Dear friends

If I had one word to describe this last month it would be cake, cake and more cake! In fact the last few weeks has been a showcase of amazing team work and organisation. A huge thank you to all who have given their time, skills, ovens and enthusiasm as you will see! It all began with the annual Vicarage Fete returning after a two year hiatus due to the pandemic – and what a return it was. It was wonderful to host this traditional garden fete once more and to welcome a record number of families and friends to enjoy the many interesting stalls and entertainment put on by our schools. A traditional fairground organ on our front lawn welcomed everyone in, the weather stayed dry, the barbecue sizzled and I was impressed by how much the children loved holding John Dales snakes and other wonderful creatures! We raised over £2000 for our local schools.

The following week we ran a tea and cake stall at Capel Military Show for both days. Many, many cakes were baked by our volunteers in readiness for this event which was planned and thought out months in advance. A team of 8 people cut cake, managed 6 urns of boiling water (which was a very hot, full time job), served cake, poured drinks, took money and generally kept the stall running efficiently all day long. It was also great fun to be a part of! This was a much needed fund raising event for our parish – one which contributes to the cost of ministry in Capel and Ockley, and also a percentage of our profits goes to the military charities the Show supports. The whole Show was so incredibly efficient and well run and it was a pleasure to be a part of it. We felt very blessed by the amount we raised that weekend and huge thanks to all those who have helped in any way. As I write this we are looking forward to being able to now give back by offering more tea and cakes (!) to Mark Sugden Best and his family for his very popular charity event at Treetops in aid of Myeloma UK. Thank you for asking us.

So now to this month – August. Cannot believe how hot it has been recently and hope by the time you read this temperatures have returned to more normal numbers! A quieter time ahead for us at church and for me some annual leave. There is more cake though! As I prepared the list of services and events for our parish this month, I think every week bar one, there are teas at either Ockley or Capel in and outside our lovely church buildings. We hope very much you might join us. Can you ever have too much cake I wonder?! Well whatever your thoughts on that, you can never have too much of friendship and hospitality, a place to be able to catch your breath, relax and soak up some of the wonderful atmosphere our beautifully cool ancient buildings offer. Buildings that have been filled for centuries with worship and prayer. We are so blessed here that our churches are always open all day and I know many pop in for a bit of quiet time. Long may that continue and may God bless you and yours in this traditional holiday month for many.
With my love and prayers
Revd Liz

Dear friends,

It’s been a busy week, gradually getting our house ready for our move on 1 September. Having spent 25 years here and moving to a smaller property there are some difficult decisions to take on which possessions to hold on to and which to let go of, but each day I find that I feel lighter without all these things in my life.

The charity shops however are groaning with our possessions! I think they now see me coming and a couple of times have told me that they can’t accept anymore contributions. If you too have been faced by this conundrum can I just give a quick plug for the Revive and Re-use shop based at the Leatherhead tip, they are happy to take things that are worthy of charity shops including some clothes, the staff are really helpful and will immediately tell you whether it is better to recycle it or donate it to their shop.

This weeks services are as follows:
9.30am Matins Ockley
10.30am Family communion Capel
3-5pm Church teas Capel

Please join me in welcoming Rose Dowling into our church family, she is to be baptised at 12.15pm tomorrow at Capel. We wish her and her family a happy day.

Alan Smallwood has just pointed out that Buckland Lakes is having a family fun weekend this weekend. If you need further details please go to:
bucklandparklake.co.uk/events/buckland-family-day/?occurrence=2022-07-30&time=1659168000

Lastly, this week’s photo of the week is a very dry and dusty view of the Surrey Hills taken from Abinger Roughs – my goodness we need some rain!

With love and prayers

Debbie von Bergen
debbievonbergen@icloud.com
07774 784008

31-July-2022.pdf

weekly-sheet-22.07.31.pdf

News of local events coming soon – the Okewood, Ockley & Forest Green Summer Fair, Flower Show and Dog show plus the Capel Show with 700 classic cars and bikes, the Horticultural Summer show, Capel Fair with local traders and dog show! Also news of National Allotment week 9-15th August.  We bid farewell to our sponsors Debbie & Hugh von Bergen.

August_colour.pdf

Dear friends,

I hope you have all survived in the heat this week, my garden is certainly looking less than healthy. I don’t think I’ve ever known it so dry, so the rain earlier today was a welcome respite.

This email is coming to you a little earlier than normal as I’m travelling back to the West Country tomorrow to look at what will hopefully become our new house. We finally exchanged on Tuesday and looked round this new house the same day. Our offer has been accepted and we are hoping to be able to dovetail both moving dates for 1 September so negating the need for a rental property. Thank you for all your prayers and well wishes they have helped enormously. I veer from being pleased to being terrified, so apologies if I don’t remember things over the next few weeks as we prepare for the big moving day.

This does mean that I am looking for someone to take over the weekly sheets and this email from the end of August. If you feel you can help please do reply to this email. You don’t even need a printer as Rev Liz can print them for you. It takes me an hour or so each week to compile, print and deliver the sheets which are used in our churches every week. The only requirements are that you have a working knowledge of Word.

This weeks services are as follows:
9.30am Communion Ockley
10.30am Family Communion Capel

We also have church teas at Capel this Sunday 3-5pm – welcome back Joy, we all missed you!!

Please don’t forget the Capel show is fast approaching Saturday 20 August. If you can volunteer for an hour or so Dineke would very much like to hear from you dineke@hotmail.co.uk

Finally, photo of the week is of Capel Church in the blistering sunshine on Monday.

With love and prayers

Debbie von Bergen
debbievonbergen@icloud.com
07774 784008

24-July-2022.pdf

weekly-sheet-22.07.24.pdf

Dear friends,

This email is coming to you early again this week as we have the military show this weekend at which we are running the Coffee/tea and cake stall – an enormous thank you to Norman Ede for masterminding this and Leigh Smith for overseeing all the cake baking. I know many of you have volunteered to help so I look forward to seeing you all there. The weather forecast looks reasonable and not too hot.

This week, as it’s such a busy weekend we have the following service:
10.30am Parish Service Capel
3-5pm Church teas Ockley

For those who would like a quieter afternoon on Sunday we are doing church teas at Ockley away from the noise and razzmatazz of the military show – do come and support them, enjoy splendid cake and good company.

A huge thank you to everyone who helped at last weekend’s Vicarage fete we have raised £2,374 for our local schools. That is such a wonderful achievement particularly as the economic climate is so difficult a the moment. I personally would like to thank, Suzanne Cole, Helen Burt, Gill Christie, Jessie Sutcliffe and Joy Harman (who made all the cakes even though she was going away before the day). These events take a lot of organisation and these ladies were there helping from day one.

Lastly, our photo of the week is the newly erected church tea tent at the Military Show.

With love and prayers

Debbie von Bergen
debbievonbergen@icloud.com <mailto:debbievonbergen@icloud.com>
07774 784008

weekly-sheet-22.07.03docx.pdf

3-July-2022.pdf

‘The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your love, O Lord, endures forever — do not abandon the works of your hands’.  Psalm 138.8

How true this is for us all currently  … we certainly are not abandoning the works of our hands!  There are so many lovely local events that we are taking part in!  News in this issue of the recent Vicarage Fete, our participation with refreshments at the Capel Military Show and of course the upcoming Capel Classic Car & Flower Show, plus all the regular features.

Enjoy July!

July_colour.pdf