St. Andrew’s Greystoke, Church Services April 2025
Sunday 6 April – Family Service – 11.00am (Greystoke Village Hall)
Sunday 13 April – Palm Sunday – 11.00am
Thursday 17 April – Maundy Thursday – Holy Communion and Vigil – 7.00pm
Friday 18 April – Good Friday – Music and Reflection – 7.00pm
Sunday 20 April – Easter Day – 11.00am
Sunday 27 April – Holy Communion – 11.00am
All our services are in St. Andrew’s Church unless otherwise indicated above.
At all our Sunday services refreshments are served from 10.30am.
Children’s activities are available at our Family Services.
Easter Cross
As is our practice, a bare wooden cross will be erected on the Village Green following our Maundy Thursday service. It will remain there over Good Friday and Holy Saturday as a reminder of the events that took place on the first Easter. On Easter Sunday, you are invited to contribute to the decoration of the cross with spring flowers as we remember the resurrection of Jesus.
Greystoke Social Club
Monday 7 April – Annual General Meeting and Games
Thursday 22 May – Outing to Liverpool
Monday 2 June – a talk by Julie Boothman about her work
Visitors are always welcome at our meetings and our trips. Meetings are held in Greystoke Village Hall and start at 2.00pm. There is a charge of £2 (Visitors £3) which includes tea and biscuits.
Greystoke WI
At our March meeting, Greystoke WI held its AGM then enjoyed an engaging talk with slides from David Bell about his three Safaris. David showed beautiful photographs of trips taken to Kenya and Tanzania. We were able to enjoy shots of The Big Six as well as many other fascinating creatures. The slides gave the impression of a land brimming over with wildlife. Having felt constrained by the first highly organised tour, four of them hired their own guide on the second trip and were able to take a more relaxed approach rather than always hurrying on to the next arrangement. It was noted that safety was always paramount as well as the wellbeing of the animals. David was happy to answer questions at the end of his presentation. Having been complimented on his photography he volunteered that Simon King had seen his work and said it wasn’t bad.
On Thursday 3 April, our speaker will be Bob Price from Acorn Bank, talking about daily bread.
If you would like to join us at WI meetings, please contact Sue, Val or Jennifer.
Greystoke Parish Council
The next meeting is at 7.00pm on Tuesday 22 April in the Village Hall.
Community Housing Group
We have had a huge amount of support for the ambition to build affordable housing, and that is really heartening – and confirms the results of the housing survey last year. But we knew this was never going to be easy, nor without challenges.
The feedback we’ve received, particularly on the potential site, has really helped us to focus on our next steps. We are now progressing on 3 main fronts:
- Arranging a formal Housing Needs Survey so we can determine the housing need (not just affordable) for the community. We hope to arrange some meetings on this in the next couple of months.
- Incorporating as a Community Land Trust – a funding application has been submitted to Westmorland & Furness. Once this is done we can open up membership (£1 for life – and voting rights!)
- Addressing the flood risk – not only on the potential site, but also working with residents, the Parish Council, Judith Derbyshire and relevant authorities to try to address the wider existing flooding issues on Howard Park, and by extension Church Road.
Sign up to the mailing list and follow us on Facebook to make sure you don’t miss any updates.
St. Andrew’s Greystoke Friends Group Plant Sale
Spring is coming with the snowdrops out and the daffodils beginning to flower, and our thoughts turn to gardening. So if you are dividing plants and growing seeds, please think of us.
St. Andrew’s Friends Group is organising the annual Plant Sale in the Village Hall on Saturday 10 May from 9.30am to 2.30pm to raise funds for the church building, and to keep our historic and beautiful church in good repair.
We are planning to sell plants outside and have a café in the hall, selling bacon baps, soup and rolls, scones, a variety of cakes, and tea and coffee, all at reasonable prices.
There will also be a home produce stall selling cakes, preserves, etc.
We are requesting donations of plants (flowers, vegetables and tomatoes).
Please contact Shirley to arrange collection, or bring to the Village Hall after 3.30pm on Friday 9 May, or bring on the day.
All are welcome and, if you are new to the village, please come and join us for this village community event.
Watch out for further information on the village notice boards and Facebook page.
Salvation Army Food Bank Appeal
For some years contributions for the Salvation Army Food Bank in Penrith have been left by members of our community in St. Andrew’s Church. I deliver the donations once a fortnight.
In recent months, the Salvation Army has reported a decline in donations. This is entirely understandable in view of the high cost of living for most people, but your donations needn’t be expensive items.
The people who are dependent on the food bank need small, nutritious items which are easy and cheap to prepare and cook, and basic toiletries.
The Salvation Army has requested the following items in particular:
- Cup a Soups
- Tinned Vegetables (but not Sweetcorn, thank you)
- Tinned Meat
- Pasta in Sauce (pots not jars, please)
- Packets of 2 in 1 Instant Coffee
- Hot Chocolate
- Cooking Oil
All contributions, however small, are greatly appreciated – as the old saying goes, Every little helps!
If you have any queries about how you can help please get in touch with Allan Buckle
Easter Journey
Once again, as they have done for over ten years, the Open the Book team, augmented by members from other local churches, have invited the Key-Stage 2 children from Greystoke and Penruddock schools to embark on an Easter Journey. The Open the Book team tell and act out bible stories in both schools throughout the year.
Easter Journey is an opportunity not only to hear of the events of the first Holy Week but also to experience them as the children take part in a series of tableaus starting at Palm Sunday and finishing at the resurrection of Jesus on the first Easter Day.
The children gather in the chancel of Greystoke Church with their ‘palm branches’, laying their cloaks on the ground, listening for the ‘clip-clop’ of the donkey’s hooves as they wait for the entrance of Jesus. They then move on to the temple, taking part as money changers, selling doves and lambs for the sacrifice, shouting out “best prices here”, “finest doves for sale” – until Jesus appears and tells them to stop and upends their tables.
They then move, quietly, into the upper room where Jesus is seated with his disciples. They watch as Jesus washes the feet of Peter, despite his protestations, and they listen as Jesus blesses the bread and wine, and they then share in the meal – eating pitta-bread and grapes to represent the unleavened bread and the wine that Jesus used.
They then follow the disciples to the Mount of Olives where they sit in silence, listening to the sounds of that night from a CD. The snores of the disciples who could not keep awake, the prayers of Jesus to his father, the heavy footsteps of the soldiers coming to arrest Jesus, and finally the crowing of the cock reminding Peter that Jesus foretold that he would deny knowing him.
Then watching a video entitled The Miracle Maker, the children observe Jesus carrying his cross to his crucifixion, his assurance given to the thief hanging with him, the centurion who understood and cried out “surely this man was the Son of God”.
The children then proceed in silence to a quiet place to experience the waiting and expectation of Holy Saturday, before moving to the tomb on Easter Day and watch as first Mary comes and finds the stone rolled away, then having fetched Peter they both rush off to tell the other disciples the glorious news.. “HE HAS RISEN”.
The journey ends for the children with a time of discussion led by their group leaders, who have been with them throughout, to try and explore some of the questions which can be simply answered and some which cannot, before returning to their schools.
John Danks, Open the Book, Greystoke Church
