Parish Pilgrimage to Walsingham. Friday 14 th – Monday 17 th August. Further information will be distributed to the 25 pilgrims going on this pilgrimage in July including the final cost which for those who have already paid £30 will be £146.45.
Please note that if you work we will be leaving on the Friday morning and not returning until the Monday afternoon.
Family Fun Day. This event for young families and children and their friends will be on Saturday 22 August with crafts, games and bouncy castle from 11.00am until
2.00pm in the Vicarage garden. Bring a picnic. It’s FREE!
Games Evening. Joan Young is organising another Games Evening on Saturday 22
August at 7.00pm at the Church hall. These evenings have been popular in the past and have helped to raise money for the church. Please support it. Tickets £2.50 on sale shortly. With raffle, of course!
Afternoon Tea. This is scheduled to take place on Saturday 29 August. See the weekly notice sheet for further details.
Day Pilgrimage to Walsingham. This is the Pilgrimage for Healing and Renewal and takes place in Walsingham outdoors on Monday 31 August. As this is a popular pilgrimage the parish arranges a coach to take us all there. This has been booked so put the date in your diaries. Forms for you to complete in order to book will be available in church at the beginning of August. £15 for adults. £5 for children.
Congratulations to Dayo on his election to the Diocesan Synod. Join Dayo in the church hall on Sunday 30 August after the 10.00am Mass to celebrate his 50 th
Birthday.
New chalice administrators. Thank you to Agnes, Angela, Cynthia and Allen who have agreed to take on this important ministry and who have now been licensed by the bishop to do so.
Ffranc Thomas our organist has been taken ill in Thailand. Pray for him. He is recovering well in hospital after an operation but is unlikely to return to the UK before the end of July or his duties until September. In that time we will have visiting organists or the vicar on the piano.
Confirmation 2015. Jonathan, the Bishop of Fulham, is coming to St. Alban’s to
Confirm on Saturday 10 th October at 5.00pm. Young people must be 9 or over and adults are encouraged to consider Confirmation if they are not Confirmed
Anglicans. If interested fill in the form available in church. Preparation classes will begin in September.
St. Michael’s Croydon. As Fr. Ian is retiring as Vicar of St. Michael’s Fr. Russell now says the mass there every Friday at 12.30pm. I commend this parish to your prayers.
Mission Direct thanks the people of St. Alban’s for the cheque for £184 raised at the Pentecost Lunch.
The people at St. Alban’s are people who like to go on pilgrimages. Or at least most seem to and we’ve enjoyed many in the last few years. Many of you came to
Canterbury a few years ago and many others to Winchester, Salisbury, Aylesford,
Westminster and Ely. Almost everyone has been at some point to Walsingham. For some these are enjoyable trips out of the city, for others a chance to see new things or learn a bit of history and for others an opportunity to do a bit of shopping, have a rest, or meet up with old friends. And there’s nothing wrong with any of those things, all of them very likely to do us all some good, but there’s much more to going on Pilgrimage than that.
For our medieval forebears going on Pilgrimage was a requirement of Church membership. Christians were expected to go at least once to the Holy Land and if they couldn’t make it that far, to Rome, and if that was just a bit too far away, at the very least to Canterbury – to the Shrine of St. Thomas Becket. And these journeys they made, mostly on foot, in their thousands. They went to Walsingham too, even Henry VIII, and part of the way barefoot. Few however went because they had to, most because they wanted to, and except for their means of travel and

the time it took, medieval pilgrims would not find our modern day pilgrimages very much different.
You may have noticed that places of pilgrimage are not usually in easily accessible places. Unless you live in North Norfolk Walsingham is a particularly out-of-theway place for example. As such going on a pilgrimage, just as it was for our forebears, involves a degree of commitment, determination and patience to get to where we want to go. In addition places of pilgrimage are not places we tend to go to on our own. We travel with others and we go on to meet others when we arrive. Some of these people we will know, others will be complete strangers from places in Wales we have never even heard of! Going on pilgrimage then is something we do together, with others, and, however different they may seem to us, with whom we have to try to get along. An invaluable lesson, regular pilgrim or not, for every Christian to learn!
The goal of any pilgrimage, and just as it was for our forebears, is a Holy Place, the
Shrine of a Saint, as at Canterbury or Westminster, or a Martyr, as at St. Alban’s, or a place associated with Our Lady, like Walsingham or Lourdes. Hallowed by centuries very often of worship and prayer places of pilgrimage are places in which people speak of feeling the closeness of God, places where the veil between this world and the next seems so much thinner and thus in a wonderful way reminding us of the final destination of every Christian life – the nearer presence of God that will be ours in heaven.
I encourage you to pray for those going on Pilgrimage to Walsingham this August - we will certainly be praying for you – to think about taking part on one of our regular pilgrimages and to consider joining us on August Bank Holiday Monday for the Pilgrimage for Healing and Renewal to Walsingham. That in making the effort, travelling together in fellowship and expectation with your brothers and sisters and seeking the nearness of God you may grow and flourish in the Faith!
God bless you.
Fr. Russell
- Streetlife is a free and simple website that connects you with people in your local area. It’s handy for sharing practical information like crime alerts, lost pets and community events, and for exchanging skills. St. Alban’s is now registered under the Vicar’s name with a picture of the church and we will be posting details of our social, fundraising events and anything else that seems appropriate on streetlife in the future. Why not join too. It’s easy and free!
MU Away From It All Holidays
The MU (Mother’s Union) fund a lovely scheme that enables families to have a holiday who, because of financial constraints, may not be able to afford one.
All you need is a reference from the vicar.
This scheme is not just for Church people, MU members or Christians but for any family with children in our parish who could do with a week away with free accommodation.
See Val Green or Fr. Russell if you or anyone you know might benefit from an MU Away From It All Holiday in the UK.
All enquiries will be treated in the strictest confidence
Prayer for the Month
A Prayer of St. Richard of Chichester
Thanks be to thee, O Lord Jesus Christ, for all the benefits which thou hast given us, for all the pains and insults which thou hast borne for us.
O most merciful Redeemer, Friend and Brother, may we know thee more clearly, love thee more dearly
and follow thee more nearly, now and for evermore.
Amen.
News and What’s On in July & August
The MU Garden Party will be on Sunday 19 th
For MU members and their invited guests.
July at the Vicarage from 3.00pm.
MU Mass. The next of these will be on Thursday 23 rd July at 10.00am in Church.
Visit to Croydon Mosque. Jenny has kindly arranged this visit for church members to find out more about Islam, Muslims and their places of prayer and worship. On Wednesday 29 th July meeting at the bus stop outside Croydon
Mosque, opposite Mayday hospital, at 10.00am. Sign up on the sheet in church.
Details of what and what not to wear will be given out nearer the time.
Wedding Blessing. Hazel Turner will be having her marriage blessed in Church on Saturday 1 st August at 4.30pm. Church members are most welcome to attend the ceremony.