Our All Souls Service will be held on Sunday 30th October at 5:00p.m, in St Ippolyts Church.
It will be a candlelit service at which we will remember the names of the departed loved ones. If you would like a name or names to be offered in prayer at this special service please add them to the list which is at the back of each of our three churches.
St Ippolyts Church Nativity Crib Festival
3rd and 4th December 11-5
Aren’t Crib sets a bit boring? Come along to our Nativity Crib Festival and we’ll prove otherwise!
Every year we get more and more cribs (last year we lost count at 130) and they are all different!
Different in size from a scene carved inside a wooden egg the size of a quails egg to ones over a foot high.
Different in age from family heirlooms to the scenes made by The Beavers or Brownies.
Different in the materials they are made from, who knew you could make a Nativity set out of citrus peel?
Above all they each have a different story written on a card beside them. One wonderful story told about a set at our first festival in which the twin boys who owned the Playmobile Nativty set had found that baby Jesus fitted inside their toy cars and went zooming around the house. Another, made of newspaper told of how a poor shepherd had been nibbled by the mice.
All these sets are displayed in our lovely medieval church with as many fairy lights, baubles and tinsel as we can possibly squeeze in.
If you have been before will your favourites be there? Who knows? We certainly don’t until they arrive at the church when we set up. We do know that we will have some different sets, one of the organisers has inherited quite a few sets, another was given another one last Christmas (yes everyone knows we are a little obsessed with them). We will also have a Mystery Crib set, I received a phone call last Christmas saying that they had a crib set for us for the next festival and this was duly left on my doorstep, unfortunately my household was in considerable turmoil and no details were taken – whose it is remains a mystery!
Entry is £2.50, children are free. Tea/ coffee and delicious cakes are available.
For more details contact Barbara. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 01462 421647
Over 50 members of our local community enjoyed a splendid Harvest Lunch at St Ippolyts Parish Hall today.
A big thank you to all the ladies that helped prepare the food and make the event such a success. A special thankyou to Jane and Jennifer Veasey and Mary Hooper for all their hard work in arranging the lunch.
More photos can be seen in the gallery.
From The Venerable Paul Hughes – Archdeacon of Bedford
I am writing to ask if you would kindly please pass on details both to your PCC’s and other members of your congregation (through your pew sheets and magazines if possible) of a pilgrimage to the Holy Land from 16 – 25 May next year which I am leading with my wife, The Revd Canon Liz Hughes, Senior Chaplain at London Luton Airport.
As a diocese we have a huge collective experience of organising and running pilgrimages in collaboration with our Travel Agent McCabe and we sincerely believe that this programme is our best yet.
The pilgrimage will spend five nights in Jerusalem and four in Tiberias by The Sea of Galilee. We will visit many of the principal holy sites including the Mount of Olives, The Garden of Gethsemane, The Via Dolorosa, The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Bethlehem, Nazareth, The Church of the Beatitudes and Tabgha (The Church of the Loaves and Fishes). The Friday in Jerusalem allows the choice of a free day in the Old City or a full day tour by coach to Masada, Qumran and the Dead Sea. A boat cruise on the Sea of Galilee is also included.
The full brochure and booking form can be viewed/downloaded at the link below.
http://www.stalbanspilgrimages.org.uk/fpilgrimages.html
A professional English-speaking guide will be present throughout the pilgrimage and the hotels have been carefully selected and are well known to us. Travel is by luxury air-conditioned coach.
Those travelling alone and / or for the first time are very welcome, and a supportive friendly and safe setting is assured. Parish groups are encouraged! The pilgrimage is fully ecumenical and we warmly welcome friends from all Christian denominations.
Anyone interested (without obligation) is warmly invited to an informal meeting at St Margaret’s Church Parish Centre Streatley on Saturday 8 October @10.30 am.
It would be very helpful in estimating numbers if anyone hoping to attend the above event could please email :
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Full directions and a map will be sent by return.
You may also be interested in a further Diocesan pilgrimage to Rome and Assisi from 11 to 18 October next year led by Canon Dennis Stamps, Rector of Harpenden, previously Director of Ministry for the Diocese of St Albans . Details are again available on the Pilgrimages website as above.
Thank you for your kind assistance,
The Venerable Paul Hughes
Archdeacon of Bedford
As well as the usual Harvest Festival services in Church there will be a Harvest Lunch at 12:30 in the Parish Hall. To enable the catering team to make their plans beforehand, attendance will be ticket only, available now from Jane and Jennifer Veasey (Hitchin 434254), Anne Steel (Hitchin 432117) or Roger Cox (Hitchin 432445) at £5 per head, £3 for children aged 5-11 and no charge for younger lunchers.
