There was a bumper congregation at this year’s Mothering Sunday service. The Vicar spoke about how mothers’ love was, like Jesus’ love, always the same but always new. Members of the congregation, old and young, were invited to come forward to receive a bunch of flowers in thanksgiving for mothers. Mothering Sunday next year will be on 26 March and our all-age service will again be at 11am.

On 7 February 2016, we celebrated St Mary’s ministry of marriage at our Sunday 9:30am Sung Eucharist. Many couples who had been married at St Mary’s, recently or many years ago, came to join in our worship. The music at the Eucharist included traditional wedding organ voluntaries by Wagner, Mendelssohn, and Widor, favourite wedding hymns and the anthem “The Lord bless you and keep you” by John Rutter.

Before Christmas, we collected 642 shoeboxes packed with gifts as part of Operation Christmas Child. They have been distributed by the Samaritan’s Purse charity to children around the world who otherwise would receive nothing at Christmas. Well done to all involved! Many thanks to everyone who donated towards the purchase of new Christmas decorations, and to all who helped in decorating the church this year. We hosted four school Christmas carol services and concerts in the run up to Christmas. We held several Christmas services over the weekend before Christmas, on Christmas Eve and on Christmas day, seeing well over a thousand people attend St Mary’s between all these services.…

On Saturday 14 November, we held a “Messiah from Scratch” concert. People came from all over the local area to rehearse in the afternoon and perform in the evening. Particular thanks to our Director of Music, Jonathan Holmes, for organizing and conducting the event; to our soloists Eleanor Penfold, Rachel Chalkley-Gunton, and Frankie Postles; and to the organist, Simon Gregory. Arthur Mathews and his team provided the interval refreshments, and over £500 was raised for the church organ fund. These much needed funds will be used to provide replacements for worn springs in the organ mechanism.

You can read a report of this year’s Remembrance Sunday service in the Epsom Guardian. Many thanks to Nigel Bird for the photographs recording this year’s service, some of which are shown below.

On 26 September 2015, we held our annual “Day for all”. The church was open, and filled with many visitors who came to try out the various activities, hear talks, and much more. The photos below show our children’s hour demonstrated some of their favourite songs, and Nonsuch Ringers gave a demonstration of handbell ringing. UPDATE: The Prayer tree, training in hand bells, and John Baxter’s “Five Years in Prison” talk were also very popular. The Guides and Brownies got us all involved in craft activities, and tea and coffee were served in the hall. Meanwhile, up in the bell tower, the ringers were hard at work.