Pharmacy opening times Christmas 2023
Notes for Sunday 17 December 2023
Dear friends,
The weather is a bit dreary and it’s not really cold at all.
Looking back on photos from previous years I came across some pictures of Warnham Nature reserve (as attached) from the time I worked in the café there. They were taken 16 years ago to the day. If you have some spare time in the days leading up to New Year’s Eve I can recommend a visit and a walk around the reserve. It’s a bird paradise in winter as well as the rest of the year. Do check the opening times before you set out!
This Sunday is the third of advent. As always we have the evening service of readings and music in St John and we home to welcome many of you to this and the mulled wine and mince pies afterwards.
God bless,
Dineke van den Bogerd
notes-20231217.pdf
Post expires at 11:42am on Monday December 16th, 2024
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Notes for Sunday 10 December 2023
Dear friends,
The picture today was chosen to whet your appetite for fairly traded chocolate. Most cocoa is produced in west Africa and generally the prices paid to farmers are so low that they can not afford to send their children to school and most young people are set to work from the age of 11 to boost the family income. The FairTrade logo ensures that fair prices are paid to the farmers so their families can work and educate their way out of poverty. Also please look out for the Fair Trade logo whenever you shop for coffee, sugar, spices etc.
If you have any questions please do not hesitate to see me when I run the local stall: next time will be during teas in St John on 10 December.
I hope many of you will make it to Café church, Christingle or Teas and LOAF on this second Sunday of Advent.
God bless,
Dineke van den Bogerd
Post expires at 12:34pm on Monday December 9th, 2024
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Christmas lead up
Last month’s Remembrance Sunday services were I felt very special services as they always are but even more poignant this year. The service in the afternoon at Capel is the most attended service each year and it was wonderful to welcome our wonderful Scouts, Cubs and Beavers along with the British Legion and distinguished service people. I was also struck in the morning service at St Margaret’s at Ockley at how wonderful it was that we continue to remember our war dead and how important this is, over 100 years later, that if it wasn’t for the sacrifices made on our behalf we wouldn’t necessarily have the freedom we enjoy today. Both wonderful services in our villages and thank you to Stuart Cole who gave an excellent address at Capel in the afternoon.
Remembrance last month has given room now to begin the Christmas countdown which comes around faster each year doesn’t it?! Not for the children I know – amazing how time is so much slower when you are a child! Many of you will have visited the now annual Capel Christmas Fair which was another wonderful occasion (yesterday as I am writing). A huge thank you to Suzanne Cole and her team for putting this on for us in aid of MND Association and Church funds which is a wonderful start and taster to the season. Otherwise Christmas or I should say Advent festivities begin in earnest on Saturday 2nd of December with the putting up of the community Christmas trees and the big switching on of the lights later in the day. Always a jolly occasion, thank you to Sally and her team for their organisation and hard work. I love the trees! We are also going to be staging our nativity scene on the vicarage front lawn again this year so watch out for that as you drive past! Hopefully no one will remove the baby Jesus this year…. Apparently I am informed that baby Jesus’ always get removed from such things wherever you install them. Strange isn’t it?! Anyway I hope you enjoy their return!!
Christmas services this year include a special Christmas edition of Café Church, our annual Carol Service with Joy’s wonderful home made mince pies and mulled wine. As Christmas Eve falls on a Sunday this year we will be holding a Holy Communion service in the morning at St Margaret’s Ockley, followed by the usual family Crib Service at Capel in the afternoon, and then for the hard core, a midnight Holy Communion service which begins at 11pm. We always finish and are singing Silent Night together in candlelight by midnight, ready to wish one another the first happy Christmas! I do hope you can join us at something over the festive season. As two churches together we are worshipping jointly once a month now, alternating the two villages. This year we will be celebrating Christmas Day at Capel and the service time will be 10am !!
The month finishes on a Sunday for New Year’s Eve and that will be a joint service at Ockley – a great way to end the year and begin the new one.
As we celebrate the birth of our Saviour Jesus Christ may I wish you and your loved ones a very Happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year!
With my love and prayers
Liz
Post expires at 9:33am on Thursday December 5th, 2024
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Notes for Sunday 3 December 2023
Dear friends,
The Christmas trees have gone up in the churchyard of St John and next week will be Carol singing on Ockley Green. We have had a sprinkling of snow this week and today is Advent Sunday. We are fast approaching the celebration of God’s coming to earth.
Do spread the word of the Christingle celebration next Sunday in the Ockley cricket pavilion.
The picture is of last week’s teas in St John. It was very busy and we hope next week’s will be equally successful. The LOAF stall will be present at the teas again next week so do bring some cash or a credit card to purchase Organic and Fair Trade seasonal goods, groceries and stocking fillers at reasonable prices. Discounts for those of you shopping for the hampers that will be distributed in Capel from St John!
