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

May I wish you a happy and peaceful New Year. As we begin 2012 what hopes and fears do we each have?

My first task for ‘The Friends ‘, is to remind you all that as the year begins, your subscriptions are due. We only ask £5 per person, per annum. We have only ever asked £5 pp, so by now, 16 years after we began, that must make us fantastic value! In the fullness of time, a reminder will slip through your letterbox, probably with a reminder about our March Annual General meeting. However, if you wish to speed up the process, please feel free to slip your renewal into me or Russell Jackson, our Treasurer.

We are just gearing up for what already feels like a busy year. If the weather permits, we would hope to have the tower open for Straw Bear Saturday, January 14th. If, by chance you are able to lend a hand, by stewarding in the bell-tower or out on top, please get in touch.

This year’s Art Exhibition will be more of a challenge, as we are arranging it without the knowledge, stamina and permanent cheeriness of Amanda Hibbert. We will do our very best, but she left on a high! The weekend to keep free to enjoy the enormous range of talent offered by our artists is, April 20th to 22nd.

Our next event will be our Diamond Jubilee Flower Festival, June 2nd to June 4th. So lots of opportunity to come and see us and enjoy the beauty that is St Mary’s Church. We are sorting a little freshen up for her interior in readiness for all this activity. So, busy, busy.

It just remains for me to thank everyone who participated in The Christmas Tree Festival, in whatever way, but most especially our Churchwardens and clergy.

Happy New Year,

Shirley Wright. Tel: 01733 203279

May your Christmas bring you peace and joy. It is very easy to get pulled into the melee of spending more than you can afford and buckling under the stress of producing an ‘event’. We are celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ; it is certainly worth more than a bit of effort. But not to tie yourself in knots. For me it is time with my family, both blood and Church. It begins at the Christmas Tree Festival, and these days the Business Forum Extravaganza. The plan generally runs that we set up Santa’s grotto, in the absence of helpful elves, on the Wednesday evening. Thursday we welcome the Tree-mendous crowd in to decorate their trees. Friday we open the Tree Festival and the Extravaganza fills the Market Square and Town Centre from 5.31 to 8pm. Saturday and Sunday the Tree Festival continues between 10am and 5pm. The Community Carol Singing service begins at 6pm and finishes with mulled wine.

Please try and come along to some of it; we try to fill the events with old-fashioned fun and happiness.

I have to thank everyone that was involved with the Marvellous Musical Evening. Miriam and family, St Mary’s Choir & Band, The Whittlesey Singers, Paul Turner, Anthony Nottingham and the fabulous ‘Hole in my Bucket’ duo!! It was such a fantastic evening and we raised over £400 as an added bonus

As a group we are encouraging the PCC to spend some of our money, especially as there is no interest in keeping it! Watch this space for news of how....

Do take care, especially if the weather remembers what time of the year it is!

A very happy Christmas to each of you,
Shirley Wright. Secretary. 01733 203279

I have to write this before our Marvellous Musical Evening. However, I have just received the programme and can see we are in for a delightful evening. Let’s hope you joined us to enjoy it too. There are many people who have made the evening possible and deserve an enormous thank you: the Choir & Band of St Mary’s; The Whittlesey Singers; The Tordoff Family; Anthony Nottingham; Laura Whitehouse (who even came all the way home from Uni for us!); Paul Turner and most of all, for all the hard work of arranging and encouraging, Miriam Tordoff. We are very fortunate to have these talented people around us.

The Christmas Tree Festival is obviously upper most in my mind. The event, in case you haven’t heard, takes place in St Mary’s from

Friday 9th December 10am to 8pm

Saturday 10th December 10am to 5pm

Sunday 11th December 10am to 5pm

followed at 6pm by Community Carol singing.

