Update - August 2023

Dear Friends,

I hope this finds you well and that you have been able to enjoy something of the typical British summer weather. This update is long overdue, so as we prepare to go into Autumn there are a few things I wanted to tell you about and ask for your involvement in.

Pastoral Care

The last couple of years has seen a big focus on getting church life back to some form of normality and recovering those things we lost because of the pandemic. One of the things I have been keen to develop within our church community is a more organised system of pastoral care. St Michael’s is a caring church, and when people are in need, the church is always good at rallying round. Sometimes however, people get missed, and we can always improve how we care for and support one another as a church family. As such I am looking to recruit volunteers to a new pastoral care team.

This team would meet together once a month with me and would oversee pastoral care within the parish. It’s my hope that a visit, where possible, could be offered to everyone on the prayer lists either weekly or monthly and that some members of the team might also be able to support Mark in the ministry we have within the local care homes.

For those who become part of the team, you would choose how much time you give to being involved in pastoral care, unlike a previous suggested system you wouldn’t be allocated a certain number of people to offer care too.

If you are interested in being involved, please would you let me know by the end of August as I hope to hold the first meeting with some training in September.

Lift Sharing Scheme

A discussion that took place at PCC recently was regarding whether we could set up a lift sharing scheme at St Michaels, noting that we have a number of people in our church family who now don’t drive or in the winter months aren’t able to attend services or events because they don’t like travelling on their own in the dark. Having done some work with the Parish Safeguarding Team we are now in a position to launch this new scheme whereby we can help link those who would like to come to church but can’t get here themselves, with those who would be prepared to offer lifts.

I am really thankful to David Walker who has offered to co-ordinate this scheme. If you would be willing to offer lifts to people for services or other events, please could you let David Walker know. The requirements for all drivers is that they are fully insured, their vehicle has a valid MOT and is taxed, and they have undertaken a DBS check along with basic safeguarding training. Thank you in advance to those who are willing to support this needed ministry.

If you are someone who would value a lift to church, or if you know of someone who might not ask, but would value it being offered to them, please could you also make contact with ???

Confirmation Service

Following our spring Alpha Course earlier this year, Bishop Sam of Stockport has agreed to come and take a confirmation service at St Michaels later this year. Unfortunately, Bishop Sam’s diary is fairly full so the only time he could offer was Sunday 22nd October at 4pm in the afternoon. Following a discussion with PCC, it has been agreed that we will cancel the 10am and 6.30pm services on the 22nd October and ask you to join us at 4pm instead as we celebrate those who will be baptised and confirmed.

If you are someone who would like to be confirmed or even renew your baptism promises, please would you get in touch with me as soon as possible.

Outreach Committee

Following the APCM this year the PCC set up a new sub-committee to oversee our outreach ministry. The group meets every couple of months and is responsible for planning and delivering events both within the church, to which we can invite people, as well as activities in the wider community. The group are looking for more people to join them and you can do this is 2 different ways. You can join in with the meetings which undertake the planning as well as delivering events, or you can just be on their team of volunteers to help make events happen. If you would be interested in either of these, please would you let the Church Office know and they will pass your name to Jill Illingworth who is chairing the group.

Finance Administrator

Last year our finance team changed with Rob Watson taking over as treasurer. Its been a good first year but the team have realised they could really do with some more help particularly in the area of administration. So, we are looking to appoint another finance administrator to work alongside Elizabeth Beveridge and Julie Bamber. If you are someone who has good administration skills, can find your way around a computer and would be willing to offer some of your time in support of the finance team please would you make contact with Sue Howgego or Julie Sweeting, our Churchwardens.

Upcoming Dates

The autumn term is always an exciting part of the year as we begin to prepare for the Christmas season and there is usually quite a lot going on. Below you will find some of the events and services that will be taking place, I thought some advanced notice might be helpful.

Friday 8th September, 7.30pm - Quiz night. Tickets available from the Churchwardens.

Sunday 24th September, St Michaels Day Bring and Share Lunch after the 10am service.

Sunday 8th October - Harvest Thanksgiving. Donations will be split between the foodbank and Wellspring.

Wednesday 11th October, 2pm - Harvest Afternoon Tea

Friday 13th October 7.30pm - Murder Mystery Night

Sunday 22nd October, 4pm - Confirmation Service with Bishop Sam

Sunday 5th November, 4pm - Commemoration Service

Friday 10th November - Motown Music Night

Thank you for taking time to read this slightly lengthy update, but what I hope you will have seen as you have read it through is we have a lot going on both to support our current church family and also grow our church family. It’s a joy to serve and minister amongst you, and I pray that we all might continue to encourage one another in our faith and shared life together.

God Bless,

Revd Calum Piper, Vicar

Update - October 2022

Dear Friends,

 A couple of weeks ago we marked Harvest Thanksgiving which for me is always the start of the run up to Christmas with all sorts of special services and events coming up thick and fast in the next few months. With this is mind I thought it might be good to share an update with a few things that are going on.

 Heating in Church

With the increased prices for gas and electricity, our bills, like everyone else’s, are going up. Every effort is being made to use the resources that we have wisely whilst also making sure that our buildings are still welcoming for people to be in. We have switched the heating on and will always aim to make sure the church is a good temperature for worship. I would however encourage you to make sure you wrap up warm too. Contingency plans have also been put in place in case the temperature in church is too cold on a Sunday morning. If this is ever the case, our worship will take place in the Parish Centre which runs on a different set of boilers. The midweek service is still taking place, but during the winter months will take place in the Lounge.

 Life Groups

In November we are launching something new at St Michaels, although some form of it has existed in the church previously. Life Groups are a smaller setting providing space for community to form and for exploration of teaching in a way that is not possible in a Sunday service. A life group, then, is a group of people choosing to grow in fellowship and community, to grow in faith and support one another in life. The strap line for this church ministry is Growing in love for God and for one another. Hopefully each group will do what it says on the tin. I really want to encourage as many members of the church to join a life group as possible. I think they will be really beneficial for each person but for us as a whole church. Attached is a digital version of the leaflet that was handed out on Sunday (with a change to one groups meeting day). If there is nothing to suit you but you want to be part of a group, let me know. There are gaps in what we are offering to start with, we might be able to set up more groups if needed. When you have decided which group you want to belong to, let the church office know and they will pass your details to the group leader who will then be in touch with you to give you more details. LIFE GROUPS LEAFLET

 Warm Hubs

The Mill is hoping to offer a warm hub for the local community over the winter. Janet Ketteringham, a trustee at The Mill writes: This winter will be challenging for us all with regards fuel prices. For some, just keeping warm will be difficult or even impossible. Stockport Council have asked communities to provide Warm Spaces from November through to March and have offered grants of up to £1000 for heating and expenses to charities and organisations who can open their hearts and doors to let people in to keep warm. The Mill, our youth centre in Bramhall, offered to open each Saturday from 10am to 4pm provided we can staff it. The trustees of The Mill felt three shifts from 10 am to noon, noon to 2pm and 2 pm to 4pm could be possible. We are asked to provide tea, coffee and biscuits (which is made easy in The Mill by us having a cafe area) and also a friendly welcome and conversation.

 If you can give some thought to being part of this massive outreach to people facing a crisis in their lives, and maybe volunteer for a shift, or two or three shifts, or even more regularly, like once a month, then we can do this. Already people are offering to help, which is so exciting and uplifting. We do need a big response to make this work. If you need more information or want to help then please get in touch with either Janet Ketteringham jketteringham43@gmail.com or the church office.

 Supporting the Mothers Union

The Mothers Union are supporting a charity called Doors of Hope with their appeal entitled ‘Bags of Education’. This charity want to give as many children as possible the opportunity to go to school in places like Bulgaria, Ukraine, Romania and Moldova. Unfortunately for some families school is just too expensive. So the idea behind Bags of Hope is to put together a bag of resources to enable a child to be fully equipped to learn. You can find out more on their website www.doorofhope.co.uk. We are inviting people to collect all the items on the list and bring them to church along with a £5 donation to cover the registration fee. We will then collate all the bags and send them off to the charity. The list of items is attached and there are also printed copies in the parish centre. Should you wish to get involved please let Jill Fairhurst know and then bring your donations to the church office by 13th November. LIST OF ITEMS

 Supporting Christians Against Poverty at Christmas

Christians Against Poverty; You may recall Catherine Johnson giving a sermon during the summer concerning CAP, she has asked the St Michaels community for some help leading up to Christmas; Would ST Michaels help with Christmas hampers for Stockport CAP clients?  We put together a hamper for every client we're currently working with, which is likely to be 25 to 30 and I wondered if your church might like to help. item - would 30 people buy a selection box, for example? Other churches have also been asked to help. If anyone in the congregation would like to help please could you let Mark Sweeting (familysweetings@gmail.com) know ideally before 31 October. We are looking for donations towards a target of 24 boxes of chocolates, 24 boxes of biscuits and 20 selection packs. Thank you in advance.

