Carol singing

If you heard strange noises on Monday evening (16 December) it was probably the carol singers...  We started at The Cottage Residential Care Home where we sang carols with the residents, then roamed around Nocton Park before finishing at the Village Hall where the Parish Council kindly refreshed us with mulled wine and mince pies.  Thanks to all who kindly donated money - we raised the splendid sum of £76.53 which will be divided between All Saints and BeAttitude (working with homeless and vulnerable people in Lincoln).

Crib service - reminder!

Crib service Christmas Eve

As the darkness overtakes the last day before Christmas, bring the youngest members of the family to take part in the retelling of the Nativity Story. Our special Crib Service takes place at 4.00pm in All Saints church.

Carol singing 16 December

We will once again be inflicting ourselves on the unsuspecting residents of Nocton...  should you wish to join the merry band, we will meet at the Care Home on Monday evening 16 December at 6.30 pm  before moving around the village.  We will finish at around 8.30 pm at the Village Hall for mince pies and mulled wine!

Carol service

On Sunday December 8th All Saints Nocton held a family carol service.  The candle lit church was decked out in holly and over seventy people filled the church.  Everyone appreciated the child friendly readings and carols.  Our village school had a special part to play, contributing to the readings and singing some of their Christmas songs.  Such lovely clear voices ringing out in our beautiful church.  Finally, we all enjoyed mince pies and a drink.  Amongst all the busy preparations for Christmas it was a welcome few moments for us to pause and remember the true meaning of Christmas.

December Doodle

Thanks again to Jilly for all the work producing the Doodle!

All Hallow's Eve and All Saints Day celebrations

Thirty-eight children from Nocton and surrounding villages came to a Hogwart’s Party in Nocton Church on Halloween.  Everyone was disguised by a costume, face paint, or hat, and the church was lit up with candles and jack-o’lanterns.  Meeting a barn owl on arrival was a real treat.  Rev Jonnie Parkin explained that although the Harry Potter books are all about make-believe and magic, the
stories have morals to learn from.  He then showed four film clips from the Harry Potter films.  The children divided into groups to have fun acting out aspects of the scenes they’d just seen.
 
Being kind and helpful came from the story of Harry Potter, a new boy at Hogwart’s School, who was trying to find Platform 9 ¾ at Kings Cross Station so he could make the journey to the school.  Fellow student Ron Weasley was there with his brothers and his mother.  His mother encouraged Harry to rush at a brick wall through which he could pass to the platform (even though it looked scary and impossible).  The ‘wall’ was strips of material painted to look like a wall, hung from the vestry gate.  On the other side was a train, representing the Hogwart’s steam train.  Arriving in the vestry, the children were treated to cupcakes decorated with licorice spiders.

When Ron Weasley tried to cast a spell on the unpleasant Hogwart’s student Malfoy, it bounced back on him, because his wand was broken.  This was a lesson in ‘Do as you would be done by.’  The children made lists of good spells and bad spells, for a potion in a big pot.  The group decided which kind of spell they would like - a good spell or a bad spell - learning that if you wished something bad for someone else, you should think about how you would feel if someone wished something bad for you.  Each child added a herb or spice to the pot, and stirred it.

At the font, there was a ‘Penseive’ activity.  Each child was given a stone.  They were encouraged to think of a memory – a happy one, or sad – and to drop the stone to send that thought into the water and to let it go.  The final activity was decorating a candle, symbolising choosing the light rather than the darkness.  To close, there was an act of worship.

On the following Sunday there was a family Eucharist, which celebrated the Feast of All Saints, the name of Nocton Church, so it is a special day.  The service was led by Rev Jonnie Parkin, who involved the children by asking them questions, and including them to serve in the Eucharist.  Afterwards they got the chance to go through the ‘wall’ one more time!

by Carol Bennett

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All Saints celebration service

This year we will celebrate All Saints Day at - All Saints!  Usually that day falls to Potterhanworth but we have swapped Remembrance Sunday with them in order to have a family All Saints celebration at Nocton.

Children's All Hallows Eve event

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Doodle October

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Harvest Thanksgiving

There will be no service in Nocton next Sunday morning 22 September as we will be having our Harvest Thanksgiving in the afternoon.  The service is at 4 pm followed by the Harvest Supper in the Village Hall.  A few tickets are still available at £10 for adults or £5 for under 12s, available from Ann on 322739.

