LOOK! IT'S COLIN'S BIRTHDAY!

Lily has come to wish Colin a happy birthday.   He is telling her about the party he is going to have.

Now Frances is lighting the candles on Colin's birthday cake.    Can you see how old he is?   (The big candles each stand for ten years.)

He's getting ready to blow now.   Will he be able to blow hard enough to make all the candles go out?   Yes!  He's going to blow them all out!

Now it's the end of the party, and all his friends are going.   So Colin gets lots of hugs.    What a lovely hug he's got from Mary.   He had a super party!

HANNAH HOME ON A SHORT VISIT

Although Hannah was born and brought up in this area, for several years she has been abroad studying, and has come back this summer to visit her Mum and Dad before she goes off to Algiers on the next stage of her university education.  She'll be living at the Diocesan Centre there, while she researches the history of science for her PhD.    We wish her every success, and hope that at some time in the future she may be able to spend more time in our parish.  
Our photo shows her standing by one of the prayer stations which have been prepared and placed on a window sill.    If you have any ideas for a window sill prayer station, or any thoughts about them, please click on "comment" below, and tell us what you think.

ALLOW ME TO INTRODUCE MYSELF .......

My name is Mollie.   I am a parish cat.  Perhaps some of you who have previously lived in a catless parish do not realise what an important job we parish cats do.    There are so many issues to be considered, so many vital choices to be made.   It is essential that a good deal of circumspect thought takes place before changes are established, to ensure that there has been a judicious assessment of  the options open to us.    Fortunately I have an excellent man who deals with all of this.  He takes on all the problems, does the thinking, the worrying and the planning, so that I am able to relax as a Lady of the House should, and delegate the decision-making to him.

ANOTHER WELCOME VISITOR FOR DORIS

Each week Freda visits Doris to give her Holy Communion and to have a chat afterwards.   Today we asked Doris to tell us a bit about her life here in Lymington.   She first arrived here with her husband Ernie when he was posted to Beaulieu with his squadron in 1945.   After the war they went into partnership with Robinsons in a shop where Barclays Bank is now, selling confectionery and tobacco.   Later the partners decided to split up, so Doris and Ernie sold sweets and chocolate at no.97 High Street until the business was sold, (it is now Truffles).    Doris is now widowed, 94 years old, still cheerfully looking after herself, and welcoming her grandchildren and all the other visitors who call to see her or do shopping for her.

CARING ABOUT THE CARERS

The Carers' Cafe used to take place in our own Parish Rooms, but now that the URC Church has been renovated, it is held there.   It is an opportunity for those lovely people who spend many hours of the week caring for elderly, infirm or sick relatives to meet for a couple of hours, to give each other support and to enjoy other peoples' company for a while.    It is organised by Lymington Churches Together and staffed by members of the Christian Churches of the area.   This week it was the turn of our Church, so Eileen and Ann are here to serve their first two customers.

WHY OUR LADY'S STATUE IS OVER HERE

As a result of changes made inside the Church last week the statue of Our Lady no longer stands on the left side by the window but is now placed so that she is shown facing towards the lectern and towards us.   At the lectern Tom is reading from the Holy Scriptures, the written Word of God.   The statue of Mary shows her holding Jesus, who is the Incarnate Word of God.  

CWL LUNCH HELPS MS SOCIETY

This year Margaret and Bernard invited the CWL for a charity lunch in their garden, hoping that there would be fine weather in the second week of August.   But unfortunately it rained.   So sixteen of us sat down to an enjoyable lunch inside their lovely home instead.

Here's Margaret again, and then (clockwise) Ann, Eileen, Patricia, Bernard, Nora and Margaret H.

To everybody's delight, Father Danny arrived between showers just in time to join us for lunch.

On this table there's June and Ramona nearest the camera with Wendy looking in, Deirdre and Maura.    Our thanks to Margaret and Bernard for a very enjoyable day, which raised £150 for the Multiple Sclerosis Society.

report and photos by Freda

LOOK - NO WHEELCHAIR!

photo by Gary Aldwinckle

Even a lifetime with cerebal palsy can have its uplifting moments!   Ros isn't skydiving for fun (though she admits she'd do it again if she had the chance) but for Orpheus, Richard Stilgoe's performing arts centre for young disabled people (click to watch a short video).

 photo by  Helen Spratley

Here she is safely down to earth again with her family who supported her and their two instructors.     If you would like to help Ros through her skydive to raise funds for Orpheus, click on her "Just Giving" page.   

It was with great sadness that we learned of the death last week of Colin Craig.   Colin was a convert to Catholicism, who sang in the Church choir and helped to design the historical exhibition on the walls of the Parish rooms.    We pray for his family, that they may be given the grace to bear their grief, and for Colin, that his soul may rest in peace. 

HE'S NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HERE YET!

Your Parish Blog sees it as our duty to report all the facts as we know them.   Last week we told you that Fr Jamie had finally left our Parish.      We  know also that Fr Danny will be taking up the position of Parish Priest here at the beginning of September.    This, however, leaves us with several unanswered questions.  First, Why has there been a crowd of boisterous parishioners, not all of them observing an appropriately respectful demeanour, clustered around the presbytery office and kitchen each morning this week?   Secondly, why have certain items whose positions in our church had previously seemed to have been established by divine decree suddenly moved mysteriously from one place to another?   Third, why has our beloved old church suddenly become so tidy, our sanctuary so uncluttered, our porch so deprived of its customary jumble of detritus and debris?   Do not fret, dear parishioners.   Your intrepid blog will fearlessly investigate this mystery and will report back to you.    Just watch this space!

TWO MORE RELUCTANT HEROES

Had it been entirely up to them Laurence and Irene would probably have preferred not to be blogged this morning.   Nevertheless, under very gentle persuasion they agreed like good sports to become the 132nd and 133rd of us to have our photos on the blog.   This way we can all get to know each other a little better!

NOW WHAT HAPPENS ON WEDNESDAYS?

One group in our Parish which is really thriving is the Wednesday Word Group, which meets every Wednesday (well, it would, wouldn't it!) at 10.15am in the pink Parish Room, to think about and discuss the next Sunday's Gospel reading.   It's amazing how many relevant ideas spring out of one short passage, and how much more Sunday's Gospel means to us after it has been discussed a few days earlier.   Some of the group are shown here after this week's discussion was over.  In the foreground are Cathy and Agnes; behind them are Freda, Frances, Nora, John (and a bit of Peter!)