St Andrew's, Dearnley

St Andrew's, Dearnley and Smithy Bridge

The Rev Sharon Jones, priest-in-charge at St Andrew's, the parish church of Dearnley and Smithy Bridge, will have solid support from parishioners when, at a special service in Manchester Cathedral this Sunday evening, January 13, she will become an Honorary Canon of the Church of England.

A coachload of well-wishers from Sharon's 'flock' at St Andrew's will be in the Cathedral, as well as many more who will be travelling independently.

The coach leaves at 4.15pm prompt because no one will be permitted to enter the Cathedral after 5.30pm when effectively the doors will be closed.

We also have another special event on Sunday, January 27 when we will have a visit to our 10am Sung Eucharist by the Rev Cathy Nightingale, who is chaplain to the deaf community in Manchester.

She will be preaching and helping to celebrate the Eucharist in sign language, so we have extended a special invitation to anyone out there who might like to bring along friends or neighbours who are deaf and who would like to experience the Eucharist in sign.

Sharon, meanwhile, has informed the congregation that later in the year she will be joined at St Andrew's by a new curate, Mike Howarth, who is presently a Reader at Holy Trinity, Littleborough and who will be coming to us in June for three years as part of his hands-on training for the Ministry.

We now have a new email address for the vicarage which is: dearnleyvicarage@yahoo.com

Magazine articles for the February issue of 'The Fisherman' need to be with the editor, Jonathan Coomer, as soon as possible and certainly no later than this weekend.

The Mothers' Union met last Monday to listen to a talk on Petrus delivered by Chris Blackwell.

This Sunday we have our usual Sunday services, Eucharist at 8am and Sung Eucharist at 10am as well as Infant Church for the under-5s in the parish room (under-3s should be accompanied by an adult) and Junior Church in the Vicarage.

The parish rota is: lay assistants, J Mills, J Townshend; readers, H Holland, A Fitton; Intercessions, C Cook; sidespersons, J Barker, J Sharp; refreshments, Carolyn, Pat, Margaret.