Events Reports 2019

Highlights of the special moments that we have enjoyed this year.
Previous years events reports may be found at the end of this page.

As always a big thank you to everyone who supported these events.  Please take note of our NEWS PAGE for current meetings that are in our diaries for the next few months that may interest you and where you will be most welcome. If we can help, advise or let you have more information about our events then let us know by contacting the appropriate person in the features below.

New Year's Eve Party
31st December 2019

On New Years Eve at 4pm,  about 25 people met to welcome in the New Year at the Christopher Centre.  The food was lovely , the companionship wonderful and  the  quizzes not too hard!  At 6pm we raised our glasses and welcomed in 2020 with the  people of Kurdistan where it was midnight. We sang Auld Lang Syne and  looked forward to a happy, peaceful  2020.

 

Everyone at St Gregory's Church wishes you a happy New Year and may the Lord's light shine on you all.

 

 

Crib Service and Christingle

24th December 2020

The church was filled with children and adults to celebrate the birth of Jesus.

The children took part in a nativity (with a grumpy Innkeeper!) and assembled the crib.

Then they were given a Christingle to take home. The orange represents the World.

The red ribbon the blood of Christ shed for us, the cocktail sticks, the four seasons and the sweets the five continents.

At the end they sang" Happy Birthday" to Jesus and had a piece of birthday cake.

Christingles

 

 

The Sudbury Christmas Tree Festival at St Peter's Church

 

The theme for our tree this year was  "Reconciliation""

 

Reconciliation means a completeness and wholeness with God, with others and with Creation.

 

A Celebration of Ministry

On Monday December 2nd a Licensing took place at All Saints Church Sudbury by The Bishop of Dunwich and the Archdeacon of Sudbury of the Rev.Cheryl Collins of St Gregory's Church , Sudbury and the Rev. Chris Ramsey of St Andrew's Church, Great Cornard. Due to the vacancy for a priest at All Saints, Cheryl and Chris have been made Priest in Charge and Assistant Priest respectively of the parish whilst still remaining in charge of their own parishes. In order that they could also serve in each others churches, they were also Licenced to each others parish as an Assistant Priest.

Cheryl was supported by the Rev Tom Mumford and the Rev David Stannack from the ministry team at St Gregory's Church and they joined the ministry teams from St Andrew's Church and All Saints Church. Several of St Gregory's congregation also attended the service to support Cheryl in her new role. We wish her well.

Cheryl and Chris waiting for the service to begin.

The service is nearing the end

Cheryl and Chris are presented to the Bishop.

The whole ministry team for the  three churches confirm their wish to minister together.

 

The Bishop gives his address.

Cheryl is  finally installed as Priest in Charge of All Saints Church

Cheryl and Chris receive the  Bible.

The final  hymn is sung

The Bishop gives Cheryl the Deed of Institution for All Saints Church.

A really happy occasion.

Harvest Celebrations

September 15th 2019

We celebrated Harvest this year with  a service of thankfulness and giving. Food was given for the Storehouse and the congregation were able to light candles to thank God for all he had given to them. In the afternoon  there was a Harvest meal and quiz, and  as you can see,  some of the questions seemed to be posing a problem!

 

Rev Tom Mumford
His Ordination

June 29th 2019

Tom was ordained in the Cathedral at Bury St Edmunds on 28th June by the Bishop. On Sunday 30th June he  joined St Gregory's family who hosted a welcome lunch for him. At this  service Cheryl was also recognised for her  25 years as an ordained priest. What a wonderful weekend of celebrations.

Pictures by Graham Gilbert

 

David Stranack
A Celebration of 50 years as a Ordained Minister

June 2nd 2019

Fifty years ago to the day David was ordained a priest, and this marvellous event was celebrated in St Gregory's church by his family, friends, the congregation of St Gregory's and  by  people from the other parishes he has ministered in over the years.The Archdeacon ,The Venerable Dr David Jenkins,presented David with a long service certificate from the Bishop, Cheryl  gave him a cheque from the congregation and Graham  handed over the card that he had made.  The choir sang an anthem in tribute before David led the service, giving  us a brief history of his life serving Christ Jesus. He especially thanked his wife Felicity for the support  she had  given to him in  his life as a priest. Afterwards there was  lunch and the cutting of the cake.

Dad helps Finlay and Theo light their baptism candles as Joshua receives his candle

Exploring Ways to be the ‘Mother church’ of Sudbury

One of the ways in which I often hear St. Gregory’s church described is as the ‘mother church’ of Sudbury. As you know, there has been a church on this site since at least the eighth century, Civic and community services such as the Remembrance Day Service are traditionally held here, and many families in Sudbury have come to St. Greg’s for baptisms, wedding and funerals for generations. But of course, there is more to being a mother church than this, and recently we’ve been exploring in the Ministry team what else we can be doing to serve our town and show our neighbours the nurturing care we associate with mothers.

Hope into Action

As you’ll remember just over a year ago Antony Arbuthnot, Teresa Bishop and myself spent a night sleeping rough in the church porch to raise money for homelessness work. The response we received not just from the congregation but from many people in the town showed me how concerned people are to help those who become homeless, recognising that in today’s fragile world it can happen to anyone. I’ve become involved with the Community depot that Teresa runs, offering the Rectory garage as a storage space for furniture which is in the process of being recycled to those who most need it when they finally get somewhere to call home. Members of the ministry team and myself travelled to Ipswich to see work being done by churches there in running the Ipswich Night Shelter and a Hope into Action house. The Night Shelter is a time-consuming project, and fortunately there are not so many rough sleepers in Sudbury (though one is more than enough) to make it a pressing need. Hope into Action is a Christian charity which provides homes for those getting their lives together again after a period of homelessness, offering support and the building blocks for a new life.

