Rockland St Peter

St James, Great Ellingham

October started with a simple Celtic style service in the afternoon on the first Sunday – a reflective moment to end the weekend.  Our second Sunday was café church – followed by cake to celebrate Colin’s birthday!  The remainder of October will see a benefice Holy Communion on the fourth Sunday where a new colourful banner, painted by Christine Fuller, will be dedicated.  The Memorial Service on 31^st October is open to anyone, with additional invitations to those who have lost a loved one during the past year.

On Friday 19^th November we are hosting a Christmas Shopping Evening, 7-9pm.  Come along to buy a unique gift from one of the many stallholders – jewellery, knitted goods, sweet hampers, fudge, books painted glass, to name just a few.  We have 16 different tables booked!  Festive refreshments will be available and all monies raised go towards keeping the church open.

Keep an eye on the service sheet in the porch or notice board for our services.  There is a Holy Communion each month, plus additional services now at 4pm.

KD

St Peter, Little Ellingham

Our Macmillan Coffee morning was a great success thanks to the wonderful efforts of the various bakers and to the many people who came along, supped lots of coffee and tea, and munched their way through plates of cake and other nibbles.  A lot of new families have moved into the village recently and it was good to see many of them had come along to support the event.  The total sum raised so far is just over £375.  A big ‘thank you’ to everyone involved.

We shall be hosting the regular Remembrance Sunday Service this year.  This event is an opportunity to commemorate the many men and women who have given their lives for the freedom of our country.  As usual we shall proceed to the US memorial at what used to be Deopham airfield and then to the Great Ellingham memorial.  Refreshments will be available at Great Ellingham church.

CT

Rockland All Saints

The Harvest Supper on 2nd October was great success with a record number of tickets sold and a record amount of money made!  Many thanks to all those who provided the absolutely delicious food, prepared the  village hall, laid the tables, served the meal, made teas and coffees, washed the dishes and entertained the troops afterwards with their music!  What struck me as really heartwarming though, was the way, when it was all over, everybody present set to and cleared away tables and chairs, swept the floors and took stuff home to wash!  We are so fortunate to be part of such a lovely community!

The tuner came to service the old organ as he does annually and now it’s playing beautifully again…..it was well tested during the Harvest Songs of Praise on 17th when we came as thankful and faithful people to plough fields, scatter good seed and  raise anthems. While we praised the beauty of the earth and all creatures of our God and king, we thanked our God with hearts and hands and voices for the fruits of his creation…….seven rousing hymns sung with gusto as Carey and John played and pumped vigorously!  The collection, as always at RAS Harvest, went to the Leprosy Mission and instead of bringing harvest gifts, we were asked to support the local Food Banks. It was a lovely service, led by Rev. Christina.

The inaugural meeting of the Men’s Den, co-ordinated by Cor Dekker, has taken place in the old schoolroom and was attended by 9 chaps from across the Benefice. Ideas were mooted and some have started to be implemented already! Next meeting is on November 2nd at 2pm if you feel like joining them…!

Please make a note in your diaries of the Advent Lunch, an annual  joint venture with RSP, on Saturday November 27th in the Village Hall which is followed next day by the usual Advent Carol service on the first Sunday of Advent (28th November) but please note the different time of 2.30pm.

Shropham

There will be a Shropham PCC meeting on 16^th November.

DN

Centering Prayer workshop

There are still some places available for anyone wishing to join us for the Centering Prayer workshop on Saturday 13^th November between 10am and 4pm.

Centering Prayer is a form of Contemplative Prayer which, as one person put it, “even though we can perhaps find ways to stop “outer noise” it is more difficult to still the “inner noise”.  Centering Prayer is a way of developing this inner peace to enable us to connect to our inner self and improve our connection with God.

Anyone interested please contact me.

Colin

Food Donations

Donations received at the church (there is a green lidded box in the church) and the village shops are now split between Norwich and Thetford Foodbank.  Most wanted items on the list include: tinned tomatoes, tinned rice pudding, tinned fruit, UHT/long life milk, long life juice & tinned fish.  They are well stocked with pasta!  If you are in need of a referral, contact Citizens Advice on 0800 144 8848.  For donation queries, contact Kathryn 456525 or sunflowerjones@hotmail.com.  Please don’t be embarrassed to ask for help.

KD

How To Find Us

Click on the link to find a map of the area on Google maps. (Please note that we have no control over the content of external websites).