NEWS AND EVENTS – JULY & AUGUST 2018

NEW YOUTH GROUP

We are aiming to start a new Group for 11 – 15 year olds, meeting twice monthly on aSunday morning.

Part of the programme will be to allow our younger members to talk among themselvesabout the issues that concern them, alongside learning more about the Gospel and JesusChrist.

There will be an initial meting upstairs in the Hall on SUNDAY 1st JULY at 10am.

All those aged 11 – 15 are invited and will be very welcome

For further information please have a word with Gill Rigby, our Under-18s Co-ordinator, Sheri Rawlings or Helen Thompson.

Come and see what’s happening and let us have your views about what you want.

2ND LONGTON SCOUTS SUMMER FAIR

Saturday 14th July, 10am – 2.30pm in the Hall

With face-painting, stocks, cakes, burgers, a variety of stalls and archery (in the ScoutHut). Everyone welcome!

MATERIAL FOR THE SEPTEMBER PARISH MAGAZINE

Material for the September Parish Magazine should be given to Cath Greenlees by Friday10th August or given to the Vicar by Tuesday 14th August. Material can be emailed to:andrew.parkinson@talktalk.net

MOTHERS’ UNION

The Strawberry Tea will be held at “Pinfold Corner “, 93, Liverpool Road, Longton onThursday 5th July starting at 2-00p.m. There will be a Raffle and the gift of prizes wouldbe appreciated. All members are invited. The tea will once again be provided byCommittee members.

I would like to thank all members who attended and helped with the Indoor MembersService and afternoon tea, especially members who contributed sandwiches, cakes andscones. This was a most enjoyable occasion, and greatly appreciated by all the membersfrom Branches in the Leyland Deanery and our invited guests.

May I wish you all a happy holiday season, and I look forward to seeing you all again inSeptember.

Margaret ThompsonBranch Leader

BIBLE STUDY GROUP

This Group meets at the home of our Reader, Jane Slinger, 10, Dudley Close, Longton,and will meet at 10.30am on Tuesdays 3rd, 17th & 31st JULY & 14th & 28 AUGUST.

All will be very welcome. Further details from Jane – tel: 614369

BAPTISMS, MARRIAGES AND FUNERALS

The entering of records of Baptisms, Marriages and Funerals has had to be discontinuedfor the present due to the new Data Protection Regulations where we have to have writtenpermission to enter names in the Magazine.

PCC

The PCC will meet in the Hall on MONDAY 16th JULY at 7.30pm. Members are asked tomake every effort to attend

OVER-FIFTIES’ LUNCH

On THURSDAY 12th JULY, we have arranged an outing to Downham and Clitheroe,leaving the Church Hall by coach at 9.30am, and returning between 5 and 5.30pm.

There will be spare places (for people of every age!) so, if you are interested in comingalong, please ring 613500

Cath

PLEASE SUPPORT THE ORGAN RECITALS IN CHURCHAT 7.30pm

ON THE THIRD FRIDAY OF THE MONTH

20th JULY given by Paul Gregson

(the Organist at Hawshead Parish Church)

17th AUGUST given by Dr Kevin Morgan FRCO

(the Organist at Stonyhurst College)

Admission is £6 (inc refreshments) - pay at the door

THE HOUSE GROUP

The date of the next meeting of the House Group is to be arranged. Please contact JaneSlinger (614369) for further details

LONGTON OPEN GARDENS and ART EXHIBITION

Sunday July 8th 1.00 - 5.30pm, with lunches in the W.I. 12.00 noon - 1.30pm

We are again hoping to have at least ten gardens open to the public, where attractions willinclude a ukulele group, folk music and guitar music as well as refreshments with a varietyof drinks, cakes and strawberries and cream.

Programmes will be available early in July from local churches, Longton Post Office andBlundells’ Hardware.

Further details: 612951 & 613500

CHRISTIAN AID

Advance notice:

The Autumn Fair & Coffee Morning

will be held in the Hall on SATURDAY 22nd SEPTEMBER, from 10.30am to 12 noon.

Items required include: books, vinyl records, DVDs, raffle and tombola prizes, cakes,preserves and groceries, please.

These may be bought to Church during September. Further details from Cath – 613500

LONGTON LIVE! 2018

Friday 13th July - LONGTON LIVE!

1.45pm Longton Primary School Children singing in Church

2.30pm St Oswald’s Catholic Primary School singing in Church

7 – 10pm Events in the Church and Hall

Saturday 14th July - LONGTON LIVE!

