The Blessed Virgin Mary, flanked by archangels robed as Byzantine emperors 12th century mosaic, Cefalù Cathedral, Sicily

Feast Day, August 15th

Volume 147 – Number 8 August 2017 Price 50p (by subscription £5 for 12 issues)

www.stbridgetschurch.org.uk www.caldychurch.org.uk

St Bridget’s, West Kirby

with Caldy Church

Parish Magazine

Parish Magazine

Transfiguration – 6th August The Transfiguration is an important even in the life of Jesus. David discusses it in detail on pages 14 and 15. It has been depicted many times, the need to portray the transfigured Jesus offering a particular challenge. Here are four versions, in a variety of media: an icon, a mosaic, a painting by Titian, and a modern stained glass version.

Four different images, but with essentially the same composition, and all capturing the awe and wonder of the disciples.

TB-C

Rector’s Letter

These last few weeks we have been hearing about how Jesus spoke in parables. Jesus tells us what the kingdom of heaven is like through simple yet profound stories. The kingdom of heaven is like a sower going out to sow...like having both wheat and weeds growing together in the same field...like a tiny mustard seed growing into a big tree.

The kingdom of heaven is about yeast and bread, and about finding hidden treasure in a field.

The Welsh New Testament scholar C H Dodd said that a parable is “... a metaphor or simile drawn from nature or common life, arresting the hearer by its vividness or strangeness, and leaving the mind in sufficient doubt about its precise application to tease it into active thought.”

So I wonder what you make of the parables that Jesus tells? Do they make you stop and think? Do they tease you into “active thought”?

First of all let me explain something about the phrase: the “kingdom of heaven”. The other gospels have Jesus talking about the kingdom of God, but Matthew uses “kingdom of heaven” instead. It's the same thing – and this kingdom of heaven is maybe best thought of as “God's way of doing things.”

Jesus is not talking about what heaven is like after you die, but about what God's way of doing things should be like here on earth. Jesus is teaching about how to act and live out our lives here and now. “Your kingdom come,” we pray, “your kingdom come on earth as it already is in heaven.” So Jesus is telling parables about how God's way of doing things is to be seen on earth – here, now.

The great thing about the parables is that you can read them in different ways. There isn't a single right or wrong explanation, so we can listen for ourselves and maybe find an interpretation that speaks to us today. That's what I understand by the gospels being the living word of God. Not fixed and final, but alive with new meaning for us today when we take the time to sit and ponder the text, when we allow the words to sink in as we listen attentively. We might find the word or phrase that stands out or shimmers and sparkles for us.

Oh, the gospels offer an explanation for both the parable of the sower and for the parable of the wheat and weeds – but that's just one way of looking at a story that C H Dodd says leaves doubt in our mind about its precise application. We don't know if Jesus offered the explanations, or whether they are later additions by the gospel writers or other editors who could not rest with the ambiguity of the original parable.

Take the parable of the sower. The farmer goes out to sow, and the seed falls

all over the place. On the path, among the rocks, among the weeds. Only some of it seems to end up in the best soil – but those seeds grow and bear much fruit.

Back in bible times, farmers didn't have tractors and the like. They put the seed in a bag slung around their shoulder and grabbed handfuls and flung them around as they walked across the field. So if you were sowing seed like that maybe some wouldn't go where you wanted. But surely the farmers got pretty skilled at making sure the seed went in the right place? So how come Jesus' farmer (God) sowed his seed all over the place?

The explanation of the parable of the sower in the gospels tells of all the dangers of all the things that lurk in wait to trip us up if we put a foot wrong. And so maybe we get anxious – and we think the message must be: be very careful where you sow. Keep hold of the seed tightly and only drop it in the proper neat and tidy rows in the best soil. But is that how God sows the seed? No – God flings seed around with gay abandon.

“Don't be afraid”, Jesus says. In troubled times of our lives, we get anxious, we clam up, we close in on ourselves, we don't want to risk getting it wrong. We become over-cautious. The world changes around us, or we get older, and the danger is that we get fearful. But don't be afraid, God says.

