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pickering parish church |
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Dear Friends, One of the joys of living in Pickering (so far as I am concerned, anyway), is that everyone, but everyone, wants to stay. My last parish was in Barnsley, and the one before that on the edge of Leicester, and whilst people did stay, it was nothing on the scale of visitors here. Friends with caravans call in as part of their weekend away; others, ‘passing through’, drop in for coffee; many others book in months ahead as though I were a B&B! Of course, I enjoy it and it’s lovely being able to be hospitable to friends and family who wish to visit this fascinating, lovely area in which I am privileged to live and work. Welcomes are so important, and I’m pleased that visitors say that they find our parish church so welcoming. At the end of our main Sunday morning service, as I stand by the door chatting with people over coffee, it’s really good to hear the positively joyous comments from so many visitors who have enjoyed the worship (for I believe that worship should be enjoyed). The website www.pickeringchurch.com receives such positive comments, too, from ‘virtual’ visitors from literally all over the world. Another wonderful welcome is the immensely popular Monday morning coffee mornings in church. For a very modest price you can enjoy tea, coffee, homemade cakes and chatter in church. It positively buzzes with conversation and laughter. Come along between 10am and 12noon, for you will be made very welcome, and will probably meet old friends and perhaps make new ones, too. A good place to put down your shopping bags and relax. And support your parish church, too: last year’s Market Day coffee mornings enabled us to have pew runners, ensuring that our seats are comfortable (though I never preach a long sermon!). I’m really pleased, too, that we’re to host this year’s Ryedale Festival Service. I gather that it’s not taken place in Pickering Church for many years, so welcome back. And welcome to you all, but please note that for that Sunday only, 25th July, the service will be at the later time of 10.30. The new Bishop of Whitby is preaching, and the Ampleforth and Ryedale Choir, the Parish Church Choir and Ryedale Festival Ensemble will be providing the music: Haydn’s Little Organ Mass and Mozart’s Ave verum corpus. Sounds good to me: hope you think so, too. Pickering Church is being used during the Ryedale Festival for other concerts, including an open rehearsal with the famous Fitzwilliam String Quartet (20th July), one of the celebrated coffee concerts (27th July), and a very full Schubert Day (30th July). More details from the Festival Office, of course, but it’s good that we in Pickering can give such a good welcome to this important event taking place across our wide area. Other music makers are finding Pickering Church a good place for concerts, so we welcome Chordiality on 3rd July. As your parish church, there’s a great deal going on anyway, during the summer. On 27th June we welcome other churches in the town to celebrate with us the Patronal Festival – the Feast Day of Saints Peter and Paul. That service starts, as usual, at 10am. On the second Sunday in each month, at 11.30am, there’s now a short Family Service. Intended primarily for those with young children, and led by families in church, it’s proving increasingly popular and you are, of course, most welcome. If you’re aged anything from 18 to about your mid-40’s and wish to meet up with others in that age group (whether you come to church or not), then there’s a really good welcome, often meeting in a pub, from YAK. It’s started fairly recently and has really taken off. There are other groups at church, too, catering for different needs and different tastes. Contact me if you want to know more (or look on the website). Contact me, too, if you’re thinking of having a child christened, or you want to get married (we’ve got quite a lots of weddings at Pickering Parish Church in 2010, and I’m already booking up for the next couple of years). Couples are often surprised at how inexpensive it is to get married in church, and whilst there are lots of alternative ways of getting married now, a traditional wedding with organ music playing and the bells ringing out really is something. Ring me if you want to find out more (and indeed, if you want to try your hand at bellringing, don’t forget that practice night is every Wednesday, from about 7.30pm. Turn up and make yourself known to the team in the tower). Usual Sunday service times are 8am Holy Communion, which is a short said service; the 10am Parish Eucharist has hymns and music, and is just over an hour in length; at 6pm we generally have an Evening Service, which lasts about 50 minutes. You’re welcome to any service in this, your parish church, and the doors of the church are open every day from about 9am to 5pm.
Fr Antony Pritchett,
Parish Priest. |