THE PARISH CHURCH OF STOKE DAMEREL
(ST. ANDREW & ST. LUKE)

Email:   info@stokedamerel.church                                          
www.Stokedamerel.church
www.facebook.com/StokeDamerelChurch

Please note: Stoke Damerel Church does not divulge
personal information to third parties.

Sunday 22 March                Fifth Sunday of Lent
 

Merciful God,
we entrust to your tender care
those who are ill or in pain,
knowing that whenever danger threatens
your everlasting arms
are there to hold them safe.
Comfort and heal them,
and restore them to health and strength;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

PLEASE PRAY FOR:-
The sick:-
Maureen, Margaret W, Graham, John S, Kathy, Mo, Matt,
Bertie, Morwenna, David J, Wendy.
The long term sick and infirm:-
George, Peter, Diana, Liz & Keith N, Rob, John and Shirley.
The recently departed:-
We give thanks for the lives of Barbara Jean Allen,
known as Jean, and Desi Carnell. We
pray for their families and friends at this sad time.
The Ministry Team:-
Wendy, Ruth, Marilyn and Rhona.

BLESSED SACRAMENT CANDLE

If you would like to have the candle lit for a week
for a particular prayer / thanksgiving /
commemoration, etc., please send a £5 donation to
Debbie Smith, clearly marking your donation as
being for the candle. Details of your intention can
be emailed to:- sarah.lundstrom@virginmedia.com
so that a mention of the commemoration, etc., can
appear in the Sunday Sheet.
This week the candle has been sponsored by Penny
Barnard in memory of her mother, Elizabeth Leith,
who would have turned 100 this month.

SERVICES THIS WEEK
Stoke Damerel Parish Church is a hybrid church
open for public worship and private prayer and all
services will be live streamed.
By attending a live streamed service, you give
implied permission to have your image captured
on CCTV and to be broadcast as participant in the
liturgy.

Watch our livestreamed services
Please follow the link to make your way to our YouTube page: 

 STOKE DAMEREL YOUTUBE CHANNEL 

Sunday 22 March            Fifth Sunday of Lent
0800 Holy Eucharist
Celebrant: Rev’d Brian Wood
1000 Sung Parish Eucharist & Baptism of Lemmy
Celebrant: Rev’d Sue Nicholas

Wednesday 25 March
1000 Morning Prayer followed by Lent Course 4

Sunday 29 March            Palm Sunday
0800 Holy Eucharist
Celebrant: Rev’d Sue Nicholas
1000 Sung Parish Eucharist with dramatic reading
of the Passion.
Celebrant: Rev’d Mike Harman

WELCOME BACK
To Rev’d Brian Wood at 8am and Rev’d Sue
Nicholas at 10am.
Next Sunday we will start our 10am Palm Sunday
service in the parish centre, then process into
church with our palms.

BAPTISM – SUNDAY 22 MARCH
Many of you will know Lemmy – Crucifer at our
10am Sunday services.
On Sunday 22nd March, Lemmy is to be Baptised
within the 10am service. Please pray for Lemmy
as she prepares for this important declaration of
her faith and, if you are able, come to the service
to support her and celebrate with her.
Rev’d Sue

FOUND
An earbud has been found on the floor in church.
It’s waiting in the choir vestry to be claimed by
its owner.

MARILYN'S MEMOS
LET'S CELEBRATE
We welcome Lemmy on Sunday who will be
baptised by Rev'd Sue Nicholas. We wish her
many blessings and thank her for her participation
to date.

SUNDAY 29TH MARCH PLYMOUTH CONCERTS
Sunday 29th March: 3pm - 5pm
The Martin Dale Quartet – saxophone, piano, bass
and drums. A mix of jazz styles and Latin music.
Tickets £15 from plymouthconcerts.com or on the
door.

ELECTORAL ROLL
2nd and final week to register for our electoral roll.
Please see Wendy or Ruth. Application forms are
on the welcome table.
Electoral Roll Revision timetable
15 March    Revision of Electoral Roll opens
29 March   Revision of Electoral Roll closes
5 April        Revised Electoral Roll published
19 April      APCM Electoral Roll presented to the meeting.

Ruth Jordan and Wendy Pezzey are our Electoral
Roll officers if you have any questions.

MORNING PRAYER AND 4TH LENT COURSE
Wednesday 25th March
Just a reminder about Wednesday. Looking
forward to seeing our Morning Prayer
worshippers and Lent Course followers this
coming week.

PRE-EASTER SPRING CLEAN
and GARDEN TIDY
Saturday 28th March 10 am -12 noon
Help gratefully received from gardeners,
polishers, dusters, sweepers, spider catchers
to spruce us up for our busy time over the
Easter services and joyful Easter Sunday.
Even 30 minutes would be a bonus!

Marilyn

EASTER EXCITEMENT
And not just chocolate! Over the
Easter period there are a number of
'dramatised' readings requiring
'audience participation'. I'm looking for volunteers
to contribute please (in addition to the usual
readers) and have put a 'sign up' list at the
back of church together with a copy of the service
booklets (so you can see how minimal the input
can be); Palm Sunday (29/3) - 8 in no., Good
Friday (3/4) - 5 in no. and Easter Vigil (4/4) - up to
10 in no.
Thanks in anticipation.
Ian G.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY IN MARCH
Geoff Bersey, Jenny Whalley, Ellie Brown,
Katie Armstrong, Jean Farrar, Jackie Richmond.

