Lent Charity Giveaway

During Lent, we have donated £50 from our café profits to each of the following charities:

The Wingate Centre

Positive About Down Syndrome

DEC Ukraine Appeal

SANDS Neonatal Research

British Legion

Edward’s Trust (support for bereaved parents)

North West Air Ambulance

Nantwich and District Riding for the Disabled

Guide Dogs for the Blind

Water Aid

Alzheimer’s Society

Mission to Seafarers.

Thank you to everyone who nominated a charity and huge thanks to all our wonderful customers who made the donations possible.

And don’t forget we have a new spring menu available.

This is the letter we will be sending to the Bishops, having completed the course.

For the attention of the Bishops,

Living in Love and Faith Feedback

This letter is written on behalf of members of the churches of All Saints’ in Weston and St Mark’s in Shavington in the Diocese of Chester who have taken part in the Living in Love and Faith course. We have valued the opportunity to learn together using the LLF resources and wanted to share with you some of the key issues that have arisen as a result of the learning that has taken place. In our final session together, we agreed that we would feedback the following points:

1. We want to welcome everyone with tolerance and sensitivity regardless of who they are. 

2. We feel it is important to develop ways of enabling people to gain a greater understanding of the impact that their views have on an individual’s emotional and psychological well-being. 

3. We want to accept people for who they are or as they present themselves. 

4. We have valued the course but cannot see how two opposing sides can come together in agreement when each side is firmly grounded in the belief that they are right. 

5. We believe that the feelings of the existing church congregation are also important so there needs to be mutual understanding and respect on all sides. As a church community, we need to learn to disagree well. 

6. We need to develop a much clearer understanding of the issues involved, particularly in relation to a person’s gender and sexuality. 

We hope that our feedback is useful as you prayerfully consider the next steps for the Church of England. We wish you well in this difficult task and pray for God’s wisdom and grace to be with you. 

With all good wishes,

Rev Rachael Griffiths

Vicar

All Saints’ Weston with St Mark’s Shavington

Living in Love and Faith (LLF) is a six week course during which we will explore issues relating to what it means to be human and ask ourselves the question, how we can live lovingly and faithfully alongside people whose identity, relationships or sexuality might be very different from our own? The course is open to everyone and will be a safe space in which to share, reflect and learn together. We hope that it will enable us as a parish to understand more fully what it means for us to live out our strapline ‘Sharing the love of Jesus with all.’ The sessions will last for an hour and a half with opportunity for a break for refreshments half way through. They will include videos, case studies, Bible study, discussion and prayer. The topics for each week are as follows:

Date	Topic	Venue*
Thursday 3rd Feb	Learning Together	St Mark’s church
Thursday 10th Feb	Identity	St Mark’s church
Thursday 17th Feb	Relationships	St Mark’s church
BREAK
Thursday 3rd March	Sex	All Saints’ hall
Thursday 10th March	Life Together	All Saints’ hall
Thursday 17th March	What have we learned?	All Saints’ hall

Each session is stand-alone so if you can’t make them all, don’t worry. You can also access all of the resources online for any sessions that you miss. Details of how to access the resources will be shared in a weekly blog on our website (www.allsaintsandstmarks.com). If you have any questions, please speak to Rachael or Gaynor. We look forward to learning together!

*All sessions start at 7.30pm and end at 9pm.

St Mark’s and All Saints’ 2021 Challenge: Walk to the Cross

Are you looking for something different to do this Lent? Would you be up for a challenge that will help improve your fitness and raise valuable funds for our parish churches? Something that you can do even if we are still in lockdown?

‘Walk to the Cross’ is a virtual walking challenge from our parish to Jerusalem, a distance of 4,688km. To take part in the challenge, you will need to walk as many kilometres as you can for each of the six weeks of Lent beginning on Ash Wednesday (17^th February) and ending on Maundy Thursday (1^st April). You will need to calculate your total weekly mileage in kilometres, starting on Ash Wednesday, and then send it to Rachael. You will need to let Rachael know your total weekly mileage on the evening of each of the following Thursdays:

25^th February, 4^th March, 11^th March, 18^th March, 25^th March and 1^st April.

Rachael will keep a running total of how many miles we have collectively walked and there will be a weekly update about how far along the route to Jerusalem we have reached.

To take part in the Lent challenge, you will be invited either to make a donation or ask for sponsorship (forms available on request). All money raised will go to church funds. For more information or to sign up to the virtual walking challenge, please contact Rachael (vicar@allsaintsandstmarks.com / 01270 582585). 

