INSIDE: Page 2 - Maundy honours Page 2 - Homebuilder’s LEGO gift Page 3 - Meet our young choristers Page 4 - installation photos

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to watch Christine’s Easter message 2 generous engaged open

Bishops’ Diaries April This is not a full list of the ’ engagements, but Four generations includes the items we think might be of particular interest to you. BISHOP OF NEWCASTLE worshipping together 21st 9.30am Easter Day Eucharist, St Bartholomew Newbiggin 29th 11.30am Rural Schools Conference, Hexham 30th 10.00am North East Regional Bishops Meeting 7.30 pm Licensing Service Earsdon and Backworth

BISHOP OF BERWICK

21st 10.00am Festal Eucharist, Newcastle 30th 10.00am North East Regional Bishops, York 6.30pm Citizens Assembly, Tyne Theatre and Opera House Maundy honours A special mention for two people in our invited to the prestigious Service at Windsor Castle. ERE is a photograph from St Mi- Betty is still in church as often as she can be and married to Gavin who is Headteacher Ernie Scott and Mabel Bullock were among the chael’s, Alnwick at the end of and a faithful member of the Mothers’ at St Michael’s Church of Primary 93 men and 93 women who attended the service their Mothering Sunday service Union. School. which happens each year at St George’s Chapel. - four generations of the same Pat Tweed – Grandmother who is Assis- Adam, Sophie and Lucy – Lindsay and During the service, the Queen distributes gifts familyH worshipping together! tant Churchwarden at St Michael’s, also a Gavin’s children. Adam does a great job according to the number of years she has lived, Betty Taylor – great-grandmother (95) Mothers’ Union member and heavily looking after the sound system at St. including giving out Maundy money in two small who worshipped for many years at St involved with ‘Mini Michaels’, our weekly Michael’s, Sophie takes her turn reading at leather purses. Anthony’s, Byker before moving to Alnwick mother and toddler group. our 9.30am service and she and Lucy are Ernie has been churchwarden to be nearer to family about eight years ago. Lindsay Johnston – Mum, a PCC member members of our Junior Church. and organist at St Peter’s Balkwell for many years, and has made a significant contribution to his local community. Mabel is churchwarden at St Paul’s Welcoming Ben Doolan Dudley, a faithful member of the Mother’s Union and Women’s Institute, and has also significantly to St Thomas’ contributed to her local community over many Ben Doolan, leader of our first Resource Church, has been licensed as years. Both Mabel and Master of St Thomas the Martyr Newcastle. The licensing took place Ernie were nominated on 7 April and was conducted by Bishop Christine. We wish Ben and to attend by Bishop the congregation of St Thomas’ well as they look forward to an Christine. exciting future. House builder supports LEGO project Sue Hart, Rest in Peace It is with great sadness that I tell you in one of Newcastle’s poorest estates that Canon Sue Hart died on Palm Sunday morning after a period of Leading UK home builder Keepmoat Homes has illness. Sue was a great servant of this donated £500 to help buy LEGO for an Diocese and the Church nationally inspirational community project in the west end and will be greatly missed by us all. of Newcastle. Please continue to hold Richard and The is collecting as much her family in your prayers. LEGO as possible to bring children, their families Grace and peace, and the local community together, and the Bishop Christine project is based at the Church of The Holy Spirit Denton. The funeral will take place on Tuesday Led by Children and Families Missioner 30th April, 12.00 noon at St. Mary’s Jacqueline Atkinson, children will be recreating Church, Monkseaton, Claremont scenes from the Bible using LEGO and asking Gardens, Whitley Bay NE26 3SF. their families to come and help. The support for Refreshments will be served in the project has been incredible with donations of Church following the service to which LEGO from people across the country. everyone is welcome. Readers are invited to robe and those wishing to do so are asked to For more on this story visit: let Canon Lesley Towers know on www.newcastle.anglican.org/ 0191 285 2220 or email l.towers@ Geoff Scott, Keepmoat Homes, Jacqueline Atkinson, newcastle.anglican.org news/category/latest-news/ Newcastle Diocese, Paul Edwards, Keepmoat Homes growing church bringing hope 3 Meet our young choristers A Pilgrimage of Prayer with Bishop Christine

Bishop Christine will be walking the St Oswald’s Way from 20th – 25th May this year as a pilgrimage of prayer for the Diocese and our vision ‘growing church bringing hope’. She invites you to join her in one of the following three ways:

