There’s always lots of events and happenings in St Marks and in beautiful Swanage. John and I attended the Archdeacons Visitation, on 2nd June, when we, along with the many other Churchwardens from churches around Dorset, were sworn in, once again, to serve St Marks for another year. Thank you for all your support, prayers and encouragement, in the coming year. Our afternoon concert, on Sunday 14th June, was another great success. A big Thank you to all who took part and supported this event. With a special Thank You, to Colin Burgess, our Music Director, who organised and coordinated the event. The concert was very well supported, raising over £450, in donations, and has been doubled by a generous anonymous donor, which will be divided between St Marks funds and Allsort’d, supporting their Café in the Focus Centre. Our traditional Pimms and Hymns will take place, on Sunday 19th July at 3:30pm, in our beautiful church garden. A chance to admire all the wonderful roses and variety of flowers in bloom. Our many thanks go to David Hudson, our church gardener, who has grown many of the flowers from seed, and planted them in the garden for us all to enjoy. I hope you have enjoyed and had a chance to reflect on the sermons, reflections, and readings, from our Generous God, Generous People series looking at our service to our Generous God, through our giving, gifts, and service within our churches. There will be more updates and reflections on this during the coming months. This month we will be looking forward to and, for some members, participating in the Swanage Carnival week of events starting on the 25th July. There will be some wonderful fireworks to enjoy on the Saturday evening, to ensure the week gets off to a great start with a big Bang! There will be the traditional Carnival Praise Service, on Sunday 26th July at 10:30am in the Carnival Tent, on Sandpit Field. An opportunity to come together for united worship and fellowship. In the afternoon there’s the wonderful Carnival Procession when Churches Together in Swanage, with representatives from each church, will join in the procession. We look forward to seeing everyone again this year and being a part of the great atmosphere around the procession route and in the town. Several members will also be helping in the Churches Together Carnival Tent. Hope we will see you there! We look forward to welcoming visitors to Swanage, during carnival week and throughout the summer holidays, to our churches, and especially to St Marks, where, I am sure, they will receive a very warm welcome to the Party Church! Just as you take a breath and recover from the fun packed events of Carnival Week……. Our BBQ will be on Sunday 2nd August!, (now an annual event) following our morning worship service @ 11am. Further details will be in the weekly pew sheet, nearer the time. A reflection: Pray regularly Read and reflect on the scriptures Participate in the life of the local church Enjoy God’s gifts with gratitude Give generously to others Serve and use your fits Share the good news of Jesus Challenge injustice and care for God’s creation May God Bless and Keep You. Anne Roper Church Warden
As we welcome the high summer period, we look forward to all the summer activities and hope for what we think of as appropriate weather, although at the time that I’m writing this in early May we are very conscious how dry the Spring has been. Maybe by the time you read this there will have been some measurable rain, but whatever the weather, much is organised for the summer months. The farmers and growers will be pleased to see some rain and our sympathies are with them but we know that, whatever comes, our God has blessed us with a tremendous, beautiful world and this area can look at its best in the summer months as we welcome visitors from all over the country, indeed the world! Along with the other churches in the Team we are having a series of sermons on the subject of “Generous God” which will remind us of what we owe to our great God in so many ways and, perhaps, how we respond to his generosity. During the Passiontide, Easter and Pentecost seasons in the last three months, we have journeyed through the principal Festivals of our faith and now that we are in the quieter “Sundays after Pentecost”, we can consider how we put our appreciation of God’s generosity into our everyday lives. The well-attended fortnightly Bible Studies continue at St Mark’s as we study the Gospel of John. Our Prayer and Share meetings on Wednesday mornings enable us to put our gratitude to God into words and to pray for those whom we know and the situations in our parish and on a wider canvas that we can bring to him. St Marks' social events continue. On the 14th of this month we have our concert, drawing on the talents of St Marks' people and their friends, including our wonderfully enthusiastic Junior Singing Club! Later in the summer we will have our popular Pimm’s and Hymns afternoon and, following last year’s great success, our barbecue, so watch out for the dates of those. As always, we are so grateful for the members of our church family who do so much to make these activities such a success. On Tuesday 2nd June, Anne and I will go to the annual event known as the Archdeacon’s Visitation at which we will be confirmed as churchwardens for this year. It is a good time to meet with and worship with those in the same position in other churches who have been elected into this same position at their annual meetings earlier in the year. It is a great honour for us both to be in this position year after year, but remember, if you get fed up with us, you will have the chance to elect other people next March! Wishing you all blessings throughout the coming summer and beyond. John Way Churchwarden.
