Carol Service 2009

What an amazing Carol Service we enjoyed this year at St Catherine's!

The church looked resplendent, with candles and trees on every window, and with the main Christmas Tree dominating from its now customary place in the pulpit. Nearly 400 people crammed into the building to join with us in the annual Pontypridd Carol Service - this year joined by Cllr Rob Smith, mayor of RCT, who made it his Civic Carol Service too.

The choir sang two pieces composed by Marcus, one especially for this service - a lovely, elegaic piece about Mary's feelings on being the mother of Jesus.Julie Davies and Esther Sowerby took solo parts in the other. Our usual musicians were joined by Evan and Chris, two members of MGQ, to add a little jazz feel to a couple of the congregational carols, and everyone sang with great enjoyment.

All the readers represented different strands of Pontypridd life, from the Rugby Club to health care, from the Market Company to the High School, as well as prayers from Revd Simon Walkling of St David's Uniting Church, and of course we had the choir from Ysgol Evan James add their own songs as well - including Stori'r Preseb, fast becoming a modern Welsh classic.

Marcus rounded the evening off with a moving reminder of the love of God "for all and for always" at the heart of Christmas, and then we adjourned to the Church Hall for mince pies and sherry as guests of the mayor of RCT.

On Christmas Eve we will be back for Midnight Communion at 11.30pm, with a wonderful Family Christmas Celebration at 9.30am on Christmas Day: come and join us!

Christmas Present!

Our application to the Big Lottery Fund has been successful!

We asked for £104,066 to complete our fund for salaries for the children's worker (St Catz Kidz) and senior worker (St Caths Plus) and the Big Lottery have granted us £109,106 - because they say we made an error in our National Insurance calculations, and so we need slightly more than we thought.

How amazing! More than we asked for!

The Big Lottery Fund has been more than helpful throughout the whole process, and though the application process is not easy, they have been fair and several times asked us again to check details - right up to the last minute as they were making decisions. We found them excellent.

And of course we are really grateful - to them, to everyone who helped us in the course of the application, to all who wrote in support of us, to political voices across the spectrum, and to our God who answers prayer. This is the most wonderful Christmas present.

It means that both workers are now secured for three years - full time. And as we have only just begun the St Caths Plus project, this is especially exciting there. We shall take time to make sure we are making all the right decisions and hope to have further news on that front soon. Our aim as a church with these projects is to make people's lives better in every way we can, and we are thrilled that this grant makes the work we are doing secure for the foreseeable future.

Jane Davidson, our Assembly Member, is also delighted with this award. She says:
“I am delighted that the team at St Catherine’s has received this much needed funding, and look forward to seeing the great benefits the money will bring. I would like to offer my congratulations to all those involved, and would encourage anybody interested in the facilities on offer to pay a visit to St Catherine’s.”

Esther Sowerby, who headed up the fundraising, is pictured here with Revd Marcus Green, holding the cheque from the Big Lottery Fund. She also runs the St Caths Plus pilot project at the moment, and today, as the news is announced, is taking 30 of the members of that project on a trip to see the BBC National Orchestra of Wales at the Hoddinott Hall in Cardiff Bay.

Revd Marcus Green says: "Over the first term of St Caths Plus project, up to seventy older people have benefitted from the work Esther and her volunteers have done - and that's from a project that has been running just two days a week. As we now consider how to make it full time, alongside Trish Tazzini-Lloyd and the very successful St Catz Kidz programme, we face an enormously exciting time. Jesus tells us to love God and to love our neighbour. We believe in caring for all in our community and hope these projects go some way to making life in Ponty better for many, many folk."

Christmas Programme Revealed

The 2009 St Catherine's Christmas Programme is now published! The annual postcard, with times of all the special services over the festive period, is available from the church free of charge.

The Christingle Service, our yearly children's Christmas preparation, is at 11am on December 13th. A joyful collection of songs and carols, with a reminder of the reason for the season - and this year a visit from Monty the Duck from the Meningitis Society which is the subject of our special Advent Collection. Badges will be given to all the children by Monty, as well as oranges & sweets for all!

The Pontypridd Carol Service is at 6pm on December 20th. This has become the essential Christmas service, with candles, carols, readings by members of our community, choirs, children, tradtional organ and a little jazz as well. Unmissable - but come early, as we will be packed to the rafters. There will be an offering for the Mayor's Charities, as Rob Smith, Mayor of RCT, has nominated this his Civic Service this Christmas.

