Last Call for the Parish Day next Saturday 13 March

Royal Hotel, Drummond Road

The response so far has been disappointing for what not only

promises to be a fascinating day with   The Bishop of Grimsby but also a really important day for the future of our churches The Churchwardens and Worship Leaders have been carrying out a review of our Ministry Focus. This involves us all and we are all invited to join them and Bishop

David to discuss the future. We need as many of you as possible to share ideas and faith together.

Today is the last day for bookings

You will be welcome to attend the sessions without having lunch

Hard Times?   Great Expectations

10.30 Presentation by Bishop David

12 noon Discussion of Presentation

         and   the Review booklet

2.30        Questions to panel

Make the effort please; it's not too late to book your place

The Haiti appeal for Christian Aid has raised nearly £900 from the Churches of Skegness to which we have contributed £150.  

  Confirmation The Confirmation Service this year will be held on Sunday 13 June when the Bishop of Lincoln will be with us.   A number of people are thinking about being Confirmed and are joining the training course, which will meet on Thursday evenings as follows: 11 & 18 March, 22 April, 6 & 20 May, all at 6.00pm in the St Matthew's Room.   If you would like to join us please do.

Wastesavers International Ltd is helping to raise funds for our group of churches.    Wastesavers bags are now available in all of our churches.

Easter Flowers  

Donations for the Easter flowers for all the churches would be more than welcome. Please contact

your Churchwardens

St Mary's Church sitters will be getting together on Wednesday 10 March at 6.00pm at the Church.   The scheme allows us to offer visitors to the Cemetery the opportunity to come into Church, light a candle, and have refreshments.   The Church Sitters play an important part in this, spending just 2 hours each, but keeping the building open on Friday, Saturdays and Sundays.   Would you like to become a Church Sitter at St Mary's?   Then please come along to the meeting and find out how you can help.

Cushions and Pews

 We will be sitting in more comfort soon as the pews are to be furnished with new cushions.

And as a result of the restructuring there will be a number of redundant pews for sale as

  A memento ?

  A garden seat ?

  A decorative feature ?

One has already been bought

Contact the office if interested

Parish Chaplaincy

The work of the Church in our community is divided into four Chaplaincies: we work with Children and Schools, with people in Hospital, with people at work and with people who are bereaved. For details of how you may help with the work in any of the Chaplaincies please contact the Parish Office

Workplace Chaplaincy, meeting people at work. We continued with a pilot project at Butlins Resort. We held a lunch for some owners of businesses in the town at which the Bishop of Grimsby shared ideas. We began fundraising to cover the cost of a third member of the clergy team to lead this project. The Rector met the Archbishop of Canterbury who showed a great interest in the project.

Childrens Chaplaincy, meeting people at school and in the uniformed organisations. We gave regular talks at school assemblies, held a schools festival in Church, are developing a project to support teenagers at school, invited schools to harvest festivals, carol services, and Christingle services. We provided opportunity for the uniformed organisations to take part in fun events.

Hospital Chaplaincy, meeting people at the Hospital. We have a support group made up from members of the staff at the hospital. We have provided information leaflets to go in the patient's bedside folders. We have provided
information leaflets for the staff. We have held an information afternoon for local ministers who are encouraged to be part of the chaplaincy service.

Bereavement Chaplaincy, meeting people who have lost loved ones. We have widened our base of volunteers to include members from the Skegness Fellowship of Churches. We have run a training course on Listening at which 25 people attended. We have taken funeral services, made follow up calls, provided memorial services, made our churches available so that people can spend a quiet moment and light a candle in memory, and tried to be as supportive as possible.

Work on developing the Workplace Chaplaincy continues. We have now resubmitted a funding application to the Church and Community Fund. If the money is granted this will enable us to pay for training volunteer chaplains, travel expenses and support costs of setting up what is called a sessional approach. The Chaplaincy will “purchase” one or more sessions per week of a person's time which will be devoted to visiting people in the workplace. This will be rather like the Hospital Chaplaincy where the Rector visits Skegness Hospital two sessions per week, the funding for which comes from the Lincolnshire PCT. It is also similar to the Children's Chaplaincy where the Associate Rector networks with the seven schools in our area, the funding for which comes from the Parish..

What is confirmation?

Confirmation is part of the process of admission to Holy Communion and valuing our Christian life. It starts with your Baptism. In this group of parishes we baptise about 60 children each year. Parents and Godparents encourage their children to learn to know God in public worship, follow Jesus in the life of faith, and serve their neighbour after the example of Christ. Sometimes it takes a lifetime to find the benefits of the Christian life. Being confirmed is a public statement of something you have decided; sharing Holy Communion with fellow Christians is one of the greatest outward symbols of your inward desire to life a fulfilled Christian life. If you, or someone you know, would like to be confirmed, please let us know.

The Church Sitters

sit at St Mary, Winthorpe. This is a very rewarding activity as we welcome visitors to the Church for a hot drink and perhaps to light a candle. This is all part of our care for people, the Church is very beautiful, and well worth a visit. If you would like to be a Church Sitter a couple of hours each month, please contact the Parish Office.

Our Legacy to the Church

Through the centuries our Churches have been cared for and maintained by the hard work and generosity of countless generations of people. And it is thanks to them that our Churches are available to us today to use and enjoy. It is our responsibility to ensure that future generations of people will be able to look back in gratitude for what we have done to keep the buildings in good order.

One of the ways in which we can do this is to leave a gift to our church in our Will. If this is something that you would like to do then please pick up a leaflet from the literature table in your Church and take a look at what is involved.

Legacies

Leaving money in our Will is a splendid way of ensuring that the work of the Church that we supported in our lifetime can continue after our death.

Age Concern

Age Concern operates a Well-being telephone call service. A telephone call is made to the older person providing a weekday social contact. This is to ensure all is well; if there is no reply action is taken to check things out. Volunteer callers are also needed. For how to access the service and on volunteering, please contact Emma Maltby on 768693

HOP

Stands for: Healthier Older People.  There are two types of classes - one for over sixties and one for fitter under fifty fives. Sessions are held on Tuesday mornings:

10.30am at Ingoldmells in St Peters Hall, and

11.00am at Skegness in St Clements Community Hall

Contact from Doreen (820274)

Day Centre

St Barnabas Hospice has set up a day centre project on Fridays at Skegness Hospital. Volunteers are needed for driving and for in-house help. If you couldspend a few hours a week to help with this excellent project then please contact Ruth O'Melia, the volunteer services manager on 01522 785706.

Can you support the Community Larder?

This is a scheme to provide emergency food rations in times of crisis and is there to help people when there is a delay in the receipt of benefit cheque or in a sudden family crisis. All the local churches are supporting the scheme.

Something as simple as having a collection box in your church. You asked to donate a tin, jar or packet now and again. Items that are asked for include tinned vegetables, meats, spaghetti, or beans (all with ring-pulls); also: jams, cereals, teabags, powdered milk, instant coffee, pasta, pasta sauces, and soups.

Items collected will be taken to the community larder at the Salvation Army in High Street. They operate a voucher scheme so that anyone who approaches us for help can be given a voucher and present it at the Larder to get the help they need. (Note for Churchwardens: please contact the parish office for further details).