You can download the paper copy of our news sheet from the link at the side of this page.
The diocese’s Living God’s Love Prayer:
Living God, draw us deeper into your love;
Jesus our Lord, send us to care and serve;
Holy Spirit, make us heralds of good news.
Stir us, strengthen us, teach and inspire us
To live your love with generosity and joy,
Imagination and courage;
for the sake of your world and
in the name of Jesus, Amen.
The Parish Office email is admin@roystonparishchurch.org.uk. If you would like regular copies of the Notice Sheet emailed to you please email this account.
Diary
Friday 19th September
10:00 - 12:00 Staff meeting
12:00 - 13:00 Ministerial Team meeting
16:00 - 23:00 Opening night Arts Festival
09:00 - 10:00 Visiting Bell ringers
10:00 - 11:30 Church Café (Tea / Coffee / Hot Chocolate only £2 - Free Biscuits)
Sunday 21st September
09:00 - 09:45Communion Service that is quiet and reflective
10:30 - 11:40 Communion Service with music/choir, children's groups/toy area, followed by refreshments
12:30 - 13:00 Baptism Service
Monday 22nd September
19:30 - 21:30 Carbon Literacy Course
Tuesday 23rd September
09:00 - 09:30Morning Prayer (incorporating prayer requests that have been left in church)
Wednesday 24th September
11:00 - 11:25 Communion Service that is quiet and reflective, followed by refreshments
13:00 - 15:30 Knit and Natter (where all are welcome to meet and chat)
18:00 - 19:15 Chorister Practice
18:30 - 20:00 Choir Practice
Thursday 25th September09:00 - 11:00Tots in Church
13:00 - 15:00Church Cleaner
19:00 - 21:00Bell Ringers Practice
Friday 26th September
12:00 - 18:00 Organ Recital Rehearsal
19:30 - 21:00 Arts Festival Organ Recital given by the Revd Dr Steven Sivyer
Saturday 27th September10:00 - 17:00 Book Fayre - Arts Festival
10:00 - 11:30 Church Café (Tea / Coffee / Hot Chocolate only £2 - Free Biscuits)
Sunday 28th September
09:00 - 09:45 Communion Service in traditional language (BCP) that is quiet and reflective
10:30 - 11:40 Communion Service with music/choir, children's groups/toy area, followed by refreshments
17:00 - 19:30 Finale Concert Arts Festival
Monday 29th September19:30 - 21:30 Carbon Literacy Course
09:00 - 09:30 Morning Prayer (incorporating prayer requests that have been left in church)
13:30 - 14:30 School Visit to Church
Dates for the Diary/Upcoming Events
26th September - Organ recital
4th October - Harvest Supper
8th November - Remembrance themed lunch time concert. Ruth Savage
Intercessions
We pray for all Christians worldwide:
For all Christians in Ghana and Nigeria
For all who are worship at Melbourn Baptist Church:
Rob and Jenny Hughes
For the work of our mission partners: United Society Partners in the Gospel (USPG)
We pray for the community of Royston:
For our local health centres
For all those who keep clean our streets and empty our waste bins
We pray for our world and ECO projects:
The first week in September is "Zero Waste Week" (see zerowasteweek.co.uk) in which we are encourage to reduce our waste and set goals to reuse, recycle and repurpose.
We pray for the sick and suffering:
Lee Cockerill
Chris Christou
Val Brown
Peter Coates
Pat Pritchard
Paul and Pat Tidey
Angi and Ken Rushall
Emma and Phil Heath
David Gower
Mike Brown
Peter Foster
Paula Walker
Harry Sime
Marion
Maria Turi
We pray for those who have died in the faith of Christ:
Joanna Jones Family and friends
Christine Wrench Family and friends
Adrian Jacobs Jean, John, Mark, family and friends
We pray for those whose anniversaries fall at this time
Sarah Milton Maureen Pendrick Floss Blair
NOTICES
CREATIONTIDE SPEAKER PROFESSOR RACHEL WARREN: “Climate Change: Science and Solutions”: This Sunday, 21st September, as part of our Creationtide season, we have an invited speaker at both the 9am and the 10:30am services. Many of you will remember Oliver Franklin Wallis’s excellent talk on “Wasteland” from last year. This year’s visiting speaker, Professor Rachel Warren, will be speaking to us on “Climate Change: Science and Solutions”. Rachel is Professor of Global Change and Environmental Biology at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, University of East Anglia, UK. She has over 25 years’ experience leading policy-relevant scientific research on climate change. Her work has informed world governments about the risks associated with global warming, and catalysed the decarbonization of the world’s largest pension fund. Her work focuses on quantifying the risks that can be avoided by prompt action to reduce the emissions of the greenhouse gases that cause climate change. This includes work on the risks that climate change poses to biodiversity, the economic damages caused by climate change, and interactions between climate policy and efforts to achieve other sustainable development goals. Rachel co-authored the 4th Assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC 2007) which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and also co-authored the IPCC 5th assessment (2014), the IPCC Special Report on 1.5°C warming (2018) and most recently the IPCC 6th assessment (2022). Rachel’s academic background and training is in physics and the natural sciences at Cambridge University.
LITTER PICKING IN ROYSTON—this Sunday 21st September 2—4 pm Join Royston Environmental Group for a Community Tidy Up. Meet outside Coombes Community Center (W3W zones. Acrobatic.pave). If possible please pre-register on https://tinyurl.com/coombestidy as the group needs to know numbers so that they can provide litter picker equipment for everyone (or bring your own).