Midnight Communion and Carols at 11.30pm on Christmas Eve is another favourite. The perfect way to usher in Christmas Day, with carols and in a party mood. This year we welcome back Revd Aled Edwards OBE, our very good friend, member of the All Wales Convention and the Wales Committee for the Equalities and Human Rights Commission, and most importantly Man United fan, as our preacher.

Christmas Family Celebration is at 9.30am on Christmas Day itself. This is a time for all the family - the youngest to the oldest - to come together and take an hour off from presents and cooking, and thank God for so many good things. Children are invited to bring a present with them and tell us about it, and then we focus on God's greatest gift - Jesus.

Around these, all our usual services take place as normal, but at St Catherine's we are always delighted to welcome in many guests and friends over the Christmas period. If you haven't been for a while - come and join us this Christmas, and remind yourself that Love is a gift from God that comes for everyone of us - no-one is left out.

Grant News

Last week, our AM, Jane Davidson, came to visit us in order to see the work we plan to do at the church hall, and to meet some of the crowd from St Caths Plus enjoying lunch there.

Jane was her usual self - engaging, thorough, wanting to know all the details and understand exactly what our project was about. Dr Thomas Pinhorn, who has been essential in previous conservation projects we have done on site, and who advised with our CFAP application, explained that angle, and vicar Marcus Green spoke about the community side of the project - what the renewed buildings will enable to happen in the community.

The folk from the lunch club joined in, and very much spoke of their support and asked Jane to help out.

Subsequently, Jane has written a tremendous letter to the deputy minister for regeneration at the Assembly, and we are very grateful to her both for coming to see us and for writing in support of what we are trying to achieve.

The waiting continues... Keep praying everyone!

Brand new PodCaths

The Wednesday crew have recorded a new edition of PodCaths - and it's a super edition, based on the healing of Bartimaeus at the end of Mark 10. To access it, go to the PodCaths page in the Media section of the St Catherine's website, or search "Podcaths Marcus Green" at iTunes if you haven't yet subscribed!

It really is a lovely episode, and thanks to all the regulars, and to Geraint for all the technical know-how that enables us to listen in.

Chiari Petition

A member of our church is soon to have neurosurgery to help with a Chiari Malformation from which he suffers. You may at this point be wondering what this is - and that's a reasonable question. Chiari Malformations (CMs) are structural defects in the cerebellum, the part of the brain that controls balance. And so the surgery will be serious, and we are praying for him, and look forwards to his treatment and recovery.

But he has asked that I sign a petition that asks the government to make information about the condition more readily available. The NHS websites contain little information about the condition, and sufferers not only have to face the illness but also the problems of communicating what it entails to families, friends - and of course employers, and that is once they have had the medical profession spot their symptoms and diagnose them accurately. It is not especially rare, but it does seem to lack focus, and the petition is asking that the oversight on the NHS websites is put right in order to help sufferers. I have gladly signed the online petition at the Prime Minister's Office. Here is the link - you fill the form in, then they send an email which you click onto and your name appears at the bottom of the petition.

If we can do some good for people who need help, we should. I encourage you to take two minutes now and make a difference.

Confirmed

So here are Joyce, James, Mary and Stephen after this morning's Confirmation service. It was a super occasion, with lots of St Catherine's folk joining the congregations of Llantrisant parish and St David's Hopkinstown for the Deanery Confirmation. There were also five candidates from St David's, and Archbishop Barry welcomed all of them reminding them that they are known to God by name and are each special in his sight.

In his sermon, he spoke of how our Gospel is good news of a God who loves all people irrespective of age, gender, background or place in society. He also told of a sermon he had heard in Washington which related an old Cherokee legend of a person containing two wolves that fought each other - one representing the greed and selfishness present in every person, the other representing love and generosity and care and compassion. Which wolf wins? "The one you feed". "But Christianity goes a step further," continued the Archbishop, reminding us that our spiritual life was not simply left to us to get right, but that God gifts us with his wonderful Holy Spirit to bring us the strength we need when we are in danger of feeding the wrong wolf.

The parish of St David's provided a lovely lunch afterwards, and it was a real pleasure to join with other folk from our area in worship, and to celebrate Jesus together!

If any member of St Catherine's wants to know more about confirmation, or is keen to develop their own faith further, we hope to be starting a new Alpha course in the New Year, so watch out for news of this here on the News Blog and in the notice sheet.