God is with us whatever is happening around us. “As sure as the snow and rain generously water the earth”, said the prophet Isaiah... “as surely as the seasons come around, so God is with us...God will bless us”. God throws his seed around with gay abandon. God grabs great big handfuls and showers the seed everywhere. God scatters generously...and showers his people with gifts.

And those gifts bear an amazing amount of fruit. Thirty, sixty, a hundred times more than the original seed. Which more than makes up for the seed that goes astray.

I don't have space to write about the other parables – but I leave you with a quick thought about the one where the farmer finds both wheat and weeds in the same field.

Jesus said that the kingdom of heaven is like good seed sown in a field, that then gets a load of weeds sown in amongst the good seed by someone. The workers want to get rid of the weeds now, but the farmer says, “No. Wait. Let them grow together until the harvest. Then we can separate them out.”

What if the field is any one of us? Do you ever wish that you were perfect? That you didn't do bad things, or think bad thoughts? That you were like a clean field of wheat. But at the individual level, we are each a mix of good and bad, aren't we? We can do amazing things, we can help and serve others, we can love unconditionally. But then something goes wrong and we mess up.

Well, the good news it seems to me from this parable is that God loves us just

as we are, God doesn't give up on us, we don't just get thrown on the fire. We are all made in God's image, we have the divine spark, we have the fire of the Spirit sown in us. Whatever mix of good and bad is within us, God the farmer waits patiently for us to grow and bear fruit.

Wheat and weeds in the same field. What do you think? What does the field represent to you? Or maybe you hear Jesus speaking to you about patience: Lord, give us patience so we can wait to see what will happen, that we not be guilty of over-hasty judgment of others, or of ourselves.

May we be challenged by the parables of Jesus, may we stop and think...and may we follow God's way of doing things. May God's kingdom come, on earth as it already is in heaven.

Admitting schoolchildren to receive communion

Just before the end of the school year at St Bridget's we had a fantastic service in church with all the school children from Years 3 and 4. The governors' Christian Ethos committee have been talking about how we expose the children to how the sacraments of baptism and communion work. Specifically, we've been wanting to show them a communion service for years and we finally did it.

But we'd also put out an invitation to all the parents for their children to be prepared to be admitted to receive communion. Not just to watch, but to take part! We sent out sixty letters to the Year 4 children and got ten positive replies. Emma and I prepared these children over four sessions that took place both in school and in church.

In the end, six children were admitted and received communion for the first time alongside their parents and teachers at the service. Three other children have been admitted to communion at other churches, and so they also received communion in front of all their peers. A poignant and touching moment as these children stood up and said that this really matters to them.

We've never admitted schoolchildren to communion before at St Bridget's, and we are only the second Church school in the diocese to have done it, far as we know. The Year 3 children were there watching, and next year, guess what, we'll send out letters to them when they have become Year 4's, and who knows how many will say yes next time around?

One of the children this time wasn't baptised, so Emma talked this through with her family and performed that baptism the Sunday before. But not just for the nine year old...her elder teenage brother heard about the service and asked if he could be baptised, too. The answer?...of course! Bonus!

Just one example of our sowing generously and seeing the seed bear fruit.

John

A new Sound System for St Bridget’s Church In July we dipped into our Enhancement Fund again, to have a new sound system installed: new loudspeakers, microphones, amplifiers, mixers, cabling and induction loop, plus microphone stands, chargers and a cabinet to hold the equipment. There are facilities to play music from a variety of modern inputs as well as CD, to accommodate requests at funerals and weddings. Technology has moved on in leaps

and bounds since we bought our old system, and we hope people will appreciate the improvement in quality. Many thanks to the Appeal team and to everyone who has contributed.

At the time of writing we are still making adjustments to identify the optimal volume setting, the ministry team are getting used to their microphones, and the intelligent system is learning the building, but already we have had an enthusiastic response from worshippers, with and without hearing aids. The first service to use the new system was the St Bridget’s School Year 6 Leavers’ Service on 19th July; dozens of children contributed, and we heard every word despite the variety of heights and voices.

