Bank Holiday Rest and Relaxation

Whether you're boating, camping or visiting IWA National Festival and Boat Show, we wish everyone in St Mary's Benefice and our community a happy weekend to rest or play before the start of September, school and the beginning of Autumn.

Whatever you're doing, don't forget to thank God for this time of sharing with each other and enjoying each others' company. We might even have some good weather too!

We also wish good results for all those waiting anxiously for their exam results at this time. Whatever the outcome, God has a plan for your life and it may not always what you have in mind, so don't be discouraged if you don't get the results you want.

Enjoy the weekend!

Last week of the Summer Holidays

If you want to make the best of the last week of the summer holidays before the children start back to school, there's a lot going on this Bank Holiday weekend, especially at Redhill Marina, Ratcliffe-on-Soar.

• The Inland Waterways Association National Festival and Boat Show is to be held at Redhill Marina, Ratcliffe-on-Soar from Sat. 29th - Mon. 31st August. The Boaters' Christian Fellowship along with clergy and musicians from our Cluster of parishes are arranging an Ecumenical service on site at 10.30am on the Sunday. Please note that you will need a ticket - see leaflets in church.
• If you are unable to make this event, there will be a Cluster service (as is our custom on the Bank Holiday weekend) at St James's Church, Normanton-on-Soar on Sunday at 10.30am to include Holy Communion.
• There will also be an 8.00am service of Holy Communion at St Mary's.
• There will still be a Coffee Morning at St Mary's at 10.00-12noon as usual, so pop in and meet the friendly folks there.

Watch out for details here and on our website of the events starting in September:

• The new service 'Let's Praise' at 11.15am on the 1st Sunday
• TeaTime Sunday in the Hall at 4.00 also on the 1st Sunday
• Notts Historic Churches Trust Sponsored Bike Ride & Stride on 12th Sept.
• Emmaus Course on Mon. 28th Sept.
• Spirituality Evening 30th Sept. in Normanton

St Mary's Hall

The Church Hall has had a thorough 'Spring Clean' over the past two weeks and has been finished today! The freshly sealed floors are drying as I write.

There are a few items which need owning or disposing of by mid Sept. i.e. 3 plastic cake trays & covers, plaid fabric (from Burns Night?), plastic cutlery, 5 small carpet squares, 'Link Four' game and 4 Teddy Bear Christmas poster boards. If you know about any of these please contact Pat Brown on 820094.

We'd like to thank all those who contributed their time and efforts, without whom it would not have been possible. We hope all the users appreciate their efforts and will help maintain it's appearance.

Charity fundraiser

Those who supported the charity fundraiser at the Three Horseshoes yesterday for special equipment for little Madison will be pleased to know that the initial amount raised was over £4,000. This little one year old has S.M.A.R.D. which affects her respiratory system and such equipment to help her is very expensive. Everyone worked extremely hard yesterday to make the event a success, judging by all the activity. Lots of happy cheering and shouts were heard throughout the afternoon as far away as the other end of the village. The children certainly enjoyed themselves on the inflatables and trampoline. We wish the family well, especially little Madison, and congratulate all their friends and family on a well organised event. Events this week are:

• Today, Monday, 10.00am is the Mothers' Union Wave of Prayer at St Mary's.
• Tuesday, 18th, 2.00pm the Banner Group will meet at the Catholic Church for a short meeting.
• Wednesday, 19th, 10.00am - Holy Communion at St Mary's.
• Thursday, 20th, 10.00am - Compass Stapling in the Hall
• Friday, 21st, 10.00am - Coffee Morning in Church

Check out the Forthcoming Events and our website for further details of events.

Support a local charity

This Sunday afternoon, there will be a Charity event to be held in the Three Horseshoes Pub car park. You may have seen details on BBC East Midlands Today news this week. All funds being raised are for a baby who has serious health problems and has spent all her young life in Queens Medical Hospital. There are hopes for her to be well enough to come home and the funds will pay for special equipment for her.

I'm sure the family will be very grateful if you could go along and support the fundraiser. We wish them and this child well and pray that she is home soon.

Please note that the Mothers Union Wave of Prayer will be at 10.00am on Monday at St Mary's.

If you would like to hire St Mary's Hall, it is available for groups, meetings and young children's parties at very reasonable rates - see our website for further details. The Spring Cleaning is 90% finished and it looks like new, after an awful lot of hard work.

Getting ready!

Last week, approximately ten people came along to St Mary's to 'Spring Clean' the church. This Saturday and during this week, most of the same volunteers have been cleaning the Church Hall.

We thank those who have provided their time and energy to helping, but we really need more people to help. There is a lot of sorting, cleaning and repainting to be done to make the Hall ready for September's users. The chewing gum has been removed from very strange places and the rubbish has been thrown out. The contents have been cleaned and the walls have been repainted where necessary. We shall be back in the hall tomorrow, Wednesday at 10am. if anyone could spare an hour to help us.

Sunday was a true celebration of no less than four baptisms! Two were held during the 9.30am service and the other two were held during the afternoon.

Don't forget our Coffee Morning on Friday, 10am-12noon is still running through the holidays. We have welcomed several visitors and a few new people from the community. We'll be glad to see you. Just pop in!

Summer group events.

The Teatime Sunday group enjoyed a lovely, sunny weather barbecue last Sunday and reported that four families attended with four of the couples running the group. They had fun playing games and blowing bubbles as well as enjoying the food. If there are any young families in the area, who would like to join this group, just come along on the first Sunday of the month to St Mary's Hall at 4.00pm. The next one is in September and everyone is welcome.

The Abbot Club also meets tonight at The Nags Head at 8.00pm, so if there are any men who would like to come and join them for a lighthearted evening, they will be very welcome.

The Mothers' Union will be meeting next Monday, 17th August at 10am, for the Wave of Prayer at St Mary's Church.

Shipshape again thanks to the volunteers.

Many may not be aware that the tasks of keeping the church clean, and maintaining the churchyard is undertaken by volunteers from our congregation. There are also a few members of the community who contribute their time and energy too, for which we are very grateful.

A small team of volunteers tackled the onerous task of clearing and cleaning the church on Saturday. Thanks to the hard work of those on the cleaning rota, it wasn't quite as bad as anticipated.

Churchyard work was difficult due to the downpour of heavy rain, but the work in the church was finished by noon, interrupted only for an essential, short coffee/tea break!

The team of volunteers were thanked at the 9.30am service on Sunday, and a request went out for more volunteers to tackle the Church Hall starting next Saturday. We couldn't manage without them.

The Teatime Sunday group were lucky to have good weather for their barbecue yesterday and we look forward to hearing about the event. We hope that many young families took the opportunity to go along.

If you have children or grandchildren at home wanting 'something to do' during this rainy spell, please check our blog, website and local websites e.g. the East Leake Village website and the East Leake Traders' website. There are people out there preparing events for YOU!

Our weather hasn't been THAT bad all summer - you just have to wait and take a chance when the sun shines. This photo was taken 2 weeks ago in the UK. Remember, you have to have some rain to appreciate the sunshine.

God gives us so many blessings for us to be thankful.