St Thomas’s Vicarage,
93, Ferry Road,
Hullbridge
Essex, SS5 6EL
01702 231017
Email revharveyreed@revharveyreed.plus.com
My Dear Friends,
After my disastrously misplaced hope that England would win the World Cup in spite of being everything I noted as less than good in a football team, I had better get something right!
There WILL be a Confirmation Service at All Saints Rettendon on Tuesday September 7th at 7.30pm. We have two candidates; Pauline Smith from Hullbridge and Danny Waters from Rettendon and there will be other candidates from Rayleigh and Rochford so it will be a wonderful occasion for them and for us. Unfortunately it will be Bishop Laurie’s last Confirmation for our Parishes as he retires on February 28th next year, so we wish him well and thank him for all his care for us and his leadership over these last 18 years. I hope that there will be a large congregation to show our appreciation for all Laurie has done for us as our Bishop
September also sees the opening of the new Riverside Primary School. and I will be there to give them my good wishes for the future of the School and all the children of the Village. An enormous amount of hard work has been put in by Governors and staff, especially the Head Teacher, to bring the former Infants and Junior Schools together, and it does make sense to have a single school for the numbers of children we have in the Village currently. It provides opportunities to have unified policies throughout the school and ease the transition at 7 years old. There are opportunities to use the buildings in a more imaginative way and to make economies in some areas to spend more on the actual education of each child within the school budget. So I look forward to visiting the new school and to working with the Head Teacher, staff and children in the days to come. On a personal note, I have served as a Governor of the Infants School for some years, but will not be on the new Governing Body as I need to concentrate just now on my two Parishes, soon to be united in one Benefice – not unlike the two schools being united into one. I remain very interested in education however in all its aspects and have always regarded it as a very high priority in my ministry.
Notice of the new benefice should be published by the time you read this and there will be a period for objections to be made, after which the legal process will be completed and I will be instituted as Rector of Rettendon and Hullbridge. Patronage of the new Benefice will be shared by the Bishop of Chelmsford ( who delegates it to the Bishop of Bradwell) and the Lord Chancellor on behalf of the Queen. So they will take turns to appoint the rectors in future, which will make things quite interesting. I just hope all this happens before Bishop Laurie retires next February!
Just to remind you all, we still need a magazine editor, or December will be the last issue! Also we will need a new Churchwarden next year as Doreen Hill wishes to retire from this position at the next Annual Meeting. There will be big decisions to be made in the next two years and a lot of work for the Churchwardens to do! Work it out for yourselves, but it is essential that we have two Churchwardens with vision and energy and trusted by the Congregation, in office AFTER the APCM, as, in fact, we have now.
NEXT MONTH The Women Bishops controversy and should opponents stay or go?
Your servant for Jesus, sake,
Harvey
CONFIRMATION
This will take place in September this year and classes are about to begin. Please watch the Link sheet for details or come and have a chat. Anyone can join in, young, middle aged or senior citizen and the group or groups will be arranged to suit the busy timetables of the people concerned!
Harvey
St Thomas’ Church Hall is available for hire by groups or individuals for club meetings, birthday parties etc.,
Please contact Phyllis Gold on 01702 231190 for further information.
St. Thomas' House Group
A regular House Group is held at 45 Queens Avenue, Tower Park, Hullbridge. Please contact Pam Melvin on 01702 231104 for details.
SMALL CHANGE JAR (and other schemes!)
Just a little reminder of what this scheme is all about. It started in March 2001 when we were busy raising funds for the toilets and then for the driveway. We have continued the scheme since then as a small way of raising funds for the numerous miscellaneous items that are required by the Church.
What we ask you to do is to put your small change (1p, 2p, 5ps.) into the jar which is on the small table in the entrance hall on Sundays. As you can see from the running total of cash collected in this way, the pennies really do mount up – and hopefully no one feels the pinch in their pockets!
Many thanks to the people who have supported us over the years in this way.
There is another similar scheme which a few of us still contribute to – we save 20ps in a Smartie box (problems now getting Smartie boxes so any small container will do). This scheme goes even further back, to before the Rev. Harvey’s time – when we were saving to repair the roof! A full Smartie box will contain £14.00!! And again if you put just one coin in each day you hardly notice it! If anyone feels they would like to join this scheme please do so – you simply give the money to Beryl Soane when your container is full – and if you pay tax let her know as it is then possible to claim Gift Aid on the donation.
Yet another on-going fund raising initiative that we run is The Birthday Scheme, which has been in existence since 2003. To join this Scheme you register your interest with Linda Reed who will ask for your address and date of birth. When your birthday comes round you will receive a birthday card from St. Thomas’ plus a ‘Birthday Gift Envelope’. The gift envelope is then returned to church with a donation enclosed. The amount donated is entirely up to the giver.
Beryl Morriss
COFFEE MORNING
A Coffee Morning is held from 10.30am till 12.30pm on the last Saturday of each month throughout the year – with the exception of November (this month we usually hold our Christmas Fair) and December.
The March Coffee Morning is run by the Gentlemen of St. Thomas’ . This is always a special coffee morning and as well as the usual stalls we have a cake stall and a raffle – so please do your best to support our men folk – you will be pampered by them!
Beryl Morriss
HARP (HOME LESS ACTION RESOURCE PROJECT)
This is a Project which we have supported for many years (since 1993). We ask each member of the congregation (or friends of St. Thomas’) to donate one tin of food per month. These items are then taken each month to HARP in Valkyrie Road, Westcliff. There is a box under the large table in the church entrance hall for these items. They can also be left at The Council Office in Ferry Road (next door to the Opticians and opposite the Co-op).
The Centre provide food parcels for people in Bed and Breakfast accommodation and also cook lunchtime meals at the Centre for the homeless at greatly subsidised cost. All donations are very gratefully received.
We also send toiletries and bedding as the Centre provides washing facilities and the bedding is useful for the Night Centre in Southend.
TRAIDCRAFT STALL
St. Thomas’ hold a Traidcraft Stall on the second Sunday of each month following the Sunday service (which finishes at approximately 10.45am) when it is possible to buy a great many Fair Trade goods.
