Snippets from October PCC meeting:

• Culture of Care Working Group: The PCC commended the report and would like to see steps towards implementing the recommendations of the group. A small group is to meet to decide how to do this
• IDWAL: It was suggested that a small group of interested people should consider visiting Ghana
• Marriage Enrichment: A 2 day course of interested to couples is being considered
• Gareth is retiring as a Reader at the end of the year and Philip is standing down as our Webmaster as soon as a replacement can be found. Thanks are expressed to both for their service.

If you have any comments or questions about anything the PCC has discussed please talk to a PCC Member - names and photographs in the porch.

Date of next PCC meeting: Monday 22nd November 2010 at 8pm.
To be held at Love Lane Community Centre.

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Free Radicals On Sunday 5 December at 3.30pm Evensong at St Mary Magdalen will once again be led by the Free Radicals. The Free Radicals is a superb local choir containing a few familiar faces to us. Please do come and experience the peace of beautiful unaccompanied music in this busy season of Advent.

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An Angel’s Delight (Saltmine Theatre Company) A professional Christian theatre company presents a festive comedy that is for you, for older children and also for your friends and neighbours. It may help to know the Christmas story……and maybe to have seen the Sound of Music. Petersfield festival Hall, Thursday 9th December, 7.30 p.m., doors open 7.00 p.m.
St Mary's Literary Society is at it again! This time their over-ambitious director, Marjorie Lockwood, is convinced the journey of the shepherds is in need of some Broadway razzamatazz. Not the natural place you might think to find Eric, the vicar, his wife Doreen and their faithful church treasurer, Brian Shepherd. But they don their tea towels, grab a shepherd's crook, put on their tap shoes and head for the hills. The result is a mixture of seasonal fun, festive music and unbelievable dance routines…..a real Christmas treat for everyone.
Tickets from Unity Bookshop, Folly Lane: £6 , £4 concessions

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Friendship Lunch The next Friendship Lunch will be in the Sheet Village Hall at 12.30pm on Advent Sunday - 28 November. If you would like to come, please sign the sheet at the back of the Church. - All welcome!

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First Aid Course The Diocese have sourced a Trainer who is willing to run a Basic Awareness 1st Aid Course. St. Mary Magdalen needs 1st Aiders. If you would like to attend the course please contact Cathy Castle

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Carol Singing All are invited to our annual Carol Singing on the Ramshill Estate. This will be on Monday 13 December. We will be gathering at the entrance to the estate for a 6.30pm start. We will be knocking on doors, not to collect money, but to give away sweets! Please bring a torch to see the words of the carols.

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Shoe Box Sunday A big thank you to all who provided shoe boxes on Sunday 7th November, and especially to Paula Wigley for the knitted items that went into some of them raising £78.70 for church funds. A total of 90 boxes have been sent to Samairatan’s Purse and these will be going to Swaziland.

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Thank You!
Many thanks to all those who brought & bought items for & from the Sunday morning veggie table. Since April, when we started, £600 has been raised towards the screen & projector!
–ooOOoo–
A big thank you to Paula Wigley for her wonderful knitted scenes and to the bidders. These raised a total of £210.
–ooOOoo–
The Trustees of Stonepillow (St Josephs’ Chichester) send their warmest thanks for the donation of harvest produce.

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Choir for Christmas At this time of year we open up the choir to all those who can’t commit all the year round, but who feel they can do so for a short period of 6 weeks. If you would like to sing in the choir & can meet on a Thursday evening for an hour or two until Christmas, we would love you to join us. For more details please contact Ingrid Horne

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Christmas Day Lunch PACT will again be hosting a dinner on Christmas Day for people who might otherwisIt will be held in the United Reformed Church Family Centre from about 12.30-3pm. Transport to and from the lunch can be arranged. If you would be interested in going to the lunch as a guest or a volunteer or provide transport please contact Henry Marshall at henrymarshall@talktalk.net / 269635.

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HEAL charity in India Jackie, Joel and Abi Knee would like to thank all who contributed by donating to the fundraising toy and cake sale last Sunday morning (1st). We raised a fantastic £144.40. This is enough to sponsor a child under HEAL's poverty trap scheme for a whole year, with £30 left over! HEAL believes that only through education can children avoid the cycle of poverty in India. Jackie met many of the children HEAL supports during her stay in India and they are wonderful kids. For more information, do talk to Jackie.

