Are you ready for October?

There's lots going on at St Mary's, not least preparations for the arrival of our new Priest in Charge, Rev Tim Parker. 
The Rectory is undergoing a makeover somewhat and there have been volunteers working hard in the garden already.
If you'd like to help us out, please contact the Churchwarden, Conrad Oatey.

Quiet Interlude - Tuesday 8th October at 12.00-1.00pm.

The Quiet Interlude will feature an hour of mediation, prayer, music  and reflection as we join together  in a “Prayer Walk”  around the Church,  everyone is welcome to come and enjoy “YOU TIME “,  whether it is for 5 minutes  the whole hour,  OR what- ever time you can give,  come and find out what God is saying to you, he’ll be there, will you?

John O’Nions

 

Check out our forthcoming events on the right and get your diary ready.

 

 

Harvest Festival Service this Sunday 8th September!

It's Harvest Time and hopefully all our farmers are having bumper crops after such a sunny summer.

St Mary's Church will be welcoming everyone to bring their own offerings on Sunday morning, 8th September at 9.30am, Harvest service to be combined with our regular Worship Together Service. Our Area Dean, Rev John Bentham will be taking both the 8am Holy Communion and the 9.30am Services.



We welcome all perishable and none perishable foods, tins and packets, which will be sent to the Friary Drop In Centre who always need our donations.

Any flowers from your garden will also be welcome on Saturday, 7th Sept to help decorate the church.  Please bring them along or better still help our few, hard working volunteers to put them up.

Dates for your diary.

The Sponsored Historic Churches Trust Annual Ride and Stride - Saturday 14th Sept.
Participants are encouraged to visit and gain sponsorship by cycling or walking to as many churches and chapels as they can between 10am and 6pm.  East Leake, Rempstone and West Leake churches will be open for this event and there will be refreshments at Rempstone.  Contact Ian on 852560 for further information and sponsorship forms. Funds raised from your activities make a big difference to churches who need help with maintaining their buildings.

Community Care AGM - Monday, 16th Sept, 7.30pm
The Annual AGM will be held at St Mary's Church where there will be a Cheese and Wine evening for all volunteers and anyone else interested in the Association.  This voluntary group does a lot of work in East Leake for anyone needing help or care.

The Church Big Clean! Tuesday 17th September.
Due to the unavailability of the church in August, we are hoping to get enough volunteers to give the church its annual clean on a Tuesday.  Please contact Avril on 852238 if you can come along.

Julia Jefferson, speaker from the Alzheimer's Society - Monday, 11th November, 2.15pm
This Open Meeting is hosted by the Mothers' Union and held in St Mary's Church and everyone is encouraged to come.  It is an opportunity for everyone in our communities to come and hear more about the society and its work and gain some insight into Alzheimer's.

Rev Tim Parker's Licensing Service - Wednesday, 6th November at 7.30pm!

Good news at last!  Our new Priest-in-Charge, Rev Tim Parker will be coming to St Mary's and the Benefice on Wednesday, 6th November.  His Licensing Service will take place at St Mary's Church at 7.30pm.  This will be a very special service when everyone is invited.

We are very thankful that God has chosen him to lead us so soon after Rev Glynis's retirement.  Our prayers are with him and we hope he will soon feel at home here in East Leake and the Benefice.

Getting ready for new challenges. What will YOU do that's new this year?

Nottingham schools don't start back until Wednesday, September 4th but Leicestershire schools are back in early on Thursday, August 29th, please note.

Therefore, most groups using St Mary's Hall will start the week beginning the 9th Sept. There are one or two groups starting the week before so please check with your group Leader.

St Mary's is also planning to start things afresh.

The Hand Bell Band is practising again on Saturday, 24th August at 11.30am.  Please come along if you'd like to learn and practice with them.

Messy Church meets again on Sunday, September 1st at 4pm. All families with young children are welcome.






The Quiet Interlude, Tuesday 3rd Sept, 12.00-1.00pm - a quiet, peaceful time in church to stop all your busyness for a short while.

The Community Choir is back practising on Tuesday, 3rd Sept at 7.30pm. All new members are welcome.  You don't have to be a churchgoer to join.  Come and meet Chris Ebbern our young Music Director. Chris is running another Choir Workshop on Saturday, 28th, September from 10.00am.  If you want to know what it's all about, come on along.

Don't forget! The Church Big Clean is now on Tuesday, September 17th from 9.00am. We need all willing helpers to do some light dusting and some strong people to help move the chairs so the floor can be cleaned.  PLEASE come and help if only for half an hour as our volunteers are mostly your Grandmas and Great-Grandmas!!!

Revd Tim Parker - no news yet.

Here at St Mary's we're waiting in anticipation of when we can expect Rev Tim Parker to join us.  It's an exciting time and we're fortunate to have been able to appoint a new Priest in Charge so quickly - even if he can't join us just yet.
Rev John Bentham, Area Dean led the services this morning and indicated that we might know in a couple of weeks.

Meanwhile work continues as normal, for Church services and in the Rectory.  There is a great deal of activity 'behind the scenes' as things are cleaned, tidied and have their annual checks.  This includes the Hall, where cleaning and repair work is going on while all the groups are on holiday.

Last week Robin Borrett's Coloured Pencil Workshop went very well in the church as usual and we look forward to having his group with us again in the future.

This Saturday, Hanson's the Auctioneers visited the church to give the general public the opportunity to have their treasures valued - see previous blog.  It was like the Antiques Roadshow with all kinds of objects being brought! 

St Mary's welcomes appropriate groups such as these, who would like to use the church space to provide events for the East Leake community. If you would like to hold a meeting or event in either the church or the hall, please contact the Booking Secretary on 01509 820094.

Beehive Wicker Works, Gotham Road (Lane), East Leake - 1930

Beehive Wicker Works, Gotham Road (Lane), East Leake - 1930

 

We'd like to thank Robin Borrett's Coloured Pencil Workshop students who have kindly donated their version of a picture of Beehive Wicker Works, Gotham Road (Lane), East Leake - 1930 to hang in St Mary's Hall.

 

We hope that everyone who uses the Hall will appreciate that this is not only part of the East Leake heritage, but shows all the hard work and talent gone into this drawing.

 

If you don't already use the Hall and would like to see the picture, please contact Pat Brown (01509 820094) or a member of the Local History Society to arrange to view it.

 

Robin Borrett is holding another workshop on Saturday 3rd Aug in St Mary's Church from 9.00-5.00pm.

A new Priest in Charge has been appointed!

Good news!  Revd Tim Parker, currently curate at Gamston has been appointed to St Mary's and the Benefice!

He has also been helping out at Edwalton during their vacancy.
Tim graduated with an MA in Physics prior to training for the ministry.

 

We will however, have to wait for his installation as Priest in Charge of the Benefice which could be a number of months.

 

We look forward to meeting and working with him at this exciting time and send our congratulations.

 Follow St Mary's website or this blog for further news.