 Services in November

On Sunday 6th November we will hold our Annual Service of Light and Commemoration at 6.30pm. If you wish for someone to be remembered during this service please do add their name to the list in church before Sunday 30th October.

On Sunday 13th November we will join with the nation in remembering all those who have served our nation and made the ultimate sacrifice. Our 8am service will be a service of Holy Communion and our 10am service of Morning Worship will start at 9.15am. There will be a service at the War Memorial starting around 10.45am which it would be great to see you at.

 Christmas is Coming

PCC have signed off on the plans for Christmas so you should see some Christmas publicity fairly soon. To give you advanced warning the annual Carols by Candlelight service will take place on Sunday 11th December at 6.30pm. This is slightly earlier than normal due to the Men’s Football World Cup Final taking place when our service would normally take place. Just in case England make it to the final, it didn’t seem wise to create a clash. Please be thinking and praying about who you can invite to this service.

 Thank you

Finally a thank you. Thank you to everyone that supports St Michaels so generously with their financial giving as well as their time. It continues to be such a joy to serve you as Vicar of St Michaels and despite the challenges we will face over the next few months with a hard winter, I know God will be our strength and we will only grow closer to one another and to the Lord. I also want to say a public thank you to Julie and Sue our Churchwardens. They have been doing an incredible job over the last few months doing so many things that are often unseen, from ensuring the church property register is up to date, overseeing contractors coming to service and fix things, managing staff, caring for me, representing the church on various occasions and even unclogging toilets.

 This afternoon the weekly bible study looked at the letter of Jude, I want to close using Jude’s words:

24 Now to him who is able to keep you from falling, and to make you stand without blemish in the presence of his glory with rejoicing, 25 to the only God our Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority, before all time and now and for ever. Amen. (Jude 1:24-25)

God Bless,

Calum

Update - February 2022

Dear Friends,

With the season of Lent approaching I thought it would be helpful to share a Vicar’s update.

Lent 2022

Lent starts on Wednesday 1st March with Ash Wednesday. We will hold 2 services of Holy Communion at 10.30am and 7.30pm. Its my intention to include the imposition of ashes during the service having not been able to include it during 2021.

During Lent there will be three Lent Groups you might wish to join. The first two will follow the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lent Book: Embracing Justice by Isabelle Hamley. Revd Hamley is Theological Adviser to the House of Bishops and was formerly Chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury.  These groups will take place on Monday mornings at 9.30am hosted by me and Tuesday evenings at 7pm hosted by Mark.

You can get the book from all good retailers including Simply Books in the Village. Please aim to have read the 1st chapter by the first session.

A third Lent Group will take place most weeks of Lent on a Thursday afternoon from 2pm hosted by Andrea following material entitled Walking Towards Glory.

It would be helpful for preparation to have an idea of who will be joining each group – there is a sign up sheet on the noticeboard above the pigeon holes.

On Sundays in Lent, apart from Mothering Sunday, there will also be the opportunity to join with others for a Lent Lunch of Soup and bread rolls. Donations are invited towards the meal.

Living in Love and Faith

You may have heard about Living in Love and Faith (LLF). This is a national Church of England initiative which is about learning together, listening to one another, and listening to God to help discern a way forward for the Church of England in relation to matters of identity, sexuality, relationships and marriage. Having listened to the experiences of other churches in our diocese the Deanery of Cheadle (of which we are part) has decided to host a deanery wide LLF course. The course will be hosted by Laura Reid who is one of the Diocesan facilitators and will take place on Thursday evenings (for 6 weeks) from Thursday 24th February between 8pm and 9.30pm in the Upper Room, Cheadle (SK8 1DW).

This will course will give you an opportunity to share your views in an open, safe and respected place but also allow you to hear the views of others. This time of listening and discernment will feed into the wider conversation happening at National Level.

Finance Team

We continue to look for new team members for our finance team. Graham Knight has served the church exceptionally as the church treasurer for many years and will be retiring at the APCM in May. Should a new treasurer not be found, this duty will fall to the churchwardens, who I am sure you will agree already have a lot on their plates.

Graham has been ably assisted by Ann Walker as bookkeeper who is also looking to step down. We are looking for 2 finance administrators to take on some of the work Graham and Ann have done, not all of the work is finance based, some of it includes making some of our statistical returns to the diocese. If you think you could serve the church in any of these roles, please get in touch with me.

 Children’s Ministry

There has been lots of developments in our children and family’s ministry over the last couple of months, there are a couple of things coming up that it would be great to have your support with.

Between the 28th March to the 1st April we will be welcoming local schools into church to experience the Easter story. We are looking for a team of 10 or more, to act as station guides, to interact with those who visit.

On the 12th April, we will be hosting an Easter Holiday Club Day, where we will be making an Easter Garden, painting eggs, singing songs, looking at pictures from Experience Easter, learning about the true story of Jesus sacrifice for us all upon the cross and inviting everyone to our Easter services. We need a team of at least 5 to volunteer to help out, for the whole day.

Please contact Connie to join the team for either of these activities.

Thanksgiving Sunday

Sunday 6th March is Thanksgiving Sunday where you are invited to bring in your completed pledge cards and offer them to God. There will be opportunity to do this in each service that day but the church building will also be open until 3pm for you to drop your pledge card off if you aren’t attending services at the moment.

Advanced Warning – APCM

Our Annual Meeting will take place on Sunday 8th May at 11.30am. After serving 5 years as Churchwarden Dave Walker will be stepping down at this meeting. There are also a number of PCC members stepping down having served for 6 years. Please be praying about whether you could serve the church as a PCC member of even Churchwarden.

Easter Hope

Finally, following the success of our Christmas art installation of the word ‘Joy’ plans and production are underway for an art installation over Easter. We could do with some help painting the boards. If you are able to assist, could you let me know and I can send you the provisional painting dates.

Wishing you a holy and peaceful Lent,

Revd Calum Piper

Vicar

Update - 21st July 2021

Dear Friends,

On Sunday I mentioned that various changes to our building and worship life would be taking place this week following the government’s decision to proceed to stage 4 of the roadmap. Having spent some time digesting the Church of England guidance I thought it would be helpful to let you know what some of these changes are.

Social Distancing

Yesterday we took out the wooden chairs from church and replaced them with the blue upholstered chairs in the pre-lockdown layout. This has increased our capacity for attendance at services considerably but we are going to continue to remain cautious. For the time being we are going to suggest the use of every other row where possible. We will then also try to alternate which rows are being used at services as well. Social distancing is no longer required, so if you want to sit next to people outside your household there is nothing to stop you. There will be people who want to continue to social distance and there are two options available to you. The first is that you can sit within the main body of the church, and pick up two orange signs on your way in. You will find these located on the tables with the offertory baskets. Place these on either side of the chair you wish to sit on, and this will be a sign to others not to sit right next to you. There are also some individual socially distanced seats placed within the tower. Over the past year we have encouraged people to arrive and leave through certain doors, these restrictions are no longer in place,  so you can come and go through the most convenient door for you.

Cleaning and Face Masks

I am encouraging everyone to continue wearing masks when attending a service at St Michaels. As a church we are committed to being inclusive,  and for those people within our church family who are feeling vulnerable, knowing that others will be wearing masks is a reassurance to them. I also want to encourage you to continue to clean your hands before you come to church and then to use the hand sanitiser on arrival. We will continue to keep a cleaning regime at church as well.

Track and Trace

The government have advised churches to continue to keep a record of those attending our services and events. Thank you to all the sidespeople and volunteers who have helped with this over the last year. It might be helpful to know that I have been told that we will only have to give Track and Trace the details of attendees at a service should 2 or more people within the same service test positive. They will then issue all attendees at that service with a venue alert. (They won’t tell you which venue it is, but you will probably all work it out). A venue alert doesn’t mean you will have to isolate, but you will be encouraged to get a test.

Holy Communion

We will continue to celebrate Holy Communion on alternate weeks in the manner that we have been doing for some months. At the Sunday 10am service the slight change will be that we will move to having two distribution points on either side at the front of church to help with keeping the service flowing. I would still ask that you come forwards in single-file.

