Each person attending completed a review of a different hymn, and by a show of hands we gained insights into different patterns of language and reference.
In the final part of her talk Canon Brown focused on hymns sung at St Thomas’s during the current Ordinary Time, many of which featured in her millennial survey. Singing of verses from several hymns took place during the talk which ended with a spirited rendering of Now thank we all our God. Dialogue with Canon Brown continued afterwards when light refreshments were served.
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Rose Petal Sunday - 3rd July 2011
We celebrated our Patronal Festival of St Thomas with coffee and celebration cake after the morning service. We usually drop rose petals from the bell tower - 'to shower God's blessing upon the city'.
Organathon - 2nd July 2011
A whole day of organ music! This was a sponsored marathon by our own organist - David Power. With morning coffee, light lunches, afternoon teas and various stalls throughout the day.
The Grand Total of money raised so far is £1,207.66 before gift aid is added. This will be divided equally between the St Thomas's Organ Fund and The Blue Lamp Foundation which exists to help families of injured personnel in the emergency services.
Many congratulations to David Power who gave us a feast of organ music for nine hours! A great day was had by all. Very many thanks to everyone who donated crafts and tombola prizes, served coffees, lunches and teas and gave their time in many ways.
The Spring Walk - 2nd May 2011
Perfect weather............spectacular walk............lovely people............
We had a wonderful walk as an eager group of people enjoyed perfect weather for their Bank Holiday. The countryside was at its best with May blossom and wild flowers in abundance, lambs frolicking in the meadows and stunning views and wonderful conversations - we saw wild hare bounding across large open fields, at Great Wishford church there was a plaque on the church wall giving the price of bread per gallon through various ages, then we saw nesting swans, sheep with new-born lambs, cattle with young calves - creation in all its beauty and we finished with an excellent pub lunch in Stapleford completing a delightful morning.wonderful lunch.
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A Right Royal Tea Party - 30th April 2011
The sun shone brilliantly on St. Thomas’s garden as we celebrated the marriage of Prince William and Catherine Middleton. Bunting and balloons fluttered; luscious cakes tempted; musicians delighted; people relaxed, chatted, laughed, re-lived the wedding; the teapot poured unending cups of tea as we toasted the health and happiness of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge at the St. Thomas’s Street Party.
A Taizé Evensong - 27 March 2011
We held a special evensong following the Taizé form using our own Taizé Cross for the first time. For those who were new to this style of worship, we held a rehearsal / workshop beforehand to aquaint everyone with the music used in the service. It was a moving service much appreciated by those who attended.
The next Taizé service will be a Vigil on 23 April - Easter Saturday, at 8.00pm.
For more information about the Taizé Community and their style of worship, please click here.
Quiet Day on a celebration of The Eucharist - Sat 19th March 2011
This was a day combining teaching, relationship building, prayer and worship. The teaching from our curate, Rev'd Belinda Davies focused on the shape of the liturgy and how we meet with God in and through our worship. To view some photographs from the day, please click on the photo.
Comments from those attending this day included:~
Belinda's Parish quiet day was beautiful. Everything about it was beautiful, from start to finish. Ivy House in Warminster had a loved and cared for feel to it, with pretty gardens, complete with 'nooks and crannies', in the form of a little stream, a summerhouse and quiet corners. The lunch was home cooked and worthy of restaurant status, and the interior of the house was warm and comfortable. And in terms of the day and worship itself, it was carefully and thoughtfully planned, and gently delivered. Whatever our experience or expectations were of such a day, Belinda covered every angle to make our day work for us. With short sessions and helpful prompts for reading, the day flew by, with silences kindly observed by everybody enjoying glorious sun and solitude. The culmination of the day, based on the Eucharist, was a shared experience of giving and receiving the sacraments. Deeply spiritual and very special indeed for all of us lucky enough to be there. In short, it was just beautiful, thanks to Belinda, ably abetted by Canon David Yerburgh.
