Church News
PUBLIC WORSHIP
Services are held at 9am and 10.15am. Booking is required; for non-computer users, please ring Joanne (07935 774633) between the Monday and Wednesday before the Sunday in question. For email users, please contact Joanne (roystonpc.churchoffice@gmail.com) between Thursday and Saturday. Unfortunately we cannot take bookings for more than one week at a time. All welcome!
MORNING PRAYER ONLINE: continuing on from our zoom Morning Prayer in Lent we will be holding this on the first Wednesday of the month at 9am. The zoom invitation will appear in the Mailchimp email. Next service: August 4th. All welcome.
FUNDRAISING COOK BOOK: Our new recipe book, Thoroughly Modern Beeton is now ready and on sale at £10 each. If you want to order any please email Lynda Burns at lyndajburns@hotmail.co.uk or phone 01763 244538.
FOOD BANK: Items which are required at the moment are: tinned meat (meatballs are popular), jars of sauces (both pasta sauces and rice sauces) and coffee. Rice or pasta are not needed at this time. Donations can be delivered to the Royston Evangelical Church on Wednesdays and Saturdays between 9 and 11am. Thank you.
NEW CHURCH VENUE
From 5th September, we shall be meeting in Icknield Walk School for our Sunday services; the entrance is on Poplar Drive, opposite Honey Way. More details to follow.
BEDS & HERTS HISTORIC CHURCHES TRUST SPONSORED BIKE ‘N HIKE – SATURDAY 11TH SEPTEMBER
Last year 5 participants raised over £1,150 which was divided between BHHCT and our own parish funds. Select your own route for cycling or hiking between the churches – there are over 600 churches to choose from so make it as long or as short as you wish. More churches will be open this year but for the second year there will be no signing in forms or refreshments on offer.
The Sponsorship Packs are now available and if you would like a pack mailed to you, please contact Mike Maze (245606 or mikefmaze@aol.com).
Currently we have only one Just Giving sponsor link, which happens to be mine, but hope to add more names in next the week or so. For online sponsorship, please follow the link Mike Maze
CONFIRMATION COURSE
If you would like to know more about the Christian faith and would like to consider being Confirmed we shall be starting a course in the summer. Please contact Heidi for more details: hahlive@gmail.com / 243145.
SPONSOR A CHAIR. So far we have received sponsorship for 144 chairs, raising a fantastic £36,000 (including gift aid) towards our church refurbishment fund. There is still plenty of opportunity to sponsor a chair, at the cost of £250 per chair. If you would like a copy of the sponsor form please link to the webpage. Sponsor a Chair
Ruth savage@hotmail.co.uk or ring Joanne 01763 24691
IN NEED OF SOME MENTAL HEALTH SUPPORT? Nicky Franzen-Vipers is a local mental health first aider who also runs a local mental health peer support group which meets on Zoom the first and third Thursday of each month. All are welcome and it’s free. For more details: https://www.facebook.com/roystonrethink/
BISHOPS’ HARVEST APPEAL 2021: This year the Bishop is asking us to consider supporting Tearfund’s ‘Water is Life’ Appeal, helping the most vulnerable people in the Democratic Republic of Congo by providing safe, clean water. There is a prayer launch on zoom on Wednesday 9 June 8am. If you would like to attend, please contact Joanne who will be able to give you a link to book a place.
PARISH PICNIC
We are hoping to be able to have a Parish Picnic, in Priory Memorial Gardens, on Sunday 29 August from 12 noon. Please bring your own picnic and seating. It will be weather dependant of course, so will be reviewed a few days before. It will be lovely to have the chance to get together again as a church family.
EASY FUNDRAISING
I am sure that many of you will have resorted to online shopping during the lockdowns. What some of you may not know is that St Johns are registered with easyfundraising which means every time you make a purchase online from a registered supplier the Church will receive a donation at no cost to yourselves. If you are not registered please do it now as there is a special donation offer of £5 per new signing. To support St John the Baptist Parish Church – Royston, Hertfordshire on #easyfundraising, they will give you a £5 shopping voucher once you have raised your first £5 – PLUS we will get a bonus £5 donation, it’s win, win! It’s simple to join and you can raise FREE donations whenever you shop online with over 5,200 retailers. Sign up here: https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/stjtbchurchroyston/?invite=3D8VJ6&referral-campaign=c2s&utm_source=ew5sharebox
TWIN YOUR VACCINE? Your two doses of vaccine (depending on which kind you had) might be worth between £4 and £30. If you could have afforded to buy it for yourself, please consider twinning your vaccination by donating to Unicef. Rev’d Scott Patteson and his wife, Rowan have set up a JustGiving page which will be linked to Unicef’s Covax project. For more details, please see: www.justgiving.com/fundraising/RowanPatterson
DAILY HOPE offers music, prayers and reflections as well as full worship services from the Church of England at the end of a telephone line. A Church of England initiative in partnership with CONNECTIONS at Holy Trinity Claygate, and Faith in Later Life. The line – which is available 24 hours a day on 0800 804 8044 – has been set up particularly with those unable to join online church services during the period of restrictions in mind. “With many in our country on lockdown, it’s important that we support those who are feeling lonely and isolated, whatever age they are” Archbishop Justin Welby.