Dialstone Lane News
Congratulations
Congratulations to Jenny Nowell on the birth of her second Great Grandson, Ralph, born on 15th March to Granddaughter, Fay (daughter of Paul Nowell) and her partner Andy.
Clocks Forward
Don’t forget to put your clocks forward one hour before you go to bed on the night of Saturday 27th March.
Easter Crown
There will be a crown of thorns on the church cross on Good Friday and crown of flowers on Easter Sunday. The latter will be made at church if anyone would like to bring a few flowers before the 11.00 service they can be added to it.
Sunshine/Thank you Bags
Last September around harvest time we gave out our Sunshine bags asking people to add a coin when they had something to thanks God for. It has been a long and difficult 6 months especially for some of our church family but I hope you have felt God's presence and strength. If you would like to bring or send your bag back to church we will be collecting them on Easter Sunday and giving thanks for all God's gifts and that we are finally able to come together again to worship and celebrate our risen Lord.
Thanks
Susan Conlon
Re-Opening our Church Buildings
The drop in numbers of people with Covid locally and nationally has encouraged the Church Leadership Team to re-open our Church buildings in time for Easter. We are doing this cautiously and will still be keeping an eye on the figures, but we are optimistic that if we all follow the guidelines we can do so safely. Even if you’ve had your vaccine(s), masks, social distancing and hand washing are necessary.
It will be lovely to welcome folk back again, particularly at this special time of the year. For those who cannot join us, Zoom, or live streamed services, will continue on a circuit level for some time to come. Unless we see a need in future, the DLMC Zoom services on Sundays will end with the last one we have planned on March 28th (and don’t forget to change your clocks forward to be up in time!).
To help our safe return:
In this newsletter you will find a sheet here reminding you of some of the safety guidelines; there have been some changes as to how we organise ourselves since we first returned to Church. The stewards and marshalls will be having a retraining session to prepare themselves, so please take the time to read it to be able to play your part.
There is also a sheet here outlining the plans so far for services in April and May. The first time the Church will be open is on Good Friday, when there will be a time for private prayer, followed by a short meditative service led by Andrew Mason. During the time of prayer, you can come and go or stay, as suits you. You can just turn up to these.
On Easter Sunday, there will be two services with Holy Communion, at 11.00am and 4.30pm. We are asking you to book into one of these if you want to come, by phoning Gill Ramsbottom on 483 8812 or Catriona Stoker on 487 2010 by Friday April 2nd. We still need to limit the numbers of people in Church at each service to 30, because that is what the Church will accommodate with correct distancing.
After Easter we will return to the pattern we had before of inviting 3 or 4 fellowship groups back together, with three services per fortnight, as you can see from the plan provided:
Week One - Sunday morning at 11.00am and Sunday evening at 4.30pm
Week Two - Sunday morning at 11.00am
Your group will be offered different service times from week to week so that hopefully everyone will have their first choice of time at some point and be offered Holy Communion. You are asked to come at least ten minutes before the start of the service to allow for queueing and hand sanitising.
At each of the usual service times there is often some room for a few extra people, so you are welcome to phone Catriona Stoker as Co-ordinating Steward (0161 487 2010) if you want to come outside your group’s allocated time. We do still need to manage numbers likely to come to a service carefully to ensure everyone’s safety.
May God bless us all – those who feel they can join as we come together again, and those who must still shield, whatever their circumstances.
Catriona
DLMC Zoom Services at 11.00am on Sunday
March 21st Preacher Eric Osborne
March 28th Preacher Andrew Stoker
The signing in details for the zoom services by computer or tablet are the same as for the last few weeks and can be found by clicking here, and then by selecting the relative service on the calendar.
You are very welcome to join in by phone too; please let us know a couple of days in advance and we can let you have the words to hymns, pictures and other things like prayers that you can join in with.
The phone numbers remain the same each week, but this time I am rewriting them to numbers as you would dial them from a UK number, rather than with the international dialling code in front:
Dial one of the telephone numbers below; you will be charged at your usual call rate. When you get through you will be asked to dial in the Meeting ID when you connect, followed by hash #, then # again as you are a participant not the host, then the password followed by #.
0208 080 6592; 0203 481 5240 ; 0203 901 7895; 0330 088 5830; 0208 080 6591; 0208 080 6591; 0131 460 1196; 0203 481 5237
Meeting ID: 958 2240 1033 Passcode: 611059
Zoom Coffee Morning Details
Coffee mornings will continue on Thursdays on a fortnightly basis with the following log in details:
Topic: Dialstone Lane Zoom Coffee Morning
Every 2 weeks on Thursday at 11.00am
March 25th, 11.00am; April 8th, etc
Click here to join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 925 9944 4343 Passcode: 626898
Zoom Afternoon Tea Chat & Cup of Tea Details
Time: Every 2 weeks on Thursdays at 4:00pm
Click here to join Zoom Meeting.
Meeting ID: 939 0341 9254 Passcode: 013198
The telephone details given for the services will work for the coffee mornings and afternoon teas, using the meeting ID’s and Passcodes given appropriately.
Thank you
Thanks to everyone for a beautiful bouquet of flowers which arrived from the church to welcome me home after a period away caring for my mother. It was very much appreciated, as have been all the cards and messages of support throughout this difficult time. It is wonderful to be back, and I look forward to seeing you all in person as soon as the current situation allows.
Cathy
Traidcraft
I think all those who attended the Live Fair for Lent Zoom event on March 9th enjoyed it and admired the knowledge and passion that Matt Oliver had for Fair Trade. If you missed it there is another chance through the Traidcraft rep based at Marple URC, Jill, at 6.45 on Monday, March 22nd. See Calendar for joining details
I still have Easter eggs and cards in stock and will happily order more, besides my usual wide range of food, drink and household products, if you wish to place an order. I also have plenty of copies of the Spring catalogue.
Catriona Stoker – email: cat.stoker@btinternet.com
Dates for your diaries
Church Council - Thursday May 13th at 10.00am.
Church AGM – Saturday June 19th 9.30 for 10.00am start.
Late News
The new item is that Lynda (McGaw) has been making small Easter gifts which include a chocolate egg(s) which she hopes to sell to raise money for church funds. Fund raising has been difficult this last year and Lynda proposes to have the items available in the church foyer from early this week. If you are at church for any purpose – maintenance, training etc then please have a look.
Rreminders :
- Catriona still has a limited amount of Easter items from Traidcraft for sale – mainly packets of mini eggs. If you are interested in these or any other Traidcraft goods, please contact her.
- Sheila ( Hulme) has been making knitted goods with an Easter theme which are available for purchase. Please contact Sheila for more details.
Thanks
Margaret