Confirmation Reminder

Just a quick reminder that this Sunday (October 25th) in addition to us all having an extra hour in bed (hooray!) because of the clocks, there is NO 11am service at St Catherine's: instead we will all be going to St David's Hopkinstown for the Confirmation Service, where Archbishop Barry will be confirming James & Joyce from the 11am service, and Stephen & Mary from the 6pm service.

Let's all be there to cheer them on and to pray for them! And also to hear what Barry has to say to us. It's good to listen to him and to come together as the wider Anglican church in the area for these services.

At 6pm we'll be holding a special informal communion, with Esther speaking, and perhaps we can encourage a few more than usual to come along and gather back at St Catherine's for this?

PodCaths fame spreads

Today we received an email from Bible Study Magazine, a magazine in the US that encourages people to engage in Bible Reading, telling us that they are running a short news item about PodCaths in their next issue. Here's what they wrote:

Hi, my name is Adam Navarrete from Bible Study Magazine, a bi-monthly publication based in Bellingham, WA, U.S.A, that has regular circulation of nearly, 15,000.

In our forthcoming November/December 2009 issue, which will have an expanded audience of nearly 65,000 readers, we have in place a story on St. Catherine’s “PodCaths” for our In the News section.

The headline reads, “Podcast Bible Study Fields Questions from around the Globe,” with the following story:

At St. Catherine’s in Pontypridd (north of Cardiff, Wales), people from as far as Orlando, Florida are participating in biblical discussions by listening to an audio podcast and submitting questions via email. Anglican vicar Marcus Green leads Bible reading and informal, unscripted discussions that are often filled with laughter. The podcasts, or “PodCaths,” as the group refers to them, are available on the church web site under News at St-Caths.org.

It's good to know that there are folk all over the place who share our love for Bible Study and enjoy our informal approach and fellowship! I've had a look at the magazine's website and read a few articles - & I think they look really excellent. Adam - thanks for contacting us, we're grateful for the interest & wish you well.

November 1st Guitar Concert with John Mills

Earlier in the year we hosted a superb concert with acclaimed classical guitarists John Mills and Cobie Smit. We are delighted to announce that John has asked to come and play here again! So clear your diaries for the afternoon of Sunday November 1st at 3pm and come and join us.

John Mills studied under John Williams as well as taking classes with Andres Segovia and Juliam Bream, and has a professorship at the Royal Academy of Music as well as his amazing work at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff. Both John and his wife Cobie have recorded for Radio and CD, and played for the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh.

Those who came last time will need no encouragement to return - it was a music making of the highest order; to everyone else, we simply say - come!

CFAP

So today Marcus & Esther delivered our second application to CFAP for a grant to help fund the project to renovate the Hall. 1276 names on a petition, 82 letters from members of the community, a conservation report from Thomas Pinhorn and all our hard work...

We are SO grateful to everyone in Pontypridd who uses the hall and to all who don't but appreciate the work we do there and who have got behind us for this. We think it will be a couple of months before we hear if we've been successful. We'll let you know as soon as we hear anything at all!

New PodCaths

We have some new PodCaths episodes now available online at the St Catherine's website, and at iTunes (where you should search for "Podcaths Marcus Green")! They were recorded at the end of September and beginning of October, and feature the regular bunch working their way through readings from St Mark's Gospel. If you use the St Catherine's link, do give QuickTime chance to download - it may take a minute or so - and if you use iTunes, why not subscibe? Hopefully there will be more in November!

Almost there!

Esther and Marcus are this week handing in the application to CFAP (Community Facilities and Activities Programme from the Welsh Assembly)for the first £300,000 of the money we need for our programme to restore the Hall so we can do far, far more for our community here in Pontypridd.

Thanks to all who have helped. The petition has 1,276 names on it - which we collected in a little over four weeks. In addition, we have received around 80 letters of support from local people and businesses stressing how important the work we do there is. Many of them use the hall themselves, or have family members who do. Then there's the Facebook page with over 200 members - that's ten times the number of people who've joined the church's Facebook page! - and we are so grateful to the whole community for getting on board with this project.

Ponty often comes across as a town filled with despair - an air if "you'll never do that here". It is fantastic to see that we can be part of something where people want to help change things for good - in this case, a hall, so that many, many people will have a place of community and life.