Lincolnshire Churches Trust Ride & Stride

 

Help the Lincolnshire Churches Trust maintain Lincolnshire’s fabulous churches 

Get sponsored for the Bike, Ride and Stride

Saturday September 14^th 2013

You can cycle, walk, run or even ride your horse between churches raising money for your local church and the Lincolnshire Churches Trust.

Join your friends or family or have a peaceful day on your own, visiting Lincolnshire’s beautiful churches, and be sponsored for every church you visit.

For more information and to get forms contact your local organiser or see the website for the County Organiser, www.lincolnshirechurchestrust.org.uk.

Your local organiser is Liz Murray 01526 323357

Prayer workshop

For the parishes of Branston, Potterhanworth, Nocton, Metheringham, Dunston & Blankney

A Prayer Workshop Day

led by Sr Liz CSF

Saturday 5^th October

to be held at San Damiano, the home of the Community of St Francis,

38 Drury Street, Metheringham, LN4 3EZ.

9.30am – 4.00pm

An introduction to prayer and different ways of praying.

There will be a Celtic Eucharist at 12.30 followed by a bring and share lunch.

Suggested donation for the day £5 per person.

Please book a place as there is limited space for the day.

Tel: 01526 321115 or e.mail: metheringhamcsf@franciscans.org.uk

Church opening times

The church is now open on Fridays 2 - 4 pm.  Please drop in and see us!

Help us raise funds!

Shop online and help All Saints - it's easy, raises funds for us and could save you money!  Just register at

http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/allsaintsnocton
 
then shop with over 2000 well known retailers who will give us a donation.  It won't cost you a penny and you can even save money with special offers and vouchers.

Please register today and help us raise funds!

Prayer on the birth of Prince George

God our Creator, 
who knows each of us by name and loves us from all eternity:
 we give you thanks for new life and human love. 
Bless William and Catherine
as they welcome their son into the world. 
Give them patience and wisdom
to cherish and love him as he grows. 
Surround the family with the light of hope
and the warmth of your love 
today and always; 
through Jesus Christ our Lord. 
Amen.

Latest Doodle

Sorry this is a bit late being posted - I've been away.

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Coronation Diamond Jubilee Concert

A Coronation Diamond Jubilee Concert was held in Nocton Church on Saturday 1 June 2013.  Everyone was welcomed into the Church through the North Porch which had been decked with Union Jacks, and the flower displays throughout were in red, white and blue.  The quarter sized Coronation Coach and horses with the footmen in their fine livery were on display.

The Banovallum Band had travelled from Horncastle with 25 players including three lively young percussionists.  The first piece that they played was the Coronation March by Giacomo Meyerbeer, quickly followed by the Saddleworth Festival Overture which had been chosen because of Nocton’s Australian connections.  The Band continued to play pieces from their repertoire concluding with some Last Night at the Proms favourites and the audience joined in singing Jerusalem and the chorus of Land of Hope and Glory waving their Union Jack flags and having a good time.  Refreshments were served after the concert which allowed the players to enjoy the food and have a chat.

Thanks go to the many people that donated raffle prizes and to those who bought the raffle tickets.

‘Many hands make light work’ was the motto for the team that helped serve the drinks, which included tea, made the cakes and sandwiches, and helped with the washing up at the end of the evening.

A large thank you to Peter Tether for organizing the donation that was given to the Band for their performance, which was a great help in raising a total of £557 from this concert. 

 

Concert 6 July

A Feast of Music in Nocton Church on Saturday 6 July at 7.30 pm

Sixteen-Eighty-Five plays easy listening classical music for a summer's evening in the beautiful setting and perfect acoustic of Nocton Church.

Baroque delights by Bach, Handel and others, played on all kinds of recorders, Baroque flute, harpsichord and organ

The cost of the beautifully restored chancel and nave roofs of All Saints, Nocton has left the church coffers empty.  Please come and see some of the restoration work, hear a lovely concert, indulge in strawberries and wine, and help to keep the finest Gothic Revival Church in Lincoln Diocese open.

Sixteen-Eighty-Five is a group of musicians based in Lincoln and London.  The name comes from the year 1685, in which Bach, Handel and Domenico Scarlatti were born.  They play music of this period.

Tickets are only £5, and are on sale in Nocton Post Office, or phone Ann on 01526 322739.

Don't forget - concert 1 June!

