View newsletters previously published in the Team magazine, the Signpost. If you would like to recieve the Signpost to keep up to date with the whole benefice please contact Rev. Gill Stevens on Tel: 01733 202563 or email: gill.stevens8@btinternet.com

The Art Exhibition was fantastic! We had about 90 artists exhibiting nearly 500 items, of which we sold 39. And - we had over 500 people through the door over the 3 days. Wow! We look to have raised nearly £1700, which is an added bonus to all the chatter and interaction that took place over the weekend. Sincere thanks to everyone that helped: set up; take down; steward; make refreshments; whatever, we couldn't have managed without you. Extra thanks have to go to the Clergy and Churchwardens for tolerating us and most thanks to Amanda Hibbert and her team for the fabulous job they did on our behalf.

New month, new fundraiser. On Saturday 22nd May we are pleased to welcome back the 'Wandering Minstrels'. Under the guidance of Tim Hurst-Brown our singers will entertain us with an evening of music from Gilbert & Sullivans Savoy operas. Past experience would suggest this is an evening NOT to be missed. Tickets are £7.50 and available from yours truly at Wrights. The evening commences at 7.30 pm in St Mary's Church. We look forward to welcoming you...

So with the Scarecrow festival and Christian Aid, could be a busy month! Oh yes! The Super Soup Lunch went really well - we raised over £100 to help stamp out poverty, so thank you for your support. The soup was excellent too.

Take care, Shirley Wright. tel: 01733 203279'

Our Lenten journey has begun… I pray that you find something more positive from it than just going without chocolate, or whatever, for 40 days!

It’s a busy month for the Friends: we have the Annual General Meeting on Tuesday 16th at 7pm in St Mary’s; the deadline for submitting items for the Art Exhibition on the 15th; stewards will be sought. The apparently early deadline is because we use The Print Shop at Sir Harry Smiths Community College, and as it will be the Easter Holidays, we have to get in before.

I need to tell you about our work on Sir Harry’s tomb in the cemetery. Since last Autumn I have been in talks with a lady at Fenland District Council because of the condition of the tomb. David Rooney, author of the recent book about Sir Harry and Lady Smith, has taken several interested parties to see the tomb, with other memorabilia. After one such trip, he phoned to express his concerns about the weeds, the overhanging tree and the generally tatty state of the railings. Shirl was on the case… The said FDC lady was just going off on sick leave to have her hip repaired! However, photos and emails later, said lady, now returned and fit, is looking to begin a ‘Friends of Whittlesey Cemetery’. If you are interested, I can give you contact details. Its aim would be to find funding from assorted areas to maintain the older tombs in the cemetery and possibly find histories for some of the lives of the interned. None of this is helping Sir Harry’s tomb, as good as it may be, so I may have to seek other assistance.

Ok, enough! Lovely to chat. Do take care. Please come along to the AGM and join The Friends, it would be great to see you.

Shirley Wright. Tel: 01733 203279.

We are all fired up and ready to go this year. Are you poised and ready for us?

Hopefully, I will have managed to produce and deliver the prompts for the ‘signed – up’ Friends to pay their annual subscription. Many of you already have and thank you for that. Please, if you’re not a Friend of St Mary’s feel free to join us. £5 per adult per annum is all it takes. There are forms on-line: www.friendsofstmary.co.uk or available from me or church.

I will also be forwarding details of our Annual General meeting. This necessary meeting takes place in church on Tuesday 16th March at 7pm. It is necessary so that we touch base with you good people. If you wish to chastise or cheer us, please let us know. If you want to join the Committee, please also let us know. This is the evening these items are dealt with.

In April we will be holding our Annual Art Exhibition, under the gentle guidance of Amanda Hibbert. The dates are 9th to 11th. We will need your support in the form of stewards as these events run better with your friendly welcome for our visitors. The rota will be in church, nearer the time.

As an early warning we are very proud to announce that the wonderful Wandering Minstrels will make a welcome return to St Mary’s on Saturday 22nd May at 7.30pm. Tickets will be available later.

