25 Nov 11:  Thank you everyone for your amazing and generous response to the Operation Christmas Child appeal.  We managed to collect 96 shoeboxes, which have been taken to South Wilford School to add to their collection and to be sent on to their final destinations.  Also coming up at the school this Friday (from 3.30 to 6.30 pm) is the PTA-organised Christmas Fayre - please go along and support it.  If you can help to bake anything for the event then let Mandy Marsh know, or drop it into school on Friday morning.  The last pleas for help this week are for decorating the church for Christmas (on the morning of Saturday 10 December) and for delivering our Christmas leaflet around to all of the homes in the parish.  The leaflet will be available by the end of next week and it would be great if you could deliver some to the roads near you.

14 Nov 11:  This is the final reminder to get packing and wrapping as we'll be collecting in your shoebox gifts this coming Sunday.  For the past 20 years, Operation Christmas Child has shown that there’s power in a simple gift. It has grown to become the largest Christmas shoebox appeal in the UK.  So do please help us to help them by filling a shoe box this year.  Get a leaflet from the church office if you need to know what to do.  Perhaps it's also time to think about whether you can support our annual Christingle Service appeal for Save The Children.  It's during the first of our Christmas services on 11 December.  As usual, everything else is listed in the Events Diary (and the weekly newsheet that you can download from that page), including the times for choir practice.  If you are enthusiastic and enjoy a good sing then come along and join in, as everyone one is welcome to help us celebrate Christmas.

5 Nov 11:  First of all, a big shout-out (as they say on popular wireless programmes) to George Punshon.  Despite being a retired vicar who is old enough to know better, he recently undertook a (successful) sky dive to raise money for Water Aid in Africa.  Please make sure he gets the sponsorship money you've pledged - after his heroic effort it seems the least you can do.  The next three Sundays are worth a special note.  Tomorrow there is the Memorial Service, where you can remember - and light a candle in memory of - any relative or friend who's passed away.  Then the following Sunday is Remembrance, with a two-minute silence in the service at 11 o'clock.  Finally, remember to bring your Christmas Shoeboxes in to church on 20 November as we'll be collecting them in and blessing them as they go on their way.

10 Oct 11:  Yes, we know it really is too early to be thinking about Christmas but this is in a very good cause.  Yesterday Samaritan's Purse representative Sue Bennett helped Phil to launch this year's Operation Christmas Child in the parish.  You can read what Sue had to say here.  Her first-hand experience of the recipients and the joy that a shoebox of gifts from you could bring to their lives was a powerful testament to the value of this very practical campaign.  Please do consider becoming involved, either at church or at South Wilford School.  You can get a leaflet giving you all of the information you need from the back of church.

30 Aug 11:  It seems that summer is over - it's certainly getting colder.  Next week it's back to school for our young people and teachers.  Please pray for them all as they adjust back to school life and especially pray for those moving on to new schools.  As the autumn draws near and the farmers reap their harvest, we will be celebrating our harvest at Wilford by bringing gifts of food (non perishable please) to share with those less fortunate than ourselves in our local community.  But please note that Harvest celebrations are much earlier this year - so mark Sunday 11 September on your calendar now.  We will also have a Harvest Supper later in September and more details of this will follow soon.

2 Aug 11:  Well our Holiday Club is over for another year.  The pirates have gone, the lubbers have returned to land and everything is packed away.  There's just a big patch of yellow grass in the paddock where the marquee has been for the last ten days - but we hope there are lots of great memories that will last much longer.  A huge thank you to all of the tireless helpers who made the week so enjoyable for all of the children who came along.  (The Holiday Club page has the daily news sheets if you missed them, or if you just want to jog those memories).  Our next event is the one-day Holiday Club for our YEEPIEs - that's anyone who is a young energetic elderly person into everything.  Details are in the Events Diary if you'd like to come along or if you can help on the day, which is Tuesday 16 August.

6 July 11:   St Wilfrid’s Church is joining in with the Open Churches Weekend on 9 & 10 July. The idea is to open the doors for visitors to come and look around the church and soak up the atmosphere of our tranquil surroundings, as well as looking at the history and features of our ancient building. Come along yourself and help others to discover the peace and quiet of our church and, who knows, it may encourage them to explore more than just the stonework. Presentation boards being provided by the Wilford History Society will tell you a little more about the church.  For example, did you know that parts of the building go back to Saxon times?  Plus we have medieval grave covers in the floor, parts of the church are built from stones from the river and we have a well hidden memorial to the patron saint of butchers.  There will also be information on our church mission activities.  (And there'll be coffee, tea and cake!).  See you at the weekend, Eddie and Simon.

12 June 11:  Well, the pinnacle is fixed but the leadless roof continues to leak (see entry for 31 May).  The story even made the news, with an interview from churchwarden Eddie Mason.  in the meantime church life continues with lots of new initiatives in the coming months.  We're holding our first Family Funday Sunday on 26 June, aimed this time at toddlers and their families.  This week there's a Coffee and Cakes event in the Victorian building on the South Wilford School site.  The church is bringing the building into community use, under the name "The Centre" - more information will be coming out soon.  And in July we're taking part in the Open Churches weekend.  As always, see the Events Diary for further details.