Fun at Pentecost

On Sunday 19 May, fifteen children from the group of six parishes to which Nocton belongs gathered in Potterhanworth Church to celebrate Pentecost. After hearing a brief introduction from Revd Jonnie Parkin about the story of the Holy Spirit descending on the disciples with a rush of wind and flames of fire, Judy Dickin (Branston parish) explained, using figures on a stage of red cloth, that after Easter and the Ascension, the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples, guiding them to go out and spread the Good News about Jesus Christ. This was the beginning of the Church, which is more than a building – it is the people who all work together, and stand on each other’s shoulders, who make the Church. What better way to celebrate than with a birthday cake, beautifully made and presented by Rachael Eades of Potterhanworth parish. Afterwards, the children guided each other in games of pin the tail on the donkey. Then they did three different activities on the themes of wind, water and fire. Everyone enjoyed forming two teams to blow cotton wool balls with straws across a table. The water activity was at the font, where each child tried out baptising and naming a doll. Fire was an activity where the theme was lighting a candle in the dark, and lighting the way in the darkness, so that eventually all the countries in the world heard about the Good News. The children wrote prayers on paper doves and attached them to a tree during an act of worship. They marked each other’s palms in the shape of a Cross with a scented oil blessed by Bishop Christopher called chrism. Two children read beautifully from the Bible, and the afternoon ended with the singing of ‘Shine, Jesus, Shine.’

 

The next event is a Saints and Heroes party at Nocton Church on Halloween, Thursday 31 October. It’s a reminder that Halloween means the eve of All Hallows, that is, the eve of All Saints Day, and it isn’t all about ghosts and goblins. If anyone who has a Key Stage 1 or 2 child who is interested in coming along, please let Carol Bennett know (01526 322930).

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Annual Parochial Church Meeting

All Saints held its Annual Vestry Meeting (to elect the churchwardens) and Annual Parochial Church Meeting (the church's AGM) on 24 April 2013.  Ten people attended the meeting at which Nicholas Bennett stood down as churchwarden.   The PCC wishes to record its thanks to Nicholas for all his work.  Liz Murray was elected unopposed but we are now a churchwarden short as we should have two.

The qualifications for being a churchwarden are that the person must:

be baptised

be named on the church electoral roll of the parish

be an actual communicant

be at least 21 years old

not be disqualified from being a charity trustee under section 72(1) of the Charities Act 1993

not have been convicted of any offence mentioned in Schedule 1 to the Children and Young Persons Act 1933

not be disqualified under section 10(6) of the Incumbents (Vacation of Benefices) Measure 1977 (No. 1)

If anyone fulfils these criteria and would like to discuss what being a churchwarden might involve, please contact Liz Murray for more details on 01526 323357.

The Parochial Church Council (a parish church's governing body) is re-elected each year.  Elsie Horton stood down and again the PCC wishes to thank Elsie for all her work over many years.  The following were elected as members of the PCC:

Carol Bennett

Nicholas Bennett

Ruth Eagle

Doreen Green

Chris Howard

Ann Kennedy

Ruth Eagle announced her intention to stand down as Deanery Synod representative in the near future.  Our thanks go to Ruth for fulfilling this role for a good number of years!

Concert - 1 June

Annual Parochial Church Meeting - 24 April

The Annual Parish Meeting (APM) and the Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM) - the church's AGM -  will be held on Wednesday 24 April (not the incorrect date I previously supplied to the Doodle editor - sorry about that).


Why two meetings, you may ask? The APM is to elect the two churchwardens who will serve for the following year.  Anyone on the civil electoral register – anyone entitled to vote in government elections – or on the church electoral roll may attend the meeting.  The APCM immediately follows and is to receive the accounts, the fabric report and the report of the Parochial Church Council (PCC), and to elect the PCC and sidespersons for the following year.  Anyone on the church electoral roll is entitled to attend.  We have six elected members of the PCC.

Please join us on 24 April! We promise not to elect you as PCC member or sidesperson unless you actually volunteer!

Easter Day

Alleluia! Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
 
We came together on Easter Day to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That's what Easter is about - not Easter eggs or cute bunnies, but God sending his own Son to redeem mankind from our sins.

Alleluia! Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Good Friday

Good Friday is a major event in the Christian calendar, when we recall Jesus' crucifixion.  Crucifixion is a particularly nasty form of execution, reserved in Roman times for the lowest in society.  Jesus was executed like a common criminal.

