Church Reports in Hallmark August 2020 to February 2025 inc
From Lacey Green History
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Hallmark March 2025. St John’s Church Community Events by Jenny Stothard
December 1 – Toys and Carols.
The church would like to say thank you to everyone who bought toys for the Salvation Army to distribute to those in need. I think we all like an excuse to buy toys, especially when we know they are going to good homes!
It was St John’s Church's turn to host this area's Churches Together in Britain and Ireland, an initiative where different Christian denominations meet regularly working for unity, peace, and social justice. This made the Advent Carol service very special.
Represented were of course Saint John’s, plus ministers, readers, singers and / or members of the congregations of Saint Theresa’s RC Church, Kimble Free Church, Princes Risborough Methodist Church, St. Mary’s Princes Risborough, St. Dunstan’s Monks Risborough, and Princes Risborough Baptist Church.
Everyone stayed to chat with mulled wine and home-made mince pies after the service. As in many other walks of life it is heart-warming to celebrate our similarities, and interesting to talk about our differences.
December 14th - Festive Afternoom Tea, We were entertained royally by the Baking Powder Folk Band and the Early Birds Saxophone Quartet, whilst enjoying the anticipatory atmosphere in the church, with the huge beautifully decorated Christmas tree holding its usual place in the Social Chapel, acting as signpost towards all our Christmas worship. We are lucky to have Canon Tony, who plays so many musical instruments and is always willing to enhance the event, or indeed the services by playing alongside Cher, lan and Ken, or by bringing the many groups and bands he plays in to entertain us.
December 19 – Choir Visit. This year the choir visited Fremantle Court, singing carols for the staff and the residents, some of whom still have their homes in Lacey Green or Loosley Row. They were made very welcome and felt very appreciated. (Except for one lady who kept shouting out “How many more are you going to sing?’) Well you can't please them all!
December 22 – Nine Lessons and Carols. The service was made particularly special by so many friends, old and new, joining the choir for this service. We had men and women from
Lacey Green, Loosley Row, Speen, Princes Risborough, Naphill, Longwick, Hazlemere and even Munich and Porto as we were joined by Tom Mole and Ines Costa. As a result the music was glorious.
February 17 – Cake and Coffee Morning
This was held, for the first time, at The Sports and Social Club, Lacey Green, which turned out to be a lovely warm and welcoming venue. The sun shone for us, proving that it does indeed shine on the righteous! As a result we had an enthusiastic group of children collecting designated items from the playground for the pop up scavenger hunt and happily crafting whilst the adults could enjoy a wide range of cakes. Donations were very generous and will go towards flowers for our 200th anniversary events.
Hallmark March 2025. St Johns Church by Billy Stott. A note from Billy Stott, who, having been a regular choir member in his youth, returns to St John’s as often as he can. What a joy it was to be back singing at a St John's at Christmas!
This Christmas I was once again kindly allowed to re-join the choir to sing at as many Christmas services as I was able.
We had lots of laughs in the Monday evening rehearsals in the weeks leading up to the start of the Advent and Christmas period and it was great to be part of a choir again. I'm not a regular member of a choir anymore and for me it was a joy to be singing with lots of familiar faces, and also some new ones. I think I counted 19 in the choir for the Lessons and Carols service, which I think may be a record for recent years. We had a good balance between female and male voices, almost equal numbers of each which is very unusual these days!
I obviously wasn't part of the congregation, so am not sure how it sounded in the rest of the church, but in the choir stalls it sounded and felt not too bad at all. Cher was, as always, wonderful at leading us (more like corralling us sometimes, which was needed) and she and Rosemary selected fantastic music for us to sing, while Gavin beautifully accompanied us on the organ and swelled the bass ranks with his voice.
Thank you to Cher, Gavin, Rosemary and all of the marvellous singers I was blessed to join.
Hallmark 22nd December 2024. Report by Tony Bundock. Nine Lessons and Carols, The service was made particularly special by so many friends, old and new joining the choir for this service. We had men and women from Lacey Green, Loosley Row, Speen, Princes Risborough, Naphill, Longwick, Hazlemere and even Munich and Porto as we were joined by Tom Mole and Ines Costa. As a result the music was glorious.
