N O T I C E

From Monday 1st June, The Church of St Lawrence in Warkworth will be closed for internal repairs associated with the stabilising and securing of the North Wall.

The main Sunday morning Parish Eucharist will be held at 10.30 a.m. at The Church of St John the Divine, Acklington. Baptisms, Weddings and Funerals will also take place at Acklington until the repairs are completed and St Lawrence Church is cleaned and ready for habitation, hopefully in good time for the Patronal Festival on Sunday 9th August.

Sunday Evensong at 6 p.m. and Thursday 9.30 a.m. Holy Communion services will continue to be held at Abbeyfield House, Dial Place, Warkworth. If you have problems with transport or if you could help by giving someone a lift please contact the Vicar. Extra parking space will be available in the School yard.

During June and July we hope to use this opportunity to share in our Children's work as we did for the recent Good Friday Workshop. Most weeks we will be using the Village Hall at Acklington as a base during the service time and for coffee, juice and biscuits afterwards. Parents will be issued with a programme of dates as soon as possible.

Dear Friends,

Where has this year gone? It doesn't seem two minutes since the year 2009 started and here we are nearly halfway through, and what a lot we have done in the past few months.

In March at St Lawrence Church in Warkworth, we were preparing for the advent of the builders on site, following on from the visit of the archaeologists earlier in the year. Excavating skeletons and the re-burying bones came as no surprise,  but what we had not bargained for  (and neither had the builders) were the amazing geysers of mud which accompanied the pile driving for the new buttresses!  Go to the album for pictures of that and current progress.

In June at Acklington we were planning for the invasion!  Following the closure of Warkworth Church, so far our two congregations have squeezed like a quart into a pint pot into St John’s Church each week with an average attendance of 85 adults and 15 children. It has been a great opportunity for our two Sunday schools to work and plan together.

On Sunday 19th July we shall be welcoming Bishop Martin for the Confirmation Service which will be at 10.30am at Acklington.  We have two candidates from Warkworth and Acklington and Chevington Parish are also bringing one candidate. There will be a crèche in the Village Hall for our younger members and coffee and biscuits afterwards.

Warkworth’s Summer Fair this year will have to be held in the Church grounds - so please pray for fine weather! We will be holding all the usual stalls so donations for Raffle and Tombola can be left at The Vicarage but Cakes, Bric a brac etc, please bring on the day. 

By the time we all get to August, we will be ready for a long lie down! But whilst Acklington folk will be heaving a great sigh of relief, Warkworth folk will be cleaning and dusting as we aim to be back into St Lawrence Church for the weekend of the Patronal Festival Sunday 9th August. The service will be at 10.30am followed by lunch in Church - tickets will be available soon.

In the meantime, have your eyes and ears open for the ‘Bush Telegraph’ to keep us all up to date.

Revd Canon Janet Brearley, Vicar
1 July 2009.