Singing

From Monday congregational singing has been made legal, so on Sunday we will be able to sing for the first time together as a congregation within our church building. Where there is an organist available going forwards, we will sing accompanied by the organ, where this isn’t possible, we will use the recorded music. Louise Richardson and I are in conversation with someone about the Music Director role, please do hold this appointment in your prayers.

Sunday 25th July 2021

This Sunday we will mark, what feels to me like a significant change in our church life, in both our 8am and 10am services. For a number of reasons, the evening service this week has been cancelled – if that is the service you were planning to join us at – please do think about joining us at the 8am or 10am service. As I hear the news and look at the infection rates, I do keep asking myself whether I have made the right decision, making the changes that I have. The answer I am consoling myself with is this: The last 16 months have been long and hard and at every stage I have sought to be as cautious as possible. When these changes were discussed at PCC, one person said that we as a nation are in a place of fear and the church is best placed to lead people out of fear, with hope, with love and with courage, and this is something I will be preaching about a bit on Sunday. So I hope you will understand the changes that have been made, I hope you will continue to worship with me and the wider church at St Michaels, and if you have any concerns or worries please do come and speak to me.

Children and Families Worker

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that we have appointed a children and families worker. I want to take this opportunity to inform you that we have appointed Connie Lane to the post and she will be commissioned to the role during our services on Sunday 1st August. Do be praying for her and for the ministry she is coming to equip us in. Connie joins us from working for the Diocese of Derby and before that Bowdon Parish Church. I am really excited about her appointment and about what lies ahead for our church.

Finally, we are slowly working through baptism preparation with numerous families and following lots of people asking, Jess and I are hoping that Samuel will be baptised during the 10am service on Sunday 17th October which will tie in nicely with his 2nd birthday celebrations.  We would love as many of you as possible to celebrate the day with us.

Thank you for your patience in reading this rather long update.

Regards,

Calum

Update - 2nd July 2021

Dear Friends,

A year ago we were preparing for the first reopening of our building and gathering together for worship after around 4 months apart. We have come a long way since July last year, and whilst there is still a long way to go, things are starting to feel a lot more normal. With that in mind I wanted to take the opportunity to share some updates and reminders.

Booking for Worship

Following an increase in our seating capacity, it has been agreed that booking is no longer required for services. So you don’t need to remember to go online tomorrow and book your seat, just turn up.

On your way in, you may be asked your name by a Sidesperson as we are still required to keep a list of attendees for Track and Trace. Do be patient with the sidespeople, some of them may not know your name even though you have been coming since the day you were born, they also might not recognise you with your face mask on. One of my flaws is I do struggle to remember names, so if you are asked your name, do be generous and forgiving to the person that asks, they aren’t being rude. To help with this, could I encourage you to try and arrive slightly earlier than 5 minutes before the service, this will take the stress off sidespeople slightly.

Over the next couple of weeks we will continue to monitor attendance numbers and seating and if there are issues the Churchwardens and I will look for solutions.

Roadmap to Normality

A few more changes that are in the pipeline are these:

• This Sunday we will be trialling refreshments being served after the 10am service. If you choose to stay for refreshments you can collect these from the hatch and then you will need to go and sit down at a table before taking your mask off. The rule of 6 applies inside, if you choose to go outside the rules aren’t quite so strict.

• Providing the government relax the rules in July, the PCC have approved my suggestion that we move the blue chairs back into church at the start of August. When we know more from the government about this, I will let you know when this will happen, and will be asking for help with furniture moving.

• From September we hope to relaunch Active Angels, I am meeting with someone from our congregation in a couple of weeks’ time to begin planning this.

Appointment of Children and Families Worker

You may be aware that the PCC approved a few months ago for St Michaels to appoint a Children and Families Worker. Following a number of interviews, today we have appointed someone to the post, and following all the legal necessities its hoped that they will start in post at the beginning of August. As soon as its possible I will look to introduce you to our new staff member. I’m really excited about this appointment and cannot wait to see our ministry to children and families grow as we are all led to join in with this ministry.

Alongside this we have submitted a bid to a charity for funds to support a Youthworker and Community Worker post. We will hear back in October whether this bid has been successful, so I would value your prayers that our application might be received favourably.

Moving Forwards

There are a few of our church family that haven’t felt it safe to return to church yet. Over July I hope to make contact with as many of these people as possible, but if you are reading this and you haven’t returned to worship yet, please know you haven’t been forgotten and the whole church family looks forward to welcoming you back. If you have concerns or fears, please do come and share them with me. We are called to carry one another’s burdens. If you know someone that hasn’t returned to worship yet, please do pray for them, and talk with them about your experiences of worship at St Michaels recently.

I am really encouraged at the moment with all the seeds of hope that are appearing, some even blossoming already at St Michaels. There have been times over the last 18 months where I may have been smiling on the outside but that wasn’t necessarily how I was feeling on the inside. There is lots more I hope to share with you over the next few months which are encouraging me and I believe are answers to prayer, so I hope that can encourage you in your walk with Jesus and in your fellowship at St Michaels.

With my prayers,

Calum

Pentecost Update

Good Evening,

What are we going to do on Sunday? 

I’ve been watching the Met Office forecast for Sunday all week and despite it changing daily it has pretty much stabilised with the opinion that there is a 10% chance of rain at 10am on Sunday morning.  The forecast is looking very similar to that of Easter Sunday when it was time to make a call then. With this in mind, the Churchwardens and I have decided:

We will praise our God together out on the field at 10am to celebrate the joy of Pentecost. I hope some of you will be able to join Sue, David and me! Wrap up warm, bring an umbrella just in case, and a flask of something warm.

For those who don’t feel they will be able to join us, a small advert – the BBC will be airing a Pentecost Service from All Saints Church Woodford Wells at 10.30am on BBC1 on Sunday. I have no idea what it will be like but it’s an alternative.

See you soon, stay dry, maybe build an Ark.

God Bless,

Calum

Easter Sunday Update - 10am - Front Field

Dear Friends,

Today marks Maundy Thursday and the beginning of our Easter Services with Holy Communion this evening at 7.30pm. It also happens to be the day I said I would make a decision about what to do over Easter Sunday. The current weather forecast on the Met Office (Which breaks the day down into hours unlike some phone Apps) says the weather will be dry and sunny but slightly cold. So today I have found myself struggling to come to a decision based solely on practical reasoning and have had to lean on prayer and tradition a bit too.

One of the traditions of Maundy Thursday in England is the presentation of Maundy money by the Sovereign to people who have served the church faithfully for many years. If you take time to listen to some of the stories of those who have been nominated, the acts of service have usually been incredibly selfless, not always glamourous, and regularly involved some sense of sacrifice, but all done in the name of Jesus. When we come to worship it is all about and for Jesus.

When we choose to follow Jesus we choose the way of the cross, a way that is not always comfortable, but a way that offers life and joy. The celebration of Easter is a chance to proclaim afresh the goodness of God with all our might. Following the darkness that has been this year we have an opportunity to witness to each other and the wider community, the wonder of the resurrection. It would be easy to say lets call the outside thing off, reduce our Sunday worship capacity to 80 and hide the celebrations inside the building. As I have contemplated that easy decision, I have found my heart troubled.

Now more than ever, I believe we need community. Now more than ever, we need to remain faithful. Now more than ever, we need to be witnesses to the hope of the resurrection. The idea of one service outside on Easter Sunday was not something that would logically be my first thought – the planning and logistics involved requires much more work, and then it all being weather dependent leaves everything far too last minute for me, but it’s something that continually kept coming up in prayer. My first job as vicar is to try to be as faithful as possible to the God who loves me, and then to serve you his people as wisely as possible.

With this in mind, I’ve taken the decision to go ahead with our Easter celebration at 10am on Easter Sunday outside. It might be slightly cold, but with the company of one another, blankets, warm coats (and yes even hot water bottles and flasks of tea) I believe our celebration of Easter will be a moment of great joy and witness.

I hope you will forgive my lengthy email explaining my reasoning, I hope to worship alongside many of you over the coming days and even on Easter Sunday, whatever decision you choose may you know the joy and love of our Lord Jesus Christ throughout these days of Easter.

Calum

(Should the weather forecast change dramatically between now and then, I will be in touch once more.)

Update 27

Good Afternoon Friends,

I said I would write following yesterday’s PCC meeting to share with you the decision made about resuming Public Worship at St Michaels.

It has been agreed that St Michaels will reopen for Public Worship fully from Sunday 21st March. This reopening will see our pattern of services return to what happening before Christmas with services at 8am, 10am and 6.30pm on a Sunday with a midweek service on Wednesdays at 10.30am.

It has also been agreed that we will continue to follow the pattern where the celebration of Holy Communion will rotate around the various services.

