St Laurence Church, 173 Church Road, Northfield, B31 2LX    Registered Charity 1132975

Hello everyone, 
Here we are back in lockdown again and wondering what Christmas will bring….. 
Although the Sunday readings in this pack go through to the end of the year (don’t throw them out too soon!) there will be another pack sent out before Christmas which hopefully will contain information about our Christmas Services.  It may need to be a Plan A and a Plan B depending on the Covid situation.  We’ve several key volunteers needing to self-isolate at the moment….. 
Meanwhile, it was lovely to see so many join together on Remembrance Sunday by zoom and phone.  We were a crowd of almost 70 (and there may have been a few more listening in off-camera.)  You CAN still phone into all services and though it is a little bit more complicated the sound quality tends to be better.  Instructions were in the last pack but if you need them again please ask.  
During the time we could worship in church we gradually improved both the picture and sound quality of the broadcasting thanks to Fr David’s patient endeavours.  We could do with training up a couple more people to operate the cameras but that won’t be possible during lockdown.  However, if you are interested please contact Fr David.   
Since my last letter, we’ve held our Annual Meeting so the church governance line-up is now: 
      Church Wardens:  Roy Pouncett & Sandra Reynolds
      Lay Deanery Synod Reps (also on PCC):  Janice Wones & Bob Mayne
Lay PCC Members: Jeff Carr, Ruth Clarke, Elaine Clements (Treasurer), Jennie King, Linda Powell, 
                             Sarah Vernon.       In addition, Emily Corns serves the PCC as Secretary 

We’ve also held a wedding – congratulations to Leah and Peter who have been worshipping with us regularly in church -  and the baptism of Sadie Wyton.  The timing of the latter was something of a ‘God-incidence’ as it was the weekend before this lockdown and the death of her granny who very much wanted to be at the baptism.  
Sadly, Dorothy Giles has also died.  Dorothy was very much involved St Laurence and especially with the Flower Guild and the running of Parish Surgery until dialysis rather took over her life.  We offer our love and condolences to husband Chris and sons Nick and Andrew and their families.  May she rest in peace and rise in glory.  
Thank you to all who contributed to our Harvest Thanksgiving Appeals.  We took a good pile of food to the food bank and beat our target of £300 for Christian Aid by £100.  
We are now looking to our Christmas Appeals; for many years people have done ‘shoe-boxes’ and last year we put together Gift Bags for residents of the YMCA.  This year we will be supporting the Food Bank Christmas appeal – see the flyer in this pack.  

Fr David has been busy writing applications to funders to start a ‘Safe Spaces’ Project with considerable success – more information in this pack too.  

We’ve even made some progress with the church porch with a site visit from the Croft Building and Conservation Limited and we’ve been given an Order Number.  Hooray!  The #NorthfieldRevealed tapestry project has had a good return of bricks and is moving into the construction stage too!  

In the pack this time are some ‘Mindfulness Bible Verse Bookmarks.’  Many people are finding that colouring-in helps lower stress levels.  They are lovely enough to just cut out and use or you could pass one or two on to others who may enjoy them.  

May God continue to bless us, uphold us and be there for us when it gets particularly tough.  

Keep safe and well, 
Canon Janet                                                                                                          8th November 2020