We hope we have said goodbye to crackles, whistles, squeals and inaudible speech. Eleanor Rigby’s Father McKenzie should have gone to Kirkpatrick Sound Engineering.

and news of our other Enhancements....

Our new heating system, installed last August, is more efficient than the old one, as well as being more controllable and keeping the church warmer. A precise comparison of gas consumption is difficult because we often had estimated bills in the past, but comparing the first half of 2017 with the average of the first halves of 2014-16, we seem to be using 20% less.

We have taken further advice about Air Curtain heaters to keep the heat in while the doors are open, and it seems best to wait until we have the church rewired, since the installation would require substantial new cabling.

This month the Enhancement Group are visiting a church in Lancashire which recently had new lighting and wiring installed by a company on our shortlist. Soon after, we hope to make a decision and agree a specification. We can then proceed to a Faculty application for permission, and, funds permitting, it may be possible to have the church rewired, with modern LED lighting, in 2018. In the meantime we are struggling with our aging circuits and light fittings but will do our best to prevent the darkness overcoming the light.

PB-C

ST. BRIDGET’S MOTHERS’ UNION

We were glad of the support of seven non-members at our meeting on Tuesday 11th July. Holidays had greatly depleted our numbers but we had a good audience of twenty-one. We started the meeting with a moment of silence to remember our two members who had recently died, Hilary Fathers and Sue Taylor.

Christine Hebron talked to us about bees. She said that she was going to tell us mainly about the wild bees. She told us which flowers, herbs, plants and fruit were good to attract bees. She illustrated her talk with pictures, diagrams and bees in jars. We all had a spoonful of her floral honey straight from the cone.

Joan Mates There will not be a meeting in August. Our next meeting is on Tuesday, September 12th when Brian Dodd will be coming to give an illustrated talk on St. Bridget’s Church Windows. Friends and members of the congregation are very welcome to come along.

Carole Steel

Eco-crafts at Caldy

The morning of 27th July was the first Eco-crafts at Caldy session. These sessions are part of our bigger project working towards gaining an 'eco-church' award for Caldy Church. So a group of us, children and adults, gathered in Caldy Church Hall and made bug houses to take home and we hung some bigger bug houses in the church grounds.

Bill Smith brought along a beautiful wooden planter that he had made and put it together with the help of Jack Gibb. This was filled with compost from Caldy's compost heap, and next week we will fill this with herbs that we hope will attract bees and butterflies, and that people will be able to pick as they pass by.

There was also a display of ecologically friendly cleaning products and toiletries, information on how to attract bees to the garden and we even had a fair trade snack, very kindly provided by Margaret Smith.

Next session we plan to hang some bird houses in the church grounds and paint some smaller bird houses to take home or our own gardens. We will also put down a hedgehog house and build a full sized mini beast hotel for the ground behind the Church Hall.

A huge thank you to all who came along, had fun and helped us on our journey towards becoming an eco-church.

With love, Emma and the Eco-church team

Cancer Friends Together Cancer Friends Together meet of the 2nd and 4th Mondays of each month at 3pm at Redacre, 24, Abbey Road, West Kirby. Contact Redacre on 625 8775.

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Please check your cheques

Recently the bank has tightened up its scrutiny of account names on cheques, and is now strict about the correct wording. To make life easier for the treasury team, here is a list of the parish accounts and their purposes.

St Bridgets R&F Appeal for the Enhancement Fund, saving up for rewiring the church,

St Bridgets PCC for general donations to St Bridget’s Church. From this account we pay the bills and running costs, the administrator and gardener, and contribute to the diocesan fund which pays for clergy, training and central support staff.

St Bridgets Flower Fund for Church flowers. Please ask in the Parish Office if you wish your donation to be used for a particular Sunday.

St Bridget’s Centre

St Bridgets (PCC) External Account for the Friends of St Bridget’s Church.