The reason for looking to reopen fully on Sunday 21st March is to allow time for rota’s to be developed and service plans created whilst also giving time to observe what is happening with the local infection rates as schools return.

The PCC and I are very aware that there are members of our church family who have been shielding and who have been and continue to serve on the front line of the covid-19 response. For these people, whilst they long to return to church to worship with our community in person, they may be feeling slightly more anxious and cautious than others, which is completely understandable. I have always said I want our reopening to be done in a way that includes as many people as possible, which is why the livestreaming was set up and why I always try to make sure that it works as well as possible. Please don’t feel pressured to return straightaway if this is you, but also please don’t feel like you aren’t welcome and like you have been forgotten. You haven’t been and you are still very much a loved member of our church family.

This Sunday the church marks Mothering Sunday, and whilst we are aiming to reopen next week there will be a service at 10am on Sunday 14th March. This will be a service of Holy Communion and there will be flowers available, as is custom for Mothering Sunday. Leftover posies will be available from outside church after the service. Should you wish to be present for our service on the 14th, booking will open on Wednesday morning (10th) at 9am. Those who are unable to use our online booking system should contact the office which is open between 9.30am and 1.30pm.

Going forwards there will be a service on Wednesday 17th March at 10.30am and then on Sunday 21st March the 8am, 10am and 6.30pm services will resume.

I look forwards to welcoming many of you back into our building as we resume worshipping together. As we do this, we all need to remember the public health guidance about wearing mask, keeping 2 metres apart and not mixing with people from outside our households/bubbles.

In the next few days I will be able to share more information about how we will celebrate Holy Week and Easter together but the PCC have agreed to my suggestion that we aim to celebrate Easter Sunday with one service at 10am outside on the front church field. Obviously, this will be weather dependent and a wet weather plan will be put together, but I am excited at the prospect of the whole church joining together to celebrate the joy of the resurrection on Sunday 4th April. More details to follow.

If you have any concerns or questions about St Michaels reopening please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Regards,

Calum

Update 26

Good Evening,

Following the government’s announcement of their roadmap out of lockdown, I’ve had a few people ask what’s happening with St Michaels, so thought I would share as much of the plan that I know, as well as a few other things.

Resuming Public Worship

The Standing  Committee met on Monday and felt we should continue to be cautious and follow in the footsteps of the schools. As such we wont resume Public Worship on the 7th March – worship will remain online for then. The PCC have a meeting scheduled for the following day, where they will be asked to make some decisions about Public Worship and following that meeting I will  be able to communicate clearly when the church will resume public worship. It is my hope that this is the last time St Michaels is closed for public worship for the rest of its history.

Easter

I am hopeful that we will be back in church for Holy Week and Easter but obviously things will still need to be slightly different. For Christmas I met with a group of people to discuss ideas about what we could do, I am interested in doing the same for Easter. So if you would be interested in being involved in planning some of what we might do at Easter, would you let me know?

Thanksgiving Sunday

This Sunday (28th) is Thanksgiving Sunday where you are invited to return your pledge card to church indicating how much you are committing financially to the church in thankfulness for God’s love for you. The church building will be open between 11am and 4pm for you to come and drop your envelope off should you wish. There will be a basket on the altar with some words you may wish to use as you place a symbol of your gift (pledge card in envelope) to God on the altar. Thank you to everyone who has sent their cards back so far.

Prayer for our Parish

On Ash Wednesday we published a new prayer diary for St Michaels which gives various suggestions for how to grow your prayer life as well as a diary of people, organisations and places to pray for each day throughout the month. There are printed copies of these for everyone in church, but you can also download it from our website. As we look forwards there is an opportunity to not just go back to what were doing but to ask God, ‘what do you want us to do next? Who are you calling us to serve next?’ A couple of weeks ago I spoke in the Sunday service about a new project we are embarking on called The Micah Project where we are looking to appoint a Children and Families Worker, a Youthworker and a Community Worker to help us as a church grow but also to serve our local community better. Part of the beginning of this project is about discerning where God is calling us to serve.  As such I want to invite you to join me in a time of Praying for our Parish throughout the month of March.

Each day of March, I would like someone to walk the streets listed for that day in our prayer diary in the morning, and for someone else to walk the same streets in the afternoon, asking God to show them the places and people to which he is calling us as a church. When they have finished walking to then write some brief notes about what they saw, who they saw, how they felt and then to drop those notes back to me. This will then start to add some further structure to our ministry over the coming months and years. From Friday, in Church, there will be a sign up sheet for the roads and days, along with cards you can take to write your notes on. I hope you will be able to join me in Praying for our Parish in the next month.

APCM

There was some confusion in my last email about the date of the Annual Parochial Church Meeting – sorry! This will take place on Sunday 18th April at a time still to be confirmed and will take place in Church. Please do put this date in your diary – more details will follow.

This meeting will include the election of Churchwardens and PCC members. If you are interested in standing for the PCC please let Tricia Munn know and she will send you some information along with a nomination form. Her email is: triciamunn@btinternet.com

Louise Richardson will be standing down as Churchwarden at the APCM having completed her 6 year term of office. Louise’s wardenship has been unlike most others with the range of things she has had to deal with. There will be opportunities to thank her in the months to come, but I am truly thankful for all she has offered to our parish in service as Churchwarden.

I would like to present her with a gift at the APCM in thanks for all that she has done. Should you wish to contribute to this gift please could send these donations to the church or vicarage marked with mine or David Walker’s name with the word ‘Handover’. We will then know exactly what this is for. You can also transfer the funds directly into the church bank account, please again include the word ‘Handover’ in the reference. Please also try to refrain from telling Louise I’m organising this – it would nice to surprise her! (Cheques – St Michael and All Angels PCC / Bank Transfer - Parochial Church Council of St Michael and All Angels, Sort code: 01-01-14, Bank A/C No: 83547274)

With Louise stepping down there will be a vacancy for Churchwarden. Should you be interested in this role, could you speak to a current Churchwarden to get some more information about the role, and it would also be helpful to have a conversation with me, so that I can share some of my vision for ministry over the next few years with you. Please be praying for those people thinking about serving on the PCC and as Churchwarden.

Walking for Keith

Finally, Moyra Cryer and Hamida Adkins are aiming to WALK for KEITH during March and April 2021. Keith Fenwick was the much loved and energetic instigator of St Michael's international link with the Diocese of Newala in the south of Tanzania. This spiritually rich yet materially poor diocese has inspired St Michael's in the past to make friends with people there, visit Newala and support the diocese with its diverse educational, healthcare, water and sanitation needs. We very sadly lost Keith to Covid-19 last April. The largest town in Newala Diocese is Mtwara on the coast, 83 miles from the inland town of Newala. Moyra and Hamida intend to walk this distance around Bramhall. They will walk each Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday starting Tuesday 16 March, walking three walks per week except for Holy Week (29 March to 3 April) and finishing their 15th walk on Saturday 24th April - quite a challenge!

 The walks will be approximately 5 miles long and radiate out as petals of a flower from the church. Thus all the walks will be local and accessible to anyone who would also like to walk separately, subject to the Covid-19 rules and restrictions at the time. They are hoping to raise £10,000 so that the half-built hostel owned by the diocese in Newala town can be completed and thus provide the diocese with an income and a welcoming base for tourists and visitors to stay. It's an ambitious amount of money, but since Keith's dream was to have this hostel up and running, they feel they can try to fulfill that dream this year. You can donate to their challenge on our website at https://www.bramhall.church/walk-for-keith

I have gone on for far too long now, so I shall sign off here. Thank you for taking the time to read this update.

God Bless,

Calum

Update 23

Good Evening Everyone,

As we approach the end of January, I thought it was time to send out my first update of 2021, so included are a few bits of information that hopefully you will find helpful and maybe even encouraging.

Public Worship

On Christmas Eve the Churchwardens announced that we had come to the decision to close St Michaels for Public Worship for the duration of January. This was for multiple reasons, including the high infection rates. The PCC Standing Committee have reviewed this decision this week, as requested by the PCC, and have decided to keep the church closed for Public Worship during February also. This decision was based upon the local infection rates, which despite some decrease remain relatively high.

Ash Wednesday falls on the 17th February and this marks the start of the season of Lent and journey to Easter. With it being such a significant date in the church’s year we will hold 2 gathered services on this day in church. Booking will be required and these will be services of Holy Communion. More information about this will follow next week. Following Ash Wednesday the Standing Committee will meet again to make a decision about March and also Easter. My hope is that the rates will have decreased enough for us to be able to worship together in our church building for Easter.

