Weekend Illustrated Edition.

Medieval farmhouse near Newhey.
Farm cottages near Newhey.

The Old Congregational Church. Now The Chancel executive apartments.
We are all anxious to discover what this might be.

Cope and dalmatic and tunicle laid out for the Asperges before Mass.

This was a busy weekend, but not without time to visit the new Delicatessan at the Rams Head in Denshaw for some excellent ham, sausages and bread followed by a walk about and a drive to Newhey. The old Congregational Church on my road was also inspected, as the work is drawing ever nearer to a close. When I first moved here, the Congregational Church had about ten members, meeting in a vast, leaking, cold Church. Many of the members were unable to mount the stairs to the meeting room, so services were held downstairs in the community room. However, this was all secret information, for there was no sign outside the building and no hint as to what it might have been used for. Most people believed it to be derelict. Sensibly, they have now sold the building, which has been very slowly converted into flats and a section at the back has been made into a new Church for them, so they have a modern, warm environment in which to worship. However, there is still no sign and no clue whatsoever that there is a Church of any sort in the building, so presumably they are happy with what they have and wish for nothing more. It seems a funny way of running a Church to me, but there we are!

We had a moderate turnout for Sunday Mass, but we hope that this is just the lull before Mothers Day/ Laetare Sunday/ refreshment Sunday/ the fourth Sunday in Lent next week. Stations were badly attended, with half of the turnout we have been getting, again, I think mid Lent fatigue sets in, so hopefully numbers will pick up before Palm Sunday. I hope that the Prayer Group maintains the excellent turn out we had Thursday a fortnight ago, after this Thursday, there will be one more Lenten meeting and then we revert back to the 'First Thursday' pattern for the rest of the year.

As you will see from the last picture, we used the two new purple dalmatics on Sunday, converted from black ones. They were a perfect match with the purple cope lent to us by St Marys around the corner. Alas, they want it back! General hilarity ensued during the asperges when Fr Norman processed up the chancel, asperging the Choir. As I held the left side of the cope and his right arm raised with the brush, the cope simply dropped down to the floor from his shoulders, leaving me holding the corner. Being seasoned professionals, of course, it was picked up and re affixed to him, just a little tighter around the neck than previously!