31 May 11:  Being lead-free, when it involves petrol or nursery paint, is a very good thing.  For a church with a lead roof, being lead-free is a very bad thing.  The main church roof is covered in felt, following lead thefts in the last couple of years.  But the south aisle roof (the bit that faces you as you walk towards church) did have lead until three separate recent thefts.  So we now have no lead left at all and a leaking roof, which has meant a re-arrangement of the music area inside church.  On top of all that, we discovered a loose pinnacle stone on the tower so we've had to close the path on the river side until we can get it repaired.  The cost of fixing the roof will be significantly beyond our insurance limit, so the PCC are considering what we can do next. 

9 May 11:  Continuing the church's recent dalliance with sport, we entered a team in yesterday's Celebration of Sport hockey tournament at Emmanuel School (organised by the Christian Ministry of Sport).  We didn't win - St Giles with their Swedish 'ringer' took that honour - but our scratch team (see photo) managed a very credible third (out of four!).  Starting on 19 May, we are going to be running the popular, five-session Apprentice Course launched last year by Steve Chalke.  If you'd like to explore the Christian faith or want to explore what it means to be an apprentice of Jesus then come along.  Contact the church office to book a place.  Last but not least - the application forms for Holiday Club are now available from church and the office.

25 April 11:  The Holy Week vigils, reflections and celebrations are now over and we're in the season of Easter.  For a review of the many symbols of Easter within church (so not chocolate eggs or bunnies), then read Phil's latest message.  For many people this is a week of holiday and it has kicked-off well with the annual Lads v Dads football match.  A great turn-out of supporters lapped up the sunshine and saw a fiercely competitive match - with the Dads emerging as winners (again).  There are plenty of photos on Facebook if you want to search for them.  Further afield, Joan and Michael Healey send us their thanks for their send-off last week.  And again, a reminder to get your Holiday Club helper applications back to the church office.

17 April 11:  Holy Week has started and you can find details of all of the services here - please do join us at some point over Easter as we mark and celebrate this most important of weeks in the church calendar.  Today's Palm Sunday service also included our bon voyage to Joan and Michael Healey who, after many years at Wilford and much faithful service to the Wilford community and church family, are off to pastures new in Wales - our thoughts and blessings go with them.  Back in Wilford, the teams are lining up for the annual Dads v Lads football match on Easter Monday.  If you're not playing then come along and shout your support.  Finally a couple of reminders.  There's still time to return the giving forms that you received as part of our stewardship campaign.  And 20 April is the deadline to send back, to the church office, your Holiday Club helper forms.  Have a great, warm and sunny Easter!

20 March 11:  Next Sunday is the Wilford Church Annual Review, after a shared lunch that starts at 12.30 pm.  The event will include the Church Council AGM.  We would love everyone to be part of the celebrations.  The Church Council (or PCC as it's often called) members serve for three years.  If you're interested in being elected on to the council, or would like to know more about what it would involve please speak to Paul Wicks, Eddie Mason or Simon Massarella.  To vote for church council members you need to be on the Electoral Roll - this is a list of all folk over 16 years old, who have either worshipped with us for over six months or who live in the parish. If you not already on the Electoral Roll or are new to our church family, please take a form from the back of church and return the church office and we can arrange for you to be included. If you are not sure if you are already on the electoral roll please speak to Sue in our church office.  But on the Roll or not, please come along and take part to find out what has been done over the last year and what is planned for the future.

27 February 11:  Today Megan Smith had this message for us at the start of our latest Stewardship campaign.  "Our vision as a church isn’t just to stay as we are, but to continue to grow and thrive as we reach out in mission to the community around us.  So over the next three weeks we’re going to look at stewardship – how we handle the resources that God has given to us.  We’ll be teaching on this in sermons on Sunday mornings.  There's going to be a display in the church hall of details of our church finances and also our vision for mission, with the opportunity to ask questions of PCC members.  Finally, a 'promise pack' will be given to all church family members at the end of the three weeks inviting us to think again about our own giving.  Please do engage with all that is going on and use this time to prayerfully reflect on your own joyful giving as God provides generously for you."

31 January 11:  The church family came together for two celebrations at the weekend.  On Saturday it was the (becoming traditional) Wilford Burns Night, with haggis, whisky, Scottish dancing and some dodgy accents.  Then on Sunday we held a shared lunch to celebrate Diane and Jono's time with us as Pioneer Curates.  Their three year curacy has come to an end and they are off to become, respectively, the chaplain of the Gryphon church school and the associate vicar of St Pauls.  Both of the jobs are in Sherborne and Diane, Jono, Joshua and Emily will be moving there this week.  So Sunday was their last with us and we sent them off with some gifts to remember us and with our thanks for their time with us.  Their licensing service is on 18 February and you should talk to Phil or Megan if you're interested in going as numbers are limited.  Meanwhile back at Wilford the Christianity Explored course continues and there will be news of a new CAP Money course soon.

Below is the last 2010 entry - read more from the archive