Dear Friends,

June seems to be a very long month this year. As I write, the general election is only a week away and the story dominating the front pages is the tragic loss of lives and homes and hopes of the many people who used to live in Grenfell Tower, the high-rise block of flats in west London, devastated by fire. This catastrophic event has touched the hearts of many and I pray that help and support for all those affected comes quickly.

Here in this parish we held a very successful Ice-cream Service at St Martin’s last Sunday. We have a really good team of children involved in the service and they are now very confident about speaking in church. We hope that we can find a way of getting them more involved in the music in future. Please get in touch if you have any suggestions for future services.

Next month we have the first All Saints’ Ice-cream Service on 16 July at 11am. Do come along and encourage children to come too. There will be plenty of opportunities for participation in the service. It will last just 30 minutes and there will be ice-cream, tea and coffee afterwards.

And we have an update on last month’s announcement of another Animal Service. The date remains Sunday 17 September but it will take place in the afternoon in the grounds of St Paul’s Walden Bury. We will be inviting members of the Hitchin Team churches to join All Saints’ and St Martin’s for this service. We are very grateful to the Bowes Lyon family for inviting us to meet in their grounds. More news soon.

In the meantime I hope that all of you are able to enjoy some extra rest and relaxation over the summer either at home or away. And we look forward to catching up with one another during the next couple of months and of course at Village Day on Saturday 8 July.

With my prayers and good wishes to you all

Elizabeth