THE PARISH OF LALESTON & MERTHYR MAWR[www.laleston.org.uk]

WEEKLY NEWSLETTER 

14 March 2010 

Today is the fourth Sunday in Lent, otherwise known as Mothering Sunday; the Readings for the Eucharist at 8.00, 9.45 and 11.15 are on page 19 of the salmon Booklet. The response to the Intercessions at the Eucharist today is “God our parent: supply our needs”. The Service at 8.00 begins on page 4 of the green Prayer Book and at 9.45 and 11.15 the service is the Holy Eucharist 2004, which will be found in a booklet. After the 9.45 service coffee is served at the back of the church and we hope that you will join us for that. At 18.00 there is another in our series of Lent Study group, and for this we meet in the Gardening Club. Today at 8.00 the Sidesperson is Patrick Stevens and the Reader is Patrick Stevens; at 9.45 the Sidespersons are Jill Bonney and Lionel Mason, and the Reader is Pat Gregory; at 11.15 the Sidespersons are Jean Walters and Ken Edwards, and the Reader is Olga Woolfenden. 

THIS WEEK

Sun         Lent 4 : Mothering Sunday

                  Province of the Indian Ocean – Gerald Ernest, Archbishop

              Archdeaconry of Morgannwg – Christopher Smith,

              Archdeacon

              The Parish 

Mon         19.30 Diocesan Standing Committee – Llandaff

              Brechin (Scotland) – John Mantle

              Deanery of Caerphilly – Robert Donkin, Area Dean;

              Lindsey Ford, Deanery Curate

              Pant y Dryw 

Tue          9.00 Cwmbach C in W Primary School Inspection

              Bristol (England) – Michael Hill; Bristol Swindon – Lee

              Rayfield

              Bargoed & Deri w Brithdir – Andrew Bookless, Susan

              Stevens

              Pant y Fedwyn 

Wed         9.00 Cwmbach C in W Primary School Inspection

              9.30 Holy Eucharist – St David’s

              11.15 Holy Eucharist – St Teilo’s

              18.00 Bell Ringing Practice

              19.30 Social Committee AGM – Church Hall

              British Columbia (Canada) – Jams Cowan

              Chaplains to the Armed Forces and Cadet Forces in the

              Diocese

              Pant yr Hebog 

Thu          10.00 WASACRE – Swansea

              16.00 Bryntirion Comprehensive School Governing Body

              Bujumburg (Burundi) – Pie Ntukamazina

              Caerphilly – Robert Donkin, Sue Brown, Sarah Rogers

              Parc Deri 

Fri           Bukavu (Congo) – Sylvestre Bahati

              Eglwysilan – Sue Brown

              Parc Glyn 

Sat          Bukedi (Uganda) – Nicodemus Engwalas-Okille

              Gelligaer – Anthony Stevens

              Parkwood 

NEXT SUNDAY – Lent 5 : Passion Sunday

    8.00     Holy Eucharist

   9.45     Holy Eucharist

  11.15     Holy Eucharist

  18.00     Lent Study Group – Gardening Club 

SIDESPERSONS NEXT SUNDAY

   8.00     Hazel Morgan

   9.45     Wendy Edey and Pat Gregory

  11.15     Jean Walters and Ken Edwards

  18.00           

READERS NEXT SUNDAY

   8.00     Betty Nicholas

   9.45     Rhian Morwood  

  11.15     Tom Green

  18.00     

CHURCH CLEANING

from Monday, 15 Mar    Mrs A Williams

from Monday, 22 Mar    Mrs P Wilson 

ALTAR FLOWERS

Lent – no flowers until Easter Day, 4 April 

Super Soup Lunch

The printed publicity material for our Super Soup Lunch has now arrived and so there are tickets and posters available today. Please do take as many tickets as you can and sell them (@£3 each) to as many as you can. Similarly with the posters – please do take them and distribute them as widely as possible in the area. This is the most effective way of letting people know that we are hosting this lunch in aid of Christian Aid’s work amongst the poorest in the world. We can always get more posters and tickets if we need to do so. 

It is a little while since we have supported the work of Christian Aid, although we have been supporting other charities, so let’s try to make this a very successful event. If we are going to do that we need to plan it well and so I propose holding a “planning meeting” soon at which we can discuss all that needs to be done, and who is going to do what. We’ll announce the date, after consultation, during this week. However, it doesn’t need any planning meeting for us to sell tickets and to display posters, so we hope that you will help as much as you can with this. 

Invitation

We have received an invitation from the clergy and people of St Mary’s Catholic Church, Bridgend to join them for Vespers on the eve of the Annunciation of Our Lord, Wednesday 24 March, at 19.00. Fr Isaac points out that tea and coffee will be provided in the hall following the service. 

Vespers in the RC tradition equates to Evensong in the Anglican tradition. It is hoped therefore that many of you will want to accept St Mary’s kind invitation and I look forward to seeing many of  you in St Mary’s on that evening. 

Message from the Archbishop

In his latest Ad Clerum (to the clergy ie his monthly letter) the Archbishop draws attention to the coming problem and potential expense for those churches, and other charities, which use radio microphones for PA and loop systems (as we do). It appears that the dedicated Chanel (Ch 69) on which these microphones operate is going to be sold off by Ofcom at an enormous profit for the government. This means that although a new dedicated channel will be provided existing equipment will have to be retuned and older equipment replaced completely. This is potentially very expensive – the C of E alone calculates that it will cost them £1million. The archbishop urges you to write to our MP asking them to support an Early Day Motion tabled by Peter Luff MP regarding appropriate compensation for those churches and charities that have to replace equipment. There is now an industry-wide campaign and a dedicated website with further information – www.saveoursound.wordpress.com – and there is a fuller article in this month’s magazine. The archbishop suggests that “readers might usefully write to their own MPs to enlist support”. 

Cleaning Rota

We will need to prepare the cleaning rota for 2010-11 in the next week or two so please do let us know if you are prepared to have you name included in this rota. Naturally the more names that are included the less frequently you will have to take your turn. If you can help with this important work in ensuring our church is clean and fit for worship please do let us know. 

Supermarket vouchers

Once again the major supermarkets are offering vouchers for schools and as in the past there will be a box in both churches into which you can place vouchers you have received but which you are unable to pass on to any school. Please do therefore accept any vouchers you are offered by these stores. Any vouchers received by us will be passed the local schools with which we work.

Magazine

March’s magazine is published today and will be found in both churches on the table s near the doors. Please do take your copy and any for those you know not to be in church today for whatever