You can download a sponsorship form here:

Or donate here: https://givealittle.co/campaigns/37ddf78a-2ef3-4bc8-b0c9-867cc37fa75b

February Update from Knit for Peace
They are continuing to operate despite the national lockdown, as the need for warm clothes and blankets remains.

This week the first donation of completed items has been delivered to me –  hats, scarves and mittens.

If you need patterns, completed items collected or any other information please contact Margaret H (01270 841577 or email margarethodgkinson6@gmail.com)

It will cost us £8.42 to send 15kg in weight of items made for this project, If you don’t knit or crochet but would still like to be apart of this project we would be delighted for any donations to help cover this cost.

Now that we have finished making Christmas bells, we can look forward to supporting Knit for Peace with scarves, hats blankets etc.

Knit for Peace sends items they receive to wherever they are needed, some overseas and some in this country.

This is a picture of some things that I have made; If you have access to the internet and type into your search engine – Knit for Peace –  and on their site you will find loads of free patterns for items to make, so you can make a variety of items if you prefer.

Wondering what to knit?

This is the latest list from Knit for Peace, as you can see there are plenty of options, so take your pick and knit away!

The colder weather has brought a flurry of requests for blankets and warm clothes.
Especially needed are socks (all sizes) mittens or gloves, hats (grown up sizes mostly for men) adult sweaters or cardigans, slipovers.
Children’s clothes (from ages 2 to 14) – jumpers, cardigans, ponchos all sizes, hats.
Blankets:
large (80×90”/200x230cm or 70×90”/180x230cm),
medium (60×70”/150x180cm or 50×70”/130x180cm),
lap blankets (45×45”/115x115cm)
Shawls.
Toys – we have a special request for black or brown faced dolls, otherwise teddies and animals are ok. 
We don’t need twiddle muffs and premature baby clothing at the moment.

We never sell whatever you send us, we send them to where they are needed. We send out tens of thousands of items a year, giving to a diverse range of services, such as refugee centres, homeless shelters, and hospitals.

If you don’t have access to the internet and are stuck for patterns or ideas then let me know and I will let you have some printed options.

We have to send items made by carrier to their central depot so if you are unable to knit/crochet then you can still get involved by making a donation to cover the cost of forwarding items made to Knit for Peace.

We have already have a number of scarves and other items that have been made and in fact have sent off our first donation of items to them.

When you have any completed items you would like collected just give me a call and I will arrange collection. Margaret Hodgkinson 841577.

Thanks to the children & young people from Shavington Primary, Shavington Academy, Rounderbouts Nursery, Rope Green Nursery, Shavington Primary Nursery, 2nd Shavington Brownies, GLOW, St Marks Toddlers, Little Woodpeckers & the Home Ed children for their amazing contributions. 

You can see the garden until 27th November.

St. Mark’s church hall kitchen was visited on Saturday 17th October by an inspector from the Cheshire East Environmental Health department.
It was in 2008 that the kitchen was last inspected and at that time we were awarded a Food Hygiene rating of 4 out of 5.
The inspector was generally pleased with what he saw – he made a few comments regarding some minor ares where we can improve but these are not onerous and will be easy to implement.
He awarded us a Food Hygiene rating of 5 out of 5 and a new rating label has been attached to the hall door – see the photo.
So well done and a big thank you to everyone who has contributed to the running and cleanliness of the kitchen in any way.

Some years ago I joined a group in church following the practice of Julian of Norwich who lived a life of contemplation. The idea was to sit quietly for half an hour. During this time it was important to clear your mind as much as possible and sit and listen for to see if God might want to say something. As I have always been told that I spend too much time doing ,and not enough time listening this appeared to the perfect opportunity. I tried. I really did. On some occasions I managed to completely relax and push aside the pressing matters of the day. Sadly at those times I was in real danger of falling asleep and not wanting to be the only person present who was snoring I immediately tensed and my mind the had to concentrate hard on staying awake and not listening at all!.

