Parish of Westborough – Guildford

A warm welcome to everybody joining with us for our service today.

Readings
Genesis 1 v.27-31 page 4

For Your prayers
      For continued guidance for the future for our combined parishes.
For Pete Smith, Dawn Murrell, Carol Nash, Ernie Marshall.
For all in need of your loving arms around them.

90^th Festival Celebration
We offer you all a very warm welcome to our celebration today. There is so much to be grateful for over the past 90 years. We owe a lot to all those who have gone before us and to those who are working today for God in this parish, and we look forward to building on their love and work into the next 90 years.
Our thanks go to David Rose and the Community Choir for entertaining us after the service and to Val for all her hard work in producing the lunch today.

Dates for October
Tuesdays  – 3C’s Café in church 10-11.30am, including Hear Here, hearing aid clinic 9.30 – 11am
Mondays Tots Praise from 10.30 – 11.45 in the church
Sensible shoes will be completing study book 4 on alternate Mondays starting on the 25th September.
Morning prayer will now be from 9 – 9.40am Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays on zoom.
October Lunch club will be on 10^th 1pm in the hall
October 15^th Prayer for the future partnership 4-5pm at Emmanuel Church.
Book Club will meet on 24^th Oct. All readers welcome.

Community Lunch
The lunch will be held at 1pm on Tuesday 10^th October, there is still time to sign up if you haven’t done so yet.
Parents and children
Children are very welcome to be in church during the services, but if you prefer there is a room at the back of the church with toys in it, plus a speaker relaying the service, please do use if you wish.

At the PCC meeting on 26^th September
We discussed the development of a partnership with Emmanuel church. It was agreed that the PCCs of Emmanuel, Westborough and Park Barn welcome the opportunity to partner with each other, and desire the opportunity to partner with each other, and desire to come together as one united parish. Both PCCs commit to working to develop the concept and practical outworking of being One Team, Three Churches.

There will be an interim period from 1^st October 2023 – 31^st December 2025 for the churches to grow and develop the partnership to the benefit of all 3 churches.  Each church will be encouraged to develop its own style of ministry and worship. This will be a period of development and can be altered or stopped during this period. As you can imagine there are many parts of the proposal, please feel free to talk to the churchwardens if you want to know more about the proposals or have questions to ask. The aim is to support all the churches as we look to work for God in this area and for each church to retain their individuality and identity.

Foodshare
We are now receiving foodshare on Wednesdays and Fridays, so we have foodshare all week which is wonderful. We would welcome 2 extra people who could put food out around 9am on Wednesdays and Fridays ( It will be delivered to the church) and lock up at around 4pm. It is a wonderful opportunity and privilege to be sharing with our neighbours.

Warm meals, warm welcome.
We are working together with the folk at URC to develop relationships with the many students who live and study in our parish, many of whom we meet at Foodshare.Starting on October 31^st we aim to provide a hot meal and a space in which we can start to build relationships with students living locally. This would be every Tuesday 6pm to 7.30pm this term. If you feel you could come and lend a hand for this project, especially to help with the simple meal we would be very grateful, the more helpers, the more we can share God’s work in our community.

Study Groups – The Extra Mile study group reconvened this week and has started to explore book 4 of the Sensible Shoes series. It is an interesting and challenging series. The meeting are on zoom on alternate Mondays. If you are interested in joining please speak to Diane.
All Saints are running a 5 week course exploring the joys and challenges of later life. Please let Diane know if you would be interested in joining their group or if you would like a similar course here:
Week 1 Getting to know one another
Week2 Facing some of the challenges of later life
Week3 A Christian perspective on dying, and death as the gateway to eternal life
Week4 Planninga funeral
Week5 Considering the legal aspects of later life.
Adult confirmation Perhaps you have returned to church after a time away, or have come to faith later in life or been baptised ina different denomination but have now chosen to join the anglican church. Please speak to Diane if you are interested, you would be very welcome.

There will be a short course called ‘Start’ starting on Wednesday May 17th – please note change of date.

This is a course for people thinking about Christianity and wanting to ask questions about Christianity and why it is important to us. It would be very suitable for anyone thinking about baptism or anyone who would like the chance to chat with others about Christianity or church in an informal and friendly way.

If you are aware of anyone who would be interested in joining us and the two mums already signed up do please tell them and feel free to come with them.    We would love to welcome you.

Please email for more information to curate@stfrancisstclareguildford.org.uk

We are moving forward with our 90th birthday celebrations. You will have noticed the beautifully painted gold 90 on a green board – many thanks to Neil. The plan is to cover the 90 with money…The bunting and origami birds are well on their way – please keep your memories and photos coming.

July 2nd at 2.30 will see an afternoon of cream teas and a history talk by David Rose. Tickets will soon be available – suggested ticket price of £10 a head or whatever you feel able to donate. Do please come – and tell all your friends.

Book Group

The next book Group will be on May 16th at 10 Weston Road, 8.00pm. We are reading Lessons in Chemistry (Not a chemistry book – honest!) by Bonnie Garmus.

If you enjoy reading you are very welcome to join us.

A reminder that the next Lunch club is on Monday 15^th May at 1pm in St Francis Church hall

The team will be cooking the main course with an option for those with special dietary needs but please bring a pudding if you can and invite others to join us, please also remind those without email. Suggested donation £5.00 if you are able to cover the costs.

Everyone welcome

Please join in,let us know. email : curate@stfrancisstclareguildford.org.uk

Warm Hub

Continues on Mondays and Tuesdays from 9.30am to 2.00pm. We offer tea and coffee facilities and soup. People are able to come into a warm space where they can rest, read, work or chat. The quiet room will be kept open as a space for those who prefer to be in a quiet zone. Foodshare and some Community Shop supplies are also available.

We need volunteers to help run the hub so please talk to Diane if you are able to help in any way or if you have a friend or neighbour willing to commit to help (after the necessary checks)

Please do keep this venture in your prayers as we continue to discern how God wants this parish to be over the next few months.