St Patrick's Chapel March/April News

March/April 2015 newsletter

Our condolences go to the Williams family who lost their son, Luke, last week.

Vestry/St Patrick’s Day celebration: Sunday 22 March 2015 will be the celebration of St Patrick’s Day with a Bring and Share Lunch at Hidden Away, close by, after the service. Please bring what you need in food and drink and some more in case there are visitors. In between the service and the Bring and Share we will have the annual Vestry meeting in the chapel. In order to speed up my part I attach my report.

Easter Services: There will be a Passover Supper at 6pm Thursday 1 April 2015; a three-hour service on Friday from 12 noon; and two services on the Sunday 5 April 2015 – a communion service at St Patrick’s at 8am and at 10am a Family Open-air Service in the Arboretum conducted by visiting minister Dr Bill Domeris.  In case of inclement weather this service will be in St Patrick’s Chapel.

The Passover Supper will take the form of a traditional Jewish Passover such as Christ celebrated before the Cruxificion and will involve a meal. The cost of the supper is R40. Please bring your own wine or grape juice. We need to know numbers attending, so please reply by 18 March whether you will be attending.

Thank you.

Trevor Webster

Chapel Warden

See you

Elangeni

5 Summerton Drive

P O Box 138

HOGSBACK

5721

Ph 045 962 1147 or 072 990 0646

trevann@procomp.co.za

Easter Services 2015

Good Friday 3 April

12 noon – 3pm, St Patrick’s Chapel
(Rev Margaret Fourie)

Easter Sunday 5 April
8am St Patrick’s Chapel, Holy Communion
(Rev Margaret Fourie)

10am Arboretum, Open-Air Family Service
(Dr Rev Bill Domeris)
(In case of inclement weather service will be in St Patrick’s)

Photos of the service on Sunday 22 February 2015 at St PAtrick's Chapel

Some photos of the service this Sunday.

Pew leaflet 15 February 2015

      St Patrick-on-the-Hill              Hogsback              15^th  February 2015

      

6^th Sunday of the Year

We welcome you this morning, with a special welcome to visitors.  The service is led by the Revd Dr David Williams

FOR YOUR WEEK'S DEVOTIONS

The readings to meditate on are:.

2 Kings 5:1-14

Ps 32

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

Mark 1:40-45

Collect for the week:

Lord God of wisdom and truth

you have made yourself known to the world

in your Son Jesus Christ:

grant that we may know him and love him

and through him may share

the fullness of eternal life;

who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit one God, for ever and ever

                                                Amen

Churchwarden                         045-962-1147     

Priest                                       045-962-1244

Sick Visiting Ansie                  082-800-8731

NEWS

*           Lent starts on Wednesday.  That means that Tuesday is Shrove Tuesday, (to 'shrive' is to grant absolution to; to forgive), when people traditionally make their confessions.  It is also Pancake Day.

This year we will have a Garden Party starting at 10:00, when men and women can come dressed up with wonderful hats, bringing their secateurs with them, and, after doing some trimming in the church garden, will be treated to delicious pancakes.

*           Our Planning Day went very well, and we are grateful both to those who were able to attend, and to those who supported us in prayer

Some splendid ideas came up and Parish Council are in agreement.  On the Notice Board you will find a pink sheet of card with various activities written tp.  Please will you write your name and phone number against any you would like to be involved in.

*           Luke Williams's health is still deteriorating.  Read the letter from his wife Katherine, on our Blog at http://stpatrickonthehill.blogspot.com

*           Ansie visited Moira Luck in our behalf and reports that she is in tremendous pain, and has been unable to get about for months.  Please pray for her and, if you get the opportunity, please visit her.

*           Graham Ressell has been in and out of hospital again this week.

*           The Keeses have found a care home for Jean and she has moved in.

For your diary

Monday:           14:30    Ladies' Bible Study

Tuesday:           10:00   Garden Party

                        16:30   Bible Study at Hidden

                         Away

Sunday 22^nd February 10:00        Revd Margaret Fourie  

Intercessions:

*           Keep praying for the whole Williams family, especially for Gill and David, Luke and Katherine at this very painful time.

*           Please pray for the leaders of our churches – many of them seem to have 'lost the plot' and are seemingly more concerned with status than humility and the will of God.

*           Pray for Neil Cooper, Fritz, Graeme Ressell,  Anton van der Merwe, Elizabeth Macpherson, Moira Luck and Jean Keese.

*           Pray for Hobbiton and Jikani, and give thanks for a good-sized gift of money this week for Jikani.

*           Pray for all with relationship problems and those facing financial difficulties

*           Pray for Crabbush School, for Nathi Beja the Principal, his staff (esp. Santie) and all the learners.

*        Remember John Bowker, Peter Nieth, and Deidre and Carol caring for them.

*           Pray for the people of Hogsback every day at 08:00,

*           Every day, pray at 21:00 for South Africa, especially for our various political leaders.

St Patrick’s News February 2015

Worship 

Christmas services went well and all were congratulated on the wonderful worship offered to both the congregation and public of Hogsback.