Walk, talk, and pray with her for a day

If you would like to walk with Bishop Christine and her team for one of the days of the EWCASTLE Cathedral’s Choir pilgrimage, please book a place with Ruth at celebrates Holy Week and Easter Bishop’s House: with some of the greatest music [email protected] ever written, at 11 services be- tweenN Palm Sunday and Easter Day. There are ten places available for each day of the The Cathedral Choir is made up of young walk. people from a number of schools across Newcastle, Gateshead and beyond, who N.B. The walk is fairly strenuous and briskly paced; come from a variety of social, economic you will need be able to walk long distances and and cultural backgrounds. be appropriately equipped. You will also need a There are two separate groups of girl and packed lunch and arrange your own transport to boy choristers, each taking it in turn in the the starting place and from the finish. Because of singing of the services, with a back row the nature of this walk, it is not possible to join made up of a professional singer, Lay Clerks part of the way through the day. Start times and and student choral scholars. places will be provided on booking. Holy Week is an intense time for the Choir, I’ve loved the wide range of exciting music Paul, age 11 particularly this year with Easter being late in that all builds up to Easter day, including Ten- “I’ve been singing since I was six and my mum 20th May: Heavenfield to Kirkwelpington - 17.5 the month, as Ian Roberts, Cathedral Director ebrae when I’ll be performing the solo in spotted an advert to be a chorister for a day. I rec- miles of Music explains. “We try to give the choris- Allegri’s Miserere Mei.” ognised kind voices at the Cathedral and realised 21st May: Kirkwelpington to Rothbury - 15 miles ters as much time off as we can during the Ian Roberts comments, “Jess is head choris- I’d make lots of new friends. I get my love of 22nd May: Rothbury to Warkworth - 18 miles school Easter holiday, so this year it was a case ter and will be performing the Holy Week music from my dad who is the organist at White- 23rd May: Warkworth to Craster - 13.5 miles of doing as much rehearsal as possible before ‘king of solos’, the big treble moment, the hall Road Methodist Church, Gateshead.” 24th May: Craster to Bamburgh - 14 miles the schools broke up. Then at 8.45am on Palm equivalent of the boy who sings ‘Once in Royal 25th May: Bamburgh to Holy Island - 19 miles Sunday it was straight into action! With hardly David’s City’ at Christmas time.” David, age 7 time to ask the boy choristers if they had “My mum knew I loved singing and she Meet and pray with her at a church along the enjoyed their holiday, we were into the most Megan, age 17 found out about this Choir. The people are route significant week of the year.” “I heard about the Choir when the choir nice and friendly and encourage me to sing. Being part of the choir enables these young master visited my school and invited us to I’m looking forward to Easter Sunday because At the end of each day, Bishop Christine and her people to access free professional musical join. I decided to try it out and really enjoyed I’ll be performing, and then I’m going home walking companions will be meeting with a local training worth up to £1,000 per year. But most it. I’ve made new friends outside of school and for an Easter egg hunt.” church community for prayers, all are welcome to importantly it’s a great opportunity to make took up the opportunity to sing with the Choir join them. new friends. in Belgium.” Gabe, age 12 In the midst of their preparations we caught Megan continues enthusiastically “If you “My mum really wanted me to join the choir 20th May: St Bartholomew, Kirkwelpington at up with some of the Choir members that are are thinking of joining the Choir then I’d rec- but I wasn’t interested until I was in year six. 5.30pm playing this important role in the life of our ommend giving it a try - it might be the one Being in the choir has changed the way I per- 21st May: All Saints, Rothbury at 5pm Cathedral and Diocese. thing you love doing and you won’t look back.” ceive music. My school friends call me the 22nd May: St Lawrence, Warkworth at 5.30pm “Easter is really busy with practices taking ‘high voice kid’ because my voice has not bro- 23rd May: St Peter the Fisherman, Craster at 5pm Jess, age 16 place every day of holy week, but it isn’t full ken yet! The choir teaches you loads about 24th May: St Aidan, Bamburgh at 5pm “This Easter is really special for me as it will days so you still get plenty of time to yourself.” music and it is really fun.” Gabe will be per- 25th May: St Mary the Virgin, Holy Island at 5pm be my last Easter performance before I leave. forming in a trio this Easter.

Newcastle Cathedral Choir and Baroque Orchestra are giving a complete Pray with her from your home performance of Handel’s Messiah on Saturday 15 June at 7pm. The girl choristers, Lay Clerks and choral scholars Girls’ Choir, and the professional singers of the Each day, the Bishop will be praying of Newcastle Cathedral Choir will be giving choir’s back row. The instrumentalists will be for specific places and aspects of the Tickets life of the Diocese. You can join her in prayer an exciting and rare performance of Handel’s some of the North of England’s best early music from your home using the ‘prayer diary for Messiah in the Cathedral. Many will be used to players. They will be performing on the kind are £15 the pilgrimage’, which can be found at: standard large scale performances of Britain’s of instruments that would have been used in www.newcastle.anglican.org/pilgrimage_ favourite choral work, but this performance will Handel’s first performance. Do book tickets now CLICK HERE of_prayer/ feature the young choristers of the Cathedral for this highlight of the cultural diary. 4 generous engaged open More photos from Mark Wroe’s installation as Last month, Mark Wroe was installed by Bishop Christine as our new Archdeacon of Northumberland in a wonderful service at Newcastle Cathedral. We thought you would like to see more amazing photographs from the day. The Venerable Mark Wroe is one of our two , joining the Venerable Peter Robinson who is our Archdeacon of Lindisfarne. For more photos, visit our website: www.newcastle.anglican.org/installation_of_ archdeacon_of_northumberland/