‘Friends of St Andrew’s’ Newsletter No. 17 Sept. 2010



Back to Church Sunday, 26th September
I am sure many of you reading this newsletter have been part of the congregation of St Andrew’s church at some time in your life. This is your invitation to come ‘Back to Church’.
Churches will always welcome new people with open arms, but on Sunday 26th September, congregations will be making a special effort to invite lots of their friends and neighbours along. In addition this will be the Harvest service and the church will be full of our harvest gifts.
It’s a great time to find out more about what Christians believe, how services are run and to hear a little about some of the excellent activities your local church is running. So why not be brave and give it a try?
You can find details of your local church at www.achurchnearyou.com or www.saintandrewscromhall.org.uk


1

The churchyard

As we expected, there were some casualties of the hard winter. Two of the shrubs planted last year to provide foliage for decorating the church appeared dead, although one has since shown some signs of life.
Two replacements will be found and planted.


There have been other changes in the churchyard this summer, especially in the area behind the church. Two of the yew trees were removed to open up the area




and the remainder were topped and trimmed.
An archway was re-created between the rows of trees from the church to the New Garden of Remembrance. We are grateful to Cromhall Parish Council for paying for this work to be done.

Burials
We now plan to make a complete record of all graves in the churchyard and identify any land available for burials. We feel that this is preferable to enlarging the churchyard, although this will be necessary at some time in the future.
If you are aware of any unmarked graves, we would be pleased to hear from you and add them to our plan.

St Andrew’s churchyard is subject to the Diocesan Churchyard Regulations designed to help clergy and their parishes adopt good practice in the management of burial grounds in churchyards.
As the churchyard is short of space for burials, burial plots will only be available for:


All other requests for burial will have to be made in writing to Cromhall PCC for their consideration. If agreed, a faculty will then be applied for.
In future there are no plans to reserve burial plots.

Cromhall Parochial Church Council (PCC) would like to remind everyone that, in accordance with Diocesan rules:

Churchyard upkeep.
As always we are very grateful to our reliable band of friends who keep the churchyard looking lovely. We do thank Gordon, Sue, Ray, Jane and Roland for all their hard work. Thank you to Graham Clothier who is now helping the team and also to Mary Byron Shave for looking after the Gardens of Remembrance.
The team are still looking for more offers of help either on a regular basis or to provide cover for holiday times. If you could offer help, please contact any of the names above.

Church improvements

Gloucester Diocese has just agreed that we may install a new, more efficient boiler for the church and an additional fan convector for the back of the nave. It is hoped that this will be in use before the winter weather comes and that church will be a warmer place next year!

The new boiler will be re-sited to make room for a disabled toilet, washing up facilities and disabled access to church.

The Quinquennial inspection was carried out in the spring and we await the report.

In August members of the congregation carried out a full ‘spring clean’ of the church and we hope it is looking better for it!

Many thanks to Linda Clothier for taking on the cleaning of the church brasses.

Book of Remembrance
In St Andrew’s Church there is a book of remembrance. Each month this displays names of loved ones no longer with us. If you would like the name and dates of family or a close friend entered in this book, please speak to any PCC member. There will be a charge of £20 for this towards the care and upkeep of the churchyard and gardens of remembrance.




The New Benefice Community Office
The Office is manned on Thursday mornings when our benefice secretary is working. Revd. Jenny is often there on either Tuesday or Thursday and, if you wish to speak with her, please ring or email the office to make an appointment .
Photocopying and printing may also be done for you at very competitive prices. For details contact
01454 260096 or united.benefice@btinternet.com

Recent events

On August 1st, Lammastide, we celebrated the offering of the first fruits of our harvest. A bundle of this year’s wheat crop was brought to the altar and also a loaf made from this year’s flour. Following the service, the congregation shared the loaf with added butter and jam!



Cromhall 100 club
We are at the end of our second year and £680 has already been given out in prizes. During Sept. and Oct. please renew your 100 club number by contacting the person who sold you your first number or by calling in at Cromhall Village Shop. Who knows, it may be your turn to win next time! There are still a few spare numbers if you have not already got one.

Annual Church Fête
This year we have to thank St Andrew’s School for allowing us to use their playground and kitchens. The sun shone all afternoon and as always the support from villagers was excellent. The profit from the day and Grand Draw came to just over £1,400. As hoped, this will cover our insurance premium for the church this year.

TALENTS 2010
At Easter, all members on St Andrew’s electoral roll, together with regular attendees to services, were given an envelope containing a £5 note.

All were asked to use it in any way they wished to raise funds for Cromhall church.


So far we have heard of people holding lunch parties, cooking for friends and selling surplus plants, fruit and vegetables.




The intention is to harvest these sums of money by Sept. 26th which will be our harvest service.


Future social and fundraising events

Harvest Lunch
Following the Harvest Service on Sep 26th, there will be Harvest Lunch in the Village Hall. There will be no charge for this, but donations will be accepted towards our Harvest charity. A list will be displayed in the church porch for you to sign up to come to the lunch. This will greatly help with catering. All Friends of St Andrew’s are invited. We hope to see many of you there.

Boules Day


On Sat Sept 11th, from 11am, at Talbot End House, there will be another opportunity to try your hand at Boules. Tickets are £6 and include coffee and a baguette. Other food and drinks will be available. Tickets are on sale in Cromhall Shop or direct from Zena and Drew.



A Fairtrade Cheese & Wine party is planned. Look out for details later in the year.

A Skittles or Quiz evening will also take place in the autumn. More details later on.
Tat3


Cromhall Senior Citizens have, for some time now, been invited to an autumn outing and one or two afternoon teas each year, either in the Village Hall or at St Andrew’s School.
This year it was decided to make it a monthly event called ‘Tat3’, meeting in Cromhall Village Hall, usually on a Thursday afternoon at 3pm.

In January Cromhall was under snow and the meeting was cancelled. For the next few months Tat3 met in the Hall and enjoyed tea, homemade sandwiches and cakes. There was much talking done about times gone by and some of this was captured for 5Alive.

The June meeting was an outing to the Cadbury Garden Centre at Congresbury. Sixteen senior citizens enjoyed lunch there and a browse around the centre during the afternoon, coming home with several plants for their gardens.

In July St Andrew’s Primary School invited Tat3 to a summer concert followed by tea and cakes. This was greatly enjoyed by all.

On Thursday August 19th Tat3 enjoyed a cream tea in the Hall as the weather was not good enough to be in the garden. This was an open meeting and raised £115 to be shared between St Andrew’s Church & CLinC.

In September we will be having an autumn lunch outing.
Details of this & other Tat3 events will be in 5Alive and all Cromhall senior citizens are invited to attend.