NOTICES

EVENTS

If you want a notice put in the weekly bulletin, please contact Mandy Lewis (see emails section of the Contacts page).



St Nicholas Church Open Day  
On Friday 17th May from 10.00am
A restored St Nicholas Church will be open for visitors all day on 17th May. All are very welcome to come into the newly restored building to have a look round. An informal service will end the day at 7.00pm.

St Nicholas, Radford Semele - open times  
There will be a series of open times, starting 20th May until the end of July, when anyone is welcome to explore the newly restored building:
10am-12noon on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays
2pm-4pm on Wednesdays and Fridays
3pm-4.30pm on Sundays
It looks very different inside from how it was before the fire.

The Bath Chorus Choir.  
On 31st May 2013 at 7.30pm.
St Nicholas Church Radford Semele
A "Thank You" Concert for the RestorationProject.
Watch this space for further details."

Towards Spiritual Maturity  
Are you confident about your Christian faith? Is your relationship with Christ growing as it should?
 'Towards Spiritual Maturity' is a series of monthly sessions consisting of 30 minutes teaching about the faith, 20 minutes for discussion and networking over refreshments, and 40 minutes practical training in a subject of relevance to life in and outside church.
Tim is planning to hold these sessions on the first Sunday of each month from 6.30pm to 8.00pm. The first was on 5th May, but if you could not come then you are welcome to start with the next one on 2nd June in the Vicarage at 6.30pm.

Offer on The Well's Next Teaching - 'Pathway Through Patterns of Unhealthy Behaviour'  
The next in The Well Christian Healing Centre's series of teaching days is on Saturday 22 June 9.45 am to 3.45 pm and is titled 'Pathway Through Patterns of Unhealthy Behaviour'. This day will offer a better understanding of a range of behaviours, self-harm, eating issues, pornography and obsessions including how patterns develop, how to support those affected and how to move towards wholeness.
The day costs £20 but there is an earlybird price of £15 for bookings received by Wednesday 8 May, 2013. It takes place at St Mary's Church, Leamington Spa, CV31 1JW.
For more information or to book online visit their website: www.wellhealing.org

Iconography Course   
On 15-19 July 2013
Ian Knowles, a gifted iconographer and director of the Bethlehem Icon Centre will be leading a 5 day course at Red Hill, Snitterfield from 15-19 July, 2013. This is a wonderful opportunity to explore prayerfully this ancient Christian art. Students will work on their own gesso panel in egg tempera, supported by tuition and class demonstrations by Ian. Being an experienced artist is not a requirement so much as a desire to explore this prayerful discipline. Cost is £225 which includes lunch. Some accommodation is available. The subject will be the head of the Archangel Gabriel.
For more information please email Susan on sumob@tiscali.co.uk

OTHER NOTICES

The Church of England annual statistics for 2011 
The Church of England has released its annual statistics for 2011 revealing a strong growing trend for Christmas attendance, an increase in child and adult baptisms and a growing stability in weekly service attendance.
Christmas 2011 drew 14.5% more worshippers to Church of England services than attended in 2010, reaching a total of 2,618,030. Whilst one of the factors for such a high annual increase include the poor weather on Christmas Day in the previous year 2010, initial returns from 2012 suggest a further increase in Christmas attendance on these high 2011 figures revealing a growing trend for church going at Christmas.
The number of christenings increased by 4.3% and was accompanied by a rise of just over 5% in adult baptisms with a combined total of 139,751 baptisms - meaning that the Church of England conducted an average of over 2,600 baptisms each week during 2011. Thanksgivings for the birth of a child also rose; an 11.9% increase taking numbers to 6,582.
Average Weekly Attendance nationally fell by less than half of one per cent (0.3%) to 1,091,484 a stabilising of average weekly attendance figures.
Weddings saw a slight decrease of 3.6% in 2011, to 51,880, whilst the number of wedding blessings was up by 4.5%. The wedding figures confirm the trend of the past decade where the Church of England married an average of 1,000 couples every week.
Church of England Clergy and lay ministers conducted 162,526 funerals in 2011, a fall of 2.8% on the previous year, reflecting figures from the Office for National Statistics which showed a fall of 1.8% in deaths in England and Wales in 2011. On these figures the Church of England conducted an average of over 3,000 funerals every week in 2011 - over 400 every day.

Urgent for Prayer from Bishop John - Kidnap of Syrian Bishops 
Please pray for Bishop Paul Yazigi, the Greek Orthodox Bishop of Aleppo and Alexandretta, and Bishop Ibrahim, the Syriac Orthodox Bishop of Aleppo, who have been kidnapped in Syria on their way back to Aleppo from a humanitarian mission to release other hostages. I had the privilege of spending time with each of them personally when I was in Syria on behalf of Archbishop Rowan, visiting Christian and Muslim leaders.
Please continue to pray for all the peoples of Syria and that whatever emerges from the current, violent conflict will honour Christians and other minorities in the country.

Radford Semele and Bishops Itchington churches leaving The Feldon Group
Now that St Nicholas, Radford Semele is very near to completion, and with the imminent arrival of Vikki Bisiker (the new curate in training for Radford Semele and Bishops Itchington, with special responsibility for St Nicholas’s), the Bishop has agreed that it makes things more straightforward, both financially and in terms of  lines of responsibility, to separate these two parishes from the six. There will, of course, continue to be good co-operation and support within our small deanery for Tim, David, Martin and Vikki, and we can continue to offer a warm welcome to one another in our churches whenever an opportunity arises.

Psychology Experiment for 65-85 year olds 
 Are you between 65-85? Do you want to help increase scientific understanding on memory and aging? If yes, the department of psychology at the University of Warwick is seeking participants between the ages of 65-85 to take part in an exciting one-off psychological study on memory.
You must be self-sufficient and a native English speaker. All results are anonymous and it takes 20-25 minutes to complete. It can be done either at the University or a location of your choice, where an experimenter will meet you.
To sign up or if you would like more information, please contact Sumeet Sanghera on 07946352503, or email s.sanghera@warwick.ac.uk
 
Will you be promoting 'Back to Church Sunday'? 
'Back to Church Sunday' will be held on 29 September this year. As usual, churches will need to register and order their own resources. However, this will only be possible if the diocese has registered first (and paid a fee).
Before doing this, it would be helpful to have an indication of how many churches might be promoting 'Back to Church Sunday' this year.
Please email Graeme Pringle if this is something that you are hoping to do.
graeme.pringle@covcofe.org

Keeping in Touch 
 Diane and Alan's new address and phone number:
169a Clopton Road, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire CV37 6TF.
Tel 01789 266453.

Short Term Practical Mission Trips For All 
 Mission Direct is looking for individuals and groups to join them on two-week mission trips. Teams work on building, medical and teaching projects in some of the world's poorest communities. Teams can choose a trip from one of eleven country projects. This includes: building a basic home for families living in squalid conditions in The Dominican Republic, a refuge for young girls fleeing forced marriage in Kenya or a new community home for AIDS orphans in Uganda. No specialist skills are required and opportunities are available for all ages.
For more information please visit their website: www.missiondirect.org

Pilgrim Puppets


For details of current bookings please click HERE