St Peter's Church Christmas Fair - Saturday 1 December 2007

St Peter's Church are holding their annual Christmas Fair on the morning of 1 December 2007, at the Church and Church Centre.

Hooray Day 26 - Prince of Egypt

The church is full of intriguing displays and games equipment ready for tomorrow's Hooray Day. If you want more information, contact Derek on 0116 271 5765.

Mums and Tots Christmas Party

Stacey and Keely have planned a Christmas Party for St Paul's Mums and Tots on 18 December between 1 and 3 pm. For more information call them on 0116 271 0025 or 07816 403016.

Oadby Town Centre Masterplan

Oadby and Wigston Borough Council have unveiled their "Masterplan" for the development of the centre of Oadby. The period of public consultation has just begun and the plan is available on the Borough's website and as a 51 page PDF.

I welcome the report in principle but have only just begun to read it now, so can't comment on any details. Comments have to be made before 12.00noon on 21 December 2007.

Carols by Candlelight - 23 December 6.30pm

Aileen is drawing together a team of singers for the annual carol service. This is always a special treat and if you're interested in being part of it, do send me an email and I'll forward it. Rehearsals are in the Barnabas Centre as follows: 21st November 7.30pm, Wednesday 28th November 8.15pm, Friday 7th December 7.30pm, Thursday 13th December 8.15pm, Wednesday 19th December 7.30pm. There will also be a practice on 23rd December at 4pm followed by a light tea to sustain the singers for the service.

DCC Meeting November 2007

This week's DCC meeting focussed on the 2008 church budget, rates for lettings, the Alpha Course and replacements for the storage sheds.

Body Control Pilates for a healthy mind and body – beginners classes

Stephanie Smith writes:

Body Control Pilates for a healthy mind and body – beginners classes

A five week beginners course teaching the basic principles of the Pilates method starts on November 12th , 8pm at the Barnabas Centre, Hamble Road. Oadby.

The Pilates method is growing in popularity as people become aware of the numerous health benefits. Properly taught and regularly practised you can expect to experience -

improved posture; toned, strengthened muscles; increased flexibility; a reduction in neck, shoulder and back pain; you will feel less tense and with a greater sense of wellbeing.

Body Control Pilates is safe and effective for all ages and levels of fitness. I teach small groups to ensure that every body receives close individual attention and exercises safely.

For more information, or to reserve a place on the course please contact Stephanie Smith 07921 385689 or email bcpleics@yahoo.co.uk

Fair Trade

I was asked to confirm that St Paul's remains committed to the use of Fair Trade produce, so that we can retain our status as a Fair Trade Church. I was glad to do so and it's heartening that after many years of campaigning, fairly traded goods are no longer a speciality but have become mainstream. We're experimenting with different brands of fairly traded tea and coffee - so far M&S seem to be the best received.

Don't forget to enjoy a fairly traded cuppa with your cooked breakfast before church this Sunday.

SPCK - Leicester

From the Leicester Diocese email news service, Peter Hebden writes:

SPCK Bookshop, 10 Bishop Street Leicester

We are pleased to announce that from the 1st November 2007 ownership of the SSGCT/SPCK bookshop in Leicester is transferred to Reverend Peter Hebden.

As a consequence we shall once again be able to emphasize the ethos of SPCK and will trade under the name of CHRISTIAN RESOURCES.

The address and telephone numbers remain unchanged but there will be an increase in the use of e-mails for facilitating credit accounts for parishes. Thus the preferred method of ordering, invoicing and statement production for parish accounts will progressively use e-mail thus dramatically reducing the amount of paper being used. There is no need to travel into Leicester just telephone or e-mail your needs.

We are determined to retain and improve this Christian resource centre by serving those whose mission is necessarily rooted in the parishes. For this to succeed and be a foundation for the future we would like all P.C.C.’s to consider if they can use our facility even more than they do at present.

Please contact us (by e-mail if possible) and allow us to open a credit account for your parish even if you may not use it for a while.

Tel; 01162854499 e-mail; peter@christianresourcesleicester.com

Best wishes from Peter, Janette, Harriet, Alison and Helen.

In addition, The Bishop sends the following message:

I am delighted to add my support and encouragement to this courageous initiative that Peter Hebden is taking to keep the SPCK Bookshop ethos and resource available to us in this Diocese. It is vital that we all maintain our reading and awareness of Christian issues and the presence of a high quality Christian bookshop at the heart of the Diocese is a matter of real interest to all Christians. We owe it to Peter to do our best to support this initiative and to ensure that it does not fail.

+Tim

This is good news for Christians in Leicester who want the assurance of friendly service and breadth of stock for which its SPCK branch has been known.

Update: Thanks to Dave Walker of CartoonChurch who has lots of information about the SPCK/SSG saga on his blog.

Holy Space - December 2007

The next Holy Space alternative worship event is at St Paul's on Sunday 2 December at 8.00pm. No need to book - just turn up.