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Inspire is a Christian magazine which is distributed free every month in churches across the UK. It contains stories to lift our spirits. There are still a few copies of the September issue at the back of the church. Please take one, read it and pass it on to a friend or neighbour.

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Listening to God A number of us have begun to feel that we are not sufficiently good at listening to God for his direction for us as a church. Recognising the gift that Tony and Thelma Berry have for this we have asked them to facilitate some opportunities for those who would like to to spend some time listening to God. If you are interested in being a part of this please contact Tony and Thelma.

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Unity Book Shop Once again the financial figures for the year show that the bookshop has just broken even but each year the margin has become slimmer. Please support the bookshop otherwise we could loose it. If you have any comments,or questions on this, please contact Rosemary Davies (manager) or Kate Wilson (a trustee), on 231318, or kate@stephenandkate.co.uk

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Director of Music We have had some expressions of interest in the DoM role but no applications as yet. Huge thanks to those (particularly Sylvia & Ingrid) who have picked up the slack & are planning music, working with the choir and organising cover. It is so important that we don't take what they are doing for granted. Please do continue to pray for the right person to come forward.

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People in Need A very big thank you for the food donations so far - they are very much appreciated - a lifeline for many, but now the cupboard is almost bare, and people still need to eat etc. So please continue to put your spare dried or tinned goods into the black basket at the back of church. Many thanks!

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Pew Bibles The PCC has agreed to place more Bibles in the pews in Church. If you would like to purchase one, perhaps in memory of a loved one, please see Charlie Meader. Each Bible costs £9.
A big thank you to all who have paid for one of the new pew Bibles in memory of a loved one. To-date, 22 Bibles have been paid for in this way. Labels have now been placed in the Bibles.

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Children & Young People I am really pleased that Julie Slade has agreed to take on the role of Advocate for Children and Young People for St.Mary Magdalen. Her responsibility will be to have a particular watching eye and listening ear to the needs of our young people and to remind us of their importance.

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Supported Organisations To give a greater profile to the organisations we at StMM support, it has been decided that it would be good to pray for them during our Intercessions each Sunday. The Outreach Group have drawn up a list of the organisations pairing an international one with a domestic one and the aim is that we will pray for the pair each month. The 2 organisations we will be praying for in the Intercessions during November are In Ministry to Children (IMC) & The Acorn Trust.
Further organisations to be prayed for and their details can be found here.

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Expenses If you incur expenses on behalf of the church, please do submit a claim to me. Even if you do not wish to have the money it is advantageous to us if you do claim and then donate the money back so that we can claim back ‘gift aid tax’. It also reflects more accurately the true cost of running our Church. Charlie Meader

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Lost Property All personal property left in the Church, and not claimed within a week, will now be taken to the Parish Office. It will be kept there for one month and then disposed of. If you have lost something please contact Dave

Gift Aiders

If you are a taxpayer and do not give to the church via the "Gift Aid Scheme" can we encourage you to think about doing so. It will mean that the church can claim back the tax you have paid thus increase your giving without you paying more.

If you have any questions about the scheme please speak with Charlie Meader or John Chandler.

Gift Aid and standing order forms are available at the back of the church.

Gift Aid Envelopes
The last annual issue of pre-numbered Gift Aid envelopes will be made over the next few weeks. From now on, envelopes will be issued on an 'as required' basis, but please continue to use any envelopes you may still have. If you would like to join our Numbered Envelope scheme, please contact me either through the ‘C’ pigeon hole or via email, I'll happily talk you through what it entails John Chandler

How much should we give?
The Church of England recommends that we give 5% of our net income to the Church.
Where does all the money go?
It costs approximately £38,000 per annum to employ each priest in our Diocese, of which just 55% is the stipend. The rest is pension, housing National Insurance and training costs. In addition national and diocesan costs equate to a further £6000 per priest per year. These costs are funded by each parish paying a share, according to its means. The share per church member in this Diocese remains as one of the lowest in the country. In addition is the funding the cost of the day-to-day running and upkeep of each church.

The most effective form of giving, if you are a taxpayer, is by means of the Gift Aid Scheme, which enables your church to claim back from the Inland Revenue 25 pence for every pound you donate. Your treasurer has the necessary forms.
You can also give your time and talents in variety of ways ranging from flower arranging, helping with young people, welcoming at services and visiting the sick, to name but a few.
It is important that we review our giving on a regular basis and give regularly to the church – it is there for us every day!

