‘FAIR-TRADE’ FORTNIGHT - A NOTE FROM SIMONE, OUR PARISH COORDINATOR

Please note that our Evangelisation Cafe opens on Tuesdays immediately AFTER holy Mass, at about 10.15am so that our Hosts may be able to celebrate holy Mass before opening the Cafe. The Cafe will then be open until about 12.00midday. The Cafe is also open on Saturdays from about 10.30am until about 12.00midday and on Sundays too immediately AFTER our final Sunday holy Masses until about 1.00pm The Olde Forge Evangelisation Cafe can only open thanks to the great generosity of our wonderful Hosts and Bakers/Providers.  Thank you so much to them. If you are not yet an active member of our Parish Faith community, please offer your help as a Host or Baker/Provider. Presently it would mean that your help is needed only about once every month. The more Hosts we have the less often your good help is required. We will be very pleased to show you how the Coffee machine works and you will soon be able to be one of our very own ‘Baristas’!

An essential part of Health and Safety is that we are prepared for an emergency caused by a fire in our church. May I invite you to join me for some basic training to teach us what to do in such an unexpected event. To ensure the safety of everyone who celebrates holy Mass in our church, it is essential that we have a good number of people who have had some basic training in what to tell a congregation to do and where to go, in the event of a fire in our church. We need people at every one of our Sunday holy Masses able to do this. On Saturday 8th August at 10.30 in our church, Mr Roy Collier, an expert in Health and Safety, will explain to us what we need to know and how to do it. Please come, if you possibly can, so we can look after each other, in an emergency of this kind.

To Lorenza, who as well as the many other ways in which she helps us all, has agreed to be the Manager of the Olde Forge Café.

Tue: Collette Wed: Patricia Thu: Marian  Fri: Paul

On Sunday 7th February 2027, Bishop Gerard will be joining us for our 10.30am holy Mass. During that holy Mass, Bishop Gerard will celebrate the great Sacrament of Confirmation for us. Please would anyone who has not yet received the Sacrament of Confirmation in her or his life, speak with me. This is a great opportunity to receive the gifts of God’s Holy Spirit in this Sacrament. The Holy Spirit comes upon us to give us gifts, like Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Gentleness, Self-Control, Perseverance, Wisdom, Generosity, Humility and Courage and many more. These are the gifts that we all need to live real, adult, mature lives of Faith in this world. We will shortly begin a series of meetings to help those who will be preparing to receive this Sacrament. Please let know in the next few weeks if you would like to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation on Sunday 7th February next year, when Bishop Gerard visits us.

I would like to make you aware of a new type of scam that is now targeting individuals within our parish communities through WhatsApp. Cyber criminals are increasingly using artificial intelligence (AI) to create convincing videos, voice messages and written communications while impersonating members of the clergy. Their aim is to deceive unsuspecting individuals into believing they are communicating with a priest, bishop, or other Parish representative before requesting money or donations. • Never assume that a WhatsApp message or video is genuine simply because it appears to come from a member of the clergy. • Never send money, gift cards or bank details in response to unsolicited requests received via WhatsApp or other messaging platforms. • Always verify the identity of the sender by contacting the priest or parish directly using a known telephone number or official email address before responding to any request. • Report any suspicious messages and the phone numbers to Action Fraud https://www.reportfraud.police.uk/.

Please renew or sign up for Gift Aid. Thank you to everyone who has already done so. Please use the QR you will find on this Newsletter. Any difficulties, please let me know. Gift Aid enables us to claim an extra 2 5p for every £1 you give, at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your generosity in support of your parish. 

July  25/26 5pm Simone; 9am Maggie; 11am Mary, Lisa, Jim(H) August 1/2: 5pm Paul Mould; 9.00am Jim;11.00am Paul Donovan, Giannina, Gaberielle(H) 8/9: 5pm Patricia; 9.00am Lesley;11.00am Regina, Patrick, Lizzie(H) 15/16 : 5pm Lorenza; 9.00am Simone; 11.00am Ross, David, Maggie(H) 22/23 : 5pm Marian; 9.00am Phil; 11.00am Angela, Phil, Margaret(H) 29/30: 5pm Simone; 9.00am Lesley;11.00am Mary, Jim, Thank you to our wonderful Ministers of the Eucharist who have accepted the Lord’s invitation to this awesome, sacred ministry, by their willingness to give up their own plans and convenience in order to do God’s will rather than their own. Let us pray for them because they too fight the same personal weaknesses we all have to fight against and they too have to fight the same temptations we all have to fight. God be with them.

OLDE FORGE CAFE BAKERS/PROVIDERS ROTA JULY 2026 4: Lizzie 11: Maggie Bowes 18: Giannina 25: Chinwe AUGUST 2026 1: Caroline 8: Kim 15: Vanessa 22: Chinwe 29: Soph Please, if possible, could you provide enough cakes for the whole of each week. Thank you to everybody who is helping to provide cakes. To avoid having too many cakes, Coral mentioned to me that non-perishable cakes can be safely stored in the Cafe for a short while. When it is your turn to provide a non-perishable cake, please bring your cake to the Cafe a few days before the date of your turn. OLDE FORGE CAFE - HOSTS ROTA JULY 2026 4: Ross, David 5: Jim, Patricia 7: Jenny, Collette 11: Phil, Mary 12: Regina, Patrick 14: Lorenza, Marian 18: Maggie, Simone 19: Emmanuala, Giannina 21: Gaberielle, Paul 25: Jenny, Lizzie 26: Lorenza, David 28: Marian, Ross AUGUST 2026 1: Maggie Bowes, Giannina 2: Lizzie, Paul Mould 4: Collette, Gaberielle 8: Patricia, Mary 9: Maggie Bailey, Jim 11: Ross, Regina 15: Simone, Marian 16: Emmanuala, Lorenza 18: David, Maggie Bowes 22: Phil, Patrick 23: Giannina, Lizzie 25: Paul Mould, Collette 29: Jim, Gaberielle 30: Patricia, Maggie Bailey Please note that for each of the above dates when the Cafe is open, one of the two Hosts has been trained in the use of the new coffee machine. Please would that trained person be the only person operating the machine and also please train the other person in its use. Many thanks. Thank you to everybody who acts as a Host. If an unexpected emergency occurs on the date you are scheduled to be a Host, please don’t worry about the Cafe. No need to try to find someone to ‘stand in’ for you. There is no need whatsoever to ‘swop’ with someone! We are not a Business, having to stay open to make money! - we open when and if we can. We take this role of ‘Host’ as a Vocation from the Lord to be his Missionary and his Prophet. Actually, the Cafe has, at times, functioned well with just one Host. The success of our Evangelisation Cafe depends on us. The more we speak to others of our Cafe, inviting them to visit us, the more successful it will be. Please invite members of your families, your friends, your neighbours and colleagues. Please check when it is your turn to be a Host (or a Baker!). Please see this role as a Calling, a Vocation from the Lord which you are generously telling the Lord you will do”. Thank you so much for your trust in the good Lord