LodeStar for July

Sunday 29 June 2008 at 5:56 pm Click to Download

St Andrew's Fete

Friday 20 June 2008 at 2:03 pm

The sun shone on St Andrew's last Saturday morning as we enjoyed the annual church fete.

There were trips up the tower with bell ringing demonstrations, games, tombolas, stalls by community groups, cakes and plants for sale and the chance to soak the vicar and curate in the stocks. A good time was had by all (almost!!)

We raised more than £1600 (£445 from the draw) for the church and other groups kept what they raised after a small donation to church funds. We would like to thank everybody who took part or made donations for helping to make it a success.

In the evening church funds were given a further boost by an antiques evening in the garden of The Manor House. Unfortunately by then the weather had taken a turn for the worse but at least we didn't get wet! We were treated to a fascinating talk by antiques expert Barry Stevens who examined items brought along by the guests. These ranged from china and silver to a gruesome gothic watch chain decorated with horns and teeth and a walking stick which turned into a gadget for measuring horses. equally intersting were the stories of how people had come by their objects - family heirlooms stood alongside skip finds and things brought back form the war. Many thanks to Mary and Malcolm for hosting the event.

Dear Friends

Friday 13 June 2008 at 10:53 am

There is an old saying that if Mohammed won't go to the mountain then the mountain will have to go to Mohammed. I do not intend to use this as an excuse to talk about Christian-Muslim dialogue, which is surely important and about which much could be said, but rather to talk about the decidedly more prosaic subject of transport to church.

It is not always widely known that if people wish to come church but have difficulties actually getting there, then we are very willing to lay on transport for them. We are very grateful to our volunteer drivers who willingly bring people to church services, functions and events, but we would like the service to be more widely known. If you know someone who cannot get to church on a Sunday morning but would like to come, please do let me know and I will arrange a lift for them.

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June LodeStar

Tuesday 03 June 2008 at 6:57 pm Click to download

Streams: May to July

Tuesday 13 May 2008 at 12:35 pm

There are five Streams gatherings in May, June and July.

We are introducing 'Streams at Home', a cosy guided exploration open to all, where we shall be talking about Prayer.

All Streams gatherings are planned with people from a wide range of faith backgrounds in mind. They are ideal place for someone's first steps in exploring Christianity, as well as an opportunity for people to deepen an existing faith.

Why not come along and invite a friend?

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Giving to the Church

Wednesday 30 April 2008 at 08:25 am

Did you know that it costs around £55,000 per year to run St Andrew's Church? This is regular spending on parish share (ministry costs paid to the Diocese), heating, lighting, cleaning, insurance, administration and printing etc. It does not include payments for major repairs. At the moment we are facing a shortfall between this and our income from collections, fundraising, fees and so on which is having to be met from reserves. The more we take from reserves the less interest we get from those accounts thus making the problem worse as time goes on.

With this in mind regular churchgoers have been asked over the last few weeks to reflect on what we are giving to the church in financial donations to enable St Andrew's to go on doing God‘s work, both in terms of serving the regular congregation and providing care for the rest of the community.

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Church Hall Update

Wednesday 30 April 2008 at 08:08 am As you have probably read in the press, the potential buyers of the Church Hall have formally applied for planning permission for their proposed housing development. An archaeological survey of the site has also been carried out and we are told that nothing significant has been found.
So we are a step nearer being able to complete the sale and obtain the funds we need for re-ordering the church - adding our own toilet, kitchenette and space for meetings. The need for this has been brought home at various events over the past year or so when we have had to either beg the council to leave the public toilets open late or take people round to the home of one of our members who lives near-by! In addition we struggle to provide refreshments in a safe and hygienic manner.

News on the Roof

Wednesday 23 April 2008 at 2:28 pm

Work on the roof, which we had hoped would be starting soon, is being postponed until August to avoid disturbing baby bats. While disappointing, this may help us financially, as the builders have agreed to hold their prices and there should be more certainty about our finances by then. In the mean time we are waiting for English Heritage to decide whether they will increase the size of our grant to take account of the increase in building costs (between the initial award of a conditional grant and the tenders being submitted by builders in December.) They have now paid us the second part of the investigation grant - about £11,000, making a total of £23,500 out of costs of about £47,800.

Dear Friends

Friday 19 October 2007 at 10:36 am
I love the old school boy joke of Be alert: your country needs lerts! Sadly, those of us entrusted with the care of our historic churches need to be more alert and vigilant than ever. There has been an epidemic of theft of metal from churches in our area. The main church insurer wrote to all clergy recently saying that the claims for this August total the same for the whole of last year; so it is clearly a major problem. At the end of September thieves struck at Wicken Church and made off with some sheets of lead from the south aisle roof and the Victoria Hall in Fordham has been targeted more than once. While the roof at St Andrew's is very high (and therefore perhaps less of an attractive target than some other churches) I would urge everyone to keep their eyes open and report anything suspicious to the police straight away. (more)

Opening Times, St Andrew's

St Andrew's is open daily 9.15am -5.30pm for prayer and reflection or for visitors to look around our beautiful historic building. Members of the congregation often pop in and will try to answer any questions you may have. There is a guide book on the leaflet shelves near the door.

Church Calendars

St. Andrew's

St. Laurence's

Location

Find St. Andrew's Soham & St. Laurence's Wicken on Google Maps

Contacts

The Clergy

The Vicar: The Reverend Tim Alban Jones
The Vicarage, Cross Green, Soham, Ely, CB7 5DU

01353 720423

Email the Vicar

The Curate: The Reverend Edward Green
01353 720878

Email the Curate

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St. Laurence's Service Times

1st Sunday

11:00am Holy Communion

2nd Sunday

11:00am Ecumenical Service
(Check the Calendar)

3rd Sunday

8:00am Holy Communion BCP

4th Sunday

11:00am Morning Prayer

5th Sunday

11:00am Holy Communion CW (with Soham)

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St. Andrew's Service Times

Open daily 9.15am -5.30pm for prayer and reflection.

1st Sunday

8:00am Holy Communion BCP
9:30am Sung Eucharist

2nd Sunday

8:00am Holy Communion BCP
9:30am Sung Eucharist
6.30pm Sung Evensong BCP

3rd Sunday

8:00am Holy Communion BCP
9:30am Family Service

4th Sunday

8:00am Holy Communion BCP
9:30am Sung Eucharist
7:00pm Streams: Fresh Expressions service with space for meditation and reflection

5th Sunday

8:00am Holy Communion BCP
11:00am Joint service at Wicken.

Thursday

10:00am Holy Communion BCP