Come on… you know you want to!

An auspicious and incredible array of wonderful talent and impressive acts…

Please join in; for further details contact Viv Druce 865339

The Men’s breakfast meets this Saturday at the regency park hotel at 8.30am-10.00am.

An excellent opportunity for men to get together across the community, and to be enriched by a diverse range of interesting speakers.

Cost £6 (or £8 with bacon butty). Book places with Colin Stone on 01635 37217, Kevin Dunwell 865847  or Parish Office 862277

Next meeting  Saturday 7th July
Speaker:  The Revd Canon Brian Shenton

Book Now Bring A Friend!

Holy Week is probably the most significant week in the Church Calendar, when we remember the passion of Jesus, and his final few days;

We start with Palm Sunday, celebrating the arrival of Jesus into Jerusalem; the crowds of people greeting him excitedly, anticipating the arrival of this new King, this Messiah.

And then we follow through the week, as it becomes apparent that what the people expected, and what they got, were two entirely different things.
The revolution of Jesus would not give them a new King to overthrow the Romans as they imagined; it was a revolution of the heart… it was a new way of living with love and generosity to all, a vision of stewardship, service and sacrifice.

Disappointment, confusion, frustration and despair, all occur through this week, and an impending sense of tragedy unfolds.
This we mark most clearly on Maundy Thursday, as we recall Jesus’s last supper; then Good Friday, as we solemnly remember the crucifixion of Jesus.

But that’s not the end; Easter Sunday waits for us at the end of this week; a new day, a new start, a reminder of a fragile and yet persistent hope…

Holy Week incorporates the grand moments of human life, joy, expectation, despair, sadness, loss, passion and finally Hope.
Through the week we discover the God who shares in all aspects of our own complex lives..
Please Join us if you can….

Palm Sunday – 2 April
8.00 am Holy Communion
10.00 am Parish Communion – starting at St Mary’s and Processing to United Reformed Church, Church Lane.

6.30 pm Service of readings and music to prepare for Holy Week, (no evensong)

Monday
8.00 pm Holy Communion

Tuesday
8.00 pm Holy Communion

Wednesday
8.00 pm Healing Service

Maundy Thursday
8.00 pm Commemoration of the Last Supper

Good Friday
12.00 noon – Lent Lunch
2.00 pm Service – The Last Hour

Easter Saturday
8.30pm Easter Vigil

Easter Sunday
8.00am Holy Communion
10.00am Festival Parish Communion – St Mary’s
10.00am Easter Celebration – St Barnabas

Welcome to St Mary’s Church. We hope you find it easy to navigate and can quickly locate the information you require.

The website shows the wide variety of community activities we are involved in, plus regular updated posts, which inform you of special or new events coming up, and also some more spiritual reflections.

We hope that through this website we can give a flavour of the type of church St Mary’s is and that you will want to come and share in our worship and our activities.

If you are not a church-goer, or if you haven’t been to church for some time, don’t be put off by what other people say. Try it for yourself, you may be pleasantly surprised. You will certainly be joining people who feel that worship in church is an enrichment to their lives. And we assure you of a warm welcome.

Revd. Patricia (Pat) Jones will be joining us in June with a licensing service on 14 June 7.30pm at St Barnabas Church

All about Pat Jones ­in fourteen questions…

Where were you born?

I was born in Paddington, London – not quite within the sound of Bow Bells! Apparently ‘You can take the girl out of the city – but not the city out of the girl!’

What did you do for a career before you trained for ordination?

I worked within Social Services, initially in the Children’s Division and then in Education within Early years and Family Centres. I have a Social Work Qualification and most of my career has been within social care. I spent 11 years working within the field of Learning Disability and managed a project that linked adults with special needs to live independently in the community. More recently l was a Parent Support Advisor liaising with several Primary and Secondary schools offering support and facilitating parenting groups.

Tell us about your family

I am married to Peter and we have two sons; Christopher and Timothy, both 6ft 5 plus! Therefore ‘rugby players’ while at school, one as prop the other holding up the scrum! They no longer live at home since completing university. Timothy got married to Suzanne last year. At last l can have ‘girlie chats!’

How did God become part of your life?