Entrance charges are the same as last year: Adults £2; 5-16yrs £1; under5 are free. Refreshments available thanks to the lovely ladies of St Mary’s Ladies Working Party. If you have read my page for long, you will know what’s coming now. Please can you give a few hours, with a friend, to steward? It is not an onerous task; you merely welcome our friends, take their money and encourage them to enjoy the Festival. There will be a form in church, please surprise me and fill it before I have to pester you.

Thank you for your care and interest. Hope to see you soon,

Take care, Shirley Wright Tel: 01733 203279

I am proud to tell you about a special evening out that you need to put in your diary, immediately!!! The Friends of St Mary’s Church, Whittlesey are proud to present a Marvellous Musical Evening..ta-daaaah!!! The date you need to know is Saturday 15th October; the place is St Mary’s Church; the time is 7.30pm; tickets are £5 each (and yes, you can pay on the door). The talented people of St Mary’s Choir and St Mary’s Band are putting together a mixed programme of music and entertainment, some sacred, some secular, mostly well-loved. Added to this we have several special singers and soloists, including Paul Turner displaying some of the abilities of our beautiful organ. If you are looking for an evening of fun and enormous pleasure, come along. (There will be a drink in the interval.)

Otherwise I’m very pleased to share that we have a new Treasurer. Russell Jackson has kindly agreed to look after our pennies for us, so they are in good, safe hands. Apparently the PCC are looking to spend some of our savings on a new noticeboard, which we have needed a long time. I have to admit, I have suggested that we could do with replacing the railings, so maybe that will be a little more re-invested!

Christmas Tree Festival entry forms are now available, so if you never have or if you support us every year, fill in a form and commit to this year. Forms available from me or online at www.friendsofstmary.co.uk.

Take care and hope to see you soon,

Shirley Wright Tel: 01733 203279

As the evenings begin to pull in and Autumn chills invigorate the mornings, September arrives with new school years and fresh beginnings. During this month I am hoping to make my first contacts about this year’s Christmas Tree Festival. It will, as ever, commence on the second Friday of December, Dec 9th.

However, before that we have the Summer Festival on Sunday 11th September. St Mary’s will be the venue for the Churches Together Songs of Praise at 11 am. Trusting that the weather allows, St Mary’s tower will be open for business, displaying Fenland at its best. If you can offer an hour to steward up the tower, let me know.

I have mentioned an evening of music for the Autumn. This will take place on Saturday 15th October, to begin at 7.30pm. Miriam Tordoff is organising a friendly evening of mixed music for us. We will hear the talents of St Mary’s Choir members and St Mary’s band. Paul Turner has agreed to come and give our beautiful organ a tickle and who knows what else may occur...! We haven’t discussed the finer detail as yet, but make a date. We can certainly promise good company and raise a little for the Friends as well.

It is my enormous pleasure to tell you that The Friends are organising a Diamond Jubilee Flower Festival. Denny Hall has agreed to be the brains behind the whole thing, supported by Marilyn Gregory and I....but plenty of time for that.

Time to close. Do take care and I hope to see you soon,

Shirley Wright Tel 01733 203279

These months do keep passing by at an enormous speed. I worry that I’m not making the best use of my time...in fact I often think it is more a case that I am hanging on and doing the best I can. But there never seems time to just stop long enough to get sorted. I must have become really slow!

Anyway, we had a really good Friends committee meeting the other evening and we are planning a few events. Not all are for this year, as the Rector wants our dates into 2013, so that concentrates the mind straight away!As is ever the case, for anything we do, your company is appreciated. Our first ‘event’ will be Sunday 11th September, which is Summer Festival day. So long as the weather is with us, it is our intention to open the Tower. Assuming that we will follow our usual pattern, there will be a service first, so we will aim to open the Tower for about 12noon. It is a task for the fitter members but if you are able to offer a little time, it cuts down the commitment for our usual Tower climbers. There will be a form in St Mary’s for any who wish to offer their services for stewarding our visitors in the Tower. If you’re not going to be in Church but would like to help, please give me a ring. It is a matter of keeping them safe and moving them on slowly enough to let them see, but quickly enough to keep the queues moving!

