Fifth Sunday after Trinity – 12 July 2020

Christ Church, Community, Parish News, Prayer, St Andrew's, Turton Moorland Team, Worship

Let us come into His presence with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise!

(Psalm 100:4)

Return to Public Worship

Dear friends,

As we are emerging from these months of lockdown, with its enforced suspension of public worship, we have been looking at ways to gather for services in our Parish and in the wider Turton Moorland Team.

We are pleased to announce that, with the approval of Walmsley Parish PCC and following all Government, Church of England and Manchester Diocesan guidelines, we will be open at Christ Church Walmsley for PUBLIC WORSHIP from Sunday 12 July at 9.30am and for a mid-week service from Wednesday 15 July at 11am. It is also the desire and intention to re-open St. Andrew’s Church for services as soon as possible. We are going to have to learn how best to provide for our worship needs.

All the information about return to public worship is available HERE.

The way through the woods

A request from Liz Spencer

I hope that you and your nearest and dearest have been able to enjoy walks in our beautiful local area. Possibly, as I did, you enjoyed the spectacle of the carpets of bluebells in the woods between Walmsley Church and Deakins business park.

These stands of native bluebells are becoming increasingly rare and so we are all lucky to have them on our doorstep. They are under threat on all fronts.

Firstly, native bluebells readily hybridize with the larger Spanish bluebells and in doing so lose both their fragrance and their delicate drooping form. They eventually cease to exist in their original form at all.

Secondly, the damp and shaded parts of this little patch of rich deciduous woodland is, as you may have noticed, infested with Himalayan Balsam. This is a voracious annual plant which grows tall enough and rapidly enough to deprive all other plants of both light and nutrients. By doing so, they rob the area of biodiversity and fuel the decline and ultimate extinction of numerous species. Each plant can set upwards of 500 seeds which spread and germinate with ease.

And then anything still putting up a fight for survival encounters the brambles encroaching from all directions. This little pocket of nature’s treasure also contains notable and veteran trees, some of which will eventually come to be known as ancient trees, the trees of myths and stories.

But, as all precious places are, it is always at risk of disappearing either through neglect or from development. There are however steps that can be taken to protect these little glimpses of paradise.

By spending time carefully examining them and documenting the species that exist and those that are missing we can provide evidence to support protection plans.

To this end, I will be undertaking some clearing of the balsam from mid-morning (approx 10.30am) on Saturday 18th July.  By this time any ground nesting fledglings will have left while most of the balsam plants will not have started setting seed.

If you want to join me or to discuss this please contact me at:

Thewaythroughthewoods20@gmail.com – Liz Spencer (or Julia Head on 07766 086118)

Worship from home

You can enjoy each Sunday’s ‘virtual service’ led by our Team Rector, Canon Peter Reiss. Click here for our YouTube link.

There are also ‘Worship at Home‘ resources on the Team Website simply scroll down to the Watch a Service and Read a Service links on the homepage.

Resources

  1. Prayers sourced for and from Walmsley Parish
  2. Pew Sheet with Liturgy for the WHOLE OF JULY
  3. Children’s worship fun sheet: ‘LOOK’ for the WHOLE OF JULY
  4. Standing Order mandate form for Christ Church Walmsley
  5. Standing Order mandate form for St. Andrew’s, Bromley Cross

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