Of late I have not been blogging much.... it has basically been down to priorities and pressure of work. Throughout Lent despite the best efforts to deflect people's attention from Christ and Holy Mother Church by 'certain elements' in the national media at Stony Stratford we have seen quite remarkable numbers at Mass throughout Lent, Holy Week and Easter.
Perhaps Oscar Wilde was correct when he said something along the lines of 'the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.' Of course, it is also said that there is no such thing as bad publicity and the very sloppy accusations being bandied about by certain elements and apparent reputable journalists may be rebounding against them. But whatever the aim of such 'elements' has been the effect seems to have been the opposite to what they have tried to claim. Easter Day saw out highest attendance at Mass for many years and what was interesting was the very high number of non-Communicants and the large number of new faces that we are seeing more regularly. Now I have to be careful here because the downside could be that the Deanery will want the Parish Share to go up!!
And there is so much happening at St Mary & St Giles over the next few months: we have the Ordination of Daniel Lloyd to the Diaconate to look forward to on the 3rd July; the wonderful Solemnities and Feasts of Eastertide and the early part of the resumption of Ordinary Time; some excellent musical recitals and concerts; and today saw the commencement of the building of our new Church Hall which will adjoin the Parish Church.
This morning in what seemed like co-ordinated waves Messrs Rattee and Kett from Cambridge arrived at the Parish Church. The foreman arrived before anyone else, followed by electricians and plumbers to decommission the boiler and the gas and electric supply to the current vestry wing (which will be partially demolished, extended and rebuilt to form a new hall and ancillary rooms). They were followed by a delivery of wooden posts and panels to protect the parish church interior from dust where the present vestry wing adjoins it. Then came the workmen's kit for their mess room including a refrigerator and a microwave! Then a van rolled up with the safety fencing to prevent the public from gaining access to the building site and finally came the workmen's portaloo - by which time they probably needed it! And while all this was going on the Divine Office was said, Mass was celebrated and then our Parents and Toddler Group met in church. The Town Council Clerk kindly provided the workmen with maps of the town showing all the car parks so the 'parking monitors' don't give them tickets, and had got so excited earlier that he had emailed all the Town Councillors to inform them that the work had at last started. People stopped and stared in the street presumably wondering what was happening and whether the church was being demolished, but so far no phone calls or emails to ask what is going on - so the publicity machine must have worked quite well.
Tomorrow sees the arrival of the scaffolding in preparation for the commencement of the partial demolition on Wednesday.
At the top of this blog post there are two pictures one of the Servers processing past the present Vestry Wing and the other of the Architect's drawing of the new hall building. Watch this space as regular updates will follow.
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