May 2015 High Time for a Fashion Show More than 120 people enjoyed an evening of fashion, music, dance and laughter at the Fashion show and Gala event on 30 April. Showcasing ‘Fareham’s best’ ‐ young people, fashion and teamwork ‐ combined to help raise more than £1,000 for Holy Trinity church. Thank you to our partners Fareham College and the Shopping Centre for their generosity and help. High Time Update National Churches Trust Did you know that the UK has over 42,000 churches and chapels? Unfortunately, Holy Trinity is not the only one that needs urgent attention, and we all know how hard it is to raise the sums needed. The National Churches Trust is a charity funded by donations and subscriptions, which awards grants towards repairs and improvements that enable places of worship to keep ministering to their communities. Last year we applied to the Trust for a grant towards our High Time project, and were very pleased to be awarded £10,000. As a condition of accepting this award we agreed to do our best to promote the work of the Trust, and after the completion of our project, to make a donation as a congregation so that they can help other churches in future. We have also pledged to encourage at least a few people in our congregation to become individual members of the National Churches Trust. Membership costs £30 per year, and entitles you to special events and offers, as well as regular newsletters. You will also receive a beautiful book of watercolour paintings of churches when you join. Please have a word with me if you wish to become a member, or you would like to know more. Sheila Holliday Assistant Treasurer /Bookkeeper In our last bulletin, we reported that our Treasurer, Andrew Bushell, was in need of support with this important and demanding role. As a result, Paul Leece has come forward and volunteered to become our Assistant Treasurer /Bookkeeper. We are deeply grateful to Paul for sharing his skills and time in this way. The precise division of duties between Andrew and Paul has yet to be agreed but, in general terms, Andrew will prepare the Quarterly and Year‐End accounts while Paul takes care of the daily and weekly tasks. Can fundraising ever be easy? If you ever buy goods or services online, there is a brilliantly easy way to raise money for High Time. You simply need to register with easyfundraising.com, and a donation will be made to High Time every time you make a transaction. The money comes from the retailer, and not from you. So far 30 of us at Holy Trinity have signed up, and we have already raised £124.65 – for doing absolutely nothing! Let us know if you are interested, as we get an extra £1 for each new member we recruit. Daphne and Sheila Moving Chairs We’re looking to move the blue upholstered chairs at the back of church into the lounge. To make room, we shall dispose of the existing pink chairs in the lounge. If you would be interested in taking one or some of the chairs, please speak with Daphne or Sheila. Books for sale! As part of the clearing the back of church in preparation for the building works, we are disposing of the books from the bookshelf. They are on display in the south aisle. You are welcome to take them in return for a donation to High Time Appeal. When the project is completed, we would like to think of a different way of sharing books with one another. Sheila and Daphne It’s good news that the necessary repair work on the tower and clock has finally begun. While work is going on, no parking will be permitted at the front of the church. This means that pressure on the car park will be even greater on occasions. Please use the council car park beside Homefayre House if you possibly can. Holy Trinity/St Columba benefits from some parking income as the land is on lease to Fareham Borough Council. Having finally got 2 bicycle racks, these two will be inaccessible whilst repair work is going on. We are sorry for the inconvenience and hope that we can show great patience and understanding. FORTHCOMING EVENTS Tues 26 May, 1.05pm Lunchtime concert – The Shining Light Entertainers Sat 30 May, 11.30am to 2.00pm High Time for a Fayre! Fri 19 June, 7.30pm Rock Choir concert Sat 20 to 27 June Exhibition – Fareham at the time of the Battle of Waterloo Sat 27 June, 7.30pm Madding Crowd – music and historical curiosities focusing on Wellington and the Battle of Waterloo Tue 30 June, 1.05pm Lunchtime concert – Speranza News of this event is on the front page of May’s Pompey Chimes. Portsmouth Cathedral has been chosen for the national launch of this innovative project designed to get people talking about death. On Tuesday 19 May between 2 and 9pm in a friendly café style atmosphere, people will be encouraged to think and talk about this uncomfortable issue which affects us all. I shall be going along so if you would like to join me, let me know. Sally Davenport Change to the way we distribute our charitable giving The PCC voted earlier this year to change the way we give to charity. Currently, some 21 charities benefit from small amounts of between £250‐£500. The Treasurer writes the cheque or sends by BACS and we then forget about it for another year! This year, we shall nominate 6 charities (eg 2 international, 2 national, 2 local) and support them with a larger amount for 2 years. Fewer charities will enable us to build a