Longcot Village

Dear Congregation and Friends of St Mary Longcot,

Please find attached the Benefice Newsletter for tomorrow, Sunday 19^th February, and the associated readings.

Sunday Service.  This Sunday’s Service for the Benefice will be held at St Andrew’s Church, Shrivenham.  Start time will be at 10.30am.    The next service at St Mary’s Church will be Holy Communion by Extension on Sunday 5^th March and will be led by Richard Fergusson. Start time will be the usual 9.30am. 

Dear Congregation and Friends of St Mary Longcot,

Please find attached the Benefice Newsletter for tomorrow, Sunday 19^th February, and the associated readings.

Sunday Service at St Mary.  Sunday’s Service at St Mary’s Church will be Morning Prayer and will be led by Richard Fergusson. Start time is the usual 9.30am. 

Please find attached the Benefice Newsletter for Sunday 29^th January and the associated readings.

Benefice Service Tomorrow at St Mary.  The Rev Norma Fergusson will lead a service of Holy Communion tomorrow at St Mary Longcot.  It will be for the whole Benefice and we will be accompanied by the choir. The service starts at the slightly later time of 10am.  Refreshments will be served afterwards.

Please find attached the Benefice Newsletter for Sunday 22^nd January and the associated readings. I would draw your attention to the photographs on the back page of the Newsletter that shows scenes from last week’s ‘Prayer Space’ in St Mary.

Sunday Service at St Mary.  The Rev Norma Fergusson will lead a service of Holy Communion on Sunday at St Mary Longcot.  The service starts at the usual time of 9.30am.

Dear Congregation and Friends of St Mary Longcot,

Please find attached the Benefice Newsletter for Sunday 4^th December and the associated readings.

Sunday Service at St Mary.  The service at St Mary on Sunday will be a Holy Communion by Extension and will be taken by Richard Fergusson.

Last Sunday’s Advent Carol Service. Thank you to the Benefice Choir and everybody who attended last Sunday’s Advent Carol Service.  It was a great event with mulled wine and Prosecco proving inner heat in the absence of the central heating.

Heating in St Mary.  And on that note, the heating in St Mary’s Church is still out of action.  After some detailed investigation by the plumbers, it has been decided to replace the boiler and some pipework.  It is hoped that this work will be carried out sometime next week. In the meantime, the congregation will need to wrap up warmly.  Norma suggests gloves, scarfs and hot water bottles!

Boundary Wall.  The work on the boundary wall to the south of St Mary’s churchyard has now been completed.  The next most urgent repair is that needed to the wall opposite Church Close on the North-West of the churchyard.  The wall has started to bow out and might, in extremis, fall onto the main road.   It has become clear that we need to carry out a repair urgently, so the work will begin on Monday.  The two other areas of the wall which need repair are safe enough to be left until we find sufficient money for the work to be carried out.

Gutter Clearing. As most trees have now shed their leaves, the gutters around the church need to be emptied of autumnal detritus.  Unfortunately the average age of the PCC is well over 70 and there is an understandable reluctance for individuals to go up a ladder.  I am therefore appealing for younger volunteers to make contact with me, so that we can arrange a suitable date and time for a team to carry out the task. We have a decent ladder and it should only take about two hours, so please free to volunteer yourself, your spouse/partner, sister or brother. 

Financial Matters. Finally, just a word on financial matters. You will have gathered from the above information that the church is in the process of spending quite large sums of money on repairs.  This obviously does not include the planned expenditure on improving facilities inside the church, including new lighting, a new sound system and additional soft-backed chairs – all of which have been in the pipeline for some time. The PCC would be extremely grateful if you would all consider making a small donation to help the cover the costs of some of this work.  Even better, a small monthly standing order would help improve the church’s income stream and long-term sustainability.  Please just send me an e-mail if you would like to help.

Dear Congregation and Friends of St Mary Longcot,

Please find attached the Benefice Newsletter for tomorrow, Sunday 20^th November, and the associated readings.

Sunday Service. Tomorrow’s Service at St Mary’s Church will be Morning Prayer.  Chris Gotch has kindly agreed to lead the worship for us. Start time is the usual 9.30am.  

Fundraising Talk – Tom Arnold.  Well done to Tom for a wonderfully entertaining talk in St Mary last night and for all those who helped serve drinks, collect donations and wash-up glasses.

Dear Congregation and Friends of St Mary Longcot,

Please find attached the Benefice Newsletter for tomorrow, Sunday 13^th November, and the associated readings.

Remembrance Service. Tomorrow’s Remembrance Service at St Mary’s Church will be taken by the Revd Norma Fergusson.  It will begin at 10.45am by the War Memorial and will then move inside the church after the Act of Remembrance.  

Fundraising Talk – Tom Arnold.  I would like to draw your attention in the Newsletter to the details of Tom Arnold’s fundraising talk at 7.30pm on Friday 18^th November.  It was originally planned to be held in St John’s Church, Fernham, but due to the recent fire the talk has been relocated to St Mary’s Church.  Please do share details of this event with friends and relatives, and enjoy a relaxing and amusing evening with Tom.  Wine and cheese will be on offer.

Dear Congregation and Friends of St Mary Longcot,

Please find attached the front page of the Benefice Newsletter.

Sunday Service.  Tomorrow’s service at St Mary will be a Holy Communion by extension led by Richard Fergusson. It will be at the usual time of 9.30am.

Dear Congregation and Friends of St Mary Longcot,

Please find attached the Benefice Newsletter for Sunday 30^th October and the associated readings.

Sunday Service. There is no service in St Mary’s Church this Sunday. Instead, the Revd Norma Fergusson will lead a Benefice Service of Holy Communion at Watchfield.  Start time is 10am.  

Sunday Service Next Week. The next service at St Mary will be a Holy Communion by extension on Sunday 6^th November at the usual time of 9.30am.

Local Villages Newsletter.  Please also find the November edition of the Local Villages Newsletter.

Dear Congregation and Friends of St Mary Longcot,

Please find attached the Benefice Newsletter for Sunday 23^rd October and the associated readings.

Sunday Service.  The Revd Norma Fergusson will lead a service of Holy Communion tomorrow morning at St Mary.  Start time is the usual 9.30am.  

Torriano Ensemble.  We were treated to a lovely concert by the Torriano Ensemble in St Mary’s Church last Sunday evening.  Thank you to all of you who attended and who gave so generously to the collection for the Longcot Village Trust.  Special thanks are also due to the musicians, to Vicky Medcalf who organised the event, Lucy and Ollie Self for organising refreshments, and to Shirley and the flower arrangers for creating a wonderful Harvest feel inside the church.