PCC West Kirby Caldy Church for general donations to Caldy Church.

If you wish to donate by online transfer or standing order, the treasury team or wardens are happy to provide the numbers, or (for the Appeal), see “Donations” on the Parish website, or the Appeal Leaflet. Please include a reference so that the treasurer can see what’s what.

Do you put envelopes in our collection plate?

Would you consider a Standing Order?

We are extremely grateful to everyone who gives generously to the Church each week, helping to pay our Diocesan Share (£80K this year) and running costs.

We are also extremely grateful to the volunteers who open the envelopes, count the money, record the amounts, take the money to the bank and claim the tax back. We would like to make their job easier, and safer, by automating more of the process. It is straightforward to give by Standing Order from the bank, and our Treasury Team would be pleased. If you could consider this, please contact the Treasurer, Arthur Roberts on 633 2053, or speak to a Warden. At St Bridget’s we have cards available to place in the collection plate. They look like this.

ST BRIDGET’S DIARY

St Bridget’s Church is usually OPEN Monday-Friday from 2.30 until 4.30pm

The Parish Office in St Bridget’s Centre is usually open Mon-Fri 9am-12 noon

Please note that both John’s and Emma's day off is a FRIDAY

August

Tue 1st 9am Morning Prayer – St Bridget

10am Holy Communion – Caldy

10.30-11am Coffee @ Caldy

Wed 2nd 8am Holy Communion – Sisters of Jesus' Way

9.30-11.30am The Link café – Centre

10am Knit and Natter Group – Centre

10.45am The Link review meeting – Centre

11.30am Holy Communion – St Bridget

Thurs 3rd 9am Morning Prayer – Caldy

10.30am Eco Crafts at Caldy Church

Sunday 6th

THE TRANSFIGURATION

8am Holy Communion

10am Parish Communion

12.15pm Holy Baptism (Evie Neal)

4pm Outdoor Service in Ashton Park

6.30pm Evensong (BCP)

Mon 7th 9am Morning Prayer – St Bridget

Tue 8th 9am Morning Prayer – St Bridget

10am Holy Communion – Caldy

10.30-11am Coffee @ Caldy

Wed 9th 9.30-11.30am The Link Café – Centre

10am Knit and Natter Group – Centre

11.30am Holy Communion – St Bridget

1.30pm Bridge Drive in aid of the Appeal – Centre

Thur 10th 9am Morning Prayer – Caldy

Sunday 13th

THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

8am Holy Communion

10am Parish Communion

12.15pm Holy Baptism (Thellea Ede Hughes) 6.30pm Evening Prayer (CW)

Mon 14th 9am Morning Prayer – St Bridget

Tue 15th 9am Morning Prayer – St Bridget

10am Holy Communion – Caldy

10.30-11am Coffee @ Caldy

6.30pm CAMEO

Wed 16th 9.30-11.30am The Link Café – Centre

10am Knit and Natter Group – Centre 11.30am Holy Communion – St Bridget

12 noon Men's Lunch Club – Centre

Thur 17th 9am Morning Prayer – Caldy

Sunday 20th

10th

SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY

8am Holy Communion

10am Parish Communion

12.15pm Holy Baptism (Oliver Elwell) 6.30pm Evensong (BCP)

Mon 21st 9am Morning Prayer – St Bridget

Tues 22nd 9am Morning Prayer – St Bridget

10am Holy Communion – Caldy

10.30-11am Coffee @ Caldy

Wed 23rd 9.30-11.30am The Link Café – Centre

10am Knit and Natter Group – Centre

11.30am Holy Communion – St Bridget

Thur 24th 9am Morning Prayer – Caldy

Sat 26th 2pm Wedding (Andrew Rowland & Jill Barrie) –

St Bridget

Sunday 27th

11th

SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY

8am Holy Communion

10am Parish Communion

12.15pm Holy Baptism (Oliver Taylor)

12.15pm Holy Baptism (Harry Ellis) – Caldy Church

6.30pm Evening Prayer (CW)

Tues 29th 9am Morning Prayer – St Bridget

10am Holy Communion – Caldy

10.30-11am Coffee @ Caldy

Wed 30th 9.30-11.30am The Link Café – Centre

10am Knit and Natter Group – Centre

11.30am Holy Communion – St Bridget

FROM the REGISTERS …..

