A confirmation service on Sunday 3 November filled Guildford Cathedral with confirmation candidates and their supporters. Among the candidates were two from St Mary’s Ewell. Emma and Natalie had completed the confirmation preparation with the Vicar, and were confirmed by the Rt Revd Christopher Herbert, former Bishop of St Albans, who was assisting the Bishop of Dorking at the service.

Some of us from St Mary’s, joined by others from nearby churches, went on our parish retreat in October 2013 to St Cuthman’s, Coolham. For most people, this was a first visit, although the Revd Sue Ayling– to whom many thanks for organising the trip– is a regular visitor and looks upon it as one of her favourite places. It is certainly a beautiful and peaceful place, and– everyone agreed–a wonderful place for a retreat. It certainly also added to the experience that the accommodation was excellent, and the food delicious! The Revd Barry Preece, who was curate at St Mary’s in the 1970s, led the retreat. He drew on…

Our first ‘parish day’ was held on 28 September 2013. This featured a prayer tent, activities for children, a cafe, a demonstration of liturgical dance, videos shown in the parish room,  a talk about architecture, and much more, finishing with a fish and chip supper in the evening. The photograph below shows the liturgical dance demonstration, full of joy and movement; the second photograph is a slide from the Vicar’s talk about ‘gothic and gothic revival’ architecture and shows the only ribbed vault in St Mary’s– do you know where it is?

Our parish choir sang the services at Belfast Cathedral over the weekend of 10-11 August 2013. The choir sang Choral Evensong on the Saturday evening, and sang a Choral Eucharist on Sunday morning, the cathedral’s principal act of worship that day. The current members of the choir welcomed back some former members who have moved away from Ewell for this special choir trip. You can listen to recordings of the weekend’s music, recorded at the cathedral (more sound files on the Choir page here). Magnificat in G: Stanford, soloist E. Humphries  Nunc Dimittis in G: Stanford, soloist R. Verth-Brown O pray for the peace of Jerusalem: Herbert Howells Teach me…

In May 2013, St Mary’s church put on our annual “Spring Market”– stalls, a cafe, and entertainment, which provide the float for us to run the Ewell Village Fair in July. This year we raised a record-breaking sum, over £1,000. Many thanks to all who took part.

On Thursday 13 June, members of St Mary’s Church and other local residents gathered for a fundraising dinner at Paprika Indian restaurant in Ewell Village. The dinner was to raise money for our link parishes in Berbice, Guyana, to help them in their project to redevelop their church hall as a day care centre. A fantastic evening with great food was enjoyed by all, and £245 was raised for the project which will be dispatched to our friends Guyana.