A huge thank you!

Thanks to all those who supported the Harvest Songs of Praise and the Harvest Supper – those who organised, prepared food or washed up, and those who came. You helped us raise a fantastic £590 towards a sound system for the church. Thank you!!

You're invited!

Harvest Songs of Praise - supporting others

This year we will be supporting those less fortunate than ourselves by donating to two causes. 

Lincoln Larder was one of the first food banks to open in Lincoln.  Its purpose is simple: to provide basic food for people in crisis. The food they provide needs to be quick and easy to prepare – ordinary things like tinned fruit, rice pudding, tinned meats, UHT milk, breakfast cereals.  People can’t just turn up at the door.  Everyone needs a voucher, provided by a variety of local agencies (such as Age UK, the YMCA, Benefits Advice, Children’s Services or Health Visitors) who refer them to the Larder.  They provide 3 days’ worth of food for each person included on the voucher.  You’re invited to bring a donation of food for the Lincoln Larder to the Harvest Songs of Praise.  Or if you can’t make it to the service, you could always leave your donation in church. 

The collection at the service will once again go to WaterAid.  WaterAid has teams in 35 countries, changing millions of lives every year with clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene.  We take these things for granted, but 1 in 3 people on the planet don't have a decent toilet.  1 in 10 don't have clean water.  Almost 1 in 3 schools don't have clean water.  Diarrhoea caused by dirty water and poor toilets kills a child under 5 every 2 minutes.

Labyrinth by candlelight

church4ALL September

Harvest Thanksgiving

The service will take the form of Songs of Praise for Harvest.  Book your supper tickets now to avoid disappointment!

 

Don't forget!

Bell ringers remember Pt Kenneth Dykes

Kenneth was killed in action during WW1 aged 19.  He was born in Nocton, son of George and Emma Dykes, and was one of the bell ringers at All Saints before he enlisted in the Lincolnshire Regiment.  To mark the centenary of his death the local ringers are planning to ring a half muffled quarter peal (45 mins) on Sunday 30 July and on Monday 31 July a half muffled full peal lasting approx 3 hours will be attempted.

'We will remember them'

Thanks to all who supported guitar concert

What a lovely event it was last night.  The guitar music was great, the church was beautifully decorated with flowers, the strawberries and Prosecco were delicious, and everyone enjoyed themselves. The event raised £534.50. Yvonne asked for just £50, but she made £100 on the sales of her CDs (and we made £20 on those sales, included in the figure above). Yvonne really enjoyed the evening, too!

Carol Bennett

Reminder - guitar concert this coming Friday

Wall paintings

Some of you may be wondering what is happening about the project to restore the wall paintings in All Saints.  We were poised to start this work last year when we were advised that it would be unwise to do this until some investigative work had been done.  The wall is dry now, after several years of being allowed to dry out naturally, but there is still condensation in the area at times and, most importantly, salts continue to move throught the stone and affect the area.  There is no point in restoring the paintings only to have them fail after a few years because of more damage.  We have a plan for a way forward but it will appear that nothing much is happening for some time to come, although in fact we will be doing investigative work to understand where the salts are coming from, how they move through the area and whaat is required to protect the area from further damage.  The more thorough the preparation, the better the final result.

We acknowledge with gratitude that many people have donated over many years towards this and we wanted to assure the parishioners of Nocton, and those people from outside the parish who have also kindly donated, that we continue to work hard to sort this problem out.

church4ALL

A reminder about our new venture, church4ALL, which starts next Sunday 2 July at 4 pm at Potterhanworth.  It'll be on the first Sunday of every month after that.

Reminder about Nocton Open Gardens

Church4ALL - starts Sunday 2 July

This message from Lorna is on the 'Message' page as well at the moment but I am posting it here too so as many people as possible see it.

The majority of people nowadays would say that they're spiritual, but not 'religious'.  People generally assume that I'm religious... but I think religious sounds like being rather fussy about rules.  And for me being a signed-up Christian isn't about being religious in that sense, it's about relationships - our relationship with God and our relationships with each other.

I imagine that most parents want their children to have a spiritual dimension to their life, want their spirits as well as their minds and bodies to grow strong and healthy; but it's not easy to know how to do that.  Doing nothing and hoping for the best might not be enough.

But church is meant to be a place where you can explore, ask questions and grow spiritually  On the other hand, taking children to church can seem a bit daunting.  Grown-ups worry that the children will be a nuisance.  Children worry that they're going to be bored and everyone wonders whether they'll understand what's going on!

Which is why we are starting a new service for Potterhanworth and Nocton.  It's going to be at St Andrew's church because it has a few more facilities compared with Nocton church.  We have a more flexible space - and a kitchen.

It's going to be once a month to start with, on the first Sunday of each month.  It's going to be at 4 pm, and it's going to be for everyone.  Which is why we're calling it Church4ALL.

It will be relaxed and informal - and fun!  There'll be singing, things to make and do, something to eat and drink.  It will be designed for children and young families, but also for anyone else who'd like to try a less formal approach to church.

We'll be launching Church4ALL on Sunday 2 July.  You'll all be welcome to come along and give it a go.

If you play a musical instrument - guitar, flute, trumpet, drums, whatever - and would like to contribute to the music please do get in touch.  We'd love to hear from you.

Love Lorna

Guitar concert

Those who have been to one of Yvonne's concerts before will know what lovely events they are.