Reflections Blog

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A big thank you to John Edwards and the Jubilate choir for entertaining us on Sunday afternoon with "Rejoice and be Merry". We were treated to an eclectic mix of different Christmas songs including John's own rendition of Nine Lessons. 

Well done to everyone and thank you to the audience of over 50 that turned out on a cold and blustery afternoon.

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The 2019 Nativity Crib Festival is another wonderful success. It is open 1st December 11;00 to 17:00. Come Along.

Sunday 8^th December at 2.30pm.

We are delighted to announce that the JUBILATE! Choir, directed by John Edwards, will once again be performing a concert entitled ‘Rejoice and Be Merry’ in St. Ippolyts Church.

It will be a programme of Yuletide music and carols with an opportunity for some audience participation to get you into the mood for Christmas.

Tickets at £6.00 include teatime refreshments.  Please purchase tickets at the door on the evening. 

                                                                                         Mary Hooper

On Friday 20^th December we will once again be carolling our way around the Broad Meadow estate to raise funds for the UK Sepsis Trust.

We meet at Barbara's (1 Ash Drive) at 6.15pm. and work our way around the estate.  All carollers are invited back to Barbara's for mulled wine and mince pies (or squash and biscuits) when we finish.  Everyone is invited to come along and join in, the aim is to enjoy ourselves - we make no pretence at being a choir, so it doesn't matter if your singing voice is not great.  If you love singing carols, we are bound to sing your favourite ones (song sheets are provided).  The more carollers we have the better we sound and young children really enjoy the excitement of being out after dark!  Children of primary school age or younger need to bring their own adult.

If you live on the estate, please listen out for us and be prepared to answer the door to our team of collectors.  For any more information please contact me - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 01462-421647.

                                                                                    Barbara Thomas

The December Community Lunch will be a ticket only event and there will not be a Community Lunch in January.  We will resume as usual on Wednesday 5^th February 2020, from

         12.45pm. till 2.00pm. in St. Ippolyts Parish Hall.  (Serving

time 12.45pm. till 1.00pm.).  Cost £4.  Everyone welcome.

                                                                                              Anne Steel

We will be decorating the church for Christmas on Saturday 21^st December from 9.30am.  Please come and help if you can.  We will need greenery to put around the church and on the window sills and white flower arrangements with possibly 

a hint of silver.  Christmas is a very special festival so the Church should look its best!

We will also need help clearing up the Church on Tuesday 7^th January from 9.30am.  Don’t forget to come and collect any baskets, vases, etc., which you have used.

Date of next meeting:

Our next meeting will take place on Wednesday 15^th January 2020 at 10.30 for 11.00am. at Thistley House, Gosmore, home of Anne Steel.

                                Frances Williams, Carol Scott and Joan Pinkstone

We are continuing our annual sponsorship of the church floodlights which costs £15 per week and we have 52 weeks to fill.  If you would like to participate please sign the list which is at the back of church as soon as possible.  You may sponsor as many weeks as you wish and you may wish this to be in memory of a loved one, to celebrate a birthday, a wedding, or anniversary, etc.

Cheques please if possible, made payable to ‘St. Ippolyts Church’, as this makes

it easier to track who has paid.  If you wish your sponsorship to be anonymous, please write ‘anonymous’ in the name space and put your donation in an envelope just stating the week(s).  Please pass all monies to Roger Cox.

                                                                                                Roger Cox

I would like to offer a huge thank you to all who have contributed in any way to our Christmas shoebox appeal this year.  So many people have again contributed time, money, goods and effort (as well as filling and wrapping the odd box or two!).

A heartfelt thank you to ALL of you on behalf of Link to Hope.  The 35 boxes that we collected this year are already on their way across Europe and I know that they will be greatly appreciated by those who receive them this Christmas.

                                                                                              Arthur Sibun

I don’t know about you but it seems to me that the shops begin their preparations for Christmas earlier and earlier each year!  I spotted the first Christmas cards in the shops not long after the children returned to school after the summer holidays and I’ve already lost count of the amount of fully decorated Christmas trees and windows festooned with lights I’ve seen - and as I write it’s not even December yet!!