A note from Billy Stott, who, having been a regular choir member in his youth, returns to us as often as he can. "What a joy it was to be back singing at a St John's at Christmas! This Christmas I was once again kindly allowed to re-join the choir to sing at as many Christmas services as I was able. We had lots of laughs in the Monday evening rehearsals in the weeks leading up to the start of the Advent and Christmas period and it was great to be part of a choir again. I'm not a regular member of a choir anymore and for me it was a joy to be singing with lots of familiar faces, and also some new ones. I think I counted 19 in the choir for the Lessons and Carols service, which I think may be a record for recent years. We had a good balance between female and male voices, almost equal numbers of each which is very unusual these days! I obviously wasn't part of the congregation, so am not sure how it sounded in the rest of the church, but in the choir stalls it sounded and felt not too bad at all. Cher was, as always, wonderful at leading us (more like coralling us sometimes, which was needed) and she and Rosemary selected fantastic music for us to sing, while Gavin beautifully accompanied us on the organ and swelled the bass ranks with his voice. Thank you to Cher, Gavin, Rosemary and all of the marvellous singers I was blessed to join."
19th December 2024. St John’s Choir Outreach Visit
This year the choir visited Fremantle Court, singing carols for the staff and the residents, some of whom still have their homes in Lacey Green or Loosley Row. They were made very welcome and felt very appreciated. ( Except for one lady who kept shouting out “How many more are you going to sing?”) Well you can’t please them all!
December 1st 2024. Toy Service and Advent Carol service. The church would like to say thank you to everyone who bought toys for the Salvation Army to distribute to those in need. I think we all like an excuse to buy toys, especially when we know they are going to good homes!
It was St John’s Church’ s turn to host this areas Churches Together in Britain and Ireland, an initiative where different Christian denominations meet regularly working for unity, peace, and social justice. This made the Advent Carol service very special. Represented were of course Saint John’s plus ministers, readers, singers and / or members of the congregations of Saint Theresa’s RC Church, Kimble Free Church, Princes Risborough Methodist Church, St. Mary’s Princes Risborough, St. Dunstan’s Monks Risborough, and Princes Risborough Baptist Church.
Everyone stayed to chat with mulled wine and home-made mince pies after the service. As in many other walks of life it is heart-warming to celebrate our similarities, and interesting to talk about our differences
Hallmark December 2024. Report by Jenny Stothard, Autumn Extravaganza
We had a lovely messy afternoon on Saturday 26th October creating works of art inspired by the Autumn season. Canon Tony opened and closed the proceedings with a short prayer. Pumpkins were carved and painted. Paint and glue flowed freely, to create collages or models. Biscuits were decorated and flapjacks consumed to keep our energy levels up.
The high spots were definitely the giant rocket that the children helped to make and then played in, and “going to the moon’ with parachute games at the end. (Our nod to Fireworks Night.)
Thank you to everyone, including our new village shop, who donated the amazing amount of cardboard we needed.
Watch out for our next one on Good Friday. If anyone would like to be involved in the planning of these, please let me know. It is great fun.
stjohnschurchlaceygreen@gmail.com
Hallmark December 2024. Remembrance by Vince Stothard
The annual Remembrance Service was held on Sunday 10th November. This is always a very moving and reflective occasion. Thanks are due to everyone for their participation, including members of the congregation who placed crosses under the memorial plaques.
These had the names of local people who gave their lives in the two world wars on them.
There was a strong choral presence underpinning the service and we are always grateful to Johnny Thirkell for playing the Last Post and Reveille at the key moments, as well as providing the descant for the national anthem.
Hallmark February 2024. Christmas Service 2023. Report by Tony Bundock
It was a very successful Christmas at Saint John’s, as it was for the Church of England as a whole. Each year the Dioceses of the Church of England collect attendance data from each Parish and our experience seems to match the national picture that weekly numbers suggest that we are gradually moving back to where we were before the Covid 19 pandemic lockdown.
In fact, the Bishop of Oxford has advised his clergy that attendances at Christmas services for 2023 were higher than they were in 2019.
So far as Saint John’s is concerned, our most popular Christmas services now seem to be the Service of Nine Lessons and Carols on the evening of the Sunday before Christmas and which follows the traditional King’s College Cambridge pattern; and our Crib Service on the afternoon of Christmas Eve which attracts a great number of younger families and children.
The Service of Nine Lessons and Carols featured our talented and enthusiastic choir, and a number of guest readers from the wider community including our two parish schools. The Crib Service for 2023 included the story “Little Old Donkey” which involved fifteen glove puppets held by children from the congregation, as well as four young lesson readers, and a moving performance of “Away in a Manger” with Makaton sign language.
Midnight Mass continues to have a distinctive appeal although the indications are that it is not as popular as was once the case, with adverse weather that night possibly a factor for 2023.
