COMING SOON!!! Duggie Dug Dug’s Amazing Bubble Show!
An exciting event that will leave the whole family smiling and amazed!
When: March 22nd 3-4pm
Where: St Oswald’s Church Hall, Preesall (plenty of parking available)
What: An incredible Bubble Show
Not your normal church event! There will be Giant Bubbles, Smoke Bubble, Soaring Bubbles, Bubble Sculptures, Bubbles in Bubbles and even Children in Bubbles!
If that isn’t enough there will be songs and puppets too! Come along to this party aimed at primary aged children and their families (other ages welcome too!)
This event is more than just a show – it’s an opportunity to gather with other families in the community, have fun, and celebrate the joy and wonder of God’s creation through the spectacle of bubbles!
Family-friendly snacks and drinks will be available after the show and each child will leave with a party bag to remember the show!
Bring your friends, neighbours, colleagues, school mates, anyone ready to have fun with bubbles!
Don’t miss out on this exciting event! Tickets available from the end of Jan…get them before they float away!
Follow our Facebook page and keep an eye out for more details!
Over Wyre Churches–CofE 📞Naomi: 07872056471 ✉️nhsbarraclough@gmail.com
March News 2025
Safeguarding Training
Over the last few months, we have all been made painfully aware of the importance of safeguarding in our Church communities.
We cannot emphasize strongly enough how important this work is, and how vital it is that we are all onboard with this serious issue.
Our next training night will be on Tuesday 1st April at Hambleton Church Hall. This training is called Basic and is for Out Rawcliffe and Pilling PCC members and Churchwardens, and people across the Benefice who have not yet completed their Basic Training.
It is also open to any who are involved with Raise & Praise, Little Fishes or Stay and Play who have not already completed this course online.
Later in April, we shall offer Foundation training.
Basic training will be on Tuesday 1st April at 7:30pm at Hambleton Church Hall.
Thank you.
The Bishop visits our Benefice
A shepherd of the flock meets a real shepherd!
At the end of January, Bishop Philip (Bishop of Blackburn) made a flying visit to our Parish to understand more about the challenges and opportunities facing the modern farming industry. Bishop Philip was welcomed to a large dairy farm in Out Rawcliffe at milking time. Rev Naomi and Fr Peter then dashed North with the Bishop to meet a farmer in the midst of lambing time at Scronkey. The shepherd of the flock of God met a lamb just a few hours old.
We dashed West to Stalmine to meet a young couple investing in a new milking parlour. Most importantly Bishop Philip had opportunity to taste a fantastic fresh milkshake!
Visiting three farms in three of our Parishes, Bp Philip was really able to get a hands-on snapshot of life for so many in his Diocese. It was a challenging and informative afternoon that left a deep impression with Bishop Philip!
The Church Electoral Roll
Every six years the Church of England undertakes a complete review of its membership list – the Electoral Roll. The old Roll is deleted and an entirely fresh Roll has to be created.
This means that every single member of our Churches must complete a new Electoral Roll Form. You need to complete a form, even if you only completed one in the last few months, or if you have been coming to Church for many years.
This is particularly important for our Churches because a number of people on the Electoral Rolls live outside Parish boundaries.
Formal notification of the review will be given in each Church in the coming weeks. The review will then take place in March and April, with a new Roll formally adopted at each of the APCMs. This is a wonderfully exciting opportunity to demonstrate the strength of our Parish – so be sure to complete a form.
Being on the Electoral Roll provides you with certain rights, but more importantly it enables us to contact you and invite you to a variety of special occasions held in our Parishes throughout the year
Being a member of the Electoral Roll entitles you to be married or to have your Funeral in Church. It also gives those on the Electoral Roll the right to have their children Baptised or Confirmed in our Churches. It is extremely important that your name is registered on the Roll for pastoral care and support if you live outside the Parish.
The forms are available. Please fill one in IMMEDIATELY and return it to Church as soon as possible. All names must be entered by just a few weeks before each APCM (18 May for St James’.): no names may be added after this date.
Additional information and formal notices are displayed near the entrance to each Church.
The Parish Priest’s Letter
The Vicarage
27 Little Tongues Lane
The Easter Garden
Dear Friends
I think there is nothing more beautiful in Church than an Easter Garden. I love seeing the spring flowers bring colour, joy, and hope into our lives after a long cold, wet winter.
When Saint Francis set up his first Christmas Crib, his purpose was to give people a visual lesson in one of the central mysteries of the Christian faith, the Incarnation. In the time of S. Francis not only were many people unable to read or write, but when they heard the Gospels read in Church, they heard them in a foreign tongue, Latin. Therefore, much of what they knew of the teaching of the Jesus was communicated graphically, in painting and stained glass, stone and wood carving, music and drama, and, of course, liturgy. The Christmas Crib was the focus of devotion for our medieval forebears, and it brought alive the Christmas Gospel.
At Easter, our equivalent of the Christmas Crib is the Easter Garden.
We do not know exactly when the idea of the Easter Garden first appeared, or who invented it. We do know that it can be found as early as the 10th century ~ long before even Francis and his Christmas Crib! By the time of the Reformation in the 16th century, Easter Gardens and the ceremonies associated with them were common all over Europe.
The Easter Garden was so important to our forebears that they built special places for it in Church called the Easter Sepulchre. The Sepulchre itself took many forms, from a simple niche in the wall of the Church, to elaborate wooden structures set up on the flat tops of tombs, such as at Lincoln Cathedral.
Today, our Easter Gardens in our churches are prepared with such joy. They are a graphical reminder of the amazing events of that first Easter morning, when God brought Jesus back to life, to show us the eternal truth of resurrection. As we look upon our simple Easter Gardens, may our hearts be filled with the joy and truth of the risen Lord.
Thank you to all who make donations for the Garden and for our Easter flowers. Thank you to those who prepare the garden and flowers and tend them through the Easter season. The Easter Garden is a place of hope and joy. As we look upon the beauty of the spring flowers, may our Faith be renewed in the radiant joy of Easter.
Fr Peter
.