This week I decided to try again. I have no urgent things to do and nowhere to be so I thought it might be easier to let my mind become quiet. My home is calm and the garden a pleasant place to relax. I found a comfortable seat outside and let my mind become a blank canvas. I had been sitting for no more than two minutes when my washing machine discharged its dirty water into the grid nearby! Settling again I could feel the sun on my face and the peace of my garden and once more my mind drifted. Just then a robin landed in the bird bath and proceeded to splash happily, and noisily,around . I was completely distracted and spent the next few minutes watching his antics. Not to be deterred I moved to the bottom of the garden and made another attempt. Within a few minutes my neighbour, who had noticed me sitting very still, came out to ask me if I was alright or if I needed some help. I gave up! I have resigned myself to thinking that if God wants me to do something he will let me know some other way.

On Tuesday I noticed that one of my tyres on my car looked very soft so I drove off to the garage to check all my tyres. Two days later the warning light was showing again indicating I still had a problem. This now involved a trip to the local tyre garage. I always feel out of my comfort zone in these places as generally speakingI have no idea what Im talking about. The first thing I was asked was where was my locking wheel nut. I wasnt sure whether this was a joke, a bit like the apprentice bricklayer who is sent to the builders merchant to buy sky hooks! Yes that really does happen. Anyway it appears I am supposed to have one of these nuts but a futile search of the car proved that I hadnt

And without it they were unable to change the tyre. This resulted in a visit to the garage where my car is serviced and after another search of the car they agreed that they must have lost it. I arranged a second visit to give them time to get another nut and at the agreed time arrived for the work to be done. I was given a curtesy car to use for the day as the work involved breaking the nuts on all four wheels and replacing them with new ones. On returning I was told the work and what turned out to be a slow puncture had been repaired free of charge. I am so glad I didnt go in with all guns blazing! They apologised, did the work without charge and gave me a brand new car to use while I waited. Its probably the most excitement I’ve had since the lockdown.

I have had visits from friends this week. Roger and Gaynor had a socially distanced coffee at the front door. Two other friends visited separately and I had coffee with one and lunch with the other. How conversations have changed. No longer are we describing lunches out, theatre visits or recently taken holidays. Now it is all about whether we have managed to get a shopping delivery or had a video call with other friends and family. It was lovely to see them all in almost normal circumstances. It did however make the house feel very empty when they had gone and I had to tell myself sternly, how lucky I am to have friends who have taken the time to see me. When I think of the millions in the world who dont have fresh water or soap to wash their hands I realise I am not only lucky but also very blessed!

I dropped Lindsey off at the station with her many bags and I was allowed to go down to the platform with her. There were no other people on the platform which made it seem very surreal. Very few people were on the train and accommodating her baggage was easy. At the other end she was picked up by a very kind taxi driver who helped to carry her luggage to the door of her flat where she was met and assisted by her new flat mates. I’m not ashamed to admit that there were more than a few tears as the train pulled away from Crewe but then I remembered Gaynor telling me that when she left for university, she had a trunk and the promise of letters as nobody had their own phone and I realised how lucky we are now to be able to keep in touch in so many ways and able to see each other on video calls too.

There were tears of laughter when I saw what Lindsey had done to Daves dog (see photo). As you can see Wellie sat through it all with his usual good grace. He is such a beautiful dog and I defy anyone to be sad in his presence.

Online shopping is the norm for most people now and I am grateful for the technology which allows us to purchase the items we need while staying safe in our homes. When parcels arrive I always thank the people delivering and their reply is almost always that they are grateful to be kept in a job.

I know that many people have been binge watching box sets and I too have enjoyed watching a whole season of a TV series. However, is it only me who reverts back to watching old favourites such as Morse,Endeavour and Midsommer Murders? I find that there is such comfort in seeing these old friends previously watched when the world wasn’t quite so chaotic. Again, what would we do without this technology?

An important part of my week is watching and taking part in the lovely, thoughtful church services lead by Rachael. I love the ‘action’ songs and again it is impossible not to feel better when Rachael puts so much enthusiasm into the routines! I would love to be a fly on the wall ,when,in the future, these services are watched by her grandchildren!

Now the weather is colder and it’s not so pleasant working outside, the technology which allows me to work at home is proving invaluable. My days are still going really quickly now that I can carry on doing my job and the house doesn’t feel as empty when I can message the people at work and still feel part of a team.

As the weeks go by it is difficult to imagine that life will ever be normal but part of the wonderful technology we have also means that we have access to the daily updates on the terrible loss of life in such a short time. Each life lost means that there is a family grieving and I am praying to God that he will give comfort to all those who are feeling bewildered and bereaved.

My prayers this week are also for you, that you and your families stay safe and well and hope that we can all be together again soon.

Shaan