Category Archives: Events

Services and Events in September 2016

We have another busy September this year with a Table Top Sale, visitors from our link parish in Norrköping, Sweden and celebrating the marriage of two members of our congregation.

Table Top and Car Boot Sale

Saturday 17th September – 10.30am – 12.30pm

Our next Table Top Sale raising funds for our Missions. Admission is free and there will be plenty of items for sale to suit everyone including gifts, cards, plants, toys, books, DVDs etc. Table-hire (if available) is only £5, speak to Jo or contact the church office for details.

Cake Stall

Cake Stall

Table Top Sale

Table Top Sale

.

.

.

..

 

.

Service with visitors from Norrköping, Sweden

Sunday 15th September at 10:00am

Please come along to this service to meet our friends from our link parish of  S:t Olofs in Norrköping, Sweden.

This will be one of our regular Breakfast Services and will start with a shared breakfast of toast, pastries and fruit at 10am.

The service will be followed by a traditional British Sunday Lunch, please sign up if you’d like tom stay for lunch s we know how many to cater for.

Marriage Service for James and Anne

Sunday 25th September at 10:30am

On Sunday 25th September James Muriithi and Anne will be getting married – the wedding will take place in the normal Sunday morning service.  It is lovely to marry two members of our congregation in our Holy Communion service.  The marriage will take place and then they will receive Holy Communion together along with all of us.  Please make a note of this date in your diary and be there to pray for them as they begin their married life.  The service will, however, start at 10.30am to allow a little extra time to be ready.    Everyone is invited to the celebratory lunch!

Deanery Synod Open Meeting – 27th June 2016

Deanery Synod - 27-06-16On Monday 27th June, All Saints’ Church is hosting the Watford Deanery Synod Meeting.

The meeting will be open to anyone and will include a talk titled Views on the refugee crisis from an interfaith perspective by the Revd Bonnie Evans-Hills, Diocesan Interfaith Advisor.

Please come along at 7:45 for an 8pm start.

Civic Service Photos – 17th April 2016

Today we hosted the Civic Service for Councillor Eric Bishop, Chair of Three Rivers District Council. 
DSCN7978
We were joined by mayors and council chairs from across Hertfordshire and north London.
We welcomed the Bethesda Church Choir who sang to us in Romanian.
DSCN7943
We had a talk about Sikhism from Dr Iqbal Singh Dhaliwal
DSCN7944
And a Jewish prayer in song from Clive Sofaer.
DSCN7948
We also heard from Christine Wyard about the great work of ASCEND.
Finally, we enjoyed signing from the fantastic South Oxhey Children’s Choir.
Thank you to everyone who attended and made it a true celebration of our community.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

A weekend in Sweden – October 2015

Between the 23rd and 27th October 2015, a group of 14 of us from All Saints went to visit our link parish of S:t Olofs in Norrköping, Sweden.

0400 DSCN7230A

Friday

We all met at All Saints ready to head off to the airport for our adventure.

That evening, we safely arrived in Norrköping, Sweden. Here’s a few of us enjoying a drink in the hotel before an early night.

0103 20151023_230120

Saturday

We started the day by joining our hosts as they held a service to commemorate United Nations Day at S:t Hedvig’s church, one of the three churches in the parish. S:t Hedvig’s is a beautiful building and the service was accompanied by a fantastic soloist and pianist.

S:t Hedvig’s church

Then we had lunch in the Prästgård (the old rectory which is now used as a meeting and conference centre) which became our hub for the weekend. Two of our hosts, Pether and Kristina gave us a short presentation all about the parish of S:t Olofs.

Then in the evening our hosts threw a lively party for us. There was loads of lovely food (felt like we’d done nothing but eat all day!) and singing in Swedish and English – including some Abba, well what else would we sing in Sweden?

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Finally, we had a short Swedish lesson. Can you say the phrase “sju sjösjuka sjöman”? – It’s not as easy as you might think!

Sunday

The parish of S:t Olofs has three churches, two of which hold Sunday morning services (the third is S:t Hedvig’s which we visited on Saturday). Therefore, we split into two groups and some of us went to S:t Matteus church for a traditional service (in Swedish but follows the same order as our service so we could follow what was going on). The songs were led by the fantastic “Joy” community choir.

