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

For the 10.00am Parish Eucharist  for today click here

Rector: Revd Keith Robus RN
Telephone No: 01752 509724

Email: keith.robus@btinternet.com
www.Stokedamerel.church
www.facebook.com/StokeDamerelChurch

Sunday 25th September           St Michael and All Angels

 

 

THIS WEEK'S READINGS IF YOU ARE ILL OR NEED TO GO INTO HOSPITAL
Please ring for support:-
Revd Keith: 509724
Wendy: 218432
Liz: 509852

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:-
Yvonne, Tim, Thea, Pat, Andy, Babs, Diana, Janice.
The long term sick and infirm:-
Terry and Pat, Revd Peter Warland, Janet, George and Audrey, Michael, Claire.
The Ministry Team:-
Father Keith, Wendy, Ruth, Fiona and Marilyn.

RECENTLY DEPARTED
We give thanks for the lives of Lawrie’s sister,
Jean, and of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

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.

RECTOR’S RAMBLINGS
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.

Sung hymns and organ music
The Church of England, working with St Martin
in-the-Fields and the Royal School of Church
Music, is delighted to be providing a resource of
rights-free music for use on streamed services.

In order to watch the livestreamed services please
‘click’ on this link to
make your way to YouTube site:
https://www.youtube.com/c/StokeDamerelChurch

Sunday 25 September                     Feast of St Michael & All Angels
0800 Distribution of Holy Communion with Fiona Lang
1000 Sung Holy Eucharist with the Revd Mike Harman

Wednesday 28 September
1000 Holy Eucharist

Thursday 29 September
Consecration of James Grier to be Bishop of
Plymouth. Westminster Abbey

Friday 30 September
Harvest Supper Quiz Night
1900 In church – Harvest Supper with quiz from
Michael Stephens

Sunday 2 October
Harvest Thanksgiving
- With harvest of food donations.
0800 Holy Communion
1000 Sung Holy Eucharist

Welcome and thank you
A warm Stoke Damerel welcome back to the Revd
Mike Harman who will be celebrating and
preaching at the Parish Eucharist. Mike you are
most welcome back! A big thank you to Fiona
Lang who will be conducting her first act of public
worship at the 0800 Service of the Word and
distribution of Holy Communion.
THANK YOU both!

HARVEST THANKSGIVING SUPPER
Friday 30 September
With the schools back and leaves beginning to fall
from the trees, we turn our eyes to the Harvest.
(I am sure Tony will write extensively about his
harvest).
On Friday 30 September in the church we will
have a Simple Harvest Supper at 7.00pm. Please
do bring your own beverages. We need to know
numbers so please do email, text or (how
strange...) speak to Marilyn or me if you are
coming! We also welcome back Michael Stephens
with his own unique take on a Quiz Night! 

HARVEST THANKSGIVING EUCHARIST
Sunday 2 October
Please bring your gifts to help restock the larder at
The Hub Food Bank in Stoke Village. Please bring
tea/coffee/UHT Milk/canned foods/dried
goods/toiletries/cleaning materials – all the stuff
you use in your own homes.
Please NO fresh items.
(In a development, Stoke Damerel
Primary school will be holding their Harvest
Festival in church at 1300 Tuesday 11 October –
a first).

James Grier is to be consecrated in Westminster
Abbey on 29 September – please do pray for
James and his family.

Thank you
Thank you from Steve and me for the small but
perfectly formed celebration after the Parish
Eucharist last Sunday. The gifts of the decanter
with inscription, silver photo frame with photo
AND a picnic blanket are all amazing and so
welcome. Already the decanter has been put to use
with sherry (so right for the Rectory) and the photo
frame stands proud in the dining room.
Steve, being a great worshipper of all things cake,
was overjoyed to see so much cake, frosting, icing
all in three vegan cakes flavoured with gin. The
cake which returned to the Rectory is now closely
guarded and is quickly disappearing. To those who
were with us to raise a glass and to all who
contributed so generously our deepest thank you –
we were both touched by your friendship.