RUTH’S REFLECTIONS
The all-seeing eye of God.
In recent weeks, our gospel readings have included
the story of the Woman and the Well (John Ch 4).
Very familiar to you, I am sure, but so much we
can learn both about Jesus and the way he treats
those who may not tick all the religious boxes.
After all, Jesus came to the lost, the least and the
last.
This story highlights many things including Jesus
talking with a woman which was culturally
unusual, Jesus’ discourse about the water that can
bring life, and the passage about where and how to
worship. A wonderful passage for those who study
theology. There was one phrase that stood out for
me and deserves our attention especially at this
time of Lent. “Come and see a man who told me
everything I have ever done.”
Lent is a time of reflection. In the past many have
seen it as a time to “give up” things. Others have
seen it as a time to use their skills and talents to
serve others but however you use the time,
reflection is part of it. When we reflect before
God, we may feel that confession is the route to
go and that is often the case. But in this passage,
we have this testimony from the woman who
became very aware that this Jesus, the man sitting
on the well, knew all about her and her past life.
The omnipotent eye of God that sees all. He sees
all of us in every way. You may find this a bit
scary. Do we want God to know our inner most
thoughts, our every deed, good and bad? Psalm
139 reminds us that God know all about us.
“O Lord, you have searched me and known me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up:
you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out
my path and lying down”. Self-examination should
be part of our reflections during lent. We are
encouraged to do this whilst looking forward to the
culmination of lent, that is the hope of the Cross.
For the woman, it was her witness that spoke to
her community causing many to come and see this
man who seemed to know everything. It was her
witness that brought them to Jesus and proclaimed,
“it is no longer because of what you said that we
believe for we have heard for ourselves, and we
know that this is truly the Saviour of the world.”
Personal witness is so important and telling our
stories brings with it authenticity and truth. For the
woman at the well, there was no deep theological
treatise, or reference to the teaching of the local
rabbi, it was her journey and her story that spoke
to others. A personal encounter, if you like, with
the man “who told me all that I ever did”.
May we this Lenten season have the courage to
examine ourselves and to encounter the living
Saviour looking forward to the hope of Easter.
Ruth

BLANKETS FOR UKRAINE

The ladies are doing a great job - nine sent in so
far this month. Keep knitting!
Ruth J

MORE ABOUT FLORENCE COLLINS
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about Miss
Florence E. Collins who passed away on 18th.
December 1915. We still have a bound copy of all
the magazines published in 1916, but none for the
previous year. Although Miss Collins died in 1915
there are items related to her in almost every
magazine published during 1916. In that collection
of magazines there was a large amount of
information, but I could not do her memory justice,
in the previous article, in the space available.
Today, I intend to provide more information about
this hard-working lady to rectify that situation. I
had hoped to glean more about her involvement in
church activities before her death but no
magazines for any of the years from the earlier
years of the twentieth century seem to have
survived.
The “In Memorium” article at the beginning of
the January magazine covers about three quarters
of the page. It appears that she had not been ill
beforehand. On Sunday 12th. December, she had
attended the early service at St. Luke’s Mission
Hall in Richmond Walk with the rector, Reverend
Ponsonby. We have just one image of this building
in the archives, as reproduced below.

During the week she carried out visits in the
parish, including attending the opening of a
Y.M.C.A. hut in Raglan Barracks on the Thursday.
She was taken ill whilst attending the 8.00am
service on the Friday and passed away the
following day. The report also listed the many
areas of church life that she was involved in. For
twenty years she had been a District Visitor at
Baker’s Place. My research indicates that this was
eighteen properties at the eastern end of Richmond
Walk and within the parish of Stoke Damerel. For
many years she had been the superintendent of the
Sunday Infants School (as noted on the memorial
tablet in the chancel). She kept the accounts of St.
Luke’s Mission Chapel, as well as those of the
G.F.S. Hostel. (does anyone know what the
abbreviation might mean?). Miss Collins was
secretary of the Communication’s Guild and the
Sanctuary Guild. She was on the committee of
Lady Jackson’s Club (I have not yet discovered
what this organisation was) as well as the Ladies
Committee for the Royal Albert Hospital. Within
the parish she was also Secretary of Bible Reading
Union, supported the New Church building fund
(this would have financed the construction of the
Lady Chapel and Rectory which were in
Collingwood Road.) and Foreign Missions.
At the end of the memorial article the following
reflection summed up her life – “The mere
enumeration of these offices conveys some idea
of the loss to the parish-indeed, the whole town-
has sustained...It remains for those who called
her friend to try and fill up the gaps in our ranks,
and to carry on at least some part of the work...”
Miss Collins was surely a wonderful person.
BEIRUT
Looking back to August 2020, I wrote my first
article for the Sunday sheet following the terrible
explosion at the docks in Beirut. My friend, Oliver,
who had been my best-man many years ago, was
living there with his Lebanese wife. and I was
concerned about their safety. Although their
apartment is about one and a half miles from the
docks, they still lost all the windows. This last
week, brief emails have been winging back and
forth between us. Even though he has another
home in London, he and his wife have remained in
Beirut. Seeing a block of dwellings, in central area
of the city, destroyed by an Israel missile, I was
once again concerned about my friend. Before I
had a chance to send another email he contacted
me asking whether I remembered reading a chapter
of his autobiography which he wrote a few years
ago – seemingly unconcerned by current
developments.
We can only guess what might happen in the
middle east, Ukraine, and all the other flashpoints
around the world. However, we must all pray that
sanity and a just peace prevail soon.
Tony Barnard