WARDEN’S BRIEF 

Shrove Tuesday (pancake day) on 17th February marks the beginning of Lent and preparation for Easter. So Isaiah 40 v3 comes to mind A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord”. What will you be doing in Lent to prepare? 

As Churchwardens, we have been leading both the Forest Church and Worship services for the past six months. 

Since the autumn we have been taking part in Diocesan training courses starting with Leading Worship. A few others have joined us and we have our final sessions at the end of January. This will be followed by both Hearing and Speaking God’s Word courses. These courses are designed to equip members of the Church explore their belief and gain confidence to start leading our services. 

Easter day will be early this year on Sunday 5th April. With this in mind we are planning for the Lent season, Ash Wednesday, Tenebrae, the Walk of Witness and, most importantly the Easter Day service. 

More details will be given at our regular services and in the March magazine so please come and join us at St. Mary’s for these events to mark the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord. 

Time seems to compress and expand wildly; in the last few days we have been planning for activities and services this week and at the same time looking far ahead booking people to lead the Christmas 2026 services! 

The January PCC reflected the frustrations on slow progress to have a Vicar appointed, which awaits the outcome of reorganisation of neighbouring parishes. We also discussed the problems of the audio-visual system, for most of this we know what needs doing but there is not enough time in the day. The churchwardens also reported progress on building repairs and APCM planning. We welcome anyone willing to serve as a PCC member, Churchwarden or Deputy Churchwarden please contact Lisa Syrota for nomination forms. 

More positively the PCC agreed to donations to The Children’s Society (following Christingle), RBL (following Remembrance) and Scripture Union (following training & materials for Forest Church). We are delighted that several members of our congregation are joining the Gambia Projects Overseas working party in January. 

Richard and Linda