We shall celebrate our 80^th Anniversary with a Bring and Share Supper at Hidden Away on Tuesday
17 March 2015 at 6pm. Please tell Jeannette ph 1238 if you are attending.

We shall have a Passover Supper on Thursday 2 April 2015 co-ordinated by Ann, venue and programme to be decided. Please tell Ann ph 1147 if you are attending.

There was feedback from the Think Tank consisting of Quinton, Jeannette, Leigh, Ann, Alfrieda, Ansie, Helen and Margaret. They made suggestions for activities for St Patrick’s like prayer boxes, garden party, singles club, welcome cards, walking group and others to be implemented immediately. Other activities were suggested on a long-term basis. In this way the youth were given a voice and the Council approved all the ideas on the basis that someone come forward prepared to lead each one.

Community The Blogpage put up by Maggie is excellent but needs to be updated regularly. Jikani and Hobbiton to be supported by the Chapel as they are doing excellent work for the needs of Hogsback and further afield. The Council approved that these two bodies be allocated R1 000 a month from the Chapel, over and above the tithing to Callie Evens Home.

Finance Quinton presented the financial statements for 2014 in preparation for them being audited for vestry. Budgeted income was R157 000, actual was R144 816 which included R77 571 for tithing, R45 426 collections, R13 260 for weddings; budgeted expenditure was R147 000, actual was R144 682 with a profit of R134, which included R47 380 honorarium, R36 616 assessments, R21 417 donations and R16 034 tithing. The chapel finances are in an excellent state, particularly the generosity of the congregation in giving R122 997 in collections and tithing being R10 249 per month! In turn the chapel has given away R74 067 or R6 172 per month! The buildings and contents are well insured. Quinton was congratulated on his budgeting and his clear keeping of the books. The Chapel has been a good custodian of the HUCF assets which have grown by R7 801.

Coming Up: 

Tuesday 17 March at hidden away, Bring and Share Supper from 6pm to celebrate our 80th Anniversary on St Patrick’s Day

Sunday 22 March Vestry, to elect a new Council

Thursday 2 April at 6pm Passover Supper

Easter Services: Friday 12noon, Sunday 8am and in the Arboretum 10am.

Thank you.

Trevor Webster
Chapel Warden
13 February 2015

Letter of thanks from Hobbiton

Thank you for prayers: A letter from Katherine

Dear All,

We hope you all had a good Christmas.

Lots has happened since we last sent out an e-mail...

Luke's Dad and Ruth came over to the uk from South Africa to spend some time with Luke for a few weeks before Christmas. This was a very special time and Luke enjoyed having his family around him. During this time Paul came down to stay for a weekend to allow me some time out to recharge. I went to Canterbury for the weekend with my parents and enjoyed good food, wandering around the shops and even a trip to the cinema. All real treats for me and allowed me to spend some time with Mum and Dad and to recharge my batteries a bit. 

Christmas was very different and a very low key affair this year but we managed to mark the occasion to the extent that we were able. Mum W went to stay with Sara and family for a few days whilst my parents came to stay with us. Luke had one of his better days on Christmas day and was able to enjoy a lovely Christmas dinner which Mum cooked for us. Our church also brought us communion to share together at home which was really special.

Sadly the last few months have been really hard as we watch Luke's condition steadily deteriorate further. The last couple of weeks in particular have seen quite a few changes particularly with Luke's communication. He now finds it very hard to communicate even his basic needs. He is now really only communicating with single words. We have to ask him Yes/No questions and even then his Yes can sometimes mean No. So life has become quite frustrating and hard work for him. On top of that he has bouts of prolonged confusion which can make for a very tiring day.

As a family we have been so thankful for our good health during this winter so far. However Mum W managed to catch some kind of viral infection and it became obvious that she needed to rest and recuperate. So she went to stay with Derek in Sussex and my parents came to stay for the rest of the week. Luke had a particularly bad day on Saturday, where he was very confused and agitated and ended up moving himself from the sofa onto the floor. We ended up having to call out the paramedics to help get him up safely off the floor. Thankfully- they had a very clever inflatable cushion which they slipped under him, inflated and raised him up to sofa. That day though really wiped Luke out and it has taken him some time to recover from the experience.

We are still receiving the invaluable help of the night time carers 4 times a week and lots of support and advice from the hospice and the district nurses. Luke has also benefited from a charity who provide complimentary therapies for patients that are referred to them. So Luke has been receiving weekly massages from a therapist who comes out to our house. He can have 6 massages in total. These he seems to really enjoy and she has also given us tips on how to improve his circulation down the weak side of his body. 

Luke's Dad arrived back in the uk today and his help will be hugely appreciated! It now really requires 2 people to be around to look after Luke so having 3 people means that we will get more opportunity to have short breaks outside the house which is very much needed.

As we have said many times before- thank you for all of your prayers, messages and words of encouragement and support. They really do mean a lot to us and help to keep us going, particularly when things get tough. 

With love and thanks
Katherine and Luke x