NEWS - MAY 2024 Sunday 5th May - 10am Holy Communion - Rev John Cooper Tuesday 7th May - Bible Study Group 7pm Sunday 12th May - 10am Holy Communion - Rev. Ian Bird Saturday 18th May - 7pm Concert with Purbeck Village QuireSunday 19th May - 10am PENTECOST Holy Communion 10am Tuesday 21st May - Bible Study Group 7pm Sunday 26th May - 10am CelebraTion! Service with St Mark’s BandChoir Rehearsal – Mondays 6:15 - 7pmPrayer and Share - is every Wednesday 10am – 10.45am. HOLY WEEK and EASTER was a good time. St Mark’s School pup]ils and parents came to separate Easter Services for Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2. A group of Year 5 pupils helped to plan the KS2 service. Good numbers attended the Reflection and Compline Services – thanks to Margaret Williams and John Cooper for their thoughtful reflections. A short Good Friday service was followed by the Churches Together Walk of Witness and service at the Bandstand. (Many thanks to Colin for music at this service). Easter Sunday saw some newcomers join in the service, swelling our numbers.Anne Roper organised a very successful Pizza evening – we all had a great time at Coastal Crust Pizzas. The next day lots of us worked off the Pizzas at the Many Hands at St Mark’s Day with cleaning, gardening and a major effort to sort out the shed! I don’t know where all the stuff came from, but 5 carloads went to the tip! On Saturday 18th May, 7pm, St Mark’s will host a concert by The Purbeck Village Quire. The Quire sings West Gallery music – the sort of music about which Thomas Hardy wrote in his Wessex Tales. Admission is FREE! but we hope delicious refreshments and a generous retiring collection will raise lots of money for the Herston Village Hall rebuilding fund. Please come along and invite your friends!Rev. Dave RichardsResident Priest
We have had a wonderful year, filled with both laughter and tears, a year full of celebration and social events; building on our fellowship and discipleship both in Church, St Mark's School, and the local Herston community. We have had an afternoon Pimm's & Hymns Garden Party, supporting the local Greengage Garden Project, a fundraising musical concert supporting Wear It Pink Breast Cancer Support, and our Harvest Festival and Harvest Lunch, supporting Swanage Food Bank. On each occasion we welcomed new people into our church and fellowship. Sadly, we have also said a fond farewell to some dear friends and members of our Church family, sharing some tears, a smile, and a little laughter as we celebrated their life. Advent is here, and we now set our hearts, prayers and worship to a time of preparation for God's wonderful gift to us, his Son, our Saviour, at Christmas.Anne Roper, Churchwarden - December 2023