10am – 2.30pm 2nd Longton Scouts Group Summer Fair - Hall7 – 10pm Evening events in the Church and Hall

Admission to all venues is by wristband only. Please purchase yours from the Churchas this helps us to raise funds for the Church

We need volunteers to help in the Church and Hall on Friday 13th July andSaturday 14th July between 6.30pm and 10pm.

REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY

At the end of 2017, I asked members of the congregation if they could knit at least 100poppies for a display in the Church on Remembrance Sunday to mark the Centenary ofthe end of the First World War.

I would be very grateful if those who have knitted poppies could let me know the numbersknitted so that we know where we are.

For anyone still wishing to join in, patterns are available.

ST ANDREW’S CHURCH CHOIR

Do you enjoy singing?

Did you know that there are significant health benefits gained from singing in a group with others?

Research shows that singing is good for your heart and can reduce the level of anxiety and stress. People who sing in a choir have been shown to have a greater feeling of socialwellbeing through participating in a group activity.

Longton St Andrew’s Church Choir is always on the lookout for new members and would welcome you to come and join us. Our choir meets in Church on a Friday night at 7pm to practice and then leads the singing at the Sunday morning 10am service (along with other special events such as the annual Carol Service).

No experience is necessary and all are welcome (children from age 7). Just come along to one of our practices. For more information contact Chrissie Oakley by leaving a message in the Church porch pigeon-hole or by contacting the Vicar.

On SUNDAY 15th JULY, the 10am Service will be a FAMILY SERVICE to markthe end of the Pathfinders and Changemakers’ Year. The uniformedorganisations will also be invited.

I have asked that all who own them wear a football shirt for Church thatmorning as in the afternoon it’s the World Cup Final, and the shirts fit in withthe theme of the Service.

As the Final kicks off at 4pm, and as it only happens every few years, there willbe no 4pm Service on the day. Andrew

PATHFINDERS RE-OPENS on SUNDAY 9th SEPTEMBER at 10am

TINY TOTS RE-OPENS ON WEDNESDAY 5th SEPTEMBER at 2pm

FINAL REPORT FROM RUSSIA

Welcome to my final instalment of life in Russia! The eight months I’ve spent here haveflown far too quickly, and I wish I could do it all over again. This final month has been ahectic combination of completing my studies during the week, so I can go travelling atweekends. However, university has now finished and I’m spending the final week relaxingbefore flying home for summer.

The first trip after the last report was to Kaliningrad. We were fortunate in that the annual“Museum Night” was happening while we were there. Museum night is held in several ofRussia’s major cities and is very similar to the Longton/Penwortham Live format, in thatthere are lots of activities taking place across two nights, although the one difference isthat they mostly take place in the city museums. We started out listening to “Baroque andRoll” in the Cathedral before heading to the Amber, Art and World Ocean Museums. Theweather was excellent; people of all ages filled the streets. It was certainly a memorableoccasion. Kaliningrad itself is a fabulous, if confusing, place, in that you feel you’re inGermany rather than Russia. The people were lovely, and our highlights were theMiniature Museum, Fishing Village and World Ocean Museum. We also had a day out toZelenogradsk on the Baltic Sea and had a walk to the dancing forest (with its distinctivetwisted pine trees) located on the Kurshskaya Kosa National Park. I wish we had an extraday there to visit all the fortresses; however it’s an incentive to return in the future.

The next weekend we headed to Kazan, a city located in Tartarstan, with strong Musliminfluences. We met with a group of my Manchester University friends who are studyingthere, as well as two of my friends from school who study at Sheffield. It was lovely tospend time with them; we even watched the Champions League final together, althoughthe result didn’t go our way… Kazan was famous for its Kul Sharif Mosque, located in theKremlin, and it certainly didn’t disappoint. We were also blown away by the Temple of AllReligions. The temple was one man’s life work, and the attention to detail was incredible.In one room mosaic workshops were being held, and a life-size mosaic of MohamedSalah, the Liverpool football star, had just been completed. Finally, we sampled the Tartarspeciality “chak-chak”, a sweet combination of puffed rice and honey. We came away fromKazan with mixed impressions; although a fabulously clean, modern city, it lacked a soul.The people there were not as friendly as in Kaliningrad and the city itself just wasn’t ashomely as Yaroslavl. However, I hasten to add these are our personal opinions and theyshouldn’t detract from anyone visiting.

Back in St Petersburg, my university work, chatting with Russian friends and watchingRussian films has kept me busy. On our final return to Yaroslavl, we spent most of our timecatching up with our friends there, walking around the city, going to a fantastic jazz concertand having a ride on the brand-new Ferris wheel, which had only opened a week before. Itwas lovely to see everyone one last time before needing a visa to return. Of all the placesI’ve visited in Russia, Yaroslavl is the only one that will ever truly feel like home and I willmiss it dearly. On the sixteen-hour train back to St P, we watched an excellent, if ratherdepressing Russian film “Loveless” followed by The Italian Job to lighten the mood.