I'll finish for now with 2 anecdotes: one of the mums in one of our toddler groups said yesterday that she is not a religious person, but she found a better welcome at our toddler group than at any of the other ones she went to, and a better atmosphere and her daughter loves it. That'll do me. And secondly, we've had a Wednesday afternoon craft group for a while - parents whose toddlers are now at school. We've also started a group for retired people as part of the St Caths Plus programme on Thursday mornings. The Wedensday people have said - let's all meet on Thursdays, we'll learn from each other, and we think we can bring more people in. That's what we are about - that intangible thing called building community. That makes people's lives better. Young and old, finding a home here.

So now we take our application to CFAP and ask your prayers that this time we'll be successful!

Ignite Hope

Ignite Hope is a fantastic youth event aimed at both drawing young people together to worship & then demonstrating the power of their faith as they go and serve communities in South Wales with practical acts of love and care. Click on their website here for loads of details.

On Thursday this week - October 15th - they are holding one of the launch events for their 2010 event which will happen on the May Bank Holiday. There is a gathering for youth leaders at 11am in St Catherine's, and then an evening celebration open to anyone who wants to come along at 7.30pm. Why not come and find out what's happening and why?

New Website!

It's here! Not complete, so don't worry if you press buttons and nothing happens - we'll get it all working over the next few weeks - but our new website is up and running! Have a look at www.st-caths.org to see the brand new look. Tell us what you think!

Harvest

Harvest weekend at St Catherine's. Always time to stop and work out what there is to give thanks for - and there's always lots.

We had a lovely family gathering for Harvest, a super meal, with loads of people and great food, and again MGQ providing the music. Chris, Dan, George & Evan joined Marcus this week - Tom was moonlighting in another band, and this was the first time Evan has played with MGQ, though of course he's been with the big band that's played in church before. It was great fun. So good to enjoy the music as the family of the church came together. Lesley and her team (Rhian, Julie, Esther & Andy) made sure we were well fed & watered and the Harvest Casserole and Crumble were superb.

And on Sunday, we brought our harvest offerings for Support for Romania, as they prepare to go to help orphanages, hospitals, doctors, prisons and schools next month. In the midst of all the stuff that fills our daily lives, it's good to give thanks and just to give. To give to those who need. To share. Freely we have received, freely we give.

We had a lovely family in for a blessing of their baby in the service, and again, it's a joy to share with such a family the love of Jesus and to tell them of his great love for them. We thought of Jesus blessing the little children and remembered how he blesses all people, no-one excluded.

A great time of thanksgiving. A great Harvest.

St Catherine's at the Diocesan Festival

On the last Saturday of September, hundreds of people from across the diocese converged on the Merthyr leisure centre for our Diocesan Festival. St Catherine's was well represented: Esther and Trish face painted all day in the cafe, and Marcus had the jazz quartet playing for an hour in the morning.

It was a great success, with everyone able to see all kinds of activities happening from all kinds of churches. The jazz band was hugely enjoyed by many people, and will be appearing again soon at our Harvest Supper!

St Caths Plus

St Caths Plus is a new pilot project we have started this autumn to begin daytime groups for retired people in Pontypridd. There are free craft groups and keep fit groups so far, on Thursday and Friday mornings, and this is a photo of our first lunch, which is an initiative we hope to run at very low costs fortnightly through this term. As you can see, the first lunch was an extraordinary success - as well it might be, with our very own Lesley Wilson heading up the catering team!

St Caths Plus is for anyone who is retired and wants to do something extra - to spend time with friends, to meet new people, to try something new. We will have book clubs, afternoon concerts and much more coming over the weeks ahead. We believe that somethings get better with age - people being one of those things. And that God loves everyone, so we will try to do something for everyone.

When we say they church is a family, we don't mean "it's for families" - we mean it is a family, a place where everyone has a place because everyone is loved. And if you want to try that out, but aren't sure about all the faith stuff that comes with a Sunday, or just want to come along to something that's going on & sounds interesting - St Caths Plus might well be the place for you. We are here to make life better: and hope that as we get these groups and activities going, many older folk in our community will discover something extra, a little added something - a Plus in life - that makes all the difference.

Esther Sowerby is heading up the project, and she can be reached by email on plus@st-caths.org.

PodCaths on the BBC

As we revealed last week, Kate Scott-Williams from BBC Radio Wales came back to us & spent Wednesday afternoon recording a piece for "Good Morning Wales" about our PodCaths podcast.

Well, you can now click here for the BBC webpage about it, and on that page you can listen to Kate's story and hear what she found out.

As well as meeting the group, and listening to us as we recorded our second podcast (now on iTunes - though as of today it's the only one there as we seem to have lost the first one, so don't get too confused!) she interviewed Stewart and Joyce, and then she & Gill Tuck took a recording to John Murphy in his home to get his reaction. He sounds lovely.