St Mark’s had a great Holy Week, with some of our Junior Choir joining in the Palm Sunday Celebration! Service, (despite the loss of an hour’s sleep as the clocks went forward), and a very enjoyable Easter Teddy Bear’s Picnic. We had some challenging Holy Week Reflections (thanks to Margaret Williams and John Cooper), and a thoughtful Good Friday Service. St Mark’s members joined in the Churches Together events. On Good Friday, Anne Roper carried the cross for the first part of the procession from EBC to the Bandstand, and Colin provided the music. Dave, having the loudest voice, led the Easter morning Sunrise Service on the beach. It is great the Swanage churches are able to join together for these events. Easter Sunday was amazing with the largest attendance many people could remember for a long time, an anthem from our growing choir and some brilliant flower arrangements. Thanks to all involved! Just before Easter we held our Annual Meeting. We welcomed Anne Roper and John Way back for another year as Church Wardens, said thank you to Stephen Higgins as PCC rep. and to Ann Higgins and Uta Keats as Church Committee members. We promptly welcomed Uta back as a PCC rep. (such devotion to duty…) and welcomed Anthony Malpas and Gerard Jensen as new Committee members. Thanks to all who serve faithfully as Church Leaders – we are grateful for all you do. It was unanimously agreed at the Annual Meeting that Colin Burgess should be known as Director of Music, rather than Organist and Choirmaster. To emphasise the point, Anne Roper presented him with a badge (and a celebratory bottle of wine) the following Sunday. We are immensely grateful for all the music that Colin provides! Looking forward, there is a lot happening. Pentecost will be a Celebration! Service – what a great chance for some lively music; Trinity Sunday will remind us that God is more complex than we can ever imagine, and all our musicians are gearing up for our annual Afternoon Concert of Light Music, (followed, of course, by wine and nibbles, in true St Mark’s tradition) on 14th June. On a personal note, I reach the age of 70 in June. This is the normal age for clergy to retire and hand back their Licence to the Bishop. I am grateful to Bishop Karen for agreeing to extend my Licence for a further 2 years. After 45 years of ordained ministry (and 2 years as a Reader prior to that), I am still excited about the Gospel of Jesus, and I am pleased that I can continue to officially proclaim that Gospel. Rev David Richards
As I write our news for April, I am looking out of the window on this cold and windy day mid March and wondering when the rain will stop and the sun will shine, heralding the start of Spring!!! The beautiful yellow daffodils have been trying their best, in the wind and rain, to brighten the gloomy days and the buds are starting to form on the trees, hedges and shrubs, so fingers crossed Spring is on its way. Oh! for some warming sunshine!! We have had an eventful March, and here are some highlights. With Holy Week and Easter, in April, we have much to look forward to. We celebrated St David’s Day, on 1st March, and after the service several of us enjoyed a lovely Sunday roast lunch, at the Globe, and even surprised Dave with his very own St David’s Day Hat and daffodil! At the World Day of Prayer, on 6th March, held at EBC, St Marks Church was well represented by Suzanne Hudson and Carol Richards, who wore beautifully coloured Nigerian costumes, especially for the occasion, as Nigerian Christian women had prepared the special service. The Lent Course, at St Marks, continues to be well attended, with people from all the churches in Swanage coming together to listen, reflect and discuss the Lenten course. Our Lent Lunch for Christian Aid, on Friday 13th March was a great success and the ‘A Team’ of helpers were there to make sure everyone was fed and well looked after. Mothering Sunday on 15th March was celebrated with everyone receiving a lovely posy of daffodils to take home. Our AGM is on Sunday 22nd March, when we elect our church members to serve for St Marks Committee, PCC, Deanery Synod, and as officers on the various voluntary groups within the Parish. With grateful ‘Thanks’ in advance, to those who will be elected. On Sunday 29th March, Palm Sunday, we are looking forward to giving a true St Marks welcome to Revd Natalie Davies, at our Celebration Service, with cakes and refreshments, as usual! Later that same afternoon at 3pm, we are holding a special Easter Teddy Bear’s Picnic, for children aged 3 – 8 (accompanied by at least one grown-up.) There will be a FREE Picnic food & drink for children as well as tea, coffee & cake for grown-ups. John and I, on behalf of everyone at St Marks, would like to give a special mention and ‘Thank You’ to David Hudson, who has beautifully repaired and expertly crafted our new Church Staffs, which were vandalised, a couple of years ago, and were awaiting repair. We will be immensely proud to show these off, to Bishop Karen, next time she comes to visit!! In April; we will continue our Lenten journey, from Palm Sunday celebration, through Holy Week, to Gethsemane, the Garden of Tears, and finally to Golgotha, ‘Place of the Skull,’ and the Cross….. The Easter Services, in all the churches, will give us all a chance to come to reflect and worship and especially on Easter Sunday, to come together to Celebrate and Rejoice, Christs’ Resurrection and triumph. On Sunday 26th April; the celebrations will continue when we will come together to Celebrate St Marks Day, at the ‘Party Church’. A prayer to close…… On the first day of Creation, God said, ‘Let there be light!’ On the first day of Resurrection, The Father said, ‘Let there be Jesus!’ Rejoice therefore that the darkness is passing, As the dayspring from on high dawns upon us. Halleluiah! May God Bless and Keep You. Anne Roper Church Warden
