Parish Newsletter

 

Parish Renewal Update: Sunday 11th June

Thank you so much to all our volunteers for signing up for the “House, Church and Garden” Groups. A fantastic response! We are now holding an Open ‘Welcome!’ Meeting on Wednesday 21st June at 6.00 pm here in church, where the members of the different groups can get to know each other and start planning how they are going to operate, rotas, best times in the week, frequency, and so on. Email invitations have been sent out personally to everyone who signed up for any of these groups, either in recent weeks or in last Autumn’s Recruitment Drive. Delighted so many of you can come along on 21st! Our “Roadmap” is now in production showing how all the activities and groups will unfold in the months ahead. It will be available as posters and newsletter inserts next week. June’s focus has been “House, Church and Garden”: July’s is “Welcome”, to Mass every Sunday and Weekday, and to New Parishioners The Welcome Pack is already under way.

North Wales Railways – Thursday 20th July

Excellent response, with forty of the places now taken. First priority was given to those who’d signed up and paid for the last projected trip. This means we now have TEN spare places. Flyers with full details at the back of church, plus a sign-up sheet. £72. Sign up today! First come, first served.

Day on Discernment: Gifts & Service for Lay People

A day of prayer, fellowship, teaching and workshops to help discover how you can best use your gifts at the service of God and neighbour. St Columba’s Church Hall, Saturday 24th June, 10.00 am – 4.15 pm. Bring a packed lunch. All are welcome!
Further details from Stephen Yates 07517-906-438 stephen.yates@dioceseofshrewsbury.org

A visit from RTU – Come and meet us!

Saturday 17th June at midday, there will be a visit from Father Arockiaraj who is one of the priests connected with the charity Reaching the Unreached. RTU was started by Br James Kimpton, a De La Salle Brother, who grew up in St Werburgh’s Parish. Lots of you already support this great charity and some of you may be curious to find out more about it. Please come and meet us. A short prayer service, followed by a talk from Father Arockiaraj, who explains more about the charity – it might even inspire to join one of the supporter’s trips to India that happen every year. We look forward to welcoming you!

Friday 30th June: 'Music for a Summer's Evening'

Chester Cathedral Nave Choir will be singing a concert of evening music at St Werburgh's, 30th June at 7.45 pm. Free entry. Retiring collection.

Chester’s Active Travel Festival – Father’s Day Sunday 18th June 11.00-16.00

Why not leave the car at home on this Sunday, and walk or cycle into Mass? You and your family can then enjoy the fun, entertainment and information at Chester’s first ever Active Travel Festival to be held in the Lower Castle Car Park CH1 2DN. We hope to encourage more people to see walking and cycling. See www.atfest.uk for much more details.

Christ and Creation: Talks Three and Four

At the Cathedral, on Wednesdays 14th and 21st June, both at 7.30 pm. In the Refectory.

Friends of the Venerabile Visit – Lunch Here

The Friends are making a visit to Chester from Tuesday 13th to Friday 16th June. They’ll be here for 12.15 pm Mass on the Tuesday. Can we give a simple buffet lunch afterwards, for about 15? Do we have two new catering wolunteers who’d like to help out? Then I will give them a quick walk round Chester. Wednesday, they explore the Cathedral in the Morning and the River Dee in the afternoon. Thursday we are going down to Shrewsbury to see our Cathedral. Welcome, one and all!

National Gallery Exhibition – St Francis: 11th July

On until 30th July, it’s already attracting a lot of interest. nationalgalleryorg.uk/exhibitions/saint-francis-of-assisi. We are organising a parish trip down by train, mid-morning (when the prices come down), stroll down to Trafalgar Square, see the exhibition, meal somewhere and back early evening. Delighted that ten of you have signed up already. Any more before we make a final booking?

Chester Heritage Festival June 17th–28th

Ann Marie Curtis will give a power point presentation at 2.30 pm on Sunday 25th June, at St Werburgh’s, about Chester Lead Shot Tower, its owners and the people who worked there. She will also lead a walk around the Boughton area on Monday 26th June, starting at the Lead Shot Tower at 10.30. Anyone wanting to come must book through the Chester Heritage Festival 2023 website.

New! – Our Own Grand Piano in Church!

On Friday, a long dream for us came true, having our own Grand Piano in church. It’s a generous gift from the Byatt family and the Cathedral, as they now have Roger Fisher’s piano and no longer need this Broadway grand piano. We need an A Frame for it to sit on, to make moving it safer and easier, and a cover for it. Anyone volunteer to source these for us? Meanwhile, please, do not try to move it without FP or Tom Rozario present. It could easily be damaged.

Catholic High School 50th Anniversary Mass

Wonderful for the whole High School to gather on Friday for a Thanksgiving Mass in the Cathedral. Good to see so many former Staff and Pupils there. Big thanks to Gerry for organising the Altar Servers from a variety of local parishes. Ad multos annos!

Christ and Creation: Four Talks & Discussions

Two super talks from Claire here at St Werburgh’s: the next two are in the Refectory (please note change of venue) at the Cathedral, on Wednesdays 14th and 21st June, both at 7.30 pm.

Many thanks for the recent SVP 2nd Collection

The SVP wants to say a huge thank you for your generosity on the last second collection. We have received a total of £1,300, which will rise to nearly £1,500 with the gift aid.

Photo of the Week: Lourdes in the Snow

Beautiful snap of a very wintry Basilica from our Lourdes Correspondent, Paul W, in February this year. He is there now, in very different weather! Some of you have been asking where your POTW is, which you sent in months ago: the answer is that the Tekkies put them all in a big file and pull out one every week. Patience, my children!