Parish Newsletter

Caritas Boxes Collection

Another small but important sign of returning normality: bringing those Caritas Collection Boxes into church so that they can be emptied, counted, and sent off - and your empty boxes returned to you to start all over again! The last such collection was Autumn 2019, since when the demand for Caritas’s services has escalated, both at home and abroad. So, please empty the contents into a secure, strong plastic bag, with your name inside, and bring them to us:

• Sunday 12th June: 10.45 and 6.00 pm Masses
• Saturday 18th June: 6.00 pm Mass
• Sunday 19th June: 9.00 and up to 10.45 Masses

No foreign coins, please. Gift Aid and Standing Order forms available, and new Box Holders very welcome.

Retreat House, Chester: Administrator

Recruiting now for the new role of Administrator, this is a special opportunity to be involved in the running of this local Christian charity and its programme of retreats and related activities. To find out more, please visit the website. Closing Date 24th June. www.retreathousechester.co.uk

Chester Heritage Festival: 17th – 27th June

A walk and talk about “A Tale of Two Architects”, John Douglas and Edmund Kirby, two good friends. Edmund Kirby designed St Werburgh’s Church and John Douglas designed most of the rest of Victorian Chester. These two events will take place on Sunday 19th June. The walk will start at 2.15 pm at Dee House and will pass Douglas and Kirby buildings, reaching St. Werburgh’s around 2.50 pm. The talk, here, will start at 3.00 pm and last about one hour.

Diocesan IT In-House Support

The Diocese is seeking to employ a full time IT In-House Support member at the Curial Office in Birkenhead. For more information, please see our website http://www.dioceseofshrewsbury.org/about-us/curia/vacancies Completed CV’s to be sent to Pauline recruitment@dioceseofshrewsbury.org
Closing date Friday 17th June 2022.

SVP Summer Second Collection: £1,611-84

Huge thanks to everyone who contributed, and a superb £1,611 was raised, to pay for the Summer Meal for our Elderly and Housebound, and to help with the replacement of the SVP Summer Home at Talacre, due in 2024, and estimated at about £40,000.

Upcoming Music Concerts in Chester

Three concerts involving Werbies:

• 8th–11th June – “Me and My Girl”, Chester Operatic, at Storyhouse, with Saturday Matinée.
• Saturday 18th June, St Mary’s on the Hill, “Swing into the Thirties”, Chester Bach Singers, 3.00 pm.
• Saturday 16th July, 80th Anniversary Celebration Concert, Chester Male Voice Choir, Cathedral 7.30 pm.

On the Free Table today: A3 sheets of Paper

Newsletter blanks from the lockdown period – printed on one side but blank on the other. Anyone want?

Tattenhall House Masses Have Started!

Twelve Tattenhallers came along last Thursday morning and got the House Masses off to a splendid start. They will be on the First Thursday of each month, at 10.30: 7th July the next one. Please email or contact FP if you would like details of the venue.

Preparing for Pentecost

Many thanks to the group of Parishioners who laid on this event last Tuesday Morning. A great success and valued by all who attended. Anyone else want to run one?

SVP Theatre Night Wed 8th June: The Vicar of Dibley

All our allocated tickets now sold! Well done, everyone! But you can still turn up, if you would like to do so, and buy a ticket at the Box Office on the night.

Ffestiniog Welsh Highland Railway: All Places Gone!

Monday 19th September
Delighted to say that all places have now been taken. The only snag is that now you have to pay – always a catch, isn’t there? No rush, but please get your cheques (£65-00) payable to St Werburgh’s Church) in when convenient, and if you haven’t returned your booking form, please do so as well. It’ll be a great day out!

Message from Bishop Mark

“The Relics of Saint Bernadette of Lourdes will be with us at the Cathedral from 1.00 pm on Tuesday 13th September until 9.00 am on Wednesday 14th September, when the Relic will travel to Saint Werburgh’s, Chester until 4.00 pm that same afternoon. A Diocesan programme is being drawn up and the complete schedule for the visit will be available soon. The visit is already awakening much public interest and I hope this pilgrimage will be an especially blessed moment of prayer and new evangelisation.” Diocesan MC visiting us next week to start the planning!

Official Prayer for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee

“Almighty God, we pray, that your servant Elizabeth, our Queen, who, by your providence has received the governance of this realm, may continue to grow in every virtue, that, imbued with your heavenly grace, she may be preserved from all that is harmful and evil and, being blessed with your favour may, with the royal family, come at last into your presence, through Christ, who is the way, the truth and the life and who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen”

“Chester and the Crown” Exhibition at the Cathedral

Wednesday 1st–Thursday 30th June: 10.00 am-6.00 pm
https://chestercathedral.com/event/chester-and-the-crown/ 

Join Chester Cathedral throughout June in celebrating HM The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee with our exciting upcoming exhibition, “Chester and the Crown”. Chester and the Crown is a vibrant journey through our city’s relationship with the monarchy. Learn new things, see never-before-seen objects, and join in with the Jubilee celebrations! Entry by donation.

Next Year’s First Sacraments Programme

The programme runs from September to June each year. So, if you have a child in Year 3 or above who does not attend our Catholic Primary School, please contact Fr Paul, preferably by email. The classes begin in October, with First Forgiveness in January and First Holy Communions in May. The closing date for enrolment is Sunday 4th September 2022.

Photo of the Week: Marrying in Uniform

June 1945, the wedding of Jim and Margaret Ilott, so well-remembered by so many people here. On the steps of the church afterwards, Jim in uniform. Another fascinating Uniform Photo next week, from the other side of the pond, a real bit of twentieth century history…