S:t Matteus church

The rest of the group went to the church of S:t Olai in the centre of Norrköping.

S:t Olai’s church

After the morning service, we split into small groups and were invited for lunch with members of the congregation. We all enjoyed lovely home cooked Swedish food, which for some of us included reindeer stew!

SDC11825

Then in the evening there was a big football game so a few went to cheer Norrköping FC on to a 3-1 victory (they won the league the following weekend).

And finally, we all met up to share our stories over a pre-bed drink.

0320 DSCN7174

Monday

Day 3 in Sweden and for most of us it is our last full day. We ventured a little further afield and took the short train journey to the nearby city of Linköping.

When we arrived we had a tour of the Domkyrka (the cathedral), a beautiful building with some interesting and powerful paintings and sculptures. Linköping diocese is linked to our own diocese of St. Albans and so it was great to make that link.

Linköping also has a fascinating living museum (Gamla Linköping or Old Linköping) where they have rebuilt a collection of old houses which are occupied by traditional craft workshops.

Our last night in Norrköping.

0433 12038523_818515588259802_5850023161094493501_n

Tuesday

Our last day. We spent the morning having a final look around Norrköping, including the old industrial area which has been converted into shops, cafes and museums.

A fond farewell to our new and old friends in Norrköping and thank you for the great hospitality.

Tack så mycket! (Thank you very much)

Upcoming Events in September 2015

Children and Communion

Wednesday 2nd September at 7.30pm

St. Albans Diocese has a policy that children over the age of 7 years may receive Holy Communion but this can only happen following a certain process. Firstly the PCC must agree to allowing us, as a church, to explore the possibility of children receiving communion before confirmation. There must be teaching about Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Communion and there must be opportunities for everyone to come together to learn about and to discuss the issues and implications. Everyone must be permitted to listen and express their thoughts. Following this process the PCC will then vote on whether we will apply to the Bishop of St. Albans to ask his permission to admit children over 7 years of age to Holy Communion.

This is a big decision for us all and we all need to think carefully and talk about how we feel and what we would like to happen.

This meeting will be the first opportunity to come together to hear about and to discuss the issues. Ruth Pyke, the Diocesan Childrens Adviser, will be with us to talk to us and answer any questions we may have.

Please put this date in your diary and make every effort to be there. It is especially important the PCC members, the parents of our Sunday School children and those who work with our children come along to this meeting if they possibly can.

Table Top Sale

Saturday 5th September 10.30am – 12.30pm

Our next Table Top Sale raising funds for our Missions. Admission is free and there will be plenty of items for sale to suit everyone including gifts, cards, plants, toys, books, DVDs etc. Table-hire (if available) is only £5, speak to Jo or contact the church office for details.

Cake Stall

Cake Stall

Table Top Sale

Table Top Sale

.

.

.

.

.

.
.

Sunday School Welcome Back Party

Sunday 6th September after the service

Fun, games and food to start the new Sunday School term. Pam has brought a new cricket set and has been practicing her bowling!

It would be helpful if people could let us know who will be there so we can sort out the food.

.

Meetings and Events in July 2015

Children’s Choir Performance

Wednesday 6th July at 6:30pm

Our South Oxhey Children’s Choir will be performing at All Saints.  Come along and help the children feel they have a good audience to perform to after all their hard work.

Visit to Sweden – Meeting to find our more

Wendesday 22nd July at 7:30pm

We are hoping to take a group to our link parish of Norrköping in Sweden – probably in November this year.  We would be put up by local church members and therefore the cost would be primarily the airfare – which at the moment is about £40 return from Stansted airport.

If you think you would be interested in joining the group, come along to this meeting to find out more.

How can the God of Love Allow Suffering….Discuss

Thursday 30th July at 7:30pm

Recently, a young man shot and killed 9 people as they sat in a Bible study class in a church – resulting in immeasurable pain and suffering…why, how, did the God of love let this happen?

In April an earthquake in Nepal killed and injured thousands of people and destroyed their homes and lives – people who were already living in poverty…why, how, did the God of love let this happen?

God and suffering is one of the most difficult issues we have to face in our faith but it is not one that we can ignore.

If you would like to explore this subject and perhaps offer your thoughts then please come along and join us for a stimulating, and probably challenging, discussion about God and Suffering.