June’s letter to the parish comes from the keboard of Rev Steve: Digital media has many benefits. There were 18,000 views of the Simister Festival on our online platforms. Yet our mobile phones and laptops can also make us impatient. Give our favourite search-engine a difficult question, or set our calculator a complicated bit of … More Letter from the Clergy to the Parish
On Sunday 10th May the parish held its Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM). During this meeting, Wardens, Officers and PCC members for the coming year were elected. They are: The full make-up of our PCC and Ministry teams is given on our website here. Statutory reports to the APCM follow over the coming days. Non-statutory … More Annual Parochial Church Meeting
This article first appeared in the May 2023 edition of our parish magazine. Tom and I are always open to suggestions of music – instrumental or vocal, hymns or anthems – that could be incorporated into our services at St Margaret’s. Sometimes, the suggestions are not seasonally appropriate, so they have to wait until later … More Build Your Kingdom Here – Rend Collective
This article was written for the April 2026 issue of our parish magazine: I have never seen the 1998 film “Saving Private Ryan”. Wikipedia tells me that it’s a war epic, set in Normandy in 1944 and follows a group of solders on a mission to locate Private Ryan, whose three brothers have already perished … More Hymn to the Fallen (from Saving Private Ryan) – John Williams (b. 1932)
Dear Friends, It’s amazing to think that we are almost halfway through the year, but let’s not dwell on that. As we step into May the days are now longer, and our gardens are bursting into colour. My Magnolia’s deep red blooms make me smile every time I step outside. After the cold dark and … More Clergy Letter to the Parish
This article first appreared in the April 2023 issue of our parish magazine. At St Margaret’s we are blessed to welcome highly talented musicians to perform concerts for us. One of the more recent groups to do this is HeartEdge Manchester. This is a group of choral scholars from across Greater Manchester, led by Andrew … More The Lord is my Light and my Salvation – Brad Nix
I don’t suppose Peter had any idea what the impact would be of his first sermon in Jerusalem. Three thousand people came to be baptised. The disciples must have spent the whole rest of the day doing nothing but baptising one convert after another in the ritual immersion pools around Jerusalem. No time for preparation … More The Jerusalem Experiment
“Attende, Domine”, or “Listen, Lord” is a liturgical chant for the season of Lent, more commonly known as the Lent Prose. It matches Rorate Caeli, known as the Advent Prose (see my article in the December 2024 issue of this magazine). Surprisingly, this plainsong melody was created as recently as the 19th century. The text … More Attende, Domine (The Lent Prose)
Rev Sue preached this sermon during the Easter Vigil last weekend. Here it is for you again: The first time I experienced an earthquake was in the early hours of September 23rd 2002. We were living in the West Midlands at the time. We woke up to the floor shaking and furniture rattling. I put … More The Easter Vigil
This month’s letter to the parish comes from hte keyboard of Rev Helen, and reflects on the hymn “Let all mortal flesh keep silence”: Let all mortal flesh keep silence,and with fear and trembling stand;ponder nothing earthly minded,for, with blessing in His hand,Christ our God to earth descendeth,our full homage to demand. King of kings, … More April letter from the clergy
St Margaret's Church Prestwich 