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 28 December              The Holy Innocents

  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.
The long term sick and infirm:-
George, Peter, Diana, Liz & Keith N, Rob, John and Shirley.
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.

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 28 December                The Holy Innocents
0800 Holy Eucharist
Celebrant: Rev’d Sue Nicholas
1000 Sung Parish Eucharist
Celebrant: Rev’d Sue Nicholas

Wednesday 31 December
Please note there is NO Morning Prayer today

Sunday 4 January                        Epiphany
0800 Holy Eucharist
Celebrant: Rev’d Mike Harman
1000 Sung Parish Eucharist
Celebrant: Rev’d Mike Harman

WELCOME
To Rev’d Sue, who has been with us for many of
the Christmas services and who leads both of our
services today.

A massive THANK YOU from Devonport Food Club!!

Thank you so much to everyone who generously
donated items for Devonport Food Club through
December and the Christmas period; the large box
of teabags for refreshments is also a brilliant and
well received gesture. There are those who come
for company as much as for food and other items.
Also, thank you to those of you who have/are
donating financially. We do have overheads and
need to pay for our FareShare weekly delivery. I
can give the bank details to anyone else who
would like to support families and others who are
finding life particularly difficult, in this way.
Folk who come to the Food Club have a shopping
experience – for a nominal amount they can
choose what they buy. But also, we occasionally
get a call from someone who is really struggling –
it is good to be able to pop over to the church and
fill a bag of essentials to help out. It is reassuring
that folk know they can turn to the church in time
of difficulty. And, be reassured, they are so very
grateful.
Rev Sue

MARILYN'S MEMOS

HOME COMMUNION
The pastoral team are pleased to share with you
that we have delivered communion over the year
to those in our congregation who have requested it.
In future, should you like to have home
communion, please get in touch with Wendy who
will be very happy to organise a visit.

LAKE AT REAR OF CHURCH
City College students and staff had considerable
difficulty breaching the large lake which forms
over the drain at the rear of the church. When the
rain is very heavy and gutters full, as on 18th
December, it makes entry into the rear of church
and the parish centre most unpleasant!
Can we consider a second/much larger soak away
drain in our future planning? No amount of
sweeping with a large brush is effective!


BURNS SUPPER
FRIDAY 23RD JANUARY
Having checked that we have a shopping/table
laying/preparing/cooking/waiting/clearing up
TEAM available, please keep this date in mind for
late January. More details to follow.
Burns Night is, of course, on January 25th but this
date does not suit our schedule!
Should you wish to attend, Marilyn will take
names as from now!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY IN DECEMBER
David Bailey, Russell Baynes, Judith
Mitchelmore, Gerry Turner, Alison Burgess,
Mary Jago, Alfie Richmond, Graham Dear.

And especially this weekend to Graham, who is
celebrating on Saturday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY IN JANUARY
Liz Neil.

MORE CHRISTMAS’ PAST
(AND PRESENT)

I am not sure when in the 20th. century it was
produced but, in the archives, there is a copy of
a Christmas card created by DHSB school, which
reproduces an old engraving of the gibbet which
once stood on that site. The school moved to its
current location opposite the church in 1945, so
the card must have been produced during the
latter half of the 20th. century. I cannot think of
a less suitable subject for a Christmas card.
Inside the card is a grim description of the 1787
event and the cheerful seasonal message –
“Greetings and all Good Wishes for Christmas
and throughout the coming year”
Each to their own, I suppose.


During World War 2, all the Devonport churches
joined forces to produce a common magazine, but
only on an occasional basis, no doubt to save paper
for the war effort. The cover of the four-page
edition, issued in Christmas 1941, reproduced
another, more cheerful, old engraving, of
Devonport Guildhall. The image includes the
statue of King George IV, which never made it to
the top of the column, although Britannia does
grace the Guildhall.
The words below, from It came upon a midnight
clear, read –
“Yet with the woes of sin and strife
The world has suffered long;
Beneath the Angel-strain have rolled
Two thousand years of wrong;
And man, at war with man, hears not
The love-song which they bring:
O hush the noise, ye men of strife
And hear the Angels sing!


25 years earlier, an edition of Punch magazine
included a cartoon which reflects some of the
wartime humour of this nation, albeit related to
something best not to be involved in now i.e.
smoking, which was acceptable then.


Back in the church archives there is a copy of a
1902 photograph showing a snow scene close by,
at the entrance of Devonport Park, something less
likely to be seen nowadays.


Coming right up to date, following our St. Luke’s
church service back in October, a Christmas card
arrived from the Lord Mayor.
HAPPY NEW YEAR
Tony Barnard