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 11 October              Harvest Thanksgiving

  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.
The long term sick and infirm:-
Diana, Liz & Keith N, Rob.
The Ministry Team:-
Rev'd Fran, Ruth and Marilyn.

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 burns for Penny Barnard in
memory of her father, Angus Leith.

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 11 October                Harvest Thanksgiving
0800 Holy Eucharist
1000 Sung Parish Eucharist

Wednesday 14 October
1000 Said Eucharist

Sunday 18 October                Luke the Evangelist
0800 Holy Eucharist
1000 Sung Parish Eucharist
Presiding: Rev’d Dr Sacha Pearce

HARVEST GIFT DONATIONS
All Harvest gifts will be donated to the Devonport
Food Club, which runs at St. Aubyn church every
Wednesday morning.

MARILYN'S MEMOS

CHRISTMAS FAIR DAYS
The date is rushing towards us and
only just over 4 weeks to go. Please
bring in contributions for the hampers, the raffle,
any lovely books and unwanted gifts too.
The list for volunteers will be up soon.

UPDATE ON MAUREEN WILSON
I have managed a few visits to Maureen this week
on Burrator Ward and she is most appreciative of
the cards which I have taken to her.
She is very poorly I fear. If anyone would like to
take over the birthday card list, it would be very
helpful.

Marilyn

ADVANCE DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
Oct 18 St. Luke’s Service
Nov 8 Remembrance Sunday
Nov 13 & 14 Christmas Fair

HAPPY BIRTHDAY IN OCTOBER
John Mitchelmore, Craig Miles, William Brown.

THE HISTORY OF HARVEST FESTIVAL
This Sunday, at Stoke Damerel parish church, we
will be holding our annual Harvest Festival
service. In modern times the chosen date for this
service can vary depending on what other events
may be programmed for this time of the year.
However, traditionally, Harvest Festival services
were held on the closest Sunday to the Harvest
Moon, being the nearest full moon to the Autumn
Equinox on 23rd. September. This full moon was
important to farmers because it gave them a longer
period of bright moonlight in which to harvest late
crops.
In 2026 the Harvest Moon was on Saturday, 26th.
September. Therefore, if we had kept to the
‘tradition’ we would have celebrated this event
two or three weeks ago.
Apparently, the word ‘harvest’ comes from the old
English word ‘haerfest’ meaning ‘autumn.’
The concept of celebrating harvest goes back many
centuries and related to peoples all around the
world giving thanksgiving for a good harvest,
which meant that they then stood a chance of
surviving the coming winter.
In the Church of England, the modern service can
be traced back to 1843. The first parish magazine
for Stoke Damerel church was not published until
thirty-five years later, in 1878. In that year,
Harvest Festival was celebrated on a Thursday
(19th. September). There were two services, Holy
Communion at 8.00am and Choral Evensong at
7.30pm. The September magazine stated, “Gifts of
fruit and flowers &c. may be sent to the church
on Thursday at 10.00am; and offerings of Corn
&c. at any time during the three previous days.”
The October magazine carried a report of those
harvest events, with some reservations. It appears
that the 8.00am service was not well attended as
the opening sentence stated, “There was an early
Celebration of Holy Communion at 8 o’clock:
but we were surprised at the paucity of
communicants on such an occasion.”
The article went on to report on the hard work of
the “decorators” filling the church with “corn,
fruit and flowers” The window ledges above the
High Altar had four vases of flowers, two
candlesticks (with six light each), two loaves of
bread, a floral cross backed by moss, flowers and
barley. Below the cross were apples, pears and
grapes. The font was decorated with wreaths of
flowers, corn, grapes, passion flowers, dahlias,
sheaves of wheat, and fruit in a basket. The Pulpit
was adorned with wreaths of corn, blackberries,
flowers, and wild hops. The lectern displayed
grapes, apples, flowers, six small loaves, sheaves
of wheat, barley and oats, and the choir stalls had
strips of wheat alternating with flowers.
The Evensong service was obviously well attended
because “As the hour for the evening service drew
on the church doors were besieged by large
crowds of people, and it was with difficulty that
the regular congregation could pass to their
seats; in spite of heavy showers the church was
soon crowded in every corner, even Vestry and
porches being full, while the aisles were packed
with people who remained standing throughout
the service.”
However, there was more criticism with the
report that “the Offerory amounted to - it was
so miserably small - a little over £6.” This was
compared to “Many village churches with a
congregation of 300 people ... would put to
shame the congregation of four times that
number which assembled in Stoke Church...”
If the church was packed as described, I still
find it difficult to see how 1200 worshippers
could have been accommodated within the walls,
and collecting even just £6 would have been very
difficult.
Although not held here, Stoke church does have a
connection to the first Harvest celebration of 1843,
which was conducted by Reverend R.S. Hawker at
his North Cornwall church. He had been baptised,
shortly after his birth in Plymouth in 1803, (or
1804), by his uncle, Reverend John Hawker, the
long-term Curate in charge of Stoke Damerel
parish church.

Tony Barnard