We can claim the tax back from your donation if its given in THE CHURCHES OF

the Gift Aid envelope. Please complete with your address, date HEALEY, MASHAM, NORTH STAINLEY, WELL WITH SNAPE
and box ticked. Help us to receive this vital extra income. & WEST TANFIELD
Thank you.
Sunday next 8.00 a.m. Masham Holy Communion
LOOP SYSTEMS have been installed at Masham, Healey, North Stainley, before Lent 10.45 a.m. Masham Holy Communion
Well and West Tanfield for the benefit of those who are hard of hearing. 26th February 10.45 a.m. West Tanfield Holy Communion
Please switch the button on your hearing aid to the T position. 4.00 p.m. Healey Evensong
4.00 p.m. Snape Evensong

WOMENS WORLD DAY OF PRAYER Monday 27th 3.30 p.m. Confirmation group at Masham School
Friday 3rd March 7.30 p.m. Healey Parochial Church Council at the Vicarage
7.00 p.m. Masham Methodist Church
The service is prepared by women from the Philippines and is based on the theme Tuesday 28th 1.45 p.m. Pilgrim Course entitled Holy Spirit at the Vicarage
Am I being unfair to you? 6.00 p.m. Pancake Party at Cogden House.
All Welcome.
Ash Wednesday 1st 10.00 a.m. Masham Holy Communion
st
ASH WEDNESDAY (this year March 1 ) opens Lent, a season of 6.00 p.m. Rendezvous at the Methodist Church
fasting and prayer. Ash Wednesday comes from the ancient Jewish 7.30 p.m. Masham Holy Communion
tradition of penance and fasting. The practice includes marking a with the imposition of ashes
cross of ash on the forehead. The ashes symbolize the dust from
which God made us. As the priest applies the ashes to a person's Thursday 2nd 6.00 p.m. Masham Youth Group in the Town Hall
forehead, he speaks the words: "Remember that you are dust, and to
dust you shall return. Turn away from sin and be faithful to Christ." Friday 3rd 7.00 p.m. Womens World Day of Prayer Service
Ashes also symbolize grief, in this case, grief that we have sinned at Masham Methodist Church
and caused division from God. Priests administer ashes during
Communion and all are invited to accept the ashes as a visible symbol of penance. Saturday 4th 9.30 a.m. Masham Church Cleaning Party
There are two Communion services on Ash Wednesday 10.00 a.m. and 7.30 p.m. both at
Masham, the latter with the imposition of ashes. First Sunday 8.00 a.m. Masham Holy Communion
of Lent 9.15 a.m. Healey Holy Communion
LENT LUNCHES IN WEST TANFEILD 5th March 10.45 a.m. Masham Family Service & Baptism
In aid of St. Nicholas Church funds and the Yorkshire Air Ambulance. 10.45 a.m. North Stainley Holy Communion
Tuesdays March 14th 21st & 28th & April 4th all at The Bull. 10.45 a.m. Well Holy Communion
12.30 p.m. 10.45 a.m. West Tanfield Holy Communion
Soup and Sandwiches for donations of whatever people feel they would like to give. It
would be helpful if people could book their places at the communal tables in advance. Second Sunday 8.00 a.m. Masham Holy Communion
Please telephone 01677 470678. of Lent 9.30 a.m. West Tanfield Family Service
12th March 10.45 a.m. Masham Confirmation and Holy Communion
10.45 a.m. Snape Holy Communion
BIBLE READING NOTES An order will shortly be placed for notes to start in May 4.00 p.m. Healey Evensong
please contact Kate Cleeves (01765 689255) to order or for further details. Price 4.40 for
four months of readings. One way of helping us to see God as a weekday friend and not THE ALTAR FLOWERS at Masham this week have been given to remember all Guides
just a Sunday acquaintance of the World.
REFLECTION Before the penitential season of Lent begins, we are reminded of the
revelation of Christs glory on the mount of transfiguration. The disciples misunderstand,
thinking that this is their final destination, wanting to build permanent dwellings for the
great men, but this is the midpoint, not the end. Now Jesus will turn his face to Jerusalem,
submitting himself to the passion and glory that is to come.
PANCAKE PARTY
Tuesday 28th February
6.00 8.00 p.m. Cogden House, 34 Market Place, Masham.
