The Week ahead…

Date	Time	Event
Sun 8th	08:00	Holy Communion
	09:30	Family Communion
	16:45	“Yes to Life” Lent Course, St Thomas
Mon 9th	09:00	Church volunteer cleaning team
	11:00	Pilgrim Course – The Beatitudes
Wed 11th	10:15	Coffee Morning, St Mark’s Room
	11:30	Holy Communion
	19:00	“Broken” Lent group, St Mark’s room
Thu 12th	14:15	“Behold the Man” Lent Course, URC
Sun 15th	08:00	Holy Communion
	09:30	Family Communion
	16:45	“Yes to Life” Lent Course, St Thomas
	18:30	Evensong

Please Pray for…

In need of prayer: Kit, Michael, Jill and Brian, Rachel G, Tony, Caroline, Kevin, G, Alex, Paul, Maggie, Barrie, Ilse, Alexander, Bryan, Sarah

Years Mind: Wendy Simpson, Cheryl Burbidge, Madeline Osey, Milly Barron, Frank Barron 

Neighbourhood Prayers

Share together with us in prayer for the streets and those who live and work in and around Pennington throughout the week:

8	International Women’s Day
9	Those who work with the young
10	Belmore Lodge Care Home
11	Teresa, our churchwarden
12	Our Strictly Come Crafting group
13	Kingston Park
14	Rachel Noël, our Priest in Charge

Could you be a parish visitor?

St John’s in Hythe are organising some training days for Parish Visitors. You are most welcome to join in on March 25th and April 22nd from 2:30-4:30pm. This will be an interactive course with discussion and role play, with time between training days for reflection, discussion and discernment.  Drinks will be provided and there will be no charge, all are welcome. If you are interested please contact St John’s office 02380 844336

Spring Fair

Turning out cupboards and drawers? Any thing you find that would be useful for Bric-a-Brac, Tombola or Prize Draw items for the Spring Fair and Easter Egg Hunt 21^st March, would be most welcome. Alternatively for those with green fingers and thumbs for plants, bulbs – which we can sell at the same event? Please speak to Maureen for further details – especially if you can help host a stall.

We are putting a collection box at the back of church for donations towards the Easter flowers (Lillies), and also for the Easter Fair, (the day before Mothering Sunday) we would be grateful for donations of cake and other small gifts!

#LiveLent?

With Lent now upon us, the Church of England have daily reflections available through a handy mobile app! Search for LiveLent via your phone app store – and look out for printed material in church too.

Tearfund Lent Campaign

Rubbish; a problem the world suffers – but hitting people living in poverty the hardest. Two billion people in the world’s poorest countries are living and working amongst piles of waste – that’s one in four of us. Drinking polluted water; breathing toxic air; battling sickness. Duing Lent, will you join us in a 40 day plastic pledge? We have a plastic pollution problem here in the UK too, with an estimated 4,000 items of plastic rubbish thrown away by each person in the UK each year. Can you commit to limiting your use of single-use plastics through Lent? More details available in church, along with details of how you can donate to Tearfund.

Pennington Easter Yarn

We’re making Easter eggs, brightly coloured flowers and crosses to decorate Pennington for Easter 2020! Use any pattern and yarn that you like, or pick up some starter patterns at one of our collection points. Patterns are available from: St Mark’s Church; One Stop; Pennington Pharmacy; Musketeer; The Wheel Inn; Visual Vibes; Oakhaven Hospice Craft Shop If you have any questions, please contact Rachel on 01590 462022, or send an email to vicar@penningtonchurch.uk.

If you can ensure your completed items are delivered to church or one of the village collection points by the 15th March, we can ensure a splash of Easter colour can warm even the coldest spring day!

Brrrr…

As many may have noticed, we had a problem with the heating in church a couple of weeks ago; fortunately repaired, but at a cost of over £400. Your donations and giving towards the work we do and the upkeep of our church buildings is always appreciated and if you’re able to help further towards this unexpected expense, we’d be incredibly grateful!

Sharing via social media?

As you may know, St Mark’s has an active Facebook community, where we share details of what we’re up to in Pennington, along with a wide range of posts, videos and pictures – search Facebook for us by ‘StMarksChurchPennington’. Did you know that Facebook offers you the ability to share a birthday fundraiser – inviting your own friends and followers on Facebook to donate to a chosen cause? Perhaps you might like to consider us as your own birthday comes around!