I very much enjoyed the Parish Quiet Day at Ivy House. The atmosphere was peaceful and friendly, we were well looked after by the staff, and the theme of the Eucharist as presented by Belinda gave us much food for thought, culminating in the actual Eucharist presided over by David. We really were blest with the weather and I appreciated spending the periods of silence in the beautiful peaceful garden with all the signs of Spring to bring joy to my heart. I’m so grateful to Belinda, David and the staff for giving me such a good introduction to Ivy House.
A Quiet Day is just what it was. Plenty of time to think and to pray. Belinda gave four excellent short talks, leading us through the Four Actions Of The Eucharist - The Taking Of The Bread ,The Giving Of Thanks Over The Bread And Wine, The Breaking Of The Bread and The Giving Of Communion, ending with the Eucharist itself presided over by Canon David Yerburgh. We had a charming welcome, good food, comfort and room to spread out. There was also a chance to speak privately to Belinda if there was something you wished to discuss. Nothing could have been more easy and relaxed but serious at the same time.
Most of the time we live in a very noisy world and so, when we get the opportunity to be silent, we may feel awed by what is before us. Will God be there with us? If so, how will we know? How shall we fill the time? Do others have the same feelings of aloneness? We look at our watches to find out how much longer we have before we can hear a voice again but, suddenly, we realise that we are relaxed, we hear our hearts beating, our minds begin to empty and we are away! What a great opportunity to talk to God, wondering if this is prayer, and then accepting that God knows that it is our best effort - and then it's time for coffee or lunch and we long to hurry back to continue our journey of learning and communicating. Please, can we have another Quiet Day soon?
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Many thanks to everyone who supported last Saturday's coffee morning. A stunning total of £550 was raised from the sale of coffee and a bewildering array of freshly baked cakes, bric-a-brac, cake and produce stalls and a very successful tombola.
There were donations of gifts and other goods from a wide circle of friends and helpers. The money raised will go to the charity Cross Links which is active in Malawi. Laura Hodder (a local Salisbury lass) is working there with street children, many of whom are AIDS orphans.
Please click on the logo for more information about Crosslinks
Some hardy souls and one dog slept out at the church to raise awareness and money for the Alabaré Christian charity. Alabaré works with the homeless and vulnerable people in our society.
We were grateful that it was only a cold night and not rainy as in previous years. Again, we had our eyes opened to the trials that face the homeless in Salisbury, even though only for one night. We hope to have raised around £500 in sponsorship. Here is one sleeper's account:
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We all met at St Thomas's Church about 7.30pm on Friday 4 March 2011. Seven (eight including Sam the dog) sat down for a simple supper of home made soup and bread and chatted about the night ahead. After food, we had Compline and felt calm and chilled, which is just as well because it was already pretty cold outside. At about 10.30pm we arranged ourselves outside the main door of St Thomas's, with 5 of us sleeping outside on cardboard, with sleeping bags for warmth. One person went to the Cathedral for the night and another stayed inside St Thomas's. We settled down quite quickly, as due to the cold there seemed to be fewer people out and about. At approximately 11pm, someone from Alabaré came to say Hello and thank us for supporting them and also a friend brought a flask of hot chocolate. Only a couple of takers though, as most had already gone to sleep! From about 1am, it was fairly quiet, with few revellers walking past and nobody went out of their way to disturb us. Sleep was sporadic, but still we all managed to get some sleep and finally woke at about 6 to go inside for breakfast of bacon butties. The temperature during the night had dropped to -3°C.
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Please click here to see photos of the night |
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'Getting to know you better' - A Welcome Event
One Sunday in late February, St. Thomas's House and garden were filled to capacity after the morning service. The occasion was a 'getting to know you better' event for the many people who have joined the St Thomas's family during the last couple of years. Over a glass of wine and tasty nibbles, people enjoyed the opportunity to be introduced to one another and have a good chat. Members of the clergy and PCC were also invited and it was good to see so many St Thomas's folk - old and new - mingling happily together.
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