Candlemas

This Sunday marks the Presentation of Christ in the Temple otherwise known as Candlemas. I filmed our service yesterday, and for those on Facebook, you may have seen the picture of all the candles lit in church. Due to most the usual church furniture not being in church, this year has provided a unique opportunity to fill the church with candles. So make the most of this, St Michaels Church will be open for Individual Prayer between 5.30pm and 6.30pm this Saturday (Saturday 30th January) where you can come and spend time in the space as it has been set up for Candlemas with over 300 candles lit. As David Taylor and I looked out on the church having lit all the candles the words of Jesus ‘I am the Light of the World’ the Gospel of Johns words ‘The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it’ were particularly poignant, powerful and encouraging.

Lent

Lent is fast approaching, and I hope to write again towards the end of next week to share with you various resources we will be making available to encourage you in your faith during this season. There will be Lent Groups on Zoom and 2 different series of Lenten Reflections. We hope to offer further resources too – but that’s for another update.

Grief

Despite 2021 being less than a month old, it has been a difficult month for our nation but also for our church community. The Covid-19 death toll in our country passed a very sad milestone this week, and we have received news of the deaths of a number of our church family. The loss of one person is always hard, I am struggling to find words to communicate the loss St Michaels is currently experiencing. Death is never easy for those who are left behind, and yet we have a hope, and whilst this hope might not always numb the pain we feel, it offers strength to walk in each and every new day. Death is not the end. Jesus has overcome death, and welcomes home those who love him. Its ok to be sad, its ok to be angry, its ok to question but know that God is with you, God is with us. In the coming weeks, we will have an opportunity to publicly remember some close friends and to say goodbye, and whilst this will be hard we will be able to do so trusting in the promise of Jesus – that he has welcomed our Brothers and Sisters home.

Prayer for the Nation

In response to the national sense of grief many feel, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York are calling Christians to pray every evening, for our nation and world but particularly for all those who have been hit hardest by this crisis. They have put together a range of resources to support this time of prayer – all of which you can find on the national Church of England website - https://www.churchofengland.org/resources/prayer-nation#na

A year ago we were preparing for the challenge of Wonderland, the joys, the laughter, the confusion and the exhaustion. They were good days – the days of fellowship, of joy, of laughter with friends will return again. Don’t lose hope. God is faithful!

With my prayers,

Calum

Update from the Churchwardens

Dear Friends,

With the announcement of more areas of the country being placed under the Tier 4 COVID restrictions and rates of infection beginning to rise again across Greater Manchester we have been considering the situation with regards to public worship in the New Year and have shared our thoughts with Standing Committee.

Our main concerns are twofold: firstly to protect the vulnerable members of our congregation but secondly, to protect Calum. Calum has, over a sustained period of nine months with no real break to speak of put in an inordinate amount of work and number of hours to ensure that as a community we were able to continue to worship be it from home with online services or in church in a COVID safe manner. He has brought innovation and creativity in delivering services ensuring that as far as possible everyone can participate in whatever way they wish. He has also conducted a huge number of funerals in very difficult circumstances.   We should remember that we have been very fortunate as we were one of first churches that reopened for public worship in August.

In discussion with Standing Committee we have therefore taken the very difficult decision to close the church for public worship for the month of January both in anticipation of further restrictions; but also to give Calum a well-earned break and some time to recharge his batteries.

We hope that you will appreciate the reasons for this decision which has not been taken lightly but we have a duty to protect the health and well-being of all you as well as that of Calum. During this time, the church will still be available for funerals as needed and for individual prayer. We will confirm the details of times for private prayer in St Michaels Today. There will be some form of worship published online each Sunday, where folk have been asked to do readings in the January rota, they will be asked if they would be happy to be involved in the digital services.

We understand that some of you may not be happy with this decision but feel that it is the right one to make for the current situation.

Sunday 27th will therefore be the last service in December and we will reopen, restrictions allowing, for public worship on Sunday 7th February.

If you have any concerns with this decision please don’t hesitate to contact us on wardens@bramhall.church. Wish you and your family a very joyful and peaceful Christmas.

Kind regards,

Louise Richardson & David Walker

Churchwardens

Update 22

Good Afternoon!

I hope you are keeping safe and well.

Christmas Services

With just over a week to go, I wanted to send a reminder out about our Christmas services. We will have in-person services on Christmas Eve at 11.30pm, Christmas Day at 8am and 10am and on the 27th December at 10am. All of these services will be communion services as we celebrate the birth of Christ. Booking for these services will open tomorrow morning. In the lead up to the services, I will be creating seating plans so that we can use the church space as safely and as effectively as possible to try and get as many people in. If we can release any further seating closer to Christmas we will, and I will let you know via an update. Our services will also be streamed online.

Our carol service will take place this Sunday evening at 6.30pm on our Youtube and Facebook pages and also our website. I hope you enjoy singing along at home! Throughout the service, a number of candles will be lit, if you want to join in with lighting candles, there are packs of 6 candles available at church for you to take home and use during the service. If you are picking up a pack for yourself, why not pick one up for your neighbour too and invite them to tune in to the carol service?

Christmas Quiz

On Saturday evening at 7.30pm we will be holding another zoom based quiz, this time around the theme of Christmas. Those who joined in with the Harvest quiz have told me they really enjoyed it – do join us if you can for some fun. Tickets are a £10 donation to The Children Society and you can get the login details from the office. If you don’t manage to get to the parish office by the weekend and still want to join in, let me know, and I can send you the details and get Santa to chase you for your donation!

Field of Light

2020 has been a difficult year for many people. With social distancing, isolation and lockdowns, life has changed dramatically. Part of the difficulty for many people has been the loss of family members and friends and not being able to say goodbye properly.  As Christmas approaches, normally families would gather together to celebrate, but for many this won’t be possible. On Monday 21st December, during the longest night, we are inviting people to come and light a candle to remember those loved ones who have died or even to remember family that we can’t celebrate Christmas with. Between 5pm and 7pm bring a candle in a jar to place in the front field. In the simple act of lighting a candle, we are sharing light and hope trusting that things will get better and easier. There will be no formal act of worship at this event, but it is a simple opportunity for you to come and have a moment of quiet and space to remember and say thank you to those you are remembering. 

Advent Reflections

Thank you to everyone that has contributed to the Advent Reflections on the last couple of weeks (and those I have already read for next week), they have been really encouraging and creative as well.

Advent Challenge

Thank you for all your generous support with my advent challenge, so far we have raised over £2000. Thank you!! Last week on day 12, 5km in my back gave way and I struggled with moving. I have been resting up the last few days, but hope to get back out on the circuit before Christmas.

Sharing the Light

You have probably already put your Christmas Decorations up, but as people were encouraged to put things in their windows earlier in the year, I wondered if you might put a picture of a Christingle in your window for Christmas. Attached is a template you might want to copy, or print off and colour in.

Finally, Jess, Samuel and I want to say thank you for all the kind Christmas greetings we have received and wish you all a very joyful and peaceful Christmas. We have missed spending time with so many of you this year, and are praying that that might change in 2021.

With prayers for a joyful Christmas,

Calum

Update 21

Hi Everyone,

With all the news from Westminster in the past few days, I thought it might be time for another update from me.

Reopening Church

The government have announced that we can reopen church for gathered worship from the 2nd December. I have taken the decision that we will work towards Sunday 6th December. So, from Monday 30th November booking will open for services on Sunday 6th and the following Wednesday. It will be good to have you back! I’ve missed you!

The Parish Office will reopen on Monday 7th December, if you have any queries or questions – either I or a churchwarden will try to get back to you as quickly as we can.

Day of Prayer

This Saturday, St Michaels is holding a day of prayer for our community, nation and world. The church will be open for individual prayer from 10am to 4pm. Attached is a resource with various prayers and pointers to prayer that you might find helpful on the day. Throughout Saturday I will lead a form of prayer on the hour, each hour. This form of prayer is also attached. Scripture tells us that prayer has power – so I want to encourage as many of you as possible to join the parish in praying at some point on Saturday, even if its just for a few minutes. You don’t need to book to come to church, you can just turn up.

Advent

Happy New Year! On Sunday we enter into the new church year as we begin Advent. There a few things to tell you about with Advent.

1. There will be a new order of Morning and Evening Prayer, in line with the new season of Advent, available on the website.

2. Each day throughout Advent, Jess and I will be releasing a video at 4pm reflecting on different advent themes, during these videos we will be creating a Jesse tree.

3. On Sunday’s we will also release a video at 9am lighting our advent wreath which will include a children’s Christmas story.

4. Every day a there will be a new reflection posted on our website reflecting on themes of comfort and joy. (Mark is still looking for volunteers to write some reflections.)