You can read the Vicar's "Thoughts on Giving" by clicking on the link.

St. Mary Magdalen, Sheet is a Founding Member of PACT and is involved in many of the events organised by PACT.

Click on the link below to see the PACT web site:
PACT (Petersfield Area Churches Together) web site

The biggest need expressed by all the PACT organisations is for more volunteers. Just a reminder of the groups affiliated or associated with PACT (You can learn more about them on the PACT website - click the Logo above...): Voluntary Care Group, Money Matters, Holiday Club, Petersfield Housing Association, Christian Aid, Christian Ecology Group, Society of Special Needs, Causeway Prospects, Petersfield Counselling Services, Homestart Butser, The Kings Arms, Social Concerns Group, Tearfund, Unity Bookshop, IMC (In Ministry to Children), Prayer Impact, Alpha, Youthwork Support Team, Messy Church and Positive Parenting.
For example (how you can help):

• The Social Concerns Group needs people who will be willing to organise the popular Christmas lunch in future.

King’s Arms

News (re-launch soon!!)
We recently went over to the original Kings Arms to check on progress and start planning the new layout. The building is looking great and we are itching to get our feet in the door. We hope to have access from the end of July.

Lauren has been working on strengthening our links with the local Churches. She has sent them all an update of our situation and has asked for them to nominate a member of their congregation to be our King’s Arms rep to ensure clear lines of communication. The team are putting a plan together to spend the summer raising awareness and promoting the big re-launch in September. We will be holding a fundraiser outside Lloyd’s Bank in town on August 28th, and we hope to be spending some time in the weeks before that showing our faces around town and promoting the King’s Arms.

Robin Ashfield has kindly offered his time and expertise to the team at the KA. One of the fields he will be helping with is fundraising so hopefully this will help us to continue and even expand the work we do.

We have started spending Wednesday afterschool clubs down at the Avenue. The first meet was a success with a number of our young people coming to join us and we introduced ourselves to other youngsters that were there and played them at a game of football.

We are heavily involved in the planning and running of Holiday club that will be taking place in the summer. Holiday club is a great tool for reaching our local community and for getting to meet a lot of the young people who will hopefully go on to join us at The King’s Arms.

As we are stepping into a busy and exciting summer we pray that the handover of the new building is smooth and that everything that needs to be done for the September grand re-opening goes to plan.

Pray for Hannah as she takes on her new and exciting position heading up the project, making sure that she has the support that she needs around her to continue the success of the King’s Arms.

We also pray for more supporters and more volunteers for the new opening in order to make the opening a success and to enable us to continue doing the great work we do with the young people of this area.

With holiday club rapidly approaching please pray for both our paid staff and many young people that are involved in helping with the organisation and running of the week.

And finally pray for all the young people that the Kings arms comes into contact with through our many activities including mentoring, the after school club, evening clubs etc.

Tearfund Meeting
The next Tearfund meeting is on Tuesday 9 November at 7.30pm in St Peter's Hall. The speaker will be Mandy Marshall, co-founder of a new Tearfund initiative called "Restored". This was prompted by the need to counter the increasing violence against women in trouble spots around the world, but it also includes resources for UK churches to respond more effectively to this largely hidden problem. Don't miss the opportunity to hear her and bring interested friends. Further information from Ken Tottle

www.fairtrade.org.uk

Wednesday 9:15am - 11:30am
Thursday 9:15am - 11:30am
Friday 9:15am - 11:30am
Messages can be left on the answer machine - they will get listened to!

Dave Dowdeswell

Do you know anyone who is lonely, unwell, low spirited, housebound, a single parent or a carer?
Do you think they would like a friend to offer support, to chat to and laugh with?
If you do, get in touch with St Mary's Visitors Group.

Please contact: Jenny Parkes

We are now buying our wine from the Church Purchasing Scheme (CPS). If you would like to make a donation, in memory of a loved one or to celebrate/give thanks for a specific event, please give the money to Charlie Meader with a note to say it is for wine. Donations for Communion Wine and other such items can be gift aided (see above).
If you wish to have the event and name recorded in the ‘Sheet’, please let Dave in the Parish Office have the details (at least a week before the event).

Heather Bird