We are also planning a St Mary’s based evening of music...but more about that next time.

Take care and I hope to see you soon.

Shirley Wright Tel: 01733 203279

Holiday season is almost upon us. Time to relax, refresh, recover... I love the prayer where we ask God to remind us that He made days 24 hours long, so we do remember to stop...even if only briefly. We are made needing to pause and give our bodies chance to restore our normal balance. We are not always very good at allowing this ‘weakness’ a chance to do its job. So please, spoil yourselves and take a break. No guilt necessary, just enjoy. Consider all that you have and take the time to appreciate it. I know the media is depressing constantly telling us to tighten our belts and reduce our outgoings. I also accept that it is necessary, but just now take some hard earned ‘you’ time. The assorted debts sadly will not dissipate, but maybe we can address them better after a battery recharge.

St Mary’s Friends have been a little quiet of late...we had hoped to offer a band concert, but were too slow off the mark. However, there may be another evening on offer in the Autumn. We do have plans for a band concert next Spring and a celebration for the Queens Diamond Jubilee, but there is plenty of time to share that news with you.

Take care until we meet again and remember to keep something back for tomorrow.

Shirley Wright. Tel: 01733 203279.

Last evening I enjoyed a lovely outing with Ladies Circle friends. Have you heard about Ladies Circle? It’s a fabulous Club for ladies aged 18-45. In ‘my’ day it was 18-40 and you needed to be married to a Round Tabler, but you don’t need the ‘Tabler’ bit now. It is a group of like minded ladies who have an incredible amount of fun whilst raising money for assorted charities. Their National charity is breast cancer, and then each year their National President chooses her own charity for her year. This year it is Parkinson’s Society. Plus each Circle can raise funds for whatever local, National or international ‘need’ they choose. Anyway, whilst I’m way too old to be a Circler still these wonderful ladies took pity on me and let me go out to play with them, and the friendship is incredible. Isn’t that what life should be about? Because they are all similar ages, their problems are similar and maybe their aspirations...so they work through it together and achieve fabulous things.

Anyway, I recently had a request for information about ancestors from a lady in Sheffield. This is one of the things that the web-site has caused (www.friendsofstmary.co.uk) and I have to tell you, not something I am in a position to help with. It’s absolutely not that I’m not interested just that the good Lord gave us 24 hours in a day, and the need to sleep!!!! Many times in the past Geoff and Margaret Oldfield have come to my rescue, but I decided I have to deal with this myself. So what did I do? I went to talk to our helpful librarians...then I passed on their helpful tips!

We are still looking for a Treasurer, if you have any suggestions.

Take care, Shirley Wright. Tel: 01733 203279.

My priority for the beginning of April is, of course, the Art Exhibition. It is quite a tricky balance when you organise an event in a living church. Obviously, it has to be an appropriate event and we need to be aware of the workings of the necessary services. There are times it gets very tricky striking a balance. Being aware that we are charging the artists for the ‘privilege’ of showing their work, along with not interfering with the needs of Lent and Easter, brings its own challenges. Hopefully, everyone is conscious that we are all trying our best to please the majority. Any help you can offer over this important weekend would be gratefully received, be it stewarding during our opening hours or helping with either setting up or taking down. Just have a word with me or pop your name on the stewards list.

We have just had our 15th Annual General meeting, and as none of you complained, we have to take that as you’re happy with what we are doing. Our committee has a vacancy. Sadly our lovely Treasurer, Tina Sanderson, has had to step down. So, we really need a new Treasurer. It’s very straightforward, so if you would like to offer your services, please have a word with Chairman, Gordon Ryall or me.

The balance of our committee consists of: Margaret Brown; Charlie Kitchin; Jenny Parker and Neil & Margaret Timms. Marilyn Gregory is our PCC representative. A lovely crowd and we keep our meetings nice and short and Gordon allows a little levity!

Looking forward to seeing you at the Art Exhibition.

