From the Vicar

Writing this in the middle of December, it’s almost impossible to know just what the New Year will bring with it! Apart perhaps from some wintry weather..............but some calm and peaceful snow may just be what we all need after Storm Bram!

As can be seen from the diary dates, we are planning for a number of different services and events during the course of January, including School Christingle Services, Plough Services, the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, and......a visit from all three Bishops to the Deanery over a two day period – do not be afraid.........! I have been charged with the task of leading them all on a “shortish” walk around parts of the Deanery, and they will be visiting parishes, churches, schools and anything else we can find to show them something of the life and work and witness of our Deanery which is, of course, a very varied group of parishes, from Latchford on the edge of Warrington to us on the edge of Northwich – a real mixture of urban, suburban and rural parishes.

There are also a number of baptisms planned for January and early February, and it will be lovely to be welcoming children into the Christian faith and the family of the Church in the New Year, to begin what we all pray will be lifelong journeys of faith. There will also be lots going on with regard to the Church itself – with formal applications for a number of varied jobs in and around the building, including stonework re-pointing and renewal, work on the roof, inside the Tower and to the floor tiles in the nave and aisles – all very necessary and funded through the hard work of the Restoration Committee and the generosity of so many people within and beyond the Parish. We will also be looking at the annual accounts for 2025 – and more about this in the coming months!

By the time you will be reading this, the busyness, excitement and joy of Christmas will have passed, and a new year will be fast approaching – let us all resolve to grasp it with both hands and to make of it the best we can, with every opportunity or challenge and, like the three Wisemen whose visit to the Christ Child we will be celebrating at Epiphany, let us bow in reverence and praise, and offer our gifts and talents in the service of our Lord and Saviour. I finish with one of the most profound and meaningful lines from that most beautiful carol “In the bleak mid-winter”: What can I give Him, Poor as I am? Yet what I can I give Him - Give my heart.”

May God bless each and every one of us in this coming New Year.

The Revd Alec Brown.