Author: John Pilkington

  • Decorating the Church for Christmas

    Decorating the Church for Christmas

    Many thanks to the dedicated team of flower arrangers who decorated the church in time for our “Carols by Candlelight” service on Sunday evening. Here are the piles of greenery waiting to be arranged, a daunting task … but the random piles were quickly reduced to decorative order around the church, including the crib located…

  • Village Christmas tree switch-on

    Village Christmas tree switch-on

    After enjoying delicious (free!) hot dogs – thank you, team – everybody trooped outside into the darkened churchyard. Steve started the countdown: “10, 9, 8, …” and precisely on zero Kevin’s grand daughter Annie threw the switch and the Christmas tree lit up in a blaze of light. Tim, on accordion, and Helen organised carols…

  • The ministry of cake

    The ministry of cake

    Beverley writes: The ministry of cake … and more! St Augustine’s surpassed itself on Saturday 26th October by making sure that all the delegates at the Dicesan Lay Ministry Conference at the Millenium Centre received a warm welcome and were well supplied with fabulous cake and coffee/tea. Everyone enjoyed the refreshments with the most difficult…

  • Prayer Spaces 6th October

    Prayer Spaces 6th October

    Jenny Bewick asks: which fruit would you like to develop this harvest time? Thank you for this beautiful picture Jenny.

  • Alan and Jenny – Order of St Richard

    Alan and Jenny – Order of St Richard

    Debbie writes: On Saturday afternoon a number of us went to Chichester Cathedral to see Alan and Jenny Cattermole receive the Order of St Richard for their many years of hard work and faithfulness, not only on behalf of St Augustine’s, but also in the community and for FSW. It was wonderful to see them…

  • Bread!

    Bread!

    Chris and Sue made a loaf using home ground flour from the Living Lightly event! They say it tasted as good as it looks. Perfect! Thank you for telling us about it Chris and I am glad you enjoyed the bread.

  • Harvest Festival 2024

    Harvest Festival 2024

    The church looked stunning for our Harvest Festival on Sunday. Everybody voted a massive thank you to Dianne Elliott and her team for their hard work and imagination. Thank you, Dianne! Thank you also Chris and Sue for organising and delivering the gifts for FSW (Diocesan Family Support Work).

  • Living Lightly

    Living Lightly

    Living Lightly – some thoughts It’s been wonderful to hear so many positive comments about our Living Lightly day which got me wondering why it was a success. Here are some themes that emerged for me: Community – a wonderful flow of people came to the event, people from our church community, families from St…

  • Cut the Supply Chain

    Cut the Supply Chain

    Here is the poster for my Living Lightly Demo featuring wheat milled for flour and demonstration of pan-roasted green coffee beans. I chose the strap line “Cut the Supply Chain” to emphasize why we would wish to mill our own flour or roast our own coffee as part of our drive to reduce our environmental…

  • Scarecrow Success!

    Scarecrow Success!

    At the March session of Funday Monday at St Augustine’s Church the children had a great time making a scarecrow to enter into the Flower Show at the Millennium Village Centre. Every year Scaynes Hill Cricket Club sponsors this class and the winners receive the Scaynes Hill Cricket Club Trophy.  Could we possibly win the…

  • Care for Veterans

    Care for Veterans

    During Lent we have been learning more about the charities we support as a church. Last Thursday, Beverley treated us to an inspiring account of the work of Care for Veterans, including insights into her time as Chaplain. Thank you, Beverley.

  • Oaklands House Group 2024-01-4: Judaic view of Adam

    Oaklands House Group 2024-01-4: Judaic view of Adam

    The Oaklands House Group meets on alternate Thursday evenings; we usually talk about the sermon from the previous Sunday. At our first meeting in 2024, however, we chose a different topic. Following something raised in an earlier meeting, Steve had researched about the Jewish understanding of Adam, the Judaic approach to judgement, and what Christians…