It seems that God was always part of my life. No ‘Road to Damascus’ experience’, but a growing confidence that he ‘walked alongside’. I took myself off to church a the tender age of 9 , much to the amusement of my family. My parents had a wonderful Christian ethos, but were not church goers. I was Bible Monitor at Primary School and that involved carrying The Bible (like a new born baby) into the assembly hall each morning and placing it carefully into the ‘cradle’ of the lectern. All those initial experiences brought me to faith and eventual ordination.

Where did you train for ministry?

I trained at Oak Hill Theological College in Southgate. I was on the North Thames Ministerial Training Board Course. It was an enriching experience shared with a real ecumenical mix of students and diverse styles of worship. Initially my roots were more traditional, but I am more broader in my outlook as differing traditions in the Church of England have been inspiring.

What do you enjoy doing in your off time?

I enjoy walking and just ‘being’ – Listening to music especially classical and church music. I also enjoy Adele and Queen! I love catching up with family and friends. I enjoy cooking and eating out. My ideal evening would be spent at the theatre.

What makes you laugh?

I have a sense of humour – it’s a family trait I am pleased to say. My humour is spontaneous and generous -and definitely sparked by others. The ‘giggles’ have caught me out more than once. A church that laughs and prayers together – stays together!

Why do you feel called to Thatcham?

I believe God and Thatch am called me. I read this quirky advert in ‘The Church Times’ that mentioned; ‘challenge’ and ‘working outside of the box’ – I read about ‘ community based ministry’ and ‘building to serve community’. My ministry is ‘Where I am…’ and ‘Church?’ where God’s people are… I look forward to embracing the challenge ahead.

What are you most looking forward to doing in Thatcham?

Getting to know Saint Barnabas and being part of a church that challenges itself to link church and community. I met some enthusiastic people when I visited and came for interview. l hope we can encourage and enable each other to reach others and to build and serve the community.

Name something significant in your ministry so far By God’s grace l believe ‘I have made a difference’.

I have served in three parochial placements and have always attempted to preach the Gospel in a way that relates to our lives in society today.

Do you have a fear of anything?‘

Yes – ‘myself’ a little, I am my own worse critic!

If you could meet someone famous who would you like it to be and why?

The Queen! So incredibly devoted as a monarch and l think she has been a truly dedicated role model

What is your most favourite television programme?

I enjoy period dramas. I will confess that l enjoy nothing more than a ‘duvet moment’ and watching a 1930’s musical in black and white ­(obviously when all church duties are complete!)

Is their a book in the Bible you enjoy the most and why?

I most enjoy the Gospels – favouring the Gospel according to Saint John. In this Gospel our minds are fed and hearts nourished. In this book we get a glimpse of eternal truths and mysteries. The opening verses never cease to amaze me; ‘In the beginning was the Word…’

SOS is happening again on Saturday the 7th July 2012 - Different Time: 11.30am-2.00pm

SPECIAL Occasion this time – We are taking part in the Thatcham Park School Summer Fayre,
So please be aware of the different time for this one.

If you’ve not come before, please give feel very welcome to join us – it’s Church, but not as you know it!
Find out more about the concept here>

Further details are available from the office.
The next SOS will be on 8th September.

ABC is now back in action! For even more Play, Chat, Crafts, Singing, Refreshments, Stories, Friends and FUN!

If you’ve not come before, please do consider joining us, this is a lively and welcoming Toddler Group, and is a great way to meet other local parents & carers too…

We meet every Wednesday 10.30-12.00 am, including holidays! The cost is FREE!

If you are a regular attender, and would like to help raise our profile a new poster is available here >

4.00pm Crib Service
For all the family, please come and join us.

10.45pm Carols round the Tree

11.15pm Midnight Communion

Thatcham Bellringers this evening (16 December 2011) recorded their thousandth peal – a remarkable achievement for a dedicated band of ringers. Bill Butler was interviewed on BBC Radio Berkshire and there are reports on the BBC and Newbury Weekly News websites in anticipation … those of us who were privileged to be there had a small celebration afterwards.

Bill Butler, a stalwart of the tower, who has been ringing in Thatcham for over 50 years, told us afterwards that his philosophy had always been that services in the church began in the ringing chamber when the bells were rung.