I’m excited to say that we now have a group of investors who can provide enough capital to buy a house in Sudbury (it’s actually a very good investment with a 2% p.a return- see the Hope into Action website if you might be interested or speak to me). The charity then leases the house from the investors and takes care of repairs and maintenance, finding tenants and administering tenancies and provide specially trained support workers for the tenants. A local church partners with the project in prayer, in offering in friendship to the tenants and in recruiting a small team (3-4 people) to build deeper relationships with the tenants. At our most recent PCC we voted unanimously to partner with the house which will be purchased in Sudbury. On average tenants stay in Hope into Action houses for about 18 months while they get back on track, it will be a privilege to be part of their journey.

Please continue to pray as, along with other Christians, I see the need for some kind of accommodation for those who do not fit into the usual boxes but nevertheless deserve safe, secure and homely accommodation. We also dream of offering more drop-in’s, more meals and more opportunities to gain life skills.

Another national initiative that seemed worth exploring when we visited the launch of the Cinnamon Trust in Suffolk, was Parish Nursing. Parish nurses are experienced registered nurses who work in partnership with local GPs and other health services. They do not prescribe medications or administer treatments but they fill a gap in providing whole person healthcare. So, for instance they might undertake health education and advice, offer short-term transitional nursing for those recovering from illness or injury, assist and support self-management for those with lifelong illnesses and conditions and offer non-specialist palliative care as appropriate. A number of parishes in Suffolk already have them in places such as Felixstowe, Capel St. Mary and the Moreton Hall area of Bury. We plan to visit and learn more with the aim of setting up a scheme here, hopefully in partnership with St. Andrew’s, Great Cornard who also see the benefit that such nurses could offer in our community. Please pray about this. I regularly find myself trying to support congregation members who need nursing care, and although I am always happy to help as I can I recognise that I don’t have the specialist skills or contacts that could really make a difference.

Our role as mother church in the town was in our thoughts as we thought about where we should give our tithe of church income. Of course, there are so many worthy charities we could support, and we will always look to give a portion of this to brothers and sisters overseas, but we felt that the main portion could be used to ‘partner in the gospel’ with other local Christians who were undertaking work that we couldn’t do ourselves. So, for 2019 we shall be giving £1,000 each to Edens Youth Project in Gainsborough Street, to Future Vision who work in schools providing chaplaincy, support and Open the Book to children and staff, No.72 North Street which provides a Christian drop-in centre with support and advice available to all and the Storehouse Foodbank which is run by the Vineyard Church and needs nearly £20,000 per year to run as well as our donations of food. We will continue to send the Christingle service collection to the Children’s Society and to we still have some money available for responding to desperate needs in different parts of our world which will arise this year.

Finally, when we talk about nurturing I can’t forget our Lay Elders who visit individuals and many of the Care Homes in Sudbury, taking Home Communion and offering friendship and care. We will shortly commission many of our Elders for another three years of ministry, but I wanted to publicly thank two Elders who won’t be continuing with this ministry at the moment. Irene Harding Payne, who has done so much in friendship and practical care for so many, and helps me keep abreast of who is sick or in need, is now hanging up her Lay Elder badge and taking a well-deserved rest. We send her our love and prayers as she continues to deal with her own health issues. Sam Hobson has found that her own demanding professional role nursing at WSH and support needed by other family members with issues means that she must lay aside this role for a while. We hope and pray that she will be able to pick it up at a later date.

Walking for Unlock
Saturday April 27th 2019

A report from Mandy Turner

Margaret and I met up this morning and started our sponsored walk. We have covered 11000,steps so far and visited four of the churches. Very windy but pleasant otherwise. Now stopped at one for lunch before doing the second half. A man on a bike stopped us to ask what we were doing. When we told him and explained it was bringing God's word to those in inner cities without access to bibles or the knowledge of Jesus Christ. He offered to sponsor us and gave us £10 ! Bless him! There are around 2000 of us with our maps following round the route.

 

 

Easter Day April 21st 2019

On a lovely day we celebrated the resurection of Jesus. Following an 8 o' clock  service,  several  members of the congregation enjoyed a light breakfast before the Service of Light at  10.00am. The choir sang two anthems and  those present  placed  daffodils on the Cross.

 

 

Mothering Sunday Service
31st March 2019

A large, all age congregation joined together to celebrate Mothering Sunday. A "Songs of Praise" service  was held  with  hymns chosen  by the  some of the congregation  in memory of their mother.  During the service   bunches of flowers were  distributed and  people lit candles to in remembrance of  their  mothers.

Singles Lunch Club

 

Sunday  24th March 2019

 

The singles group enjoyed a lovely meal at their monthly lunch club. This month  they were at the Cock and Bell, Long Melford.

 

 

Who Dunnit Evening
3rd February 2019

The event was very enjoyable as well as a great success. £300 was raised for St Gregory's church Thanks to Sue Attride and everyone  who helped organise the event.