A further dimension was added as Chris Berryman spoke with Kate via Skype to give his view; Chris lives in Orlando, and heard us on the web. It's amazing how far a podcast can go...

So: if you've had a listen, let us know how you think it's going. We are enjoying doing it - when we record we are still a bit "well behaved", but I think soon we'll get the hang of it and then... Goodness only knows what will happen.

And maybe Matt will even emerge from under the table!

St Catherine's Video

Matthew Truelove shot some video footage after a morning service a few weeks back; he's still working on his grand opus, but Marcus has put some of these clips together with a few photos so that when the new website is up and running we'll have a good taster about the church for anyone having a look.

Click on the link above and have a look for yourself now! And hopefully the revamped website will be coming soon!

PodCaths 2

PodCaths 2 is now "live" on iTunes. If you'd like to listen to the second edition of our Podcast then please go to iTunes and search for "PodCaths" (we are beginning to be recognised by the search engine, and not just seem to be a spelling mistake - though to be sure, type in "PodCaths Marcus Green" and there we are!).

Of course, if you press the subscribe button, I think you should get every episode... Let us know if there's a problem: PodCaths@st-caths.org is the email.

PodCaths on Radio Wales

Kate Scott-Williams from BBC Radio Wales came back to St Catherine's today to spend time with the PodCaths crew and to record a piece for Good Morning Wales about our podcast!

Here she is, interviewing Stewart and Joyce after we had recorded today's PodCaths.

Chicken and Parsnip soup, and a special chocolate cake for Joyce's birthday were on the lunch menu, then we worked our way through the ending to John 6 with all its references to eating and drinking. Strangely, nobody pointed this link out at the time.

At last Julie Davies got her wish and we did think about Judas. The vicar continues to wonder why one of his wardens is so preoccupied with this particular disciple...

The second edition of PodCaths is all edited and ready to go - with a bit of luck, it might be up on iTunes by the middle of next week!

Clocking On

The BBC website is now running the story about our church clock!

And today (Tuesday August 11th) between 4 and 6.30pm Marcus will be on Radio Wales with the bells sounding our clearly for all to hear, as he has been interviewed for the evening news programme.

Premier Christian Radio have also rung up to feature the story - so St Catherine's is clocking on to the news media near you.

And here is Matt from BBC Wales TV interviewing Marcus this afternoon. Tuesday August 11th 6.30 BBC 1 Wales - watch it and see! (Please note: the sunny weather is entirely typical of this summer in Pontypridd; we hope the Lord has also been blessing you!)

(Later)

The BBC Website is now carrying Matt's TV story, which is excellent. But we also loved Liz's GTFM piece, and Kate's BBC Radio Wales piece. We've added pictures to Kate's piece and uploaded it (with permission) to YouTube: here it is, if you missed it on Tuesday.

St Catz Kidz News

Trish Tazzini-Lloyd is our new children's worker at St Catherine's!

The PCC sub-committee met with Trish on Thursday, and after prayer & over lunch we were all convinced that Trish was God's person for us as a church at this time. She has masses of experience and enthusiasm, and until recently has been running the Salvation Army church in Woodbridge, Suffolk.

Marcus says: "Trish first contacted me just after Easter, when she knew that they as a family would be moving to Ponty, but we didn't then know Kirsty would decide to hand over the reigns this summer; she had seen the website and wanted to ask about the church here, and what opportunities there might be to serve. When this post later opened up, it seemed like the Lord preparing the way for everyone!"

Trish's husband David is originally from Maesycoed, so this is a return to old stamping ground for him - though as a boy he went to various other local churches, from Elim to St John the Graig, and this is his first time at St Catherine's! So far, he is enjoying it! Gemma, their daughter, will be attending Maesycoed Primary School from September.

Kirsty took over from Naomi, and had enormous shoes to fill; but she was the right person, and through her, the Lord has blessed us beyond telling. Now Trish finds herself in the same place, and we trust we will see the same process again. Do pray for them as a family: that we as a church will become a new family for them, and that their house (which has needed a fair amount of work) will soon become a real home. Pray that their time here in Pontypridd will be a blessing - to them, to us, and to many people we don't even know yet - a blessing beyond our imagining as the Lord continues to use this post to pour his love upon children and families in our community.

Podcaths

PodCaths, our brand new Podcast, is now 'live'! Just click and listen. We think it's the first regular podcast from a Church in Wales church, and this is its very first edition.

