My family were overwhelmed by the messages, letters and cards sent to us on Peter's recent death. They were of great comfort to us at a very difficult time. We were upheld by your love and prayers for which we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
Wendy and family
The crocuses planted by Hitchin Priory Rotary club are making a fine display in the churchyard opposite St Ippolyts School. The corms were purchased by the Rotary club and all procceds from the purchase were donated to "Purple for Polio' Rotary's campaign for the worldwide eradication of polio.
LINK TO HOPE SHOE BOX APPEAL
I have recently received a communication from Link to Hope in which they say that:
‘We would like to say a huge thank-you to all of you who took part in our Christmas 2020 shoebox appeal.
We sent a total of 20,768 boxes. Whilst normally 20,768 boxes would be a disappointing number, considering the extremely difficult circumstances, we are delighted with this total.’
Due to the Covid-19 restrictions no delivery team was able to go out from the UK and so the boxes had to be sent. It then fell to the project managers in the countries concerned (Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova and Ukraine) to think very creatively as to the best way to safely give out the shoeboxes. They all managed this successfully and reported back that people were shocked to receive a shoebox this year, as they didn’t think that they would receive anything at all given the situation.
There were lots of tears and many smiles. Fortunately, the project managers managed to obtain some photos using their mobile phones and the picture below shows part of our thank-you poster to give an idea of some of them.
So thank you all for all of your help - a truly AMAZING result all round.
This year (2021) Link to Hope will be celebrating their 30th Birthday, (perhaps not quite in the way that they may have anticipated); but who knows, as they continue to do what they do best - Rebuilding Lives and Communities in Eastern Europe - just what impact they will go on to have in the lives of all of these people.
Arthur Sibun
Items needed for our local communities.
Please label bags clearly for either the school or the Foodbank, if you have a preference. Bags can be left at The Vicarage, Stevenage Road, St Ippolyts, SG4 7PE.
Thank you for your support, both the school and the Foodbank send their heartfelt thanks each time I drop supplies off but I have assured them that there is no need for them to formally write and thank us as I am sure they have enough to do.
Below is a list of what is currently of greatest need but please feel free to add other non-perishable items of food or toiletries (including sanitary products) and I will update the list weekly if it changes.
Foodbank
Long life Juice
Tinned Potato
Instant potato [Pkts]
Tinned Veg [Not pulses]
Tinned meat [Not Hotdogs]
Tinned Fruit
Dried Milk
Sugar
Small Coffee
Nappies size 5
St Ippolyts School (for children’s grocery packs)
Tinned soup
Tinned spaghetti hoops
Tins of ready made meat such as minced beef, stew, bolognaise
Tinned tomatoes
Tinned peas
Jam
Cereal bars
Biscuits
Bottles of squash/cordial
Fruit juice cartons
Pasta sauce
ST. IPPOLYTS CHURCH APPEAL
As everybody is aware most charities are going through a difficult time with the coronavirus pandemic causing the amounts of money they receive being severely reduced. St. Ippolyts Church is no exception and for the year of 2020 we have had a deficit of approximately £9000 and as a result we are delving deeply into our dwindling reserves to keep our beautiful church running.
Our regular Church expenses are about £60,000 each year and include our Parish Share to the Diocese of St. Albans (which in turn pays for Reverend Ginni), our worship costs, regular maintenance, utility bills, churchyard maintenance and administration costs.
Over 90% of our income comes from members of our church family and local community. We receive nothing from either Government, the central church or from other charities to meet our regular expenses.
We are fortunate that a number of people give regularly via regular standing order payments. This has been a Godsend during the pandemic and without these payments our finances would have been even more severely compromised. Regular giving enables people to plan their giving and support our valuable work even if they are unable to attend a service and put money in the collection plate.
We are therefore asking that you:-
If you decide to make a one-off donation there is a facility on our web site to make a gift though we are unable to collect gift aid through the web site donations.
An alternative is to make a donation by text. To make a text donation,
Text - STIPPSCHURCH 5 to 70085 to donate £5 or if you wish to donate a larger amount then substitute the
5 with the amount you would like to donate up to a maximum of £20.
Texts cost the amount you have donated plus one standard rate message and you’ll be opting in to hear more about our work and fundraising via telephone and SMS.
If you’d like to give but do not wish to receive marketing communications,
Text - STIPPSCHURCHNOINFO 5 to 70085 to donate £5 etc.
If you are able then a direct bank transfer can be made to the church bank account details of which can be obtained from our treasurer. For those who are able to give regularly then please contact our treasurer, Michael Hooper on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. who will let you have details of ways to set up a standing order and how to gift aid any donation.
Thank you.
Michael Hooper
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