A warm welcome to you on this Feast of St.John. Please do join us after the service to share in a cup of tea or coffee. All ages are welcome at St. Mary’s, children included. There is also a crèche in the Octagon for the very young if you need it. If this is your first time with us, please do fill in the slip at the end of the newsletter, so that we can keep in touch with you. St Mary’s is fitted with a hearing loop system. Members of the congregation who have a hearing aid with a ‘T’ switch will find that they can hear better when it is switched to ‘T’.

Congratulations to Hannah Tyler, this week she gained a Distinction in her Grade 8 Oboe exam.

Be aware - The police have contacted us to warn people to be especially vigilant over the Christmas period as crime tends to increase. Also to say that a scam has been detected recently by the Valuations Office Agency which tries to con people into giving their credit card or bank account details in the hope of a rebate of council tax. Please take care and don’t give your details to anyone.

Church Centre - PCC met on Monday evening to consider issues facing the repair of the centre following the theft of lead in November. They have decided to follow the advice of our architect, Richard Wood, and appoint Minster Lead Roofing to make repairs to the Centre Roof. The estimate for the work is £7,987.50 plus VAT. Our insurance will only pay out £5,000 because the damage is the result of a theft of lead so PCC will have to find an extra £3,400 to meet the bill. In the New Year, we will be considering how to raise this money (ideas would be warmly welcomed). The repair work cannot begin until well into the New Year but we hope for drier weather in the mean time. Our insurers will also pay out up to £5,000 consequential damage so the internal repairs to the Centre should be covered.

News of the Church Clock - Many of you will recall that PCC decided some months ago to repair the Church Clock and that the repairs were to be completed by Christmas. Sadly, the company that were to do the work, a father and son, based just over the border in Leicestershire suffered a tragedy in November. The son was killed in a car accident (he was hit whilst sitting in a parked car and killed). As a consequence the family are in turmoil and the clock will not be repaired until some time in January.
It goes to show that despite all of our difficulties someone, somewhere is always going through something worse. Please pray for Geoff Armitage and his wife as they come to terms with the death of their son and for their daughter-in-law, widowed after 6 months of marriage.

Calendars - A supply of Walsgrave calendars are available at £5. Please see Stella if you are interested in these.

Coffee Club - The Coffee Club will not meet now until the new year. The date of the first meeting is Wednesday 6th January at 10.45 am. Cost £1. All welcome.

Mission Group
Christmas greetings from Vio, Home of Hope, Romania - Please see the Mission notice board for Christmas greetings from Vio; also the latest information about developments at the Home of Hope.
Sue Morton

Raffle - Whilst we have had to cancel the Christmas Fayre, the raffle is carrying on and will be drawn on a date to be announced before Christmas. All ticket stubs and monies must be in by the end of today.

Sunday 3rd January

8 am Holy Communion
10 am Parish Communion
6.30 pm Evening Prayer