The last week at University passed quickly, we were all given certificates before departingto different parts of the world. We decided to spend 36 hours in Moscow, as we all haddifferent parts we wanted to see one last time. I returned to VDNKh, a huge park in thenorth of the city, where each former Soviet state has their own pavilion. In some pavilionsthere are museums, in others there are cafes. Unfortunately, the weather was not in myfavour and I spent most of the time sheltering from the pouring rain. We spent the finalevening walking round GUM and Red Square, before returning to the hostel via an outdoorcinema. On the train to the airport I bumped into a friend from Manchester, who had beenstudying in Kazan but was away the weekend I was there. She spent her first semester inHangzhou, China and will be off to Seoul in South Korea in two weeks for a month.

Currently I am in Sochi, a resort town on the Black Sea and (almost) every Russian’sfavourite holiday destination. The city had been completely modernised four years agoprior to the Winter Olympics. However, unlike Kazan, Sochi has a fantastic, buzzing

atmosphere. The weather has been superb, hot and sunny every day. So far, we’ve spentour time relaxing by the pool, on the beach, walking round the Olympic Park eating icecream, visiting the Auto Sport Museum in the race track grandstand and hiking up amountain to see some impressive waterfalls, which unfortunately had dried up! Just as inKaliningrad, we feel like we’re not in Russia; although here it’s more Spain/Portugal thanGermany. The local food is amazing; as we’re near the Georgian border in the Caucasuswe’ve been feasting on Georgian hachapuri (cheesy bread) and khinkali (dumplings), aswell as traditional Russian summer food: shashlik (kebabs) and fried, whole fish. Thisweek has been a fitting end to a truly amazing year.

It only remains for me to say a huge thank you to everyone who has been reading myreports and sharing the experiences with me. Although they (probably) won’t see this, Ihave to thank my friends Sean and Julia who were in Yaroslavl and St P and also joinedme on my travels across this vast country.

It’s with a heavy heart that I’m leaving Russia, the people and the country do not deservethe poor reputation that’s portrayed by Western media, and I hope that every foreign fanvisiting Russia for the World Cup sees Russia as I have.

До свидания, Родина моя. Я буду скучать по тебе.

Andrew Clelland

Many thanks to Andrew for the great articles throughout the year.

LISTENING TO GOD

From the Compline Service last evening, June 10 th the link with the book of Jeremiahbrought many thoughts to me at the time.

" Stand at the crossroads and look and ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good wayis and walk in it and you will find rest for your soul". (Jeremiah 6: 16) This reminded me first of a beautiful banner, with the words again from Jeremiah, "For Iknow the plans I have for you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.Then you will call on me and pray to me and I will listen to you".

This links to the Holy Spirit likened to a Gentle Breeze, who says in Ps. 46 v.10 " Bestill and know that I am God". One morning, recently, I awoke to a very gentle breezeblowing in the window. The room was warm and every little breath of wind felt refreshing,but this breeze was so slight that I had to really be still to feel it. As I stayed still andenjoyed the gentleness and refreshment of that, I felt God start to speak to me through thebreeze, like the sound of a gentle whisper.

In Ps. 37 it says, "Be still in the presence of the Lord and wait patiently for Him to act.So often we are impatient for God to act. But His word to us is to be still in His presenceand wait for Him to act. As we spend time in His presence, in stillness, we get to know Himmore and at the same time our faith increases. We know that He'll do what He's said He'lldo, but in His time.

I encourage you today to find that place of stillness, allowing God to blow on you withHis gentle breath and then walk in that place of stillness in your soul with peace and joy inyour spirit, knowing God is with you.

Blessings.....Linda Grant

Doors of Life by Sabrina

Every day we have a choice To walk through a door.

If we don’t, we’re in the same

place as the day before.

We are the only one that cantake that first step.

Some things we can’t change, those are the ones

we have to accept.

The only way through the next dooris to end that chapter.

Each door you walk through will

make you feel better after.

We will have our good and bad but we will always stay true.

Praying by Mary Oliver

It doesn’t have to bethe blue iris, it could be

weeds in a vacant lot, or a fewsmall stones; just

pay attention, then patch

a few words together and don’t tryto make them elaborate, this isn’t

a contest but the doorway

into thanks, and a silence in whichanother voice may speak.

Mary Oliver is an American poet, now aged 83. She has won the National Book Award andthe Pulitzer Prize. The New York Times described her as "far and away, America's best-selling poet.