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Benefice
Newsletter
23 April 2020
Dear Parishioners

There is a lot to pack into this week's newsletter, so I keep the intro short, sharing with you this commendable advice from Caroline:

Pick a morning this coming week, and set your alarm for 4.45am. Then open your window and listen…

Agnes
A message from Rev PaulaPhoto of Rev Paula

This is not how I thought I would be addressing you for the first time! However, these are times such as we have never known before and despite the restrictions we face, it is good to be here in the town with you and to have been licenced, via Zoom, as your Vicar. I will do my very best to serve you as your priest over the coming years.

I thought it might be helpful if I tell you a little about me and where I have come from to be here. I am married to Chris and we have two daughters, Eleanor (who lives in Wellingborough with her partner Luke) and Eve who is, or was, studying for her A levels and is planning to go to Northampton Uni in September to study Psychology. We have three dogs, two rescue whippets and one who is a mix of several breeds and looks like a collie with very short legs! Chris works for a groundcare manufacturer and is currently furloughed. Perhaps more frustratingly for him the cricket season is cancelled – he plays for Great Oakley in the Northants County Cricket League and for Northants Over 50s.

Before being ordained in 2012 I had worked for Nationwide Building Society as Senior Business Analyst in their Change Management Division. During my time at Nationwide I relocated to their head office in Swindon for 3 years but apart from this I have lived in Northamptonshire all my life. Until March I was Rector for the parishes of Yardley Hastings, Grendon, Castle Ashby, Denton and Whiston. Prior to ordination I was churchwarden of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in Kettering, a role which gave me invaluable experience of the joys, and challenges, of being involved in the nuts and bolts of running a church day to day.

I have visited the Holy Land several times, latterly I organised Bishop Donald’s pilgrimage there in 2017. I have a passion for the plight of Palestinian Christians in that most troubled of lands. I am avid reader – any genre or author. I am also studying for an MA in Theology, Ministry and Mission with Durham University.

For those of you with a good memory, I did a placement here with Father Tony during my curacy at All Saints, Earls Barton – which is one of the reasons I was so pleased to explore coming here as your Vicar.

I am so grateful to Revd Christine, as I know you are, for all that she has done during the interregnum and for her generous encouragement as I prepared to come here. I am looking forward to working with her, and all of you, over the coming weeks, months and years.

Finally, this enforced lockdown has given me more time to read, reflect and pray. One of the things I have come across which touched me deeply is a reworking of the beatitudes, an attempt to articulate these great teachings of Jesus into this current situation. I offer these to you to pray and reflect on over the coming week.

May God bless you,Signed by Rev Paula
Beatitudes cartoon
Wendy's magical coach trips

What shall we do today?

Today you'll need binoculars
Trainers and an anorak
And if you desire it
An Ordnance Survey map.

We are going Birdwatching
Relaxing it will be
We'll arm ourselves with boiled sweets,
A drink and a picnic tea

Kids can bring a grown up
As long as they are quiet.
When Watching in the hide
They must not cause a riot!

Swans a-swimming on the lake,
Heron, gebe and gull
Coots and ducks and honking geese
The day will not be dull.

Wandering off to another hide
To view birds where they feed
Finches, tits and hedge sparrows
Enjoying nuts and seed.

Robins, blackbirds and tiny wrens
Scavenge on the floor
Squawking at each other
And always wanting more.

Later in the day we'll have
Time for a cup of tea,
To look around the gift shop
And nip off for a wee.

When it's time to journey home
Singing all the way
There's a perfect song to sing
At the end of a perfect day –

"Two little Dicky birds sitting on a wall
One named Peter, one named Paul.
Fly away Peter, fly away Paul,
come back Peter, come back Paul."
 - - - -

I'll give you a bit of  a change today,
Meet at the Hind Hotel
For Full English Breakfast on the house
Which I'm sure will go down very well.

Then out, turn right onto Sheep Street,
Along a bit and down
To start our virtual guided tour
Of wonderful Wellingborough Town.

Past the Little Thatched House on your right
Where we used to enter the Zoo
And further on down and round the bend,
The museum's in front of you.

There's artefacts galore in there
and a shop with nice things to buy
Old pennies and toys and arcade machines,
And cracked pots from ages gone by!

Opposite is the Castle Theatre,
A good place to see a show,
Then wend our way back to the Zoo
Where our grandparents used to go.

Croyland Abbey has history too,
But you'll have to chat over tea,
I'm not a Wellingborough girl, you see,
So it's no good relying on me!


Wendy's tour

- - - -

I think about the Wondrous Cross.
As we climb aboard our bus
I never cease to wonder why
He bore such pain for us.

Prayerfully we drive along
On this mystery tour
Still unsure of what to do
Or where we're heading for!

I give the children crayons
Borrowed from All Saints
To keep them happy on the way,
But some of them bring paints!

We journey Eastward steadily
Along the A605
Towards a place beginning with P
Soon we will arrive.

'Peterborough Cathedral' someone shouts
'Can we stop for a hot cross bun?'
So we go into the refectory
With their pictures to see who's won.

Then in the Cathedral reverently,
We pray at Jesus' feet,
Then go home feeling humbled
And tell all those we meet.
Wendy
The Little Loo-Roll Fairy

Did the Loo-Roll Fairy take pity on us, after the sad tale of our water-logged loo-rolls?  It brought smiles to our faces – and, admittedly, some puzzlement, when we found a pack of sof toilet rolls on our front doorstep on Sunday morning. Another version of the Sunday service? Thank you, Fairy Loo!

Caroline
A night (or a morning, or an afternoon) at the theatreTheatre masks
 
Shakespeare's Globe Theatre is streaming full recordings of their best plays on Youtube, free of charge, on rotation every two weeks. They have Romeo & Juliet on the programme until 3 May. The Two Noble Kinsmen will premiere on 4 May, followed by The Winter's Tale, then The Merry Wives of Windsor, and finally A Midsummer Night's Dream. On the theatre's website there is an option to donate and to pay for their on-demand service, however if you only want to see the above plays, click here to visit the Globe's Youtube channel to watch the videos completely free.

The National Theatre also started streaming recordings of their past productions, but their rota is shorter: each play is available for a week only, before they replace it by a new one. They also accept donations on their website, but here is a link to their Youtube channel which is free to watch. They are showing Treasure Island until 23 April, followed by Twelfth Night, then One Man, Two Guvnors, and Jane Eyre.

Ballet or opera fans are welcome to visit the Royal Opera House's Youtube channel, to find free full recordings of Peter and the Wolf,  Acis and Galatea, Così fan tutte, and The Metamorphosis. Gloriana will be added to the collection at 7pm on 24 April, and The Winter's Tale on 1 May. These videos are not rotated, once published they remain on the channel.
Online church resourcesLogo of the Churcyh of England

For good mental health
For worship at home
List of services you can attend online
A vast selection of further resources from Peterborough Diocese
Contacts
Rev Paula
01933 227101
revpaulayork@gmail.com
 Barbara
(Prayer Chain)
01933 222612 or 07694251570
Rev Christine
 01933 226730
07927405764 (text messages only)
c.ostler@btinternet.com 		John
(Magazine Editor)
01933 382502 or 0774615656
johnvmagazine@virginmedia.com
Agnes
(Benefice Admin and Newsletter Editor)
officeallsaints@btinternet.com
officeallhallows@btinternet.com 		Ian
(Help with shopping)
01933 274222
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