Living Brook Benefice (Piddington, Hardingstone and Quinton)

Tweeting Christmas  The midnight mass congregation on Christmas night at St John the Baptist, Piddington with Horton, looked delighted when I invited them to get their smartphones out and tweet the sermon #christmasstartswithchrist. Especially the group in their early twenties who had come straight from the pub and weren't used to going to church. Their pleasure was expressed vocally, and why not? Joining in with the Sermon tweeting project for Christmas challenged me to think hard about what the message was this year. Taking Hebrews 1:1-4 and John 1:1-14 as preaching texts, this was the word that was tweeted by various good people in Piddington church this year. Rev'd Beverley Hollins I f you were unable to get to the midnight mass service, or would like to read it, you can see the sermon in full by following this link http://refillingthejug.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/tweeting-christmas.html

A sure sign that Advent is upon us, heralding the start of Christmas for all of us in this Parish is the annual Horton Christmas Tree Festival. This year's event (on the 1st and 2nd December), saw Piddington Church packed with trees decorated by members of the local community based on the theme of 'films'. The breadth of creativity and interpretation of the theme on display always amazes and is testament to many hours of preparation. The church looked fantastic and a big thank you is extended to everyone involved in putting on the event . The festival finished on a high note with a Christmas celebration of carols and verses , which would have left even Ebenezer Scrooge eagerly anticipating the Christmas!  

Christmas is a busy time for us all, but it is important that in the midst of all the frantic activity we take time to reflect on why we are celebrating Christmas. Come and join us in all or some of the activities we have planned for Christmas and take a moment or two to capture the true spirit of Christmas.  

On Saturday 24th of November, many parishioners gathered together at St Edmund, the Martyr, Hardingstone to witness the licensing of our new Parish Priest, the Reverend Beverley Hollins. It was a joyful event and lovely to see the church packed to capacity. We welcome Rev'd Beverley and her family to our Paris h . Thank you to all the people who helped in the preparations and on the day itself, to ensure a memorable day for all. During the Family Services in October at P iddington, we thought about this exciting new event and put together an interactive display. We then invited the whole congregation of Piddington and Horton to add their messages.

  St John the Baptist Church , Piddington is holding a coffee morning on Saturday 1 December from 10am till 12 noon . Join Freddy, Jo and the girls for tea, coffee, cakes and a catch up at The Villa 15 Main Road , New Hackleton This event is in aid of Piddington Church .

November 24th 2012 Come and join us at St Edmund, King and Martyr, Hardingstone at 2 pm when Rev’d Beverley Hollins will be licensed as Priest in Charge for our Benefice. We look forward to welcoming Beverley and her family to our Benefice and hope they will all be very happy here.

Harvest Quiz   Hi Everyone You will be pleased to know our Harvest Supper and Quiz was a resounding success. We raised £888 (once we have added in the Gift Aid). Our thanks must go to everyone who had a hand in putting on a splendid show on Saturday night. Can we also thank everyone who supplied photos for the Harvest Festival Display Board. It was lovely to have an interactive display that the congregation had participated in. Our next display is going to welcome the new vicar; hopefully we shall be able to have more input from you with that too. (Keep your ears and eyes open for that.) Can we also say how magnificent the church looked on Sunday. Yvonne, Gill and the ladies who prepared all the floral displays did a wonderful job. Thank you. Please pass our thanks on to all those concerned Yvonne, especially Gill Pinnock. Keep watching our website for all the current notices and information as we have a lot of different services coming up in November.

Harvest quiz We would love to see you at our Harvest Quiz at 7:30pm on 6th October at Hackleton Village Hall. It is always a fun evening. Everyone is welcome. (Full details are on the attached poster). Tickets are available either via this email address or anyone listed on the poster. This year the Harvest display in Piddington Church will be "The Lord Provides" -  so if you have any photos of food, eating, mealtimes, food for animals, or animals feeding then could you send them electronically to either this address or to Steve Watson at stephen.watson16@btopenworld.com Can we also say thank you to all the people who have sent in photos already they are absolutely fantastic. Gill wants to put the display during next week as there is a wedding on Saturday 6th Oct. (Ideas: Mealtime, a laid table, your favourite meal, a funny picture/face made from food, an animal eating, food growing) Hope to see you at one of our Harvest Celebrations.

Just in case you don't scroll down very far... we are reposting a comment from our new Priest, Beverley Hollins, who has left a new comment on your post " Appointment of Priest in Charge ":  Hello! I'm really looking forward to joining you all. Congratulations on such a lovely website. See you in November! Beverley  We too, are looking forward to welcoming you in November.