TEN YEARS AGO

The Messenger for September 2011 listed regular Communion Services at Holy Trinity on Tuesdays at 7.00pm as well as Wednesdays at 10.00, and the Liturgy of Healing Service at 3.00pm on the second Sunday of each month. In his opening article, Revd Gerwyn wrote about ‘hope’ as we approached a new  school and college year, and reported that we had celebrated 10 years of Revd Barbara Jones’s ministry with coffee and cakes on June 26th. We were also able to announce that we were now ‘on the web’ with an entry on the website ‘achurchnearyou’. Pastoral Assistant Maree Aldren wrote about the life of St Matthew in her series ‘Saint of the Month’, and we advertised two fund raising events – a coffee morning at The Vicarage and a Fashion Show at St Mary’s Hall. Pam Bentley updated us on the Mothers’ Union activities, reminding us that the MU is open to anyone, male or female, single or married. The First Friday Service was on the theme ‘A Cherished Collection’ and Margaret Hutchinson reported that an excellent concert by The Levens Choir had raised about £400 for church funds. There was news from Bloemfontein, our link Diocese in South Africa, and a report of the Year 6 Bolton-le-Sands School Leavers’ Service, when Mrs Barbara Bateman presented bibles to the leavers.

An article described the historic moment when the three ancient bells that hang in the Tower were rung out by a group of ringers from as far afield as Kent, Cardiff, Bristol and London joined members of the Lancashire Bell Ringers’ Association to ring the bells at Holy Trinity. To mark the occasion, there was an afternoon tea party at the Vicarage, while parishioners gathered to hear the bells toll out for some 45 minutes. The oldest bell dates from around 1500, and Revd Gerwyn said, “It is truly amazing to think that this wonderful old bell has been tolling out across the fields of Bolton-le-Sands since before the reign of Henry VII.” The event raised £260 for church funds.

The Parish Registers recorded the Baptisms of William and Ailsa Wilson, Jenson William Kay and Henry Michael Fitzgerald, and the wedding of Christopher Chapman and Emma Jackson. We prayed for the family and friends of Margaret Titchmarsh, Derek Crossley, Fay Beaton and Winifred Robinson, who had recently died.