HOLY BAPTISM

"May they grow in the faith in which they have been baptised"

2nd July Henry Jack Irvin (St Bridget)

9th July Honey Amelia Bradshaw & Theo Nicholas Bradshaw (Caldy)

16th July Alana Pollard (St Bridget)

23rd July Jasper Jenkins (St Bridget)

23rd July Tobias Ian Parker (St Bridget)

30th July Teddy Evans (St Bridget)

ADMISSION of CHILDREN

to RECEIVE COMMUNION

"May they find in this sacrament the love and presence of God in their lives"

13th July Honey Bradshaw, Roberta Desforges, Harriet Dewar,

Emily Harland, Adela Jiraskova, Robert Waring

HOLY MATRIMONY

"May they grow together in love and peace"

15th July Thomas Harrison & Beth McDaid (St Bridget)

FUNERALS and MEMORIAL SERVICES and Burial of Ashes "Rest eternal grant to them, O Lord."

5th July Hilary Fathers (Landican & St Bridget)

17th July Susan Taylor (St Bridget & Landican)

21st July Frederick Tinnis (Landican)

22nd July Elisabeth Nichol (burial of ashes) (Caldy)

31st July John Edward Mills (Landican)

Cycling Pilgrimage to Chester

Canon John and his daughter Ruth sincerely thank all who responded to our Cycling Event.

Ruth and I sincerely thank all who supported our recent Cycling Pilgrimage to Chester Cathedral where I was honoured - after changing from cycling to clerical garments – to Celebrate Holy Communion in the 10th century chapel of St. Anselm. Over forty of us praised God for the worldwide work of the Barnabas Fund caring for suffering Christians, and for our small part, over the

past ten years, taking seriously the need to support their project for Canon Chochi. He and his team have rescued many local girls from F.G.M., the forced marriage of young innocent girls to elderly polygamous men, and other vile acts. Having rescued the girls and housed them in the seventy bed 'Cana Girls Rescue Home' they have to be maintained.

Taking seriously our Lord's words in Matthew 25:31/44, we realise that when we help those in need we are helping Jesus Himself. We hardly need further encouragement. Many have already made their donations to our appeal which stands at a little over £14,000. It is down on last year's income but there is plenty of time for further gifts: I will keep the books open!

We felt a real presence of Jesus in the simplicity of the chapel which reminded us of the original room where Jesus gave us the Last Supper. So refreshed, we knew our pilgrimage had brought us extra close to Jesus.

Should you wish to help 'our' girls, or the Syrian Christians we have helped these last three years, I would be most grateful. You could send a cheque payable to Barnabas Fund to me at 2, Shalford Grove, West Kirby CH48 9XY. Or, in St. Bridget’s you could contact Philip Price. Please say if your gift is to be 'Gift Aided'.

Repeated thanks, Sincerely, John Bowers

Any old ink cartridges and phones? The Church collects used ink cartridges and mobile phones, which we send to Recycle4Charity and receive money in return. If you have some to spare, please put them in the box in the porch of St Bridget’s Church. The Recycle4Charity website lists which types are sought after.

We can also recycle types not on that list, although we will not be paid for them, so it is still better to put them in our box than in the bin.

PB-C

Curate's Letter

Dear Friends,

On August 6th we celebrate the Feast of the Transfiguration. As you may recall the feast commemorates the time when Jesus, together with Peter, James and John, went to a mountain to pray and Jesus begins to shine like a bright light and God recognised him as his 'Son'. To the writers of the New Testament the Transfiguration was an event of great importance, not only being recorded by Matthew, Mark and Luke in their gospels, but also by St. Paul when writing to the Church in Corinth.

