Monday 9th January was a New Year get together. Everyone brought food and we enjoyed a real feast! A relaxing and chatty evening to begin the New Year.
Anyone is free to join us. Evenings begin at 7.30pm in the Church Centre in Lower Church Street.
Next meetings:
13th February – Beverley Hooper-NSPCC The Work of Childline
27th February – Ellie Graham-OSKAR Support Dogs.

Christmas Tree Festival
The church looked absolutely stunning with the trees lining each of the aisles. Most had lights some of which flashed and some that had a variety of programmes to twinkle and flash. The ingenuity and imagination in the designs was truly amazing. Each person had their own personal favourite.

Many of the businesses and voluntary groups from Syston were represented and a good deal of time and talent had gone into creating the decorations. Our thanks go to them for their contributions.

During each day refreshments were supplied and these proved very popular, especially the variety of homemade cakes!

On Saturday morning there was also a Christmas Bazaar in the church hall. This opened at 10.00am with the Syston Singing for Fun group singing carols. There were the usual selection of stalls and refreshments with the ever popular bacon baps!

Running throughout the weekend was the raffle which alone raised £748. This was drawn on Sunday afternoon. The winner of the £100 prize was April Smith. A list of prize winners is available.
As well as all this, members of the Singing for Fun Groups in the area gave a concert on Saturday evening. As it was now dark the trees looked all the more attractive.

Undoubtedly this was a lot of hard work and sharing of talents but the result was an amazing £2,333.29.

Annual Snowdrop Spectacular at Launde Abbey
The pretty woodland walk behind Launde Abbey is the setting for this year’s Snowdrop Spectacular at the Elizabethan/Jacobean Retreat House near East Norton in Leicestershire. The Abbey will be open from 2.00pm to 4.00pm every day from 13th February until 18th March 2012, allowing visitors the opportunity to stroll through the gardens and wander amongst the magnificent display of snowdrops. Afterwards everyone is invited to relax in the refurbished dining room over tea, scones and jam.

The Abbey’s shop will be open all afternoon, selling locally produced jams, honey and other gifts.
The cost is £5.00 per person, which includes tea, scone and jam. A family ticket is also available, 2 adults and 2 children under 12 for £15.00, under 3’s are free. For more information please contact the General Office on 01572 717 254 or visit the website www.launde.org.uk
Why not take a drive out one day?

Christmas Services
On Christmas Eve as usual we held the Christingle and Crib Service. This was very well attended and when the children received their Christingles they circled the church with the candles lit, the effect was magical. The children each put pieces of straw to the crib scene as well as singing many songs.

Later the annual Carol service was held in a packed church with extra chairs being brought in. The recently formed Church Choir sang some solos and the hand bell ringers played three tunes. The singing of the familiar and favourite Christmas carols was enthusiastic.

At 11.30pm the Mass of the Nativity was held with a number of new people joining members of the regular congregation to welcome the new born King.
The following morning the mass was at Barkby.
26th December the mass was at Barkby where combined congregations from Syston and Barkby celebrated together.

Eleven30
There was a break in services for the combined service to say goodbye to Liz Angell and for Remembrance Sunday.
Services continue at 11.30am through December, when the theme will be the Advent preparation for Christmas. After Christmas services continue from Sunday 1st January.

Ladies Guild
On 24th October we were once again visited by David Tideswell who talked about garden birds in winter. He brings lots of beautiful photographs of all sorts of birds in his own garden. It is David’s unusual style of delivery that makes his visits rather special. He does work for the BBC and is very knowledgeable about his subject and it made for a very memorable evening.
DI Mee

Owing to illness, our planned speaker for 14th November was unable to be with us, so felicity Austin kindly stepped in and spoke to us about Holidays from the 1800s to the present time. We heard about different holidays from rich people to the middle classes, because with the coming of the railways many more people were able to afford holidays which had, of course, previously been denied them. We had a sing song and plenty of laughs and a most enjoyable evening.
Sheila Borderick

Walsingham
A group from church went on pilgrimage to Walsingham and had a wonderful time. Worship, prayer, silence and plenty of fellowship, blessed by wonderful weather which meant we could enjoy the lovely gardens and when walking around the village. See picture above.
Lesley Middleton did a fantastic job organising the whole thing, no easy task!

Historic Churches Ride and Stride
The final result of the money raised is £312.50 half of which will come back to our church.

