When Lucy and the team accepted a cryptic request to ‘host a VIP’ for an Easter visit back in April, none of us anticipated that we would be welcoming Sir Keir Starmer to St Andrew’s the following week. Whatever your politics, it was an honour to be able to show the PM what our church stands for and what we do, together, as a church family. What was even more unexpected was being ‘invited back’. On Wednesday, Lucy, Kelly, Ben, Ian and I headed to London, with our passports, a

Remember Fatima Whitbread? OK – that shows my age! For those of you who don’t remember Fatima she was a world champion javelin player competing at the highest level in the 1980s. She was also brought up in the care system . Now retired, Fatima is a long-standing advocate for children and young people . Here at St Andrew’s we are partnering with Home for Good/Safe Families (the two charities have recently merged) and we’re still working out how to respond to the need for great

What a wonderful weekend, bringing together people from across the Church family and the wider community in a festival of creativity and in celebration of Emmanuel - God with us. The church was filled with 60 cribs, from the very small to the enormous, and made of everything from wood to wool. We enjoyed music from a whole range of talented members of the congregation and friends, from under 7 years old to over 70, and enjoyed long conversations over cups of tea and mince pie

Our meeting was opened with a welcoming prayer from Rachel. The initial administrative items were discussed – apologies, declarations of interest, approval of the minutes for 16 th  September. The following matters arose from these Minutes - the appointment of solicitor for the Church House lease. Other additional items were the unanimous approval of Ann Mason as an Eucharistic Minister. Also notes from the Standing Committee Meeting were received with thanks. Elizabeth Thorn

Programme download & information for saturday's concert - 7.30pm 8th November

In September and October, we focus on God's gift in creation and lament at our misuse of the environment. As well as our Harvest Festival and creation themed Choral Evensong, we followed the same theme in our All Age Worship and Eco Connect event. Reflections on working together written by Ella Thomas for our October All Age Worship When we all come together, we create one body which is full of happiness and courage. For example, you might be working on a school projects with