What are we twenty-first century men and women to make of this incident? Did the transfiguration happen literally as described? Alternatively is it a post-resurrection appearance of Jesus placed in the wrong position in the Gospels as some biblical scholars have held? A theory which seems unlikely, since the transfiguration tradition is so central to the New Testament. Today we might call the transfiguration a vision, like those which many saints have had over the centuries, or perhaps Peter, James and John are praying together, swapping thoughts and meditating and suddenly reach a common conclusion that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God. This is probably how we would tell the story to our friends, but first century Jews used all the rich imagery of the Hebrew Scriptures with which they were familiar.

What is important is not whether the transfiguration happened as described, though I think it undeniable that the three disciples had a profound religious experience, but what it means for us. First, Moses and Elijah who appear with Jesus are vital elements in the story because the Jews believed that these two figures, perhaps the greatest in the Old Testament, were so favoured by God that they did not die but were taken directly to heaven. Hence by implication this would also be the fate of Jesus. No matter what was to happen subsequently all would be well in the end: everything would be transformed by God's love, even death itself.

Secondly, Jesus is more important than either Moses or Elijah, it is Jesus who is transfigured, not these venerable Old Testament figures. Also God directly calls Jesus his Son. The penny drops, the disciples are frightened and realise that Jesus is indeed God in human form and, hence, in St. Matthew’s account the disciples still have their faces on the ground at the close of the Transfiguration because they cannot immediately look up at Jesus who they now know to be divine. After all, during the Old Testament period the Jews believed that anyone who looked at God would die. Surely this would now be their fate? According to St.

Matthew’s Gospel Jesus now shows what God is like in six of the most beautiful words in the whole of the New Testament: 'stand up; do not be afraid.' God is not a tyrant: he not only loves Moses, Elijah, the great men of the past, and Jesus his son, but all humanity. We too can metaphorically look upon the face of God because we are his children and are welcome to do so.

Yet despite the transfiguration, the disciples, with the possible exception of John, deserted Jesus in his hour of need. Peter and James remained, nonetheless, God's children through Christ, who forgave and reinstated them. So we can all be sure that despite the fact that by our conduct we will also sin by denying Christ, God will forgive because we are precious in his sight.

The Transfiguration shows that without ceasing to be God, Jesus is fully present within the world. The historical Jesus is both God and man. He was born like us, enjoyed life to the full, knew what it was to suffer as we do and died as we inevitably will. As with Jesus, so with us: death is not the end and we can look forward to the fruits of the resurrection. In a very real sense the transfiguration is the future reality for all of us breaking into the present.

With best wishes, David

Bells on Thursday You may have been wondering why St Bridget's bells were ringing on Thursdays in June.

A few years ago the BBC introduced a music day and each year it has become more popular. This year it was Thursday 15th June and as part of music day the BBC asked us to ring our bells at 7pm and we obliged with a quarter peal of Plain Bob Triples. This was continuous

ringing for almost an hour and was conducted by David King-Hele, our tower keeper. The rest of the ringers in the band were, Janet Jones, Robert Preston, Gregory Buckridge and, from Bebington, David Denson and Peter Exley with Newton ringer David Jones, plus myself as the eighth ringer. We were not the only band to ring: approximately seven hundred ringers joined in the celebrations in various towers across the UK. We hope to take part in next year’s music day sometime next June. We also rang on Thursday 22nd as part of our regular advanced practice. This is an evening of more complicated ringing that tests our brains a little. We have our advanced practice every month but alternate between towers which attracts Ringers from many other Wirral towers.

Randle Tinkler, St Bridget’s Tower Captain

General Synod, July 2017

The Church of England’s parliament, General Synod, met in

York last month, and as usual there were items of interest

to the Inclusive movement.

A private member’s motion condemning Gay Conversion Therapy

engendered much debate, and was finally passed by all three houses: bishops,

clergy and laity, by a total of 298 votes to 74. The synod endorsed the view of

the Royal College of Psychiatrists that gay conversion therapy has no place in

the modern world, is unethical, potentially harmful and not supported by

evidence.

