St Andrew's, Dearnley Opening Weekend

St Andrew's, Dearnley and Smithy Bridge

Our Wider Welcome Official Opening weekend has had to be put back two weeks because it would have clashed on Saturday, November 30, with the service of Welcome and Enthronement of Bishop David Walker, the next Bishop of Manchester, which will be held that day at Manchester Cathedral, starting at 2pm.

We had planned for the Bishop of Middleton, Bishop Mark Davies, to perform the grand opening of our new community facilities at 10am on the morning of November 30, the day we celebrate the Feast of St Andrew, but for obvious reasons that cannot go ahead now on that day.

Not only will Bishop Mark be at the Cathedral to welcome Bishop David, but so will a representative party from St Andrew's, to be headed by our vicar, the Rev Canon Sharon Jones.

Coincidentally, a Maranatha Gospel Choir which was to have performed in church on the evening of Saturday, November 30 had inadvertently double booked, so the new arrangements for their visit to St Andrew's suit them too.

The Wider Welcome celebration weekend will now take place on Saturday, December 14 and Sunday, December 15, more than likely following the original format; official opening (morning) and Gospel Choir (evening) on the Saturday and celebration Sung Eucharist (morning) and Choral Evensong (evening) on the Sunday.

If the programme of events has to be tweaked a little everyone will be informed in plenty of time.

The Wider Welcome project team met last Monday when it was reported that work was progressing well and to everybody's satisfaction and that, equally importantly, the extension and refurbishment of the parish room, with brand new facilities, would be finished within budget.

Members of the team were delighted to hear that good news on the back of a report from Ken Harper that the recent Holiday Draw had raised £1,400.

Thanks go to Ken for all his hard work on organising the draw and to all those who supported what will probably be the last major fund-raiser until after Christmas.

As many will already know, the Rev Sharon Jones is to become vicar of Wardle in addition to her various other roles within the Church of England, not least as vicar and priest in charge of St Andrew's.

She will be licensed as vicar of Wardle by the Bishop of Middleton, Bishop Mark Davies, at a service in Wardle Village Church on Wednesday, October 23, starting at 7.30pm. Our curate, the Rev Mike, will also become assistant curate of Wardle.

Our Autumn Fair on Saturday, November 9, will be held this year in St Andrew's School (11am to 1pm) because of the Wider Welcome work taking place in church.

Bottles, chocolate and other non-perishable goodies for the Fair should be taken to church or taken to the vicarage on Wednesday evenings between 6pm and 7pm.