Parish Newsletter

HM Queen Elizabeth II – May She Rest in Peace

St Werburgh’s joins the whole nation in expressing our heartfelt sadness at the death of the Queen, and our profound thanksgiving for her remarkable lifetime of service and dedication. Sunday Morning Masses will be for the happy repose of her soul and the comfort of her family. May she rest in peace.

Final Arrangements for 14th September

This is going to be a very big day in the life of the Diocese and of St Werburgh’s, and we are very honoured to have been asked to act as hosts. A few last-minute notices for us all:
a) No parking down the side of church, please: there will be portaloos there, and the few spaces will be for the National Team and the Bishop.
b) The morning session is just for schools.
c) The Mass at 12.15 pm will be packed, and we have an upper limit on our capacity of 300. Don’t come at the last minute! The Mass will be live-streamed:
https://youtu.be/QOMvSS6PmP8
d) For the afternoon visits, priority will be given to those who have booked. Go to the Home Page on our website and click the button “St Bernadette Relics – 14th September”. Eight lines down you’ll find the link to the National Website. Click “Registration” on the menu bar at the top of the page. Find the Map Pin for Shrewsbury Diocese (hiding behind Liverpool – cheek!) and that will bring up the two venues, our Cathedral and St Werburgh’s. We’ll do our best to admit those who haven’t booked, but obviously will need to give priority to those who have.
e) There will be Petitions Boxes available, and your petitions will be taken out to Lourdes.

Annual Mission Appeal: 27/28 August

Thank you for your generous response. There are still Mission Appeal envelopes at the back of church if you haven’t made your contribution and wish to do so. We’ll close the Appeal on Sunday 18th September.

Spring Cleaning (Autumn Cleaning?) the Church

Huge thanks to the gang who turned up, including four of our High School students! Well done, one and all! We bottomed the church and sacristy, as they say in Yorkshire. Now we need to think about the future, and I’d like three or four teams who could be regular Church Cleaners, perhaps three or four in each team and, with four teams, on duty once a month. Anyone like to be one of these teams? Do let me know.

SVP Sponsored Walk in Aid of the Holiday Home

District SVP are planning the annual sponsored walk to raise funds in support of the Holiday Home. The walk will take place on Sunday 2nd October, starting at 13:30 from Parkgate, going to Neston and returning. More information to follow soon.

Back to School Sale

Thank you to everyone who bought a set of lunchbox and bottle, we sold them all and raised £121.66 for the Holiday Home!!

SVP Mass for Elderly and Housebound

The SVP is celebrating a Mass on 18th September in St. Werburgh’s at 2:30 pm, with tea and cake afterwards. Everyone is welcome! If you would like to attend and need transport, please get in touch with Fran on fran.waldie@gmail.com.

Welsh Railways Day Out Monday 19th September

Our long-awaited day on the Welsh Railways, arranged pre-Covid and been two long years in the pipeline. 09.30 pick-up from Egg Bridge Lane Evangelical Church, 09.35 from Peacock, 09.45 from St John’s Layby. Then on to Blaenau Ffestiniog, Porthmadog, where we have a 40-minute break. Welsh Highland Railway to Caernarfon and back to Chester at 18.30.

September’s Here: So, 2023 Mass Diary Open!

Get those dates in for 2023, everyone!

Cheshire Church Leaders Meeting on Monday

“Churches Together” groupings exist at three levels: national, county and local. In terms of County, our Diocese is part of five County Areas: Cheshire, Shropshire, Merseyside, Greater Manchester and West Midlands. For each, Bishop Mark has a Deputy, and I’m privileged to be his for Cheshire. On Monday, we meet with our Church Leaders all day at Foxhill Conference Centre to review our work and plan ahead.

Getting Back to Normal and Autumn Parish Renewal

Four Open Parish Meetings to discuss “getting back to normal”: Tuesdays 27th Sept; 4th, 11th and 18th Oct. We looked at the Universal Church in January: now let’s put our own Parish under the microscope. Two good folk have volunteered to be on the Steering Group: anyone else like to join us?

Wine and Cheese Evening for Meningitis Now

An evening with entertainment, a raffle and an auction will be held at 7 30 pm on Saturday 8th October at St Columba's Church Hall to remember Helen Cadden and Richard Murphy and raise funds for Meningitis Now. Tickets, price £10 including a glass of wine, are available from c.murphy900@btinternet.com. You are welcome to bring your own drinks. Donations, if you are unable to attend and would like to make a donation remembering Richard and Helen, can be made at www.justgiving.com/fundraising/richard-helen

Monday Lunchtime University Masses Re-started

Every Monday lunchtime, 1.10 in the Chapel on Parkgate Road. All welcome! Good to spend the morning in the Uni last Tuesday, with our new Lead Chaplain, Rev Gill Reeves, and our new-look Chaplaincy Team, with Muslim, Hindu and Jewish Chaplains joining us, reflecting the increasingly international and inter-Faith University.

2022-23 First Sacraments Programme

Launch Meeting: Tuesday 4th October, 6.30 pm
Good to have a meeting Friday night with the new FHC Catechists Team, led superbly, as always, by Louise Robertshaw and Karen Elliott. They’ve recruited Ruth Johns, Claire Shields and Clare Woodhouse to join them, to help out with the records numbers this year. Enormous thanks to them all for taking this on.

Photo of the Week: St Francis of Assisi, Dubai

Fascinating photo sent in by Ann and Pat Quinn, those well-known Glasgow Gallivanters, of Sunday Mass in Jebel Ali, Dubai. This was taken last year, when Covid Restrictions were very much in place, and you can see the social distancing clearly. Having said that, they will be on duty as Stewards on Wednesday, so thanks both, and all our marvellous Stewards Team!