God Bless,
Dineke van den Bogerd
Post expires at 1:53pm on Monday December 2nd, 2024
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December 2023 Garden Tips
Garden Notes for December 2023.
If you have root crops in the ground (such as carrots or parsnips), put some straw down before the frosts take too strong a hold. This will help stop the ground freezing and allow them to be lifted whatever the weather.
Keep up good hygiene. Clear crops that are past their best and start digging the ground, so long as it is workable.
It does help to know the soil pH in your garden. There are simple test kits available from garden centres. If the patch you are testing proves to be acidic (a pH that is lower than 7.0), then use lime where you intend to plant any of the brassica crops such as cabbages, cauliflower, or Brussel sprouts, this will reduce the chance of infection from club-root. It is recommended that you should take an average of three readings.
Onion seed should be sown as soon after Christmas is over. Ideally they should be sown in seed boxes under cover in the greenhouse, but failing this they can be sown direct in cold frames, so long as they are kept frost-free. Shallots can be planted even earlier, just after December 21st, direct into the soil – so long as the conditions are suitable (i.e. frost-free and not into sodden ground).
If you order your seeds and onion sets, potatoes and flower seed before the end of December, many of the seeds companies offer a discount for early ordering. Also it helps you get the pick of the seeds as many of the most popular items, or rarer types may be sold out if you leave it too late
Some of the earliest bulbs can be brought into the greenhouse. Bring in a few at a time so that a succession is maintained as far into the spring as possible.
Apply sulphate of potash around fruit trees at a rate of 1 oz per square yard. Keep an eye out for slug and snail attacks on plants if the weather turns mild. It is worth putting cinders or some sharp sand round the crown of delphiniums to stop these pests making their damaging attacks.
I have discovered that squares of weldmesh are a very useful additional tool since they can be used in a variety of ways to protect plants from bird attacks, or for temporary storage, keeping animals off areas growing delicate plants and so on. They can also be used to protect delicate plants that have to be left outside in the more severe weather, by making a square and filling in with straw or other insulating material to protect against damaging frosts – especially when the frost and/or snow goes on for a long time.
Finally after all your hard work, have a very happy and peaceful Christmastide.
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Notes for Sunday 26 November 2023
Dear friends,
If you read this on Saturday there is still time to head for St John and help with the deep-clean of the church, ready for the new church year and Christmas.
We have two more teas in church, this Sunday and 10 December. There will be opportunity for all to purchase some LOAF goodies in time for Christmas so please come down to St John from 3 – 5, enjoy your tea and browse what’s on offer.
Next week is advent Sunday and the Christmas trees in the churchyard will be up and lighted but I could not resist one last autumnal picture taken a week ago in Emmett’s garden.
God bless,
Dineke van den Bogerd
Post expires at 9:04am on Monday November 25th, 2024
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After School ‘Church Club’
As with many Churches, we find our congregations have less young people at the Sunday services. We are therefore proposing to take Church to the Children. This would be in the form of an After School Club.
It’s a bit like Messy Church. The format is simple – a bible story with acting from the children, some healthy snacks, craft activities associated with the story and sometimes a little game.
If you think you could help in either of these activities that would be great. The more volunteers we can get, the less often each person will be needed – which may suit many of you.
We’d love to see as many of you as possible on Tuesday 21st November, 10.30 in St John the Baptist Church, Capel where you can find out more over coffee and cake.
Post expires at 9:45am on Monday November 18th, 2024
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Notes for Sunday 19 November 2023
Dear friends,
If you read this on Saturday, please make sure to visit the Capel Christmas Fair. The weather is good for hot chocolate and cake and browsing the Christmas goodies on offer by many small local businesses.
Please also read in the notes and find out about two exciting new initiatives for children starting in the new year.
Dik had a rare day off work last Friday and we decided to visit some National Trust places. The picture is of the silent corner of Emmett’s garden, where you can walk or sit, be quiet and listen to nature and drink in the colours. It was magical!
God bless,
Dineke van den Bogerd
Post expires at 9:42am on Monday November 18th, 2024
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Open the Book
Are you excited about sharing Bible stories with school children? want to have fun with a team? perhaps you’d like to be a Storyteller and join a team of like-minded people from our churches taking Bible Stories into our local schools with ‘Open the book’?
We would like to do this regularly, ideally weekly. The presentation takes around 10 minutes but a little extra time is needed for rehearsing, planning and prayer. No lines to learn. All stories and prayers are provided – they just need to be read to the children.
A group of us started this at Scott Broadwood before covid struck. When we couldn’t go into school we recorded a couple of the stories and made them available to the children on YouTube. Look at the video below if you’d like to see what we did.
We propose to start with Scott Broadwood – hopefully in the New Year. But depending on how many people come forward, we could expand to include the Weald & possibly Newdigate.
Contact Reverend Liz via our contact form for more information or if you would like to help.
Post expires at 9:10am on Monday November 18th, 2024
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