There was a good attendance at our Christmas morning service which felt very relaxing after the very busy period leading up to it: and we were pleased to mark saint John’s festival day on the 27th December with a special patronal service and cake and wine to follow.
Hallmark June 2024. Easter at St Johns by Tony Bundock
Our Palm Sunday service began with the Liturgy of the Palms in the Vicarage grounds followed by a solemn procession into Church in commemoration of Christ's triumphant entry into Jerusalem for the final week of his earthly ministry.
Then followed the Liturgy of the Passion in which the sermon spot was devoted to a reading by three voices of the Passion of the Church according to Saint Mark.
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday services in Holy Week took the form of the ancient Office of Compline together with a seasonal hymn and choir anthem. On the morning of Maundy Thursday, the Church hosted the respective end-of-term services for Speen C of E First School and St. John’s C of E Academy. Our evening Church service took the form of the Eucharist of the Last Supper followed by the Stripping of the Altar. On Good Friday afternoon the service was based on readings, anthems and hymns from the Royal School of Church Music publication “The Cross of Christ”.
It is a long-standing tradition at St. John’s Church that, after the Good Friday service we make our way outside for Good Friday prayers at the foot of the large wooden outdoor cross on the corner of Church Lane and Main Road.
On Easter morn, at 6.15am, a few of us joined a congregation of over fifty people from a variety of churches in the Princes Risborough area for the Churches Together in Risborough Easter sunrise service.
At around the same time the large wooden outdoor cross was being decorated with daffodils, which is another long-standing St. John’s Easter season custom.
The ancient Easter ceremonies were incorporated into our 8am service and, at the commencement of our 10am Easter service, we were led by
Highland Pipers,father and son Andrew and Archie Cowie, to the outdoor cross for Easter prayers before being led by the Pipers back into Church for a very well-attended Easter Sung Communion.
Easter Day culminated for us with Festal Evensong led by the St. John's Church choir. This brought to a conclusion a most uplifting and fulfilling commemoration of Holy Week and Easter.
Hallmark. The 2023 Christmas Service at St Johns By Tony Bundock
It was a very successful Christmas at Saint John’s, as it was for the Church of England as a whole. Each year the Dioceses of the Church of England collect attendance data from each Parish and our experience seems to match the national picture that weekly numbers suggest that we are gradually moving back to where we were before the Covid 19 pandemic lockdown.
In fact, the Bishop of Oxford has advised his clergy that attendances at Christmas services for 2023 were higher than they were in 2019.
So far as Saint John’s is concerned, our most popular Christmas services now seem to be the Service of Nine Lessons and Carols on the evening of the Sunday before Christmas and which follows the traditional King’s College Cambridge pattern; and our Crib Service on the afternoon of Christmas Eve which attracts a great number of younger families and children.
The Service of Nine Lessons and Carols featured our talented and enthusiastic choir, and a number of guest readers from the wider community including our two parish schools. The Crib Service for 2023 included the story “Little Old Donkey” which involved fifteen glove puppets held by children from the congregation, as well as four young lesson readers, and a moving performance of “Away in a Manger” with Makaton sign language.
Midnight Mass continues to have a distinctive appeal although the indications are that it is not as popular as was once the case, with adverse weather that night possibly a factor for 2023.
There was a good attendance at our Christmas morning service which felt very relaxing after the very busy period leading up to it: and we were pleased to mark saint John’s festival day on the 27th December with a special patronal service and cake and wine to follow.
Hallmark. 2023 Christmas continued with churchwarden's report. St John’s Church, Lacey Green held many services throughout the Christmas period, thanks to the dedicated commitment of Canon Tony, Mark Roberts, Graham King, Cher and Gavin Mole, Rosemary Mortham, Margaret Gray, John Gabbitas and everyone in the church choir. Here are a few quotes from various members of a very appreciative congregation regarding their favourite service this year.
Jo Niven. I really enjoyed the New Year's Eve service. It was wonderful walking into the church and feeling so warmly welcomed by our church family. I found it very uplifting and full of hope for 2024.
Graham King. My favourite service was the crib service. It’s a wonderful informal service, with lots of children from St John’s. The youngest was a 6 week old baby sitting in the front row and my 1 year old grand-daughter was wandering about, having a lovely time for the whole service
There were 15 children in the front, each with their own puppet, listening to Canon Tony and joining in with their puppets at the appropriate time. It was a wonderful service of stories and songs and all 120 of us had a great time getting into the Christmas spirit.