There were two events to mark this important day.  Firstly, there was a Walk of Witness in Branston, where a small group from our local parishes walked around Branston behind a wooden cross, held aloft in turn by members of the group.  We stopped at various points to mark the Stations of the Cross, with each stopping point being marked by a reading and a prayer.  The walk started and finished at All Saints, Branston, and we were glad of the (hot) drink and (not hot) hot cross buns which greeted our return.  I'm not sure that everyone who saw us understood what we were doing, but it was good to demonstrate that there is a worshipping Christian community in the locality.

The second event was at Dunston Methodist Chapel, when nearly 30 children from five local parishes, including Nocton, came together for a packed programme of activities and worship.  All involved thoroughly enjoyed the day.  Further children's activities are planned for later in the year - keep checking the blog to find out more!

Maundy Thursday service

24 people attended All Saints Church on Maundy Thursday to commemorate the Last Supper - Jesus' final meal with his friends before his arrest, trial and crucifixion.  In keeping with the sombre mood, at the end of the service the sanctuary was stripped, with all hangings removed, leaving the altar stark and bare.  This process was accompanied by Nicholas Bennett singing Psalm 22.  At the end of the service, the candles in the sanctuary were extinguished and the congregation left in silence to ponder again the enormity of what happened that night in Jerusalem, 2000 years ago.

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Next children's event

Good Friday Activities

Dunston Methodist Chapel

Friday March 29th 10 -12 am

Details to follow

Church electoral roll

The Electoral Roll is the Church's equivalent of the civil Electoral Register, and lists everyone who is entitled to vote on church matters. Every six years, every parish is required by law to prepare a new Electoral Roll, and 2013 is a year in which complete revision is required. Inclusion in a new Electoral Roll is not automatic. Everyone must apply to be included, even if they are on the existing Electoral Roll. Joining the Church Electoral Roll means that people can vote on Church matters, attend the Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM) and stand for election to the Parochial Church Council (PCC).

You can apply to be on the parish Electoral Roll if you meet all of the following criteria:

 

1. You are a lay person (ie not an ordained priest)

 

2. You have been baptised

 

3. You are one of the following:

 

a) a member of the Church of England

 

b) a member of a Church in communion with the Church of England

 

c) a member in good standing of a Church which subscribes to the doctrine of the Holy Trinity (not being in communion with the Church of England) and also prepared to declare yourself to be a member of the Church of England having habitually attended public worship during the six months prior to enrolment

 

4. You are at least 16 years of age

 

5. You are resident in the parish, or if not resident in the parish, have habitually attended public worship in the parish during a six month period prior to enrolment

 

6. You have completed an Application for Enrolment form

Please consider enrolling yourself on the new Electoral Roll and giving yourself the opportunity to take part in the running of the church (although this isn't compulsory!). Application forms are available in church, at the Post Office or can be downloaded here.

Please return your completed forms to either of the churchwardens, at a service, or to the Post Office, by the end of March.

Latest Doodle

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Doodle February 2013

Friday 8 February - ‘Children's Pancake Party’

On Friday 8 February there will be a children's Pancake Party at Branston Church Hall at 6 pm.  All children from the six parishes, including Nocton, are welcome.

Lent at San Damiano

Nocton Doodle latest edition

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Gift Aid

We remain extremely grateful to all those who so generously support All Saints. Did you know that you can increase your gift, at no cost to yourself, by applying Gift Aid? The church then gets an extra £2.50 for every £10 you give, provided the following declaration applies:

I confirm I have paid or will pay an amount of Income Tax and/or Capital Gains Tax for each tax year (6 April to 5 April) that is at least equal to the amount of tax that all the charities or Community Amateur Sports Clubs (CASCs) that I donate to will reclaim on my gifts for that tax year. I understand that other taxes such as VAT and Council Tax do not qualify. I understand the charity will reclaim 28p of tax on every £1 that I gave up to 5 April 2008 and will reclaim 25p of tax on every £1 that I give on or after 6 April 2008.

Please consider making a Gift Aid declaration for any gifts you are able to make, no matter how small. A form can be downloaded at http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/charities/appendix_b1.pdf and can be applied to a single donation or to past and future donations, as you prefer.

Epiphany

Today is the Feast of the Epiphany, when we celebrate the coming of the wise men, representing the Gentile (non-Jewish) nations, to worship Jesus.

You may have wondered about the 'three kings' and who they actually were.  Just to start with, they almost certainly weren't kings and we don't know how many of them there were...  Please take a look at the 'message' page for the background to how a group of Persian astrologers became 'the three kings'.