Climate Change – The Facts– Monday 22nd., 7.30pm in church
This BBC documentary, featuring David Attenborough, reminds us of the science behind climate change and the urgent reasons why we need to reduce our carbon footprint.
Refreshments will be served before the film and afterwards you will have the opportunity to calculate your personal carbon footprint , which may help you to consider how you can make a difference. All welcome. Just turn up or talk toJim Dalgleish.
BISHOP OF ST. ALBANS HARVEST APPEAL: This year’s Appeal is in support of Mission Direct, building schools in Uganda and Zambia. You can read about it in the September Parish Magazine and on the Mission notice board in Church. We are inviting you to make individual donations directly to the Appeal. You can do this by going to the diocese website : stalbansdiocese.org, then clicking on the link to "Bishop's Harvest Appeal". There you will find all the information, including a video, and details of how to make a donation. With very many thanks
HARVEST SUPPER SATURDAY 4th OCTOBER, 6:30PM in ROYSTON PARISH CHURCH. Tickets £10 individual / £25 family, Supper includes shepherds pie or vegetarian alternative, with fruit crumble for dessert. Drinks available to buy. Please bring own plate and bowl.
To enable us to cater for the right numbers please book by going to https://bit.ly/4me70Y9 or scan the QR code on posters or see Joanne in Church for help
BEDS & HERTS HISTORIC CHURCHES TRUST - SPONSORED BIKE ‘N HIKE - SATURDAY 13TH SEPTEMBER 2025 Last year we in Royston raised over £ 1,700 which was divided equally between BHHCT and our own parish funds. We hope to do just as well or better this year and the numbers asking for Sponsor Forms is encouraging. Select your own route for cycling or hiking between the churches – there are over 600 churches to choose from so make it as long or as short as you wish. Most churches will be open on the day. The Sponsorship Packs are now available and if you would like a pack, please contact Mike Maze (245606 or [email protected]). There is always the easier option which is to sponsor one of the participants using their Sponsor form or if online giving suits you best, please visit:- Michael's fundraising page or Rodney's fundraising page
CARBON LITERACY PROJECT We have probably all seen the horrific pictures of the wildfires ravaging parts of the city of Athens this summer, reducing some suburbs to smouldering rubble. Scientists tell us that such events will become more commonplace, as the increased temperatures caused by global warming are causing more extreme weather (such as strong winds) and increased drying of the vegetation (meaning that fires spread more quickly).
But what can we do to play our part in reducing these problems? This course offers learning about climate change, carbon footprints and how we can all do our bit to reduce our emissions of the greenhouse gases that lead to global warming.
The course is accredited by the Carbon Literacy Project who, to date, have certified over 134,000 participants in 45 countries and from various organisations (businesses, councils, hospitals, etc). Our course has been specially designed with church congregations in mind. At the end of the course, it is hoped that all participants will make two pledges for relevant actions they will take to help make the world a better place.
There will be a total of six sessions on consecutive Monday evenings at Royston Parish Church from 7:30-9:30pm on the following dates:
- Monday Sept 22nd – Week 0: Preliminaries: Introductory documentary, Carbon Footprint calculation
- Monday Sept 29th – Week 1: About Carbon Literacy and the Course, Relevance to Christians, the Science of Climate Change
- Monday Oct 6th – Week 2: Carbon Footprints, Climate Justice, Action: Food, Co-benefits
- Monday Oct 13th – Week 3: How is Climate Change affecting us? Climate anxiety and grief, Travel, Introduction to pledges
- Monday Oct 20th – Week 4: Talking about climate change; Actions on Buildings and Stuff, Pledge ideas
- Monday Oct 27th – Week 5: Declaring a Climate Emergency and Net Zero targets, Action on Money, Hope for the Future; Preparing Pledges
The course will cost £15 to cover refreshments, all course materials and the cost of applying to receive a certificate. To book your place, go to https://bit.ly/4kY7noa or scan this QR code.
N.B. If you cannot make all of the dates, the course materials can be made available for weeks that you miss.
CHURCH TELEPHONE NUMBERS
Please be aware that we are now operating using a new telephone system. Here are the numbers that are now affected:
General Church Number 01763 243145
Steven (Vicar) 01763 580242
Jaime (Curate) 01763 580241
Joanne (Administrator) 01763 580218
Please note that, if you use the general church number, you will then be presented with options to get in touch with Steven, Jaime or Joanne. All other numbers associated with the church will no longer be operational, but personal numbers such as other people who minister in the church (such as John, Reg or Emma) remain unchanged.
SUNDAY READING SHEET 21st September 2025 14th Sunday after Trinity
A Reading from the Book of Genesis
God said, “Let us make humankindour image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth,over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”
So God created humankindhis image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.”said, “See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food.to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
Genesis 1: 26 –31
STAFF TEAM
Vicar: Revd Steven Sivyer (rest day MONDAY) - On holiday until 3rd September
Telephone no. 01763 580242
Email: [email protected]
Curate: Jaime Roberts (rest day FRIDAY)
Telephone: 01763 580241
Email: [email protected]
Assistant Priest: The Reverend John Fidler
Telephone no. 01763 241886
Email: [email protected]
Reader: Emma Sivyer - On holiday until 3rd September
Telephone no. 07851 688610
Email: [email protected]
Reader: Canon Reg Bailey
Telephone no. 01763 250637
Email: [email protected]
Parish Administrator: Joanne Wallis
Working hours: Monday, Wednesday, Thursday 9 am to 1 pm
email: [email protected]
Tel: 01763
580218
www.roystonparishchurch.org.uk
email: [email protected]