Jenny Stothard. I really enjoyed the Nine Lessons and Carols, There was a great mixture of hymns for the congregation to sing. The anthems sung by the choir, a wide variety of traditional and more modern, were very beautiful. My favourite choir piece was “When a Child is Born” sung by Mike Eden and Carla Gavin. Mike’s rich voice paired really well with Carla’s clear tones and they sang it with such sensitivity. I'd like to say a big “Thank you” to Cher, Gavin and all the choir!
Jill White. I liked all the Christmas services. It's lovely to come to your own parish church on Christmas Day. It’s not just a building it’s all the people in it. The midnight mass on Christmas Eve and the morning service on Christmas Day are both special in their own ways. I liked seeing the people, singing, and listening to Cher on our Samuel Green organ.
I always like the crib best with all the extra figures in, and, of course, the beautifully decorated, big Christmas Tree.
"
Hallmark May 2023. Easter photos on left and right.
Hallmark February 2023,
Hallmark February 2022.
Hallmark November 2022. Report by Pat Rushmore. Church Warden.
In August we had a very successful and well supported Garden Party at Lane Farm; Catherine and Craig kindly loaned their garden for the event.
In October we celebrated Harvest Thanksgiving which included a special service to include our Ukrainian visitors.
As we look forward to Christmas we are having a Toy Service where gifts are given to the Salvation Army for distribution to needy children
Our Christmas Tree Festival will be held from 9 - 11 December and this year our theme is 'Christmas Tradition'.
We hope to see a large number of entries from clubs, organisations and individuals to make the church look truly festive over the weekend. Please register your interest with Margaret Gray or Caroline Gulliver. Time to get creative.
On the evening of Saturday December 10th there will be a concert arranged by Gavin Mole for Gary and himself to entertain us again. They did a brilliant job in the summer and I am sure that we can expect a similar performance this time.
Look out for advertisements about events and in the meantime we wish you all a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Hallmark February 2021. St. John's Church by Pat Rushmore. Like most others, we have had a very uncertain time since the last issue of Hallmark. Whilst the church was open, services continued as usual and in addition we had zoom services on Sundays at 11 am as many people felt safer, or indeed needed to shield. The Zoom service still has good numbers and we have seen some new faces, and some people who have returned to Church, during these services.
Christmas services were a challenge as the number of congregation were limited and the Church had to be sanitised between services. Nevertheless, on Christmas Eve we had a zoomed service which was led from the Church and other places (two live donkeys included), a zoomed Carol Service with lessons being read from different homes and all the services included the excellent singing from the Mole family. The music and singing were fantastic!
On Christmas morning a service was held in the Church and this service was zoomed. We are operating under the Diocesan Covid guidelines and therefore there will only be these 2 services each week as the Church has to be sanitized between services or alternatively, we have to leave a 72 hours gap between services. No singing is permitted and face masks should be worn. Social distancing is 2m and hand sanitizers will be available. A disposable service sheet will be handed out at each service as prayer books cannot be used, You can of course bring your own if you wish. Holy Communion will take place in a different format but advice will be given on the procedure on the day.
The Pewsheet will continue to be distributed by email and the Zoom service will continue for the foreseeable future, but at a later time of 11:00am
Both Schools have had services in Church this week. St John’s School leavers had their service on the 16th July and Speen School on 17th July. There were approximately 45 leavers from St John’s School - as always, some sadness but many happy memories!
in addition we had zoom services on Sundays at 11 am as many people felt safer, or indeed needed to shield. The Zoom service still has good numbers and we have seen some new faces, and some people who have returned to Church, during these services.
Christmas services were a challenge as the number of congregation were limited and the Church had to be sanitised between services. Nevertheless, on Christmas Eve we had a zoomed service which was led from the Church and other places (two live donkeys included), a zoomed Carol Service with lessons being read from different homes and all the services included the excellent singing from the Mole family. The music and singing were fantastic!
On Christmas morning a service was held in the Church and this service was zoomed to those who could not attend.
Now of course, as we are in lockdown once more, we are back to Zoom services only at 10am on Sundays and 9.30am on Tuesdays.
The Church is also open for Private Prayer on two days during the week (Tuesday morning from 10am to 10.30am and Thursday evening from 7pm to 7.30pm). If you would like to join in the Zoom services you can contact Canon Tony or one of the Churchwardens for details. You will be most welcome
The pictures were taken in the Church at Christmas - not our usual display but the important things were there! Here is hoping that in 2021 life will return to normal
Hallmark August 2020. Welcome Back to St Johns Church. Report by Pat Rushmere.
We had our first service on Tuesday 14th July at 9:30am and the first Sunday service will be held on the 19th July at 10:00am.