With all of the above, they are resources to encourage you in your faith as we prepare for the celebration of Christmas. Use what is helpful, ignore what isn’t – I won’t be offended (promise!)

This Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent and our Sunday service will reflect that with various carols and readings for Advent.

Christmas Appeal

This year I have launched a Christmas Appeal for church which is supporting 3 great causes. The 1st cause is the Children’s Society, the 2nd – the local foodbank and the 3rd – The Parish of Stockport and Brinnington. 

We are asking for donations towards the work of The Children’s Society, who we usually raise substantial amounts for through our Christingle Services. The Children’s Society do vital work throughout the UK. Whilst I am asking for donations – I will also be attempting to run 10km every day in Advent to raise money too, if you feel compelled to sponsor me, I would be very grateful.

Thank you to everyone that continues to give generously to the foodbank, the second strand is an encouragement to keep going with that. Something you might like to do, is find a box and put something in it everyday of Advent, so that by Christmas you have a box full of food that could support families over the new year period.

The final strand is supporting the Parish of Stockport and Brinnington. In terms of deprivation, the parish of Brinnington is the 121st most deprived parish in the whole country, compared to Bramhall which is the 12,208th most deprived parish out of 12,382 (where 1 is the most deprived). We are asking folk to put together hampers of Christmas goodies that can bless some of the poorest families in the country who may not be able to afford any celebrations at all.

With all of the above you can find more information on our website at https://www.bramhall.church/christmas-appeal-2020 (including a video, a suggested list of items for the hampers, and links to our donation pages.)

If you are bringing a completed hamper, or items for a  hamper to church, could you label them as part of the hamper project, so that they don’t get confused with foodbank donations. If anyone wishes to donate to the Christingle Society with cash or cheque rather than online, please leave these in the post box at church marked Children’s Society. Cheques can be made payable to St Michael and All Angels PCC.

Christmas

With government guidelines becoming clearer for Christmas, I can begin to finalise some of the plans for celebrating Christmas. Obviously things will be different, but my prayer is we still feel and know the joy of God with Us. Watch this space!

Plant Sale

Finally, there have been a number of plant sales at St Michaels  over the past couple of months which has raised money to support some of the gardening projects going on around the church site. The final sale is this Friday (27th) with a range of winter flowering plants and decorative Christmas arrangements. There is a new venue for the sale - B2B car park next to the Victorian pub in Bramhall village and you will find the sale there from 10am till 2pm. Everything under £10 a plant. Cash preferred, but we will have a card reader with us, subject to connectivity. Any questions speak to Sue Howgego who can be reached in sue.howgeo@bramhall.church

Looking forwards to seeing many of you again and worshipping alongside you and with you!

God Bless,

Calum

Update - October (3)

Good Evening,

Following on from some of the changes announced by government and the local authority in the past few days, I thought it might be helpful to send out another update, so here goes…

Tier 3 – Very High Risk Restrictions

Tonight we join with the rest of Greater Manchester in going in the tier 3 restrictions. Whilst it impacts all our lives in different ways, St Michaels will remain open. Thankfully the government have realised the importance of places of worship and the necessity for them to stay open. I and the wardens will continue to ensure the church site is as safe as possible for everyone and if things change we will communicate that as quickly as possible. I’m aware there are a few church members who don’t live in Stockport, and so will not be heading into Tier 3 restrictions. The advice recommends people don’t travel into or out of a tier 3 locations – however I believe the activity of worship is essential and a priority for all people. Therefore, even though I am just a humble parson, I want to suggest to those of you living outside of Stockport Borough, that it is still ok for you to attend St Michaels to worship. If you have any concerns about this, please do get in touch!

Annual Act of Commemoration

On Sunday 1st November we are due to hold our annual service of light and commemoration. Due to the number of people who normally attend this service, the wardens and I have taken the difficult decision to not hold this service in person this year. I’m sorry that this service wont be possible, but all the practicalities relating to it, with expected numbers, makes it very difficult. We will stream a service online on Sunday 1st November at 6.30pm. The church will also be open from 2pm to 4pm for anyone wishing to come into church to pray, light a candle or add a name of a loved one to a tree of remembrance. When social distancing measures are relaxed we will look to hold an additional service of commemoration.

Remembrance Sunday

A few people have been asking me about plans for Remembrance Sunday.  National government and Church of England guidance make clear that it is possible for people to gather at war memorials to observe remembrance Sunday and armistice day. However, on Monday, Stockport Borough Council cancelled all civic services at war memorials throughout the borough with the words ‘given that the council must put the safety of its residents first, there will be no public events taking place at outdoor War Memorials on Remembrance Sunday nor Armistice Day’. I find this position difficult to accept and I’m sorry this decision has been made, the local councillors and I were working hard together to make a public act of remembrance safe and possible. I have spoken with Woodford and Bramhall Royal British Legion today, we will film an act of remembrance at the war memorial in advance of Remembrance Sunday and will stream this live at 11am on our website and social media.

As usual we will have an act of remembrance in each of our services, and we will also display the recorded service on our screens in church at the appropriate times for those that wish to watch it there.

Sunday Worship

One of the positives of the booking system is it is making it easier to keep a record of the numbers attending our services. Following the news conference on Tuesday evening, I needed to do something to cheer myself up, so I updated my excel spreadsheet with our church attendance figures in it. (Yes, I am that sad, no, I haven’t run out of rows or columns yet). This week, our attendance figure across all services was 110. This is the highest its been since we reopened and reflects a gradual upwards curve over the last couple of months. I’ve found this really encouraging and I hope you do to.

With numbers increasing a little each week, it has meant we have been able to review how we do things slightly, and you may or may not notice some small changes in the coming weeks. A couple of people have spoken to me about the difficulties they have had being able to book on to the 10am Sunday service, as whenever they go to do it, it is fully booked. I appreciate a large number of people are keen to attend at 10am, we have looked at whether we can increase capacity and its just not possible. There are 3 other services each week, all of which have space – so if you can’t book into the 10am service, I would encourage you to try one of the other services.

One of the things currently sat on my desk is the service of commemoration I am planning. One of the readings is Romans 8 which says:

35Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39  nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Jesus Christ is same today, as he will be tomorrow, as he was yesterday. However you feel – you can trust in him. Jess and I shared how we are feeling at the moment in our latest ‘In Conversation’ episode today – we are finding it helpful to look for the small bits of joy in each day – and take each day as it comes. Nothing will separate us from Gods love, and the joy of heaven – whatever the days and weeks ahead hold – trust in Jesus – he holds you in the palm of his hand.

With thankfulness for all you give, and prayers for God’s blessing upon you!

Calum

Update - October (2)

Good Morning,

Sorry for another email in the space of a month, but there a couple of things I felt important to share with you.

Safeguarding

Firstly, you may be aware that the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse released their report on the Church of England and Church of Wales this week which was reported on by mainstream media. Sadly it highlights very clearly where the Church of England has got things wrong in the past, the ways in which it has failed far too many people, and the way in which some of our current structures and processes need to change. I and the PCC of St Michaels take our duty and obligation to protect all, extremely seriously. We have adopted the national Church of England's procedures and guidelines relating to safeguarding and regularly review these and how they are implemented in our church life. You can find out more information about this on our website at https://www.bramhall.church/safeguarding. Where change is required in how we operate and our policies, we will make those changes as quickly and safely as we can, to make our church family as safe as possible for everyone.   If you want to know more about our safeguarding commitments or want to speak to someone in confidence please don’t hesitate to contact Cathy Hedley our lead Safeguarding Officer, Susan Joyce our Children’s Advocate and Safeguarding Officer or myself, our contact details can be found on the link above.

Harvest

We will be celebrating Harvest on Sunday 18th October at all three of our services. We are inviting the usual donations of non-perishable food which will be split between the Foodbank and Wellspring project. This year we are also support the Christian Aid Harvest Campaign, and any monetary donations will be sent there.

For a suggested list of food donations, see our website where there are more details. https://www.bramhall.church/upcoming-events

For more details on the Christian Aid Campaign you can go to their website: https://www.christianaid.org.uk/appeals/key-appeals/global-neighbours-autumn-appeal

On Saturday 17th October at 7pm, I invite you to join us in our first ever Harvest Quiz (hooray!!). Get the family or social bubble together in front of the computer and join us for the first ever virtual quiz at St Michaels where we are raising money for the Christian Aid Harvest Campaign. Tickets per team (household or bubble) are £10 and you can get these by contacting the office. When the office gets the £10, they will give you the zoom login code for the night. It might not be as exciting as Strictly Come Dancing – but it certainly won’t be an event to miss. I hope you will join us! Tickets will also be available on Sunday after our services.