Team Rector Revd Mark Bennet thanked the bellringers for the contribution they made to the life of the church by ringing for sunday services, special occasions and weddings. He went on to draw a parallel between the events 2000 years ago which had put the apparently unremarkable town of Bethlehem on the map – after all the birth of a baby was not in itself major news – it was who the baby was and what he did which made the difference. And here in Thatcham we have got so used to the sound of the bells, normally in the background with all the Tower soundproofing in place – yet with the louvres open a joyful and inviting sound. How many have noticed the variety of methods or the skill and dedication of the ringers?

If you live in Thatcham, listen out for the bells – and if you want fully to appreciate the skill, join in to learn this remarkable art for yourself.

Thatcham is in the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest continuously inhabited place in the British Isles. Our remarkable bellringers will keep us on the map for a few more years, and St Mary’s Church will stand as a reminder that the Christmas Story did not end with Jesus, but continues in those who open themselves to receive his love and who shape their lives to share that love with others.

DETAILS OF THE PEAL

On the evening of December 16, 2011, three women and seven men ascended the tower and rang a peal of 5040 changes of Cambridge Surprise Royal in the time of two hours and fifty minutes. That has been done before, and in many places, what enters this peal into the record books is the fact that it was the thousandth peal to be rung on the bells, and that has only been achieved by four other towers since the first peal was rung in 1718.

It was a very experienced band, including some of the most prolific peal ringers in the country, all current or former Thatcham regulars. To avoid difficulties in choosing it, it was decided to select the ringers who had rung most peals on the Thatcham bells. There were seventeen who had rung over a hundred, of which two had passed on and two were no longer peal ringing. Bobbie May, who had rung 238 peals at Thatcham, was invited to take part but is temporarily not ringing peals, so the band stood as follows:  (Totals as recorded on 17/12/2011):

Name                                      Peals at Thatcham Total Peals

Treble  Brian Bladon (Swindon)                     208                              4691

2          William Butler (Thatcham)                 800                              3450

3          Beryl R Norris (Farnborough)            177                              1770

4          Michael K Till (Winchester Cath)      520                                920

5          Timothy G Pett (Abingdon)               306                              3177

6          Helen J Piper (Kingsclere)                  175                              1650

7          Diana M Bridle (Midgham)                153                              1359

8          J Alan Ainsworth (Amersham)          173                              4092

9          Colin M Turner (Milton)                   455                              5725

Tenor  Peter Bridle (Midgham)                      665                              4405

The conductor, William Butler, has rung at Thatcham since 1961, and was tower captain  from 1962 to 2000. He composed the composition of Cambridge Surprise Royal rung for this peal especially for Colin Turner’s tour of Africa in 1993, and it was first rung in a peal at Harare Cathedral in which three of this band rang. (It was recorded as the first peal of Surprise Royal to be rung on the continent of Africa).

But in the world’s calendar, Christmas is the end of the year, the culmination of everything, and in January the story begins again without Jesus in it. We celebrate the same story, but it means something totally different to us. Somehow, by ending the year after Christmas, the world around us cuts itself off from the message, from the life and hope that Jesus came to bring.

So how we tell and live our message counts for a great deal in this season, as we carry on the story in the days after Christmas into the new calendar year, rather than living it in the months before and breathing a sigh of relief that at last it is all over.

Advent, then, is the season in which we refresh ourselves, our souls and bodies, to live a story counter to the world’s story – to live it graciously, by all means, but to live it faithfully. So we honour and serve Jesus, the baby who grew into a man and changed the world for ever.

The bells, the bells

Bells get a mention in all sorts of ways at Christmas– from my childhood I remember Ding, dong merrily on high! (Carol); I heard the bells on Christmas Day their old familiar carols play (Longfellow’s poem – look it up if you don’t know it) and many more. But bells are not childish things, and nor are the Thatcham bell ringers, who are planning their thousandth Peal – an extraordinary achievement – this December. Maybe they are part of our subversive presence here in Thatcham, keeping the rumour of God alive in spite of the way the world tells the story.

It always stays the same, and you still need me -
- you always have, but when will you catch on?

I have written a meditation for this Advent Sunday. I couldn’t find the right thing but was inspired by a piece in the remarkable collection “Doing December Differently” by Nicola Slee and Rosie Miles. I hope it bears reading more than once. You might like to write your own refrain.

Mark Bennet