PodCaths is a mixture of Bible study and conversation about God, taking place around the Vicarage kitchen table during our Wednesday lunchtime homegroup. Regular members Joyce Stephens, Stewart Franklin, Yvonne Eveleigh, Julie Morgan, and Bert Davies were joined by Esther Sowerby, and Marcus Green hosted as usual. Matt the dog listened in! We don't have all the answers, but we enjoy looking at the Scriptures together, and we thought that maybe our musings might encourage others in our church, and perhaps elsewhere too.

This was a kind of trial run, just to see if we could do it...

We'll be hoping to record a new edition each month, or maybe more often if we have special guests visiting. So - watch this space. And if you have a comment or a question when you've listened, you can email us on podcaths@st-caths.org as well!

Welsh Baroque Orchestra

Just a snippet from their concert with us last January. We did record the whole evening, but I'm afraid that we don't have the staff to put it all on YouTube! For now - enjoy again the finale to the Double Cello Concerto. And let's hope we can persuade them to visit again before long. Weren't they wonderful?

Seeing a Vision

Derek is always quick to tell us this is a "vision" not a "project" - and here you can see the vision! David Harvey, our architect has provided us with a video walk through of the plans to join the hall and church together. Have a look. I hope this blesses you & helps you understand better what we are trying to do.

Do keep praying. None of this happens without massive answers to prayer & massive financial provision.

But when it happens, we can do better things for kids & families, and really get to grips with doing things for the elderly in the community too. So watch, be inspired, and pray!

Happy Birthday Stewart!

The Wednesday lunchtime homegroup celebrated the end of this term's meetings by wishing Vicar's Warden Stewart Franklin a very happy birthday with his own special cake. Don't bother counting the candles - they were entirely representative!

The Wednesday lunchtime Bible group has been going for some time now, and with its steady eight or ten members has a great time every week delving deeper into the previous Sunday's readings. We enjoy it so much that soon we are going to begin what we believe will be the Church in Wales' first regular Podcast! Then everyone will be able to listen in & learn with us, and be inspired as we have a lot of fun together in each other's company and as we understand more of God's word together.

Unfortunately, cake can only be enjoyed by those actually at the vicarage...

Summer Celebration 2009

On July 12th, not ten miles away at Sophia Gardens, there were many England (And Silent Wales) cricket fans praying for rain in order to save the draw at the first Test against Australia (like the Australians are a sporting nation? Come on - we are better at the Olympics, rugby, football & tennis; how good at sport can the Ozzies be?) but here in Ponty we were praying for sunshine because it was our Summer Celebration Weekend, and as you can see from this lunchtime photo - the Lord blessed our prayers.

We had a great day. And the team that organised everything worked really hard and did a fantastic job! Rhian and Julie & everyone - this would be an enormous post if I named everybody who contributed yesterday. The toddlers ballet class danced in church (quite spectacular) and we said our thank yous to Kirsty & prayed for her as she comes to the end of her time as Children's Worker. Kirsty is amazing; her work is wonderful; I am only glad that this was "thank you" and not "goodbye" - whoever comes to take on the role will still have her around to plunder as a font of knowledge and endless resource, though families will have to allow the new person to be the new Kirsty, as they had to allow Kirsty to be the new Naomi two years ago!

Nicky Hopwood came and spent the day with us; she will be designing & making the new stained glass window that will be part of the joining of church & hall, and her workshop was really great value - though I was mistaken about it. Marcus told people it would not design the window; well, we didn't draw anything, but the ideas that came from the time we spent will certainly be used. So - those who didn't come missed a chance to be a part of the creative process in a way I wasn't expecting!

And Nicky said something, a throwaway comment, which many found surprisingly and deeply moving. She noted that one of our windows had been repaired at some point, and that clearer glass had been used for the repair than for the rest of the window. The sun had shone through it during my sermon, and at that point she had seen that it was "through broken-ness that the light shines most clearly". What a beautiful thought.

Anyway - a great day. And of course, having granted us sunshine, the Lord also granted us the miracle of Monty Panesar facing 35 balls and not getting out. Apparently Ricky Ponting whinged all night; those Ozzies really aren't terribly good at sport - or sportsmanship, are they?

Memories of 24

Anyone remember this? As part of the 2006 24 Hour Worship, we finished with a Confirmation Service... This video will be part of the new website as soon as Geraint & Marcus and TL get it up and running. This is just a taster of what we are preparing!