Category: Parishioner

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Harvest thanks to the Monday Beavers!

The Ash Villages Food Parcels Project team would like to say a big THANK YOU to the lovely 1st Ash Vale Beavers ‘Monday Group’ who visited us at The Chapel this week. We really appreciate all your wonderful donations, which filled up the donation boxes as you arrived. What a lot of goodies for the food parcels!

All these things will go out in the Food Parcels next week, and make a big difference to local families who are in need of a bit of help at this time. 

It was lots of fun telling you all about the Food Bank and you are all very good at Kims Game! You remembered lots of the things we had in the food parcel box. You were great at the 4 corners game and sleeping lions too!

Thank you for the beautiful Harvest pictures you made to help remind everyone to celebrate harvest and support the food parcels project. We will be sure to display them as part of the Harvest decorations at St Mary’s.

The church is celebrating Harvest Festival on Sunday 6th Otober this year, all welcome at the 10:30 service, and we will have refreshments afterwards. Those of you who like to get creative are welcome to come and help decorate the church (St Mary’s on Vale Road) on the Saturday morning too, it’s lots of fun! See you there.

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Harvest Festival Sunday 6th Oct 10:30am

Please join us to Celebrate HARVEST festival this Sunday 6th October 2024 at 10:30am. All welcome whether you are a lifelong Christian or just exploring. Let’s celebrate the good things God gives us and be thankful.

We will have refreshments after the service too – all welcome for a cuppa and a chat.

Remember to have a look at the beautiful harvest decorations by our flowers team and local groups too. If you’d like to help, do pop in on Saturday morning from 10 and get creative! No experience needed, we would also welcome any donations of greenery, veggies and flowers for the display.

Would you like to support our harvest appeal? Please support your local foodbank this harvest! Donations can be brought to St Mary’s for the harvest festival service this Sunday 6th Oct at 10:30am, or leave your gifts in our foyer whenever we are open. #AshVillagesFoodArcelsProject

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Harvest Appeal for our local Foodbank

Please support your local foodbank this harvest! We help people in crisis in Ash, Ash Vale, Ash Green and Tongham. Donations can be brought to St Mary’s for the harvest festival service this Sunday 6th Oct at 10:30am, or leave your gifts in our foyer whenever we are open. (Or contact us to arrange another time) THANK YOU!

If you prefer to donate funds please follow the link below for more detail. Event better, how about making a regular monthly gift to support this local lifeline?

The Ash Villages Food Parcels Project is a joint project by St Mary’s Church, Ash Vale (Registered Charity 1152717) and the Ash Villages Support Circle, and we are hosted at The Chapel in Ash Vale. #AshVillagesFoodArcelsProject Project contact number is 07730 609446. Web: https://ash-vale.org.uk/foodparcels-2/

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A big Harvest Thank You to the 1st Ash Vale Beavers!

The Ash Villages Food Parcels Project team would like to say a big THANK YOU to the lovely 1st Ash Vale Beavers! We are super grateful for all your wonderful donations, which filled up the donation boxes at St Mary’s on Tuesday.

All these things that you donated will go out in the Food Bank parcels next week, and make a big difference to local families in need of a bit of help at this time.

It was great fun visiting you too, and we discovered that you are all very good at Kims Game! You remembered lots of the things we had in the food parcel box. I wonder if your friends in the Monday group will enjoy this game too?

Thank you too for the beautiful Harvest pictures. We will be sure to display them as part of the Harvest decorations at St Mary’s. The church is celebrating Harvest Festival on Sunday 6th Otober this year, all welcome at the 10:30 service, and we will have refreshments afterwards. Those of you who like to get creative are welcome to come and help decorate the church on the Saturday morning too, it’s lots of fun! See you there.

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Macmillan Coffee Morning 27th Sept 10-1

Join us for some delicious cakes and fabulous fundraising at the St Mary’s Community Cafe this Friday 27th September 2024 10am-1pm. There will be cakes, treats, jam, raffle, plants and a bring and buy stall. Sue has been baking some wonderful treats and we have a yummy minestrone for lunch courtesy of Carolina. See you there, we look forward to catching up!