There seems to be an indecent haste to get to Christmas and I can’t help but feel that so much is missed out on by not taking things a little slower.  For the church of course, before Christmas, comes Advent.  A period of expectation and preparation when we celebrate Christ’s incarnation and look forward to his coming again.  This time of prayer and reflection helps us to refocus on the hope we have as Christians and is a real opportunity to help us regain some balance in our otherwise busy lives.  But it is quite a challenge in the fast paced world we inhabit these days.

I get sucked into the commercial side of Christmas as much as the next person but I’ve decided to try and make some changes this year and see

if I can reach Boxing Day without feeling like Christmas has all come and gone in a blur of manic shopping and frantic baking which leaves me short-tempered and the wrong side of ‘festive’!!!

I thought I’d start with the whole present buying malarkey.  My children are all in their 20’s now, with homes of their own and a regular income and I end up buying them things that they neither need nor expressed any desire to have!  We have agreed, along with a few other family members, to just buy one present for one person.......a Secret Santa.  All our names went into a hat and we’ve all picked out a name and will just buy for that person.  Hopefully we will each receive one nice present and nobody will have spent a fortune on unnecessary things.  However, my children have firmly informed me that Santa simply has to provide his usual stocking for each of them or they will have no new underwear to see them through the year!!!  Oh well, I guess it’s a start!!

I’m also very keen to try to reduce the amount of resources I waste, both at Christmas and throughout the rest of the year, so I’m going for the brown paper and string method of wrapping presents rather than buying new wrapping paper - although I fear that my attempts won’t quite match the chic ones I’ve seen online!!

These are just a couple of changes that I hope will lead to others as I journey through Advent towards Christmas.  If nothing else, I’m hoping that by questioning what I am doing and why, I may be more intentional in my preparations for Christmas and less caught up in the commercialism.

Above all, I pray that despite my busyness and preoccupation that I may remember afresh God’s Advent invitation, to be patient, to prepare and take stock and to anticipate, with growing excitement, the joy that is promised through the birth of our saviour, Jesus Christ on Christmas Day.

Whatever your plans, I pray that it will be so for you too.

Wishing you all a very happy Christmas and a joyful New Year.

With love Ginni

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Once again, we kick the festive season off to a great start with our truly amazing Nativity Crib Festival.  We will be filling the church with as many cribs as we can persuade people to lend us (last year we had almost 200).  They come from all around the world, are every shape and size and are made from everything you could imagine (including citrus peel and banana leaves!).  Best of all each has its own "story" saying why it is important to its owner.

We will also have a "living Crib".  Use our dressing up clothes to create your own nativity scene (if you take a photo it will make a beautiful, personal Christmas Card).

Naturally we will be serving delicious cakes and you have the chance to win a crib of your own.  Entry is £3, children are free and there is parking on the school playground.  If you have a crib we could borrow or could hand out flyers please contact Barbara.

If you could help on the weekend (we have slots 11-1, 1-3 and 3-5 on both days) or if you could make a cake (we are looking for iced versions - they look so much more tempting - of the following:- Chocolate, Lemon, Coffee, Carrot and Ginger, preferably 8" round!!).  Please keep your eyes open in church for sign-up sheets or contact Mary Hooper, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or tel. 01462-457350.

For more information contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 

tel. 01462-421647.

                                                                                    Barbara Thomas

The next Community Lunch will be on Wednesday 6^th November from 12.45pm. till 2.00pm. in St. Ippolyts Parish Hall.  (Serving time 12.45pm. till 1.00pm.)  Cost £4.  Everyone welcome.

The Christmas Community Lunch will be a ticket only event which will take place on Wednesday 4^thDecember.

Tickets priced £5 will be available at the November lunch and from Anne Steel (tel:  01462-432117).

There will not be a Community Lunch in January.

                                                                                              Anne Steel