PCC Members

I realise following the Annual Meeting, I haven’t shared with all of you who was appointed to the PCC. So the following people are now members of the PCC:

Hamida Adkins, John Baker (Pastoral Worker) Frances Beards, David Beveridge (Deanery Synod), Imogen Bird, Glynis Brown, Robert Cryer, Georgina Foot, Shelagh Gall, Bryan Goodwin (Deanery Synod), Mark Hackney (Reader) Sally Harwood, Michael Holmes, Sue Howgego, Jill Illingworth, Janet Ketteringham, Graham Knight, Bob Munn (Diocesan Synod) Tricia Munn, Sheila Newbon, Jo Oughton (Deanery Synod), Louise Sell, Sue Taylor, Stuart Villard, Phil Wadsworth (Deanery Synod), Georgia Watson, Rob Watson

I’m also pleased to tell you that Louise Richardson and David Walker were elected as Churchwardens for a further year.

The new PCC will meet for the first time (virtually) on Monday next week, so do be praying for them.

Livestreaming

Over the last few months I have been trying different things to try and provide a good quality livestream of our 10am service. Following a number of changes last week, the stream seemed to go quite well. From this week, we are going to try and put the order of service for the 10am service on our website. So should you wish to follow the service with a bit more clarity you can download the service beforehand.

That’s everything on my post-it note of things to tell you. Stay safe!

God Bless,

Calum

Update - October (1)

Hello Friends,

Can you believe its now October? In a zoom meeting last night, someone mentioned how they couldn’t believe that the Christmas decorations were going up in the garden centres already. Just a few updates for you as we head into this new month.

Mark Hackney Licensed at Reader

This Sunday (4th) Mark will be licensed as a Lay Reader in the diocese based at St Michaels. The service will be take place at Chester Cathedral and will be led by Bishop Mark, Bishop of Chester. If you want to watch the service, we have been told it will be on youtube and the link is https://www.youtube.com/c/ChesterCathedralChoirandOrgan/featured. The service will start at 3pm. The following Sunday (11th), Mark (our reader, not the Bishop) will preach at all three services and will also replicate parts of the licensing service, as required by the Diocese. I do hope, you will be able to join us at one of these services, as we welcome Mark into this ministry.

NHS Test and Trace App

You may have heard much about the launch of the NHS app last week. Part of the system requires public places to display a new type of barcode at the entrance to their buildings. People with the app on their phone can scan the code and register that they have arrived at the building. In line with the request from government St Michaels is now displaying the code we have been assigned. If you have the app, and wish to participate, you can scan in on arrival at church, but nobody will be forced to participate in this system. We will maintain our own booking system which is primarily about making sure we have space for people in our services, and secondly is about making sure we have information for Track ad Trace should it be needed.

On the note of Track and Trace, I think it is inevitable that there will be people in our church over the next few weeks who get told to isolate. Where this happens, I want to ask for your continued love, generosity and care towards them. People don’t choose to get Covid, but to be told to self-isolate brings all sorts of feelings of fear and in some cases shame. Lets continue to build one another up in love and prayer.

Another Step to Normality

I am really pleased to tell you that from next Monday (5th October) the Parish Office will be staffed 5 days a week again. Next week, we welcome Janet Blackshaw back to work, which is another sign of us recovering in the right direction. Karen will work Monday to Wednesday and Janet will work Thursday and Friday.

As the office returns to full capacity we are looking to revive some of the rotas that were in place for our services to assist with some of the planning. If you were already on a rota for bible reading, leading intercessions or being a sidesperson, Karen will have already been in touch. If you would like to be included in these rota’s either contact the office, or use the sign up sheet that will be in church on Sunday.

Technology

With the introduction of the screens for worship, up till now, Mark and myself, with a few exceptions have been controlling what’s on screen whilst also leading or preaching. Whilst this has worked so far, we don’t think this is a long term solution so we are asking for help. If you would be able to help control what’s on screen during a service and be part of a rota, we would both be really grateful. Again there will be a sign up sheet in church on Sunday and we will look to sort out some training and a rota within the next 2 weeks.

Christmas

Christmas is coming. The festivities will look very different this year, but we will still celebrate the birth of Jesus and the celebration of God with us. As I look to plan things in a different way, if you would be interested in being involved in some of the planning and delivery of our Christmas celebrations, there will be a sign up sheet in church this weekend, or you can let me know by email. Where its possible to meet in person we will, otherwise it will be over zoom.

Greetings from Newala

This week we received a message from the Diocese of Newala encouraging us in faith and reminding us of their prayers. Its well worth a read and you can find it on our website at: https://www.bramhall.church/news-updates/newala-message-sept-2020

Over the last few weeks the passage of scripture that has been at the forefront of my mind has been:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us,  looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1-2)

Whatever the next few weeks and months hold – the race is a marathon and Jesus is always in sight supporting us, strengthening us, praying for us. Do not be discouraged!

With thanks for your prayers, the assurance of mine,

Calum

September Update

Good Morning,

It’s been 7 weeks since we reopened St Michael’s for public worship and it has been a real joy to see so many of you and worship alongside you in that time. By way of encouragement, we have seen around 75% of the congregation return to church for worship activity, which is a percentage much higher than some of the other churches in the area.

Rule of 6

As we head into the winter months it was inevitable that restrictions would shift and change. Following the announcement last week from the government about the new rule of 6, I said on Sunday I would send out an update later in the week once the Church of England had updated their national guidance relating to this rule. Essentially, in terms of our worship activities, nothing changes.  The Archbishop of Canterbury wrote “Worship is the work of God – not a social gathering – and gives the strength to love and serve.” Providing we continue to observe the social distancing rules, wear face masks (unless you have a medical exemption), and continue to care for one another in the ways we have been, there shouldn’t be too much change to our new way of life. In terms of activities in the Parish Centre, this is slightly more complicated, and the churchwardens and I are working to try and understand which groups can meet and how it is possible.

Memorial Wall

Some 18 months ago, plans were discussed to have a new memorial stone added to the memorial garden to remember babies who are born asleep or don’t make it to full term. Those who go through this difficult experience, normally don’t have a grave to visit, or place to go and remember, so the addition of this stone will provide a place of remembrance for families. The cost has been underwritten by the PCC and I am very grateful to Ben Lloyd Funeralcare who worked with us and provided us a discount on the work. The stone was installed last week and I think it is a fitting addition to the memorial garden.

Whilst the work has been covered by the PCC, if you wish to give a donation to this new memorial, please can you pass cash or cheques to the office in an envelope marked ‘baby memorial’ or include those words in your bank transfer reference. If we receive donations in excess of the cost, these will be donated to Tommy’s, a baby loss charity. If you wish to know more about them and their work, a link can be found here: https://www.tommys.org/

On Sunday 11th October at 3pm, there will be a short service in our memorial garden to dedicate this stone which will be led by Revd Jess Piper, which will be open to all.

Annual Meeting

The annual meeting takes place on Sunday at 2pm, I’m looking forward to seeing many of you at that meeting, and taking time to look back on our life together last year whilst also beginning to think about the future of St Michael’s too.

I hope you are well and keeping safe.

Regards,

Calum

Update 18

Hello one and all!

I hope you are keeping safe and well. We have had three Sundays where St Michaels has been open for worship and I thought it might be helpful to share with you a few updates on parish life.

Sunday Worship.

Over the last three weeks, our Sunday attendance across the three services has been in the seventies which I am really encouraged by with the addition of the ‘livestream’ being watched by around 120 people over the course of the following week. It has been great to have so many of you back in church to worship alongside. Thank you for bearing with me when I’ve got things wrong, and thank you for bearing with all the restrictions imposed on us. For those who don’t feel that it is quite safe yet, I hope you have been able to join us via the ‘livesteam’ – the church hasn’t forgotten about you. Sue Howgego, a member of our 8am service, (and keen gardener) wrote the following to me last week, which I thought might be helpful to share:

‘Thank you to all those people who have been involved in making St Michael's a safe space for worship. The thought that has gone into it all is visible from the moment you walk through the door, with plenty of hand sanitisers, socially distanced chairs and a screen on which  to follow the service ( no more papers to  shuffle). On Sunday I attended the first communion service since lockdown. Again, that had been carefully thought out with a socially distanced single file for those that were taking communion and hand sanitisers placed on the outer aisles for use after replacing our face coverings.  The attention to detail is impressive. Thank you so much for doing all this. It is so nice to attend a service within a church building and to feel safe.’

