St Andrew's, Dearnley and Smithy Bridge

St Andrew's, Dearnley and Smithy Bridge

A big event coming up soon on the social calendar at St Andrew's, Dearnley is the Valentine's Buffet Dance, to be held in Church on Saturday 12 February.

There will be a Bucks Fizz reception at 6pm and music throughout the evening will be provided by Luigi. Dress code for the evening is 'black and white'. Tickets, priced at £12.50, can be obtained from Sheila on 07946 269840.

The social committee put on a superb 'St Andrew's Got Talent' event last autumn and Sheila and her organising team are confident the buffet dance will prove just as popular and just as appealing.

Janice, meanwhile, is working hard on building up numbers in the fund-raising Fifty Club. It was thus named because the original intention was to get 50 members. Current membership stands at 60. There are no plans to change the club's name, but there are plans to increase membership still further, given that the scheme provides much-needed income for Church while giving members the opportunity to win cash prizes on a monthly basis.

The scheme runs from February to November inclusive. Membership costs £5 a month or £50 per person per year. A monthly draw provides prizes of £50, £20 and £10 and, in addition, there are bonus prizes of £100 in June and December.

Janice, who can be found in Church on most Sunday mornings, would love to hear from anyone who would like to join the Fifty Club in order to help with vital fund-raising but also to be in with a chance of coming up lucky in the draws.

Our youth group, STANLEY, meets in the parish room on Sunday 30 January at 6pm when the theme for the evening will be: 'Who do you think you are?'

A busy week has included the meetings of Mums and Tots; the Friendship Club; Guides; Brownies; the choir (for practice); the 'Learning to Pray' group; and the Bible Study group, this last one despite competition on Tuesday evening from Rochdale AFC's clash with high-flying Bournemouth at Spotland.

On Sunday, the fourth Sunday of Epiphany, we have 8am Eucharist and 10am Sung Eucharist, the main service of the week, when the parish rota is as follows: Lay assistants, G Hurst, S Moore; readers, J Paterson, C Cook; Intercessions, G Hurst; sidespersons, V Lucy, P Webster.

The next meeting of the Wider Welcome project team will be held in the vicarage on Monday 7 February (7.30pm). A brief update will be published in the February issue of The Fisherman, our monthly Church magazine.