Ladies Guild
Our meeting on 26th September was a visit from Val Williams who told us about her years visiting Woodchester Park in Gloucestershire.
This is a beautiful parkland and lakes which belong to the National Trust.
Over the past ten years Val has visited many times and taken parties of children to this lovely place.
She has a wonderful collection of photographs of the park and the wildlife that live there. With her knowledgeable and witty commentary it was a most interesting evening.
Unfortunately for our meeting on 10th October the speaker was taken ill and could not attend. However Janet Burgin stepped into the breach with a very inventive quiz about chocolate bars and sweets. It had us scratching our heads. A most enjoyable time was had by everyone
Di Mee

Liz Angell
Our curate is leaving us to move to a group of parishes in Bridgnorth. Her last Sunday service will be on 6th November at 10.30am when the congregations of the 10.00am and eleven30 will be together to say goodbye. There will be a bring and share lunch afterwards. See picture below.

Liz is moving to the beautiful countryside of the Severn Valley. Bridgnorth lies between the towns and cities of the West Midlands and the hills and open country of the Welsh borders. The Bridgnorth Team consists of nine churches and Liz will be responsible for two parishes on the outskirts of Bridgnorth. She will also have other specific responsibilities across the Team.

Liz came to the churches here in July 2008 and she has enjoyed working here. She is really grateful for all the love, support and prayers that she has received over the last three years.

Canon David White, the Team Rector at St Peter and St Paul’s and St Mary’s, said, ‘it’s always a significant moment when a member of the clergy team leaves. We all wish Liz well for the future. She has many gifts and abilities and has done some fantastic work here, our loss is certainly Bridgnorth’s gain! We will miss her and are grateful for all that she has done with us.’

Table Top Sale
A steady stream of people passed through the crowded hall as every stall was booked. There was a good variety of merchandise and many people grabbed themselves a bargain. There was also an opportunity to enjoy a hot drink and delicious home made cakes. A profit of £306 was added to church funds.

Carnival
What a pleasure it was to hand out free cup cakes to anyone passing and show that our church isn’t all about asking for money! Interesting reactions of surprise and discussions arose.

Leicestershire Historic Churches Trust – Ride and Stride
The 10th September had been forecast as going to be wet and very windy. In the event the cyclists were able to stay dry but were definitely buffeted by the wind. Terry Farmer and Mick Streetly and the Morgan family Dave, Theresa, Ben and Rebecca did a brave job facing the elements to raise in excess of £250, half of which will come back to our own church.

Presentation Service
At the service before the summer break a thank you presentation was made to reverend John Leonard and his wife for all their hard work creating and leading the Eleven30 service.
The Eleven30 service restarts on Sunday 4th September at 11.30am. It will include the usual songs, talk and prayers and of course there will be activities for the children as well as refreshments for everybody.

Ride and Stride
This annual fund raising event takes place once again on 10th September.
Syston Parish Church will be open for the day between 10.00am and 6.00pm so that the fund raisers can sign in with us and receive a welcome and refreshment.
Terry Farmer is proposing to cycle once again and will be looking for sponsors! BUT you don’t have to be a cyclist to raise money, you can be sponsored for walking round the churches or seek sponsors for ‘church minding’ during the day 

GARDEN PARTY Saturday 2nd July
Gazebos were assembled, bunting pegged to ivy, balloons blown up, kitchen stocked with victuals, and stalls heaved with goodies. Yes, it was the Rectory garden party once again, all geared up and ready for action come 2.00pm on Saturday 2nd July. Right on cue goodness how many people flooded into the garden, most of whom stayed all afternoon enjoying the atmosphere.
Mr Potato was a great hit with his stiltwalking and magic show, staying through to the end making balloon animals etc., for the children (and some adults got in on the act!). The Black Annis morris dancers performed for us, as did 12 of the students from the Goscote Dance Studio.  Both were excellent, and very well received by everyone.
The sun shone pretty much all afternoon, we were truly blessed and we raised £550 for Church funds.

Singing for Fun Concert
This singing group was hosted by our church to raise money for the Dogs for the Disabled Charity. The church was packed with people who were entertained and joined in with a wide variety of songs.
There was a retiring collection which raised £879.02, a fantastic result.
A chance to hear them again will be at Christmas during the Tree Festival on Saturday 3rd December. 

