St James' Church Flower Festival, Ludgershall.

Three of our flower ladies, Barbara, Diane and Elizabeth-Ann produced this beautiful display on the font at St James' as part of the Flower Festival held there. There were many displays around the church but I think you will agree that this was superb. After the Festival St Andrew's were privileged to enjoy their creations for another week. Well done and thanks, ladies.

Our grateful thanks to Dick and Mary Edwards for welcoming us to their beautiful garden for our annual Parish Picnic. We were blessed with wonderful sunshine, lots of good food and refreshing drinks.

Shrove Tuesday was when, historically, pancakes were made so that the last of the fatty and rich foods could be used up before Lent fasting. This year, Shrove Tuesday fell in the school holidays, so the children at our school had their pancake races and pancakes on the bitterly cold last day before the break. Anna, Carol, Marion, Pauline, Phyllis and Mike ran the production line and fun was had by all involved.
You will see that a lot of fun was had by the children but on a more serious note you will see that the children are wearing hats. The school had a 'hats for Haiti' day where they raised money for the poor Haitians who suffered so disastrously in the earthquake which hit their island.

School Advent Services

The children from Year 6 planned and took part in the school's Advent Services in the run up to Christmas - quite a daunting thing to do at age 10 and during a particularly busy and exciting time of year. The children's acting and singing was simply brilliant and really appreicated by the parents and adults who came.

Harvest Services

'Dear God, thank you for our food and harvest time. Thank you for our wheat to make our bread' - one of the prayers from the year 3 and 4 children from the School at their harvest thanksgiving service in the Church. What a happy occasion - their music always cheer us and we leave feeling younger! And their version of 'The House that Jack built' deserves a wider audience.

The gifts the children brought and the food from the harvest services in St Peter's and St Andrew's went to the Trussell Trust which is a local charity for families with hardships. We give thanks for our 'daily bread' by giving to people less fortunate than many of us. Thank you to everyone who helped to decorate the churches for these occasions.

Below are some of the pictures from our harvest celebrations in St Andrew's.

During the service we were delighted to welcome into the Church family

Nathan and Carys Thomas

at their baptism.

A pilot scheme to provide a simple breakfast after the Communion service is proving an enjoyable addition by those attending. It is a very friendly gathering with much banter! This was the second such breakfast and we are grateful to Peggy and Richard Carter who hosted the breakfast - orange juice, bacon butties, tea and coffee. Previously we had pancakes, seasonal fruit and maple syrup.

Recent Baptisms

During the summer we were delighted to welcome five little ones into the family of the Church at their baptisms.

We now look forward to welcoming Mum and babe to our Pram Services.

 

Pram Service

Fun and games at a recent Pram Service. This is a very informal gathering of mums, dads, grandparents and friends and their little ones - coffee and a chat for the adults, orange, biscuits and toys for the younger group, followed by a story and a song for everyone.
Please feel free to come along and sample this fun service.

Bell Ringers

To sound a really up-beat note, our Ringing Master, Gemma Holt, has been awarded the trophy for the Most Improved Ringer of 2008 in the Diocese. The award was presented to Gemma by David Hacker, the Guild President. Gemma is the first ever recipient of the award which was made by the Guild's education committee, which received five nominations for the award.

Every child at school ran and tossed a pancake and then returned inside for a welcome cooked pancake with lemon and sugar.

The smiles says it all!