The motion on welcoming transgender people attracted media attention.

Recently some parish priests have been asked to provide some ceremony to

mark a person’s change of name and gender identity, since they no longer use

their baptismal name. The following cautious motion was also passed in all

three houses, 284 – 78.

That this Synod, recognising the need for transgender people to be welcomed

and affirmed in their parish church, call on the House of Bishops to consider

whether some nationally commended liturgical materials might be prepared to

mark a person’s gender transition.

Readers may remember the lively Not taking note debate in February, when

Synod narrowly threw out the Bishops’ latest document on Marriage and Same

Sex Relationships. The Archbishops have now reported to Synod that they

have set up several groups and instructed them to produce a new document,

expected to be ready by 2020, “though on a process this complicated we

cannot be pinned down relating to time”.

Several members of Synod objected to this leisurely timescale. As the Bishop

of Buckingham put it: The fact is we’ve been going round this mulberry bush

regularly for almost 30 years. Each new iteration consists of a grand

announcement that the bishops will lead the way forward.”

Meanwhile, society, including Anglican society, moves on.The 2016 British

Social Attitudes Survey showed that only 16% of British Anglicans still believe

“that physically intimate same-sex relationships are always wrong”. Marking fifty

years since the 1967 Sexual Offences Act, several TV programmes have

reminded us of the days of secrecy, persecution, imprisonment and unpleasant

“therapies”. Now the secular state has an Equality Act and Gay Marriage, and

the C of E hesitantly advances towards inclusivity.

Of course, Synod did not spend its entire session talking about LGBT issues.

Other topics included vestments, clergy well-being, school admissions policy,

and the cost of applying for citizenship. Visit www.thinkinganglicans.org.uk for

details of the debates and decisions.

PB-C

Special services at St Bridget's coming up...

10am on Sunday 13th August – NHS Sunday Instead of a sermon, we will have an interview with Phil Cornford about his work worldwide as a consultant urological surgeon, including his research and teaching of the latest robotic surgical methods.

10am on Sunday 17th September - Education Sunday We have invited school teachers, governors, school choir and parents to a non-Eucharistic service of the word (there will be a short communion service at 11.45). We will pray for, and with, the school community at the start of the academic year.

Daily Bible Readings for August

21st Luke 10.38-42 1st Galatians 3.1-14 22nd Matthew 15.21-28 2nd 2 Corinthians 8.1-11 23rd Ephesians 4.1-16 3rd John 15.1-17 24th Matthew 10.1-22 4th Matthew 27.57-66 25th Hebrews 1.1-9 5th Mark 16.1-8 26th Ephesians 3.1-13

7th Mark 4.21-34 28th Luke 10.25-37 8th John 1.43-51 29th Philippians 3.4b-end 9th 2 Timothy 2.8-19 30th 2 Corinthians 9.6-end 10th Mark 5.21-43 31st John 16.1-15 11th Luke 8.4-15 1st John 19.1-16 12th 1 Timothy 6.6-16 2nd Luke 24.36-end

14th 1 Corinthians 9.19-end

15th Acts 1.6-14 16th 1 John 1 17th John 15.12-27 18th Mark 15.6-20 19th Luke 20.27-40

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Contact Phil Price

625-7959

E.F.MACKIE FAMILY BUSINESS EST. OVER 100 YEARS 0151 639 5347

NEW MEMORIALS IN GRANITE, 109 Rake Lane

MARBLE, SLATE AND YORKSHIRE STONE WALLASEY CH45 5DE

Custom made to your specifications or carefully designed for you by our craftsmen 0151 652 6789 (SHOWROOM)

Cremation Memorials, Plaques & Vases 581 BOROUGH ROAD Renovations, repairs and cleaning work BIRKENHEAD Additional inscriptions (Opp. KINGSLAND)

Visit our showroom for quality memorials at very competitive prices Please ring for a free brochure and estimate

Caldy Church Hall

is available for hire at modest prices With fitted kitchen, carpeted main hall

For Birthday Parties, baptism receptions, funeral receptions, meetings of all sorts.