Eleven30
There will be no services in August.
They begin again on Sun 4th September at 11.30pm.
Look forward to catching up with everyone and maybe some new faces too!
The eleven30 service was conceived and organised by Rev John Leonard and his wife Jane when they retired to Syston. At the beginning the service ran on a monthly basis but last year went to weekly. Now they are stepping aside although they will still be closely involved. They have done an amazing job and the church has met many new young families who are now involved with the church.  We are very grateful for all they have done.

On Monday evening 23rd May we were entertained by Matthew Jones.

He told us about organ music through the ages and played several pieces to illustrate this. His music included the Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, a Trumpet Voluntary by Stanley, the Grand march from Aida by Verdi and the now famous, since the Royal Wedding, Crown Imperial by Walton.

We had a wonderful evening finishing in the hall with refreshments and a raffle. The event raised £433 for the Neonatal unit at the L.R.I..

Over two years the Ladies Guild has raised nearly £2,000 for this charity, a splendid total from such a small group.

Our next project is the New Heart Research Centre at the Glenfield Hospital.

Sheila Borderick

Team Service

On 29th May the members of the Fosse Team joined together for the Communion Service at Queniborough. During the service the group who had been to the conference gave a presentation to explain what they had learnt from the experience and how they hoped to encourage others in their faith. 

Held Together Carving

The carving, looked at by Toby in hte picture above, commemorates the foundation of the National Society which began in 1811 with a vision of educating as many young people as possible based on the Christian gospel as understood by the Church of England.

In the Leicester Diocese the carving has been on a mission giving local schools and parishes a chance to get more involved together.  

The carving was in St Peter and St Paul’s church on 5th June and then went into the church school in the week after half term.

Eleven30

Among the recent services was the telling of the story of the Ascension when Jesus returned to heaven and the Disciples had to wave goodbye to him. The children decorated their own balloons and then went into the churchyard to release a balloon with the name Jesus written on it and wave goodbye to it as it rose into the air as the Disciples waved goodbye to their friend Jesus. See picture below.

Services continue at 11.30am each Sunday in July taking a break in August to start again in September.

Strawberry Teas
On Saturday 18th June the Ladies Guild held their annual Strawberry teas at a member’s home. In spite of the showery weather a good time was had by all, and we raised £279 for the New Heart research Centre at Glenfield Hospital, which is our new project. We meet at 7.30pm in the Church Hall, Lower Church Street on the 2nd and 4th Monday of the month. New members are always welcome.
Margaret Burnett

As the 4th Monday in April was a Bank Holiday we had no meeting!

On 8th May our speaker was Betty Tebbutt who had been on the show Bargain Hunt.

Betty told us how, with her husband, they were selected for the show, also how it took two days to film a show that lasts just 45 minute!

Betty told us that it was a wonderful experience meeting the celebrities and Tim Wonnacott.

A fascinating insight to what goes on behind the scenes.
Sheila Borderick.

Coffee Morning
The Evatt family would like to thank everyone who supported the Coffee Morning on the 7th May.

Despite the awful weather it was a great success with everyone welcoming the hot drinks to warm them up.
The cake stall, which was laden at the beginning, soon had a queue waiting for goodies. The Tombola, Raffle and Guess the Teddy’s Name were all very well supported.

The plant stall was stocked with a variety of perennials and bedding plants. There are still a number of trays of bedding plants for sale. Give Anne a ring on 0116 260 5823 if you would like a bargain.

£587 was raised which will be used towards the installing of the St Aidan’s bell in the bell room of St Peter and St Paul’s church.
Well done everyone!
Mary Gamble

Lent Lunches
The Churches Together group made £460 for the Rainbows Hospice providing lunches during Lent. Many thanks to all who made and served soups and those who came to eat them!

Easter
Holy Week services led up to the celebration of Easter with the first service on Saturday evening when, with the church in darkness, the Easter candle was lit and carried through the church and all the remaining candles and lights were lit, the return of light after the darkness of Good Friday.
On Easter Day a full church celebrated the Resurrection of Jesus Christ with some joyful singing.
The church was beautifully decorated with wonderful white and green arrangements and this year included lilies bought in remembrance of loved ones, which were arranged under the Paschal candle.

Eleven30
For Good Friday there was a service in the morning which included a series of activities such as decorating biscuits, finding ‘treasure’ hidden around the church and decorating an Easter basket which was later filled with little Easter eggs. At the end everyone enjoyed refreshments, which included hot cross buns.
Services continue at 11.30am every Sunday except during August.