Take care, Shirley Wright. Tel: 01733 203279

We have enjoyed a wonderful Art Exhibition. Amanda Hibbert and her willing band produced an exhibition of over 400 pieces of art made by over 80 artists. There was oil, watercolour, photography, woodware, jewellery, sculpture...so much to, hopefully, please every eye. We must have pleased quite a few eyes as we sold 40 items. 10% of the whole has to be a good thing, it also raised £1350.

The weekend is also a very sociable time, with numerous people meeting. As we begin on a Wednesday evening, when the items are brought in, and continue through to Monday evening, when we say a final adieu, there are many people we see year to year and renew friendships old and new. I have to say thank you to every one of you that helped from putting up the pictures, helping with the Preview Evening, stewarding our customers all important jobs. ‘The Friends’ couldn’t manage without you, and quite honestly wouldn’t want too, so thank you all. Our thanks have to go to the Clergy and Churchwardens as well. However, our biggest thank you has to go to Amanda and team. They work for months before the event creating the exhibition; they continue to work throughout the hours of the actual exhibition. Sadly, this was Amanda’s last event. She feels it is time to let another take the helm. Maybe she’s right, but I will certainly miss her knowledge, her fun, her calm good natured way of handling all situations to avert a crisis. Thank you seems inadequate after all these years, but thank you Amanda and friends.

And so to our next event....quite what that is I can’t tell you yet, but rest assured, you will be among the first to know.

Take care, Shirley Wright Tel 01733 203279.

Sorry I missed you last month, but Happy New Year! Obviously, my first task is to remind those of you that already ‘Friends’ it time to renew your subscription. Still the same £5 per person, per annum, which has to be fabulous value for money. So, if you’re not a ‘Friend’, why not? Forms can be downloaded from our web-site: www.friendsofstmary.co.uk or just pop in to the shop and see me.

I will be sending personal reminders, although I am really impressed with all of you that have already paid. Thank you.

Thank you also, belatedly, to all of you that helped with the Christmas Tree Festival (this is the problem of Mrs Comelately here!). It was a terrific weekend. An enormous amount of work goes into each tree and its wonderful being in church whilst they’re all being set up with all the chatter. We welcomed many visitors over the course of the weekend and raised just over £1400. Our sincere thanks to the Churchwardens and Clergy for their help and support.

Our Annual General Meeting will be held in church on Tuesday 15th March at 7pm. Everyone is welcome, but only paid up Friends can vote. If you have anything to add to the agenda, let me know.

The last thing for now is our Annual Art Exhibition: this will run from April 8th to April 10th. There will be a ‘Songs of Praise’ at 11 am on the Sunday morning. Our thanks to the fabulous Amanda Hibbert and friends, who take the time to sort us out for this important event.

Take care, Shirley Wright

First and foremost, I need to remind you that our Annual General Meeting will be held on Tuesday 15th March at 7pm in St Mary’s Church. There will be a cup of tea or coffee to warm you. Everyone is welcome, but you do need to have paid your subscription to be allowed a vote. Your comments and suggestions are always welcome. We also have a vacancy on the Committee, if you would like to get more involved. Specifically, we need a new Treasurer. Have a word with Gordon or me if you are interested.

I also need to urge you to enter your exhibits for the Art Exhibition. Closing date for that is Friday 18th March. This is to allow time for the catalogues to be sorted and printed. Entry forms and conditions can be downloaded from the web-site: www.friendsofstmarys.co.uk

Obviously, we will be looking for some stewards to help with this important fundraiser, which we now organise with guidance and help from a few special people, with ‘Arts’ knowledge. All the money that is raised is used on keeping St Mary’s safe and beautiful, which benefits all of us, so it is also good to share the load of raising the funds. It can be quite a pleasant way of spending an hour or so, welcoming our visitors and making them feel at home. So, please, once the stewarding list is out, pop your name, with a friend, down for a little while.

Thank you so much. Please take care. Shirley Wright. Tel: 01733 203279