In aid of The Bungokho Rural Development Project, Uganda
Tickets: 5 adults, 12 family ticket. Bring your own drink. From
Carla McCowen (01765 689257), Bob & Rosalind Arnold (01765
689116) or Kate Cleeves (01765 689255)
Volunteers to make pancakes and fillings are needed please contact Carla McCowen or
Rosalind Arnold.
READER MINISTRY IN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND Readers are lay people,
called by God, and trained and licensed by the Church of England to preach, teach, lead
worship and assist in pastoral, evangelistic and liturgical work under the direction of the
parish priest. They undertake three years training which would be undertaken in several
hubs located conveniently across the Diocese. From September 2017 those interested in
exploring Reader Ministry will not be asked to undertake selection before beginning
training. They will instead enter onto an Exploratory year of training funded by the
Diocese with selection for Reader Ministry taking place towards the end of Year One.
Reader candidates would then, if selected, do two further years of training before, if all
goes well, being recommended to the Bishop for licensing. If you are interested please
speak to David Cleeves (01765 689255). Anyone wishing to start the Exploratory year in
September 2017 needs to have submitted their application by 30th April.
LENT MEDITATIONS 2017
Cogden House, 34 Market Place Masham, Sunday evenings at 6.00pm
This year the Lent Meditations will be based on the anthology of poems collected by Mark
Oakley, Chancellor of St Pauls Cathedral, called The Splash of Words: believing in
poetry.
The book is a beautiful and wise meditation on 29 poems which make the connection
between poetry and belief, with a commentary on each one, drawing out the often hidden
meaning behind the words. Each session will take one poem, which will be the focus of our
meditation; everyone is invited to bring other poems by the same poet to share with the
group. The format will be as in previous years, with music, candlelight and silence.
Sunday 5th March: George Herbert: Love
Sunday 12th March: R S Thomas: The Moon in Lleyn
Sunday 19th March: U A Fanthorpe: Getting It Across
Sunday 26th March: Mary Oliver: The Journey
Everyone is welcome
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
The Sports Pavilion, Masham @ 7.00 p.m.
Supper, followed by a talk.
Tickets from Kate (Tel. 01765 689255 or email revdavidcleeves@gmail.com)
at 3.50 each.
Thursday 16th March Susie Hart: 10 years in Tanzania and beyond. Susie Hart is a
textile artist and social entrepreneur, and was a CMS mission partner in Tanzania for 10
years. She received the international Woman of the Year award in 2010 and also an
M.B.E., for her pioneering work with disabled people in the developing world. Since
returning to the UK she has set up a charity called Craft Aid International to relieve poverty
in people with disabilities in the developing world through social enterprise, as well as
running therapeutic workshops in the UK. Come and hear how God can use even the most
unlikely people, if we will just place ourselves in his hands.
Thursday 23rd March - Kathy Couchman: Being there - working as a Hospice Chaplain.
Kathy Couchman is Chaplain at Saint Michaels Hospice in Harrogate. Kathy is married to
Jonathan and they love living in the Dales. Kathy says, It may be a long drive to work at
the hospice, but Saint Michaels is such a special place to be that its worth every mile!
Kathy is a Priest in the Church of England and, since being ordained in 2006, she has
worked in parish ministry and prison chaplaincy.
Thursday 30th March Robert MacKenzie Johnston: The Seven Questions. Robert was
in the Army for 20 years before becoming a teacher. He retired two years ago as
Headmaster of Queen Mary's School in Topcliffe.
He will be exploring the many possible answers to the seven questions about life which
have puzzled men and women through the ages and will attempt to give a personal and
provisional answer to some of them, informed by his own Christian journey so far.
"What is bad? What is good? What should one love and what hate? What does one live
for? And what am I? What is life, and what is death? What power governs all?"
There was no answer to any of these questions, except one, and that not a logical answer
and not at all a reply to them. The answer was: "You'll die and all will end. You'll die and
know all, or cease asking." Pierre Bezukhov in Tolstoy's War and Peace.
Thursday 6th April Clare Nelson: Love Changes Everything. For 20 years Clare
worked as a solicitor in the aggressive world of commercial intellectual property law,
before giving it all up to speak out on behalf of some of the worlds poorest children for
Christian child development charity Compassion.
This complete change of direction came following her decision to sponsor a child through
Compassion when she found out how easy it is to change the world - one child at a time,
and that doing so enables us to live out what we say we believe - loving God and loving
our neighbour. It just makes sense - love really does change everything. She now spends
most of her time on the road meeting with church leaders and her Sundays speaking in
churches across the north of England.