Ok! Enough now! I need a quiet lie down even if you don’t. Please take care in the wintry weather and stay warm. Hope to see you soon,

Shirley Wright. 01733 203279

A very happy, contented New Year to each of you. I pray it brings you the things you would wish for.

As is ever the case with a New Year, the subscriptions for membership to The Friends of St Mary’s…. are due. We have remained at our economically sensible £5 since our formation in 1995. I expect people will say it’s not worth as much as it was when we began, but it is to us. It means that you think that the task we have undertaken is important to you. It means you want to see the beautiful, graceful spire of St Mary watch over our town and the vast expanse of Fenland that surrounds us for generations to come. Thank you. Please give your renewal money, with a note of your name and address to Tina Sanderson, our treasurer or any of the committee. And if you do think we are good value, invite a friend of yours to become a Friend of ours.

The Christmas Tree Festival will be but a distant memory but nevertheless thank yous are needed. Thank you to the Clergy and Churchwardens, to the Stewards, the refreshment team, the Thursday & Monday night workers, the Christmas Tree builders and everyone that came to see. The Church looked beautiful and gave a lovely start to celebrations around Christmas and beyond.

So long as the weather conditions allow, the Tower will be open for Straw Bear Day on Saturday 16th January. If you want to wear off a few extra Christmas pounds, here’s your chance!

Take care and I hope to see you soon,

Shirley Wright. Tel: 01733 203279.

Dear Friends,

As I really have nothing to report this month and we are currently celebrating 900 years of the diocese of Ely, I thought that I would share with you a little of the history of St Etheldreda, with thanks to my Dictionary of Saints, Donald Attwood and Catherine Rachel John.

She was born at Exning about 630, the daughter of King Anna of the East Angles. She was married and widowed quite quickly following her first marriage. Etheldreda then married Egfrid, son of King Oswy of Northumberland. As our Diocesan Saint would not consummate this marriage either, Egfrid soon got tired of the arrangement and released her from her marital vows. So she took the veil at Coldingham from where she came to the, still flooded, Isle of Ely. Around 672 Etheldreda founded a double monastery at Ely, where she presided until she died in 679.

The Venerable Bede wrote a long hymn in praise of Etheldreda. She must have been a highly revered lady of Anglo-Saxon times because a lot of churches were dedicated to her name. Many marvels are attributed to the power of her intercessions, which made Ely an important centre of pilgrimage.

She was also known by the name of Awdry and to hide a disfigurement of her throat was in the habit of wearing ribbons. Thus the term tawdrey was founded.

Okay, history lesson over. My humble apologies if I have misunderstood any part of her amazing life. See you next month.

My grateful thanks to EVERYONE that has helped with the Art Exhibition: the Clergy; the churchwardens; all the stewards; refreshment team; set-up and take apart team, but most especially, Amanda Hibbert and her team. Without Amanda’s enormous energy and knowledge this event would never be the apparently professional exhibition it may appear to be. All of The Friends committee say thank you, but I have to add my own personal thanks as it’s always a joy and privilege to work with Amanda.

We also enjoyed an interesting and informative evening with David Rooney at the beginning of April, as he told us about Sir Harry and Lady Juana. It was fascinating but also a very happy evening.

Now we are into May. Yours truly is getting excited as she’s about to have a weekend away. Through Rotary we have a connection with a Rotary Club in Denmark and take it in turns to visit one another. The trips are two years apart and always begin on Ascension Day (the weekend is a Public holiday in Denmark) and as they came to us in 2007, we’re off to Denmark. ‘Our family’ also have three daughters and we have been visiting them for 16years. It’s an incredible experience as for four days every two years you do everything together and each time we part I feel as though I’m leaving a sister and her family.

I will do my Christian Aid duty first. Most years I have to psyche myself up for the door knocking, but each time I have only to consider that my water is delivered clean and to my house and a doctor is always available for serious stuff. So much of our everyday life we take for granted and shouldn’t, so this is a chance to make a small ripple of difference. All added together we could create an enormous tsunami of good!