All donations on the day will go to Macmillan

If you can’t make it but would like to donate online our donations page is here, thank you! https://cm24.macmillan.org.uk/fundraising/CM24019727

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Celebrating our Supporters

News from your local foodbank…

We are celebrating our wonderful volunteers and our friends at the Co-op today.
Did you know? Our local community fridge and foodbank both benefit from donations from the Co-ops in Ash and Ash Vale. Here are just a few of the wonderful people involved. Thank you all!

#AshVillagesFoodParcelsProject #AshValeCommunityFridge

Volunteers #CommunityChampions #Donations #AshVale #AshVillagesSupportCircle #StMarysAshVale #AshValeChapel https://ash-vale.org.uk/foodparcels-2/

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Bring a bottle! (for the foodbank tombola)

Dear friends and neighbours… We are hoping to run a bottle tombola in aid of the foodbank #AshVillagesFoodParcelsProject at our St Mary’s Summer Fair, which takes place on Saturday 7th September 12-3pm. If anyone has any odd bottles at home, or can donate some, or could appeal for some donations from your friends and family, we would be super grateful thank you!

We take anything in a bottle – ketchup, shower gel, squash, wine, sherry, cola, tabasco sauce, aftershave, syrup, hand soap… anything that is in date and unopened. It makes for a fun and varied tombola, always a super stall and for a great cause! 😊

Most importantly of all, please come and see us on the day! We would love to meet you all and catch up, and of course we would like to sell you a tombola ticket for a very good cause!

Thank you for your wonderful support!

More Foodbank news and information is available here: https://ash-vale.org.uk/foodparcels-2/

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Music for our Clients

(By Wendy Catto)

Some time ago, I wrote about our experiment with MP3 players and one client who was asked which music playlist she would like on her ‘modern gadget’. Her conclusive response was ‘any jazz is good jazz’. This time we have been allowed to provide a photo (consent has been received). If a person connects well with music, it brings them joy to listen to their favourite songs. Concentration and lack of stimulation is often a problem with our clients so we may only play music for 10 mins at a time.

We are often met with challenges where a person might not enjoy regular music of any description, or they have lost their sense of rhythm. More recently, we have been introduced to ‘432 Hz music’ (Google this) and this provides a powerful calming effect. There are different types e.g. to sleep, meditate, relax etc. Obviously, it will not help everyone but it is certainly worth a try. The concept is to calm our brain and assist you to focus on the present moment. To give you an example, Amazon Music offers a ‘432 Hz play list’ that you can shuffle. Providing a cuppa, playing 10 mins of this music having a comforting chat can help our wonderful elderly clients.

If you would like to know more about Catto Homecare the contact details are:

Catto Homecare, Mytchett T 01276 500 522. We provide live in and domiciliary care.

Wendy Catto, Registered Manager, Catto Homecare, Email: wendy@catto.net  

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Keys found

Some keys were found outside St Mary’s church on Vale Rd this morning and handed in to us. Message us with a description if they are yours. 07730609446

Best Wishes

from the St Mary’s Team

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Please remember the Food Parcels Project this Harvest!

Are you getting organised for next term already? Please consider nominating the Ash Villages Food Parcels Project for your school / church / club / staff /scouts / guides / charity Harvest appeal this year. Every donated item is one that we can give directly to families in need locally, in the food parcels that we give out each week in Ash, Ash Vale, Ash Green and Tongham. If you are interested and would like more information you can see all our news and information online here: https://ash-vale.org.uk/foodparcels-2/ You can also email us on foodparcels@ash-vale.org.uk or speak with our Project Manager on 07730 609446.

Bumper harvest on the allotment this year? We would love to give out extra fruit and veg to local families if you can spare some. You are very welcome to drop off donations at St Mary’s on Sundays 10:00-12:30 during the sunday services. Our Project Manager is always at Wednesday Picnic and Play (Chapel) and Friday Summer Cafe (St Mary’s), or contact us on the usual number to make other arrangements. 07730 609446.

Thank you for your support!

With our thanks and very best wishes,

Ash Villages Food Parcels Project team