, at the home of Richard Rand (see the calendar for details.)

The Monday lunchtime course will run at 12:30pm in Welland, at the home of Linda Bedford (again see calendar for details). Linda will provide lunch as part of this.

Each session will be exploring big topics of life, what we truly value about it, and how happiness can ultimately be found.

 

  • Session 1 The Good God
  • Session 2 The Trustworthy God
  • Session 3 The Generous God
  • Session 4 The Liberating God
  • Session 5 The Fulfilling God
  • Session 6 The Life-Giving God
  • Session 7 The Joyful God

To enable us to squeeze a 7-part course into the six weeks of Lent, we’ll probably run session 7 on Tuesday 11 April (details to be confirmed).

For a taster of the materials we’ll be using, click the video link here:

God, Science and a Post-Truth Nativity

23/12/2016

If you spend any time on social media, reading the comments of what policy-makers like to call “opinion formers”, you will encounter many furrowed brows. There is grave concern about the times in which we live. Our problems apparently stem from ignorant people voting the wrong way on the basis of being misinformed about the facts. They’ve been given “fake news” invented by mud-slinging liars. Or, worse, they’ve looked at true facts and are unmoved or unconvinced. Surely facts should end any debate?

This state of affairs should be no great surprise. We have been living in a society which has been rejecting absolute truth for decades. It began in academia with post-modernism, and so slowly spread to the rest of our culture. Truth with a capital “T” has been undermined for decades. So now when presented with facts, why shouldn’t people shrug or ignore what has been put in front of them?

Moreover, when Truth is demoted or destroyed, what do we expect to emerge other than lies? Our media lies, telling lies about our leaders who in turn lie to the media, sometimes about the media and other things too. It is clear that our nation has never been hungrier for truth.

[This is part of an article by James Cary at www.thegoodbook.co.uk You can read the rest here.]

Christianity Explored

14/12/2016

No matter where you are on your journey with Jesus -whether you’re just setting out or whether you’ve been on the road for ages – we want to help and encourage you to grow deeper.

A great place to start is by getting to know Jesus in his own words, straight from the gospel of Mark. We call this: Christianity Explored – a course for anyone who wants to investigate Christianity informally with a group of other people.

We’ll be starting early in 2017, and depending on the number of people signing up may run more than one course at different times in the day. When booking onto the course, please let us know whether daytime or evening is best for you.

To find our more visit our Courses page.

Remembrance Sunday 2016

29/10/2016

Remembrance Sunday – 13 November

We have three opportunities across our churches to give thanks to God for those who have given so much for our freedom.

On the east side of the river, there’s a Remembrance Sunday service at St Mary’s Church in Ripple at 10:50am.

In the Hanley’s and Welland, our service is at Hanley Swan Church at 10:50am.

And in Upton and the Hook, our service is at Upton Parish Church, beginning at 10:45am. This will be a joint service with our partners in Upton Churches Together.

Please join us at any of the services.

Baptisms and Weddings?