Sunday 18th May, The Fifth Sunday of Easter11am Parish EucharistFollowed by Annual Parochial Church Meeting6pm EvensongSunday 25th May, The Sixth Sunday of Easter11am Parish Eucharist Canon Michael Everitt6pm EvensongThursday 29th May, Ascension Day, 6:30pm, Durham Deanery Eucharist at Finchale Priory.Preacher: The Rev.’d Rachael Farnham, Chaplain HMP FranklandPlease share lifts to this brilliant celebration of the Ascension.Please see the Calendar of services attached.Mid-week service: Wednesday 10am Holy CommunionPlease see David’s Music Notes for May.Annual Meeting: The Annual Parochial Church Meeting will take place on Sunday 18th May after the Parish Communion. The annual meeting is the main chance for the PCC to report to the whole congregation on its activities during the year. Reports are made on Finances and Accounts, and all the activities of the parish.St Oswald’s local outreach campaign for Lent and Easter will be to support Durham’s St Cuthbert’s hospice, which is in serious need of financial support and has recently had to cut 18% of its workforce. For more information, including how to make a contribution¸ please see the Outreach information board inside the church’s south door. Bob Layton and the Outreach Committee.Foodbank – Weekly message from Lynda Delf : Steve and I were away until the 14th I have collected a generous amount of food from Church today and an envelope for the foodbank was through our door. Everything will be weighed and the envelope opened on Monday at the foodbank, many thanks for your kindness. Two weeks ago we desperately needed long life milk and fruit juice, biscuits, sugar, rice, jam and coffee, as well as tinned meat, fish, spaghetti hoops, potatoes and rice pudding. We always need household cleaning materials and toilet rolls.Thank you Confirmation: The Deanery Confirmation will take place at St. Luke’s Ferryhill at 6pm, on Saturday 7th June 2025 (The Eve of Pentecost). Please pray for the three candidates from this parish, and those from the benefice and those from the wider deanery.Amongst the sick please pray for Andrew Perry, Angie Robley.Amongst those being ordained deacon this Petertide, please pray for Marc Voase, and for the parish of St. Margaret Ilkley, and for Helen Miller and for the parish of St. Nicholas Durham. And thank you for your part in their training for ministry whilst on placement here.With All Good Wishes and Prayers, PeterThe Reverend Peter Kashouris St Oswald's Vicarage, Church Street, Durham pzkashouris@gmail.com
There has been a bonfire every year in the churchyard for hundreds of years, and this year's bonfire took place, for once, on 5th November itself. Our usual crowd was even bigger than previously, with St. Oswald's schoolkids, students, and longstanding residents enjoying the fire, the sparklers, and the refreshments. Thanks to everyone who came and made it such a lovely evening, to Roz Layton for organising everything brilliantly, to everyone who contributed toffee, biscuits and sweets, and to Giles Radford, Scout Leader extraordinaire, silhouetted in the photo, for building and superintending the magnificent fire.
Oswald, King of Northumbria 634–642ᴀᴅ, was instrumental in bringing Christianity to this region, and is celebrated on 5th August every year with a choral evensong at the cathedral in which we traditionally join to celebrate our patron saint. Generally, we meet in church for a short prequel, and then peregrinate the 715 yds. (0.65 km) across Kingsgate Bridge to the mother church, though this year for a variety of reasons we made our own ways there. Nonetheless, we were very graciously welcomed by the Dean as the 'pilgrims' from St. Oswald's, and three of our younger members made a fine job of processing His Northumbrian Majesty's banner to the high altar.The banner party is pictured here with other members of the congregation, in an image that has been watercolourised to try and rescue a truly dreadful snap.
ᴘʜᴏᴛᴏ ᴄʀᴇᴅɪᴛ: ᴛʀᴇᴠᴏʀ ꜱᴍɪᴛʜCongratulations to David Harris, our much-loved organist and choirmaster, who is joint winner of the 2024 Laudemus! competition with his setting of the anthem Hail, Gladdening Light! for SATB and organ. Laudemus!, an adult choir which meets annually to sing evensong in churches down in Dorset, will be singing the winning anthems at Wimborne Minster on 10th August, which by happy coincidence is also David's birthday.The Royal School of Church Music will be publishing both winning pieces, and our choir at St. Oswald's will be singing Hail, Gladdening Light! just as soon as it has been premièred.David has been Director of Music at St. Oswald's since his second year at Durham University in 2014. Before that, he was an organ scholar at Portsmouth Cathedral, and works as a performer, teacher, and church musician.
