Tots & Tinies Harvest Festival Service
... will take place in church, at 10am, on Wednesday 23rd October. If you have a 0-4 year old, or would like to bring a family member, friend or neighbour along, this is an ideal short service for little ones to celebrate God's goodness to us.
Make, Taste & See - October
The church will be open, from 10am until 12 noon, on Monday 28th October for Make, Taste & See. We will be thinking about the last of the Fruit of the Spirit - self-control - through crafts, food and film clips.
It is completely free and we would love to welcome anyone of any age to join us. If any of the church congregation are able to donate cakes for this, please bring them on the Monday morning or leave them, clearly labelled, in the church kitchen on the Sunday before. Thank you.
Working Party for Remembrance Sunday
On Saturday 9th November, we’re planning our annual working party to clear up the churchyard in advance of Remembrance Sunday. We’ll meet from 9.30am to 12.30pm and our aims, depending on the number of volunteers, are:
• Clearing leaves from the paths and grass around the churchyard;
• Picking up litter;
• Weeding, tidying and hedge trimming around the Gardens of Remembrance;
• Clearing leaves from gutters and drains;
• Other external maintenance tasks.
This year we’re inviting members of the village to come and take part if they would like to; we’ll publish details on Facebook using the Hartford Life group. Cheshire West and Chester Council will be supporting us by producing publicity flyers and will be attending on the day, as part of their Love Your Streets campaign.
Everyone is very welcome to join in! Please bring a brush and gloves, plus any other tools that may be useful.
Family Harvest Festival Service
This year we will be holding our Family Harvest Festival Service at 10am on Sunday 20th October. We would love you to join us for this service, which will be shorter than normal and very child-friendly.
If you would like to bring any gifts of food, these would be very much appreciated, but please don't feel that you have to. Any donations will be given to the Mid Cheshire Foodbank who welcome long-life, dried or tinned food and toiletries.
We would also love you to join us after the service for our Harvest Lunch in the Church Centre at 12.15pm. This is a free Bring & Share lunch, but if you are visiting our church, please just turn up and join in.
Church Holiday 27th - 29th March 2020
Please can we encourage you to book for next year’s Church Holiday, 27th - 29th March, at The Hayes Conference Centre in Swanwick? A weekend away with the church family is a great opportunity to deepen our relationships – both with the Lord and with one another.
Mark Pickles, director of the North West Gospel Partnership and a former curate at St John’s, will be speaking at the weekend. Please do consider joining us for what we pray will be a fantastic weekend.
If you have lost your booking form, there are some available in the Church Extension.
The Fisherman's Tale
We are delighted to confirm that we will be hosting Peter and Julie Fraser, from Bible Encounter Trust, in June 2020, for their new story trail, 'The Fisherman's Tale'. As with their previous story trails, this will be a fully immersive experience for our local schools, telling the story of Peter the Disciple.
We will, of course, need a considerable volunteer work force for this event to run smoothly, so we would like to give you some dates for your diary now. Set-up will be on 13th, 14th, 15th & 16th June. Schools and other groups will be visiting in the daytime and evenings from Wednesday 17th until Friday 26th June. We will also be open to the public on Saturday 20th June. Take-down will be on the afternoon and evening of Friday 26th June, and during the day on Saturday 27th June.
Please pray for Teresa as she sends out invitations to the schools in September and keep a look out in the notices for more information about how you can help nearer the time. Thank you.
Churchyard Grass Cutting
Many people have commented on the state of St John's churchyard, in particular the very long grass. The church is acutely aware of this problem: it has an impact on the appearance of our village and causes distress to families visiting graves.
However, the churchyard is the responsibility of Cheshire West and Chester Council (CWAC), not the church.
If you are unhappy with the current condition of the churchyard, please contact both Clare Barlow (01244 977376 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) and Neil Bowdler (0151 356 6581 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) at CWAC. The more people who get in touch, the better.
You may also like to contact your local councillor.
