Letter of Welcome
From Peter Ferguson, Church Warden
If you have recently come to live in Whitchurch or Whitchurch Hill, our two churches at St. Mary’s and St. John’s extend a warm welcome to you and your family. We are looking for young blood to join our church because our children are our future!We hope that you will settle in well, enjoy walks in our lovely countryside, visit our three welcoming pubs, the Greyhound, Ferry Boat and Sun Inn and make new friends.
If
you require further help and information please give me a phone call
(contact details below). If I am not at home, as I sometimes
travel abroad on business, you can leave a message on our answer phone
or speak with my wife Wendy and we will get back to you - and I am
always happy to come and visit you.We recently saw the welcome of our new curate the Reverend Claire Alcock. Claire is married to Chris who is a House Master at Shiplake College with three children Tom, 16, Eve 14 and Kit, 13. Claire and family will be moving into St. Mary’s House next June. However Claire is now engaged upon continuation training as well as a Masters degree; so she is a very busy person, but great to be around with.
Claire was ordained at Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford last June and has joined us as part of the Langtree Team, under our Team Rector Kevin Davies at Checkendon.
You can check out the parish of Whitchurch which is part of the Langtree Team ministry. Our team is comprised of a family of villages that combines the resources of Checkendon, Woodcote, Stoke Row, Ipsden and North Stoke as well as the two churches in Whitchurch parish.
Claire is very approachable and likes walking around the village. So if you see a lady walking down the High Street with a dog collar, introduce yourself to her; but if you would like to meet her, then please let me know and we can arrange a visit.
Claire brings many talents and gifts as well as being musical and with the help of husband Chris and their family’s musical group, Paul and Geraldine Witcher lead our flourishing All Age Worship at St John’s, up the hill, at 11 am on the 2nd and 4th Sunday of the month. The emphasis is upon teaching and where young children and parents have lots of fun and where we encourage children to join in with, so do not worry if your children like to let off steam.
There are lots of activities in the village and information on many of them can be found on this website and also in “The Bulletin”, issued bi-monthly to residents in Whitchurch-on-Thames. Its front and back covers list useful contact telephone numbers for parish, county and district councils, the medical practice, Whitchurch Primary School and various local associations.
Our parish of Whitchurch-on-Thames has two churches: St Mary’s in the village and St. John’s the Baptist at Whitchurch Hill. Information about both churches can be found in the welcome pack handed to new families including, “A brief Guided Tour of St Mary’s Church” and “A potted History of the Church of St John the Baptist Whitchurch Hill”. So let me know if you would like to receive a welcome pack.
We are all part of the Diocese of Oxford under the leadership of Bishop John Pritchard who has written the beautiful Intercession handbooks with creative ideas for public and private prayer and champions “Living Faith” which relates specifically to our mission and ministry, both in our local and wider communities. Bishop Colin Fletcher is the Area Bishop of Dorchester who helps administer the Diocese in our area.
Our other church activities include:
- An annual Church Awayday
- Every other Monday at 2pm a short informal ladies’ Bible Study
- Midweek meeting during Lent and Advent
- Lent Lunches
- Annual Harvest Supper
- Christingle
- Supporting mission activities locally and in the third world.
One exciting project that was initiated by Paul Witcher, is the conversion of the old stable block adjacent to Rectory Cottage in the High Street into a new church meeting room with kitchen and lavatory with a single room flat above. This new facility will allow our community to share social events with the village as well as providing a venue for church meetings.
As well as trying to meet our parish share, we are also in the process of installing a new heating system in St Mary’s Church as the old tubular heaters were both inefficient and expensive to run. We shall be installing new pew heaters both in the chancel and nave which will help to keep us nice and warm in winter and save on our electricity bills.
So we shall be heavily engaged in fund-raising activities around the village where we hope to involve as many people as possible in fun events. We are planning a wine tasting evening before Christmas and several surprise events next year.
To find the days, times and locations of our services, see the Schedule of Services.
Peter Ferguson, Church Warden
21 Swanston Field
Home Tel. No. 0118 984 1262
Email: peterf@fergie.me.uk
1st November 2010