relationship with each charity. We hope members of our congregations will ‘adopt a cause’ keeping us informed with regular updates, informing us of what to pray and where possible, to invite a speaker from that charity. So, do start thinking about a charity that interests you, or with which you already have involvement which you’d like to propose. Later in the year we shall be given a chance to vote on which 6 charities to support. Please note – this does not affect the charities we support at particular times of the year – eg Basics Bank (Harvest), Christian Aid Week, Samaritans and Crisis. Ordinations: Saturday 4 July Always a special time when we gather at Portsmouth Cathedral for the ordination of people who are giving their lives in service to God, to ordained ministry in the Church of England. Their gifts have been recognised, they have worked hard and studied hard, with the support of their families and congregations. This is a special time for Steve Dent who is to be ordained Permanent Deacon – a particular role of service which he believes God has called him to. This service is at 11am. It’s also a special time for Garry Roberts who is to be ordained Priest. This service 6pm. Everyone is welcome at these services. It is helpful for the organisers to know numbers. Please would you let the parish office know if you would like to attend. We are considering organising coaches so if you need transport, please also let the office know. Steve will serve his curacy at St Faith’s, Lee on the Solent. We shall miss him and Jayne enormously but send them on their way with our love and prayers. Garry remains with us as Assistant Curate to the parish, we’re pleased to say! He will celebrate his First Communion on Sunday 5 July, 9.30am at Holy Trinity. Sharing Communion is a gift Jesus left with us and we shall celebrate this special time by coming together for one service with St Columba and Holy Trinity. We shall also have a lunch afterwards. Tickets for this will be on sale shortly. Meanwhile, we keep all those being ordained in our prayers, especially Steve and Garry, with Jayne and Nicky and families. Lapse of suspension We have written previously about the Suspension of Presentation which occurred in 2010 on the departure of Rev Frank Wright. This was to make way for potential reorganisation across the deanery. We looked at the possibility of Holy Trinity and St Columba separating and joining with other churches in the deanery. The conclusion was that our existing team should remain and we were ‘better together’. The suspension period lasts 5 years and Bishop’s Council has recommended that it should be allowed to lapse. Rev Sally was licensed as Priest in Charge in 2011 and now has to swear her oaths as Rector. The PCC would like to do this in a combined evening service at St Columba in which we would celebrate the partnership of our two churches. We are in discussion with the Bishop about dates. Christian Aid Christian Aid Week 10‐16 May There is a Red Bucket in church for your gifts. Some of you will be taking a turn at the stand in the shopping precinct. We also know that Christian Aid is part of the DEC and are already involved with aid to Nepal. Advanced date for diaries: Quiz evening, Saturday 7 November at St John’s Fareham. Tickets include ploughman’s. Holiday Club Taster morning Thursday 23 July Fareham churches are planning a children’s Holiday Club in the mornings of 8‐12 August 2016 based at the Methodist Church. A taster day will take place at Holy Trinity on 23 July. If you would like to help, please speak with Sally or Garry.  Providing items for sale on any of the stalls  Setting up in the morning or clearing up afterwards  Helping to run the stalls and other activities  Serving refreshments and /or washing up Update on Holy Trinity Fayre It’s not long until our fayre on Saturday 30th May and many of you are busily preparing for stalls, tombola, raffle, music, barbecue, refreshments, beer tent, games and much more besides. We thank you all for your enthusiastic support. On these occasions, the more helpers, the better. If you haven’t been asked and would like to take part, please have a word with any member of the Project Support Group (names below) or the churchwardens; or put your name and telephone number on the sign up list at the back of the church. Just as a reminder, there will be stalls for cakes, sweets, jams and preserves, crafts, costume jewellery (second hand), books, DVDs and CDs, toys, raffle, tombola and plants. There will also be face painting for the little ones and a variety of games. Food and refreshments will be served. We should be delighted to hear from you if you could help in any of the following ways: For the benefit of people with allergies, please provide a list of ingredients used in cakes, jams etc, and state if anything has been previously frozen. Boxes will be put out at the back of church to collect non‐perishable items on the two Sundays before the fayre (17th and 24th May). Please do not bring anything sooner than that, because we have been asked by our building contractors to keep the area at the back of church as clear as possible. We look forward to hearing from you! Project Support Group: Angela Foley, Lucy Docherty, Sue Craft, Donna Irving, Alison Jacobs, Pat Prosser, Kath Rugg, Gordon Uphill and Garry Roberts