ALL SAINTS CHURCH, BEESTON REGIS First Community Breakfast Held! — On Mothering Sunday, the Refreshment Team hosted the first free Community Breakfast at All Saints! Scheduled for 10.15am, prior to the Children’s & Family Service at 11.00am, it sought to attract newcomers, young ones plus their adults, families experiencing food poverty and those in our community who might not be familiar with church. At the moment, in the absence of cooking facilities apart from a toaster and microwave, our breakfast items were, in the main, served cold. However, fruit salad, muesli, yogurts, toast, pastries and hot drinks were warmly received and generated a real buzz of friendly chatter. More people came than expected to this leap of faith which was such an answer to prayer. Amongst the number were 2 new families, one of which said afterwards: “It was just gorgeous....Feel lucky to have such a lovey welcoming church”. The Churchwardens elect are committed to arranging further Community Breakfasts, perhaps in conjunction with future Children’s & Family services. STOP PRESS! The second Community Breakfast will take place at 09.45am on Sunday 21st May (see further details in this Newsletter). Our Children’s & Family Services are now attracting new young ones. Since September 2022, our 3rd Sunday of the month “Service of the Word” has put children and families at its centre. Advertising and promotion of such has begun, albeit in a small way, but it is now regular. At every service, since the launch, a child has been present (though only one), until both March and April when 2 families and 3 children took part. With the little ones absorbed in arts & crafts in our Children’s Corner, rattling and shaking musical instruments to worship songs, handing out flower posies, collecting up hymn books and responding to the storytelling by the Rector, our Children’s & Family services are proving to be very joyful and exuberant occasions! Why not come along and join in the fun!
AYLMERTOM, ST JOHN THE BAPTIST A message from Connie: St John the Baptist’s Churchyard — It is Connie’s aim to do a “major” tidy in the churchyard when the early spring flowers have died down. Anyone interested in helping for a couple of hours at a weekend or evening (when the evenings are light!) please give Connie a ring on 01263 837647.
EAST RUNTON, ST ANDREW'S A message from Jean: A Hot Cross Bun Coffee Morning was held on 1st April — no it wasn’t an “April Fool” — and it raised £397! Very many thanks to everyone who kindly supported it. The next Coffee Morning will be on Saturday 10th June, but more about that later, just pop the date in your diary, please. The Easter Sunday service was very special. A member of our congregation, Graham Wright, was confirmed by our own Bishop David Leake, in full regalia! Our rector, Father Jeremy, presided and Peter played for us. It was a wonderful and moving service, with twenty-eight people in the congregation amongst all the lilies, roses and spring flowers, celebrating with a special cake afterwards. It was the first Confirmation service ever held in St. Andrew’s. So it was an historic day. We also had an Easter pixie! In our small church garden, a very pretty Easter Garden appeared, and on Easter Sunday morning, a sign saying “He is Risen” also appeared very early, bearing in mind the service was at 9.15am. The following Sunday – it had all gone! Thank you, whoever you are. We loved it. God moves in mysterious ways!
WEST RUNTON, HOLY TRINITY A message from Rosemary and Janice: The Coffee Mornings continue to be a great success. We have a “full house” every week. So far this year we have had donations of £445.00. We had a special one for the DEC Turkey Appeal and people very generously donated £121.00. Our Lent Lunches were also very popular and made an amazing £716.00. We can claim Gift Aid at 25% to add to most of the donations. Thank you to all who support us, and we hope from your point of view the social side is also worth coming for. We will be adding the Book Sales to the Coffee Mornings at the end of May. Again, many thanks for the support you give us. It makes it all worthwhile, whilst making money for our church.
LOCAL NEWS
Sheringham and District Philatelic Society — We were pleased to welcome one new member at our April meeting, and a couple who came to see whether or not they would like to join us. We very much hope that we will see them again in May! Six members presented a tremendous variety of mainly 10 sheet displays. Mike Clarke, a lifetime GB collector, brought along a selection of surface printed, Victorian stamps on covers, which had recently taken his interest. Tony Taylor put up part of an old competition entry of his, of Queen Elizabeth II 3d Wildings. There were blocks, booklet panes, watermark variations and printing errors amongst them. Jane Purkiss has always taken a great interest in anything philatelic relating to Captain James Cook and, this time, she showed us her collection of Cook Island stamps, some dating back to 1893. Early stamps were overprinted New Zealand stamps, before these 15 islands in the South Pacific, became self-governing. Tim Harvey’s interest is more in his postcard collection, and he displayed a wonderful group of cards which demonstrated the growth of Cromer as a tourist destination. In the early days, Cromer was known as The Gentlemen’s Watering Hole – a place where the wealthy came for sea air. With the arrival of the railways and the publication of Clement Scott’s poem, The Garden of Sleep, Cromer’s popularity grew. Postcards were produced illustrating all aspects of this glorious seaside town. Andrew McCandlish brought the evening to a close with stamps from Azerbaijan, Poland in exile in WW2 and Albania, giving us the fascinating historical details which lay behind these stamps. Next meeting is on 15th May at West Runton Church Hall at 7.30pm. Visitors are welcome. For more information, please contact Jim on 01263 721043