Contact: Jean Pickering 625 7043 or

Syd Ford 342 0141

eden floral design wedding flowers with a personal touch

77 Banks Road

West Kirby

CH48 0RY

0151 625 7711

edenfloraldesign.co.uk

FIRST CLASS FEET

Emma Cottrell BSc (Hons), SRCh, MChS

STATE REGISTERED CHIROPODIST / PODIATRIST

Home Visiting Practice

Telephone: 07899 952687

Landscape

&

Gardening

Service

ALL GARDEN WORK CONSIDERED

Phone Steve 625 6090

St Bridget's, West Kirby and Caldy Church take the safety of everyone within our churches very seriously, and expects that everyone will work within the safeguarding policy of the Parish, a

copy of which can be found on our noticeboards. In particular, the Parish expects anyone who becomes aware of a safeguarding risk with children or vulnerable adults, or an actual abuse, to raise this immediately with the person(s) with responsibility for safeguarding within the Parish. The

Safeguarding Coordinator for the Parish is Kate Frodsham, who can be contacted on kate.huyton@icloud.com Alternatively, contact: Pauline Butterfield (the Diocesan Safeguarding Officer) on 01928-718834 Ext 221 pauline.butterfield@chester.anglican.org

or Rev'd John Bleazard on 0151 625 1052.

Caldy Jottings

Extension to Garden of Remembrance. We have now received

permission from the Diocese to extend our Garden of Remembrance – we plan to include the area on the left of the footpath to the old double gates. Our contractor will be working on this in the next few weeks and the Bishop of Birkenhead will attend in October to carry out the ceremony of Consecration.

It is our custom to hold All Age Services with Communion on the first Sunday in each month, but because of school holidays we usually omit this in August. The all age service is usually well attended and the next one will be held on Sunday 3rd September. We hope you will join us.

Ministers in our Parish. We are blessed in our Parish with a goodly number of ministers who bring God’s word to us. This provides a good variety of sermons and styles of leadership and we are grateful for this variety. The Calendar below lists five different ministers for the five services scheduled for August/September.

Services at Caldy in August (all at 10.00am) Sunday 6th August Transfiguration

Rev John Bowers Holy Communion

Sunday 13th August Virgin Mary

Rev David Chester and John Smith

Holy Communion

Sunday 20th August

Rev David Chester and Rev Emma Speake

Morning Prayer with Holy Communion

Sunday 27th August

Rev Mary Railton- Crowther

Holy Communion

Sunday 3rd September

Rev John Bleazard All Age Communion

Holy Communion is said each Tuesday at 10.00am and

Morning Prayer on Thursdays at 9.00am Tea and Coffee are served in the Church Hall after each

service

R. HINTON & SON 97 BANKS ROAD – 625 5605

Family Butchers specialising in Fresh

Meat and Poultry

Licensed to sell Game/Venison/ Pheasant/Wild Duck (seasonal)

FREE DAILY DELIVERIES TO

LOCAL AREAS

To Book

St Bridget’s Centre

Contact either

The Parish Office

625-2739 or

Martin Harrison 625-8535

www.stbridgetscentre.co.uk

St Bridget’s Centre St. Bridget’s Lane West Kirby

“The Link”

Coffee Shop

Every Wednesday

8.30-11am

Coffee Tea and Toast

Why not drop in for elevenses and a chat?

D & M MOTORS

MOT Testing Station

All Makes, All Models

Servicing, Diagnostics, Tyres

All Mechanical Repairs

Elder Grove, West Kirby CH48 4ED

Tel: 625 5328/7984

full fitting service

APPLIANCE SALES & REPAIRS

Tel: 0151 625 6484

8-10 Acacia Grove, West Kirby

www.ezardslighting.co.uk