I have been made aware of a few difficulties with the sound on the livestream – there are a few of us working on this to solve the problem – bear with us.

If you were on a rota for doing one of the bible readings on a Sunday, we have had to suspend that rota for the time being, so if you are one of those organised people and have put it in your diary, you can cross it out for now.

If you come to book on to a service and find it is fully booked, please contact the office and let them know, and Karen will add you to a priority list for the following week.

APCM

The annual church meeting will happen on Sunday 20th September at 2pm in church. I will be sending out a further email this week, with the associated papers and details about the meeting. If you are interested in standing for PCC, please either contact Tricia Munn for a nomination form, or pick one up from on top of the pigeon holes in the Parish Centre.

Director of Music

It was announced on Sunday that Jonnie Gait has decided its time to move on to pastures new. With both Douglas and Heather joining school in September, their family life is going to change a bit and so now seems like the right time to go. I will miss Jonnie greatly, as I know many of you will. Jonnie was one of the first people I had lunch with when I joined St. Michaels and it has been a real joy to work with him over the last 3 years. Jonnie, Hannah and the kids have promised to come back at some point to say goodbye and we want to give them something to say thank you. If you would like to contribute to this gift, please drop off cash or cheques at the office in an envelope marked ‘Music Gift’ or make a bank transfer to the church with ‘Music Gift’ in the reference. The churchwardens have begun a process of drawing up a new role description which we will advertise for a new appointment as soon as seems appropriate in the current conditions.

Head Sidesperson

Over many years, Frank Bennett has faithfully served the church as heads Sidesperson drawing up rotas and keeping order. He has been brilliant in this role both from the perspective as the vicar but also from the perspective of the many churchwardens Frank has served with. Frank has decided now is the time to step down from this role and his role as Sidesperson and I want to put on record my thanks to him for all his hard work. A presentation to him will be made at some point in the near future to say thank you. The churchwardens are going to take on the duty of caring for sidespeople, and are currently on the lookout for new sidespeople to support the effort in keeping the church open with the increased number of services. If you think you could help, please speak to David Walker or Louise Richardson whose contact details are at the bottom of SMT.

Getting Involved

I think its safe to say that the normal programme of services and events for the autumn and winter at St Michaels will have to be different this year. Rather than having services, at which we have been seeing a rising number of people attend in previous years, like the commemoration service, advent and Christmas carols, we are going to need to have a rethink, because of the social distancing restrictions. In the next couple of weeks, I will be setting up a number of groups to look at how we can do these things differently and planning them together. Watch this space!

Thank you for your encouragement and support these last few weeks,

With my prayers,

Calum

Update 16 - Resuming Public Worship

Good Evening!

I hope you are well and keeping safe. I promised to write again when I had more details about the resuming of public worship.

As I mentioned in my last email, from Sunday 2nd August 2020, public worship will resume within St. Michael’s Parish Church. Our pattern of services has been adjusted to allow for our reduced capacity. Services will take place at:

Sunday, 8am – Quiet Reflective Service (BCP on the 3rd Sunday of the Month)

Sunday, 10am – Traditional Service with recorded music

Sunday, 6.30pm – Contemporary Service with recorded music

Wednesday, 10.30am – Mixed Traditions with recorded music

To begin with, our capacity is at 36 people from 24 different households or bubbles. We are asking people to book to attend a service so that people don’t have to be turned away at the door. You can now book for services happening in the first 2 weeks of August. You will notice the number of tickets available is less than our capacity and this is to allow space for those not on the internet to be able to book in for a service. You can find the booking system on our website at https://www.bramhall.church/worship-1#

Following the first 2 Sundays, we will open the booking system for the following Sunday on the preceding Monday. So booking for Sunday 16th August will open on Monday 10th August. If you find all the tickets for the service you wish to attend have been taken by the time you get there, please email the office on office@bramhall.church or phone on 0161 439 3989 and your name will be added to a priority list to fill gaps and for the following week. You will be required to book each week, rather than making a block booking.

If you know of someone in our parish who is not on the internet, please can you forwards their name to Karen in the Parish Office, so that they can be contacted to see if they would like to attend a service.

To give you some reassurance about the safety of attending worship at St. Michaels the following things have been implemented or are being encouraged:

• Hand Sanitizers have been installed near all doors and in the toilets and we are requesting people clean their hands on arrival and as they leave

• Chairs have been spaced at the required social distance from each other

• As part of the booking system we are asking for people’s contact details so that we adhere to the government Track and Trace Programme

• The Church of England national guidance has been changed in the last couple of days to say face coverings are strongly encouraged for those attending worship.

• Where possible the doors of the church will be left open throughout worship to help with air circulation

• Large TV screens have been installed to project the liturgy so that prayer books are not having to be given out.

Holy Communion will be celebrated once on a Sunday and this will rotate around the different services, and it will be celebrated on alternate weeks at the midweek service. There will be a new system in place for the distribution of communion which will be explained during the relevant services. There will not be a communion service on Sunday 2nd August, because for many of you, there will be enough new things to process.

If you have any problems with booking to worship, or concerns about joining us for worship, please be patient, but also do get in touch. I do intend that some of our services will be streamed live to the internet, so that those who cannot attend in person, can still participate in some way. I’m still working out the technology on this one, so will tell you where you can watch this when I know myself.

Next week I intend to share daily reflections on why I think worshipping together as a church is important, and I am very much looking forward to worshipping alongside you again very soon.

With anticipation and excitement!

Calum

Update 15

Good Morning,

I hope you are well, I wanted to share a few things with you – so here is update 15.

Closure of Church Building

I keep saying that it is my intention to make St Michaels as safe as possible for everyone, and because of this, I am needing to temporarily close the church over the next couple of weeks. Since I arrived at St Michaels just over 3 years ago, a reoccurring issue in our monthly Health and Safety reports has been the wooden flooring in church, with loose tiles and some tiles now being uneven. With rearranging a lot of the furniture in church, the hazard has only become worse. Following the PCC meeting last week, work has begun today on renovating the floor which will consist of sticking down loose blocks and then sanding and refinishing the whole floor. For this to happen it does mean that I am having to cancel the opening of church for private prayer on Wednesday 15th and Friday 17th July. The church will however be open for private prayer on Sunday 19th between 3pm and 6pm. If work continues as planned, the church will be completely closed next week for the sanding and refinishing. This does mean that the floor will look superb and even better will be safe for everyone when we resume worship on the 2nd August. If you have taken the opportunity each week to use church for private prayer and are now asking the question, ‘where will I go?’, there is always the labyrinth on the back field or the memorial gardens.

Funeral for Anne Ross

Despite the above, Anne Ross’ funeral will take place on Tuesday 21st July at 12.30pm at St Michaels. Due to the restricted number of people allowed to be present, please only attend if you receive an invitation from the family. I expect the funeral to finish around 1pm, so if you wish to pay your respect to Anne, you are invited to stand along Robins Lane from just before 1pm. The hearse, following the service at St. Michaels, will then make its way up Robins Lane, towards Bramhall Lane South, for a private committal service at Stockport Crematorium.

Searching the Archives

There is a project we need to undertake as church that requires searching through our archived material. I am looking for someone that would be willing to go through our archives, in an efficient but detailed manner on my behalf to complete this project. If you are interested in more information, could you let me know.

Confirmation of Election of the Bishop of Chester

The new Bishop of Chester will have his election as Bishop confirmed tomorrow in a service that will take place completely online. The new Archbishop of York will also be involved. You can watch this service at https://www.chester.anglican.org/confirmation-of-election/confirmation-of-election.php. The service will start on Wednesday 15th July at 11am.

Reopening of the Parish Office.

We will be reopening the Parish Office on Monday 20th July. To start with the office will be open on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings and will be staffed by Karen. I am absolutely delighted to be welcoming Karen back to work, as it marks another step in the right direction of our journey of recovery. Hopefully in the autumn we will begin to un-furlough other members of staff too. With the office reopening, we are required to ensure that our building and particularly the office meets government guidelines and is COVID secure. So below are some guidelines I would ask all of us to follow:

• Please contact the office by phone or email where needed.

• Please only visit the office if absolutely necessary.

• If you visit the office, please observe all social distancing measures that have been put in place to keep us and the office staff safe.

• Do not go behind the office desk at all. This is our administrators space, even if they are not there, nobody should be entering into the space due to the risk of transmission.

• Be patient. There is a fair  amount of stuff that needs catching up with, as well as beginning to navigate the minefield that is understanding guidance about hiring out our buildings and creating a booking system for our services.

Thank you in advance for your support and help!

Any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me. I hope to release more details about booking for services next week.

With every blessing,

Calum