In Memory of Her Majesty
Thank you to so many for making the time of
Her Late Majesty’s mourning and funeral such a
special occasion. So many people stood up and
volunteered to help me and I am very grateful to
them all. A particular thank you to the donor who
funded so selflessly the equipment for us to be able
to show on a large (and I mean LARGE) screen the
funeral of Her Late Majesty on Monday. Thank
you to for those who brought vegetables, cake,
cheese and meats for the lunch afterwards. A big
thank you to Ruth and Simon for their assistance
with the memorial service at City College.
Well done.
Father Keith

CHURCHWARDEN'S WARBLINGS

We celebrate Fr Keith’s civil partnership with
Steve.
In respect of the forthcoming funeral of our late
Queen we had a quiet celebration with a special
vegan cake made by John at Amigos cafe and gifts
from our congregation: an engraved Dartington
decanter, a solid silver photo frame and a John
Lewis travel/picnic blanket.




Sunday concert
On Sunday afternoon we enjoyed a wonderful
concert by International virtuoso artists Craig
Ogden on the guitar and Judith Hall on the flute.
It was such a treat.


All set up for the big screen


The Funeral of our Late Queen




HAPPY BIRTHDAY IN SEPTEMBER
John Steere, Debbie Smith, Kevin Kelland,
Ian Gillhespy, Freya Hamley.
.... And especially to Ian who is celebrating today!
(24th )

CAT AND MOUSE GAMES
As I reported earlier in the year, the periods of
very hot weather that we experienced over the
summer were not appreciated by our visiting
feline friend, Perky. He just did not know what
to do with himself. He tried every location he
could think of indoors, but all were too hot,
especially without any air movement. Outside
was little better, even in the shade because, for
most of the time, there was no perceivable breeze
anywhere. However, he did seem to take to a deep
pile of leaves under a large, shady Camelia bush
in the front garden. The bush had grown
considerably, and we had given it a good trim,
having to stretch from the top of the ladders in
order to reach the top branches. The leaves had
all been swept up into a neat mound but, with the
arrival of the extreme heat, no-one felt inclined
to bag them up and take them down to the compost
bins right at the end of the rear garden. This task
was eventually undertaken when the temperature
dropped. Perky was none too happy, as can be
seen. He clung to the few remaining brown leaves
and gave me a good stare whenever I passed by.

Of an evening we were still leaving open the
large patio door to the Lounge, even after dark.
However, with the cooler conditions, Perky was
now more perky again. One evening recently, we
were sat quietly in the Lounge when he rushed in,
didn’t stop to greet us as he usually did, and
headed for the Hall. He seemed to have something
in his mouth. I followed and found him watching a
small mouse which was now cowering under the
radiator, seemingly unharmed. Perhaps foolishly, I
scooped up the cat, put him out and closed the
door. On returning, I tried to catch the mouse, but
it slipped my grip and disappeared, now nowhere
to be seen. Later, Penny thought she saw a small
flash of brown in the Kitchen and we both saw a
similar flash in the Lounge. That night we went to
bed, leaving a small saucer with a few porridge
oats in each of the two locations. Next morning the
oats in the Lounge were untouched but the Kitchen
saucer was completely empty. I did not want to kill
the mouse with poisoned bait, nor with an old-
fashioned mousetrap, so my next move was to go
into town and purchase a humane version. Neither
B & Q, nor any of the other possible retailers
stocked the required item. Fortunately, Trago Mills
had exactly what we needed. The bait included in
the ‘Big Cheese’ seemed a bit old so, knowing that
oats had already been enjoyed, we added some of
these. The trap was set, and we retired for the
night. Next morning – success - there was the tiny
mouse stuck inside the trap, wondering what had
happened and looking none the worse for the cat’s
attentions.

I carefully carried the box out to the rear lawn and
slid the clear lid back to release the mouse, which
immediately leapt about a foot into the air and
disappeared behind a large flower pot, obviously
still as fit as a fiddle.
On his next visit, Perky had completely forgotten
about the mouse and, now with cooler weather,
was back to normal on one of his favourite chairs.

Since then, Penny thought she saw something
small and brown flash by when in the garage.
We may set the trap there next and, if caught,
the mouse will be taken on a long walk to become
a ‘church mouse’ in the graveyard of St. Budock
church!
Tony Barnard