Sunday, 3Rd July, 2016 Forever with the Lord
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St. Andrew’s Church 15, B.B.D. Bag (CNI) Kolkata (founded 1815) Annual report 2015-2016 Presented at the Annual Congregational Meeting On Sunday, 3rd July, 2016 Forever With The Lord Ann Colquhoun, Harsh Biswas, Harry Johnstone, Nita Das, Farida Abraham, and many who were persecuted and killed for the sake of Jesus The Memorial Service of Harry Johnstone took place in our church on 8.11.15. Mrs. Johnstone, the mother of Harry and an aunt, the sister of the late Harry Johnstone Sr, were present in the service. Touching tributes were present by Carol Johnstone and Mr. Quentin Pope. Mr. Quentin Pope recounted beautifully in his talk that the father of Harry, the Late Harry Johnstone, a teacher in St. Thomas’ School, Kidderpore, was of the best English teachers in the city. The 200th anniversary closing thanksgiving Holy Communion service of St. Andrew’s Church took place on 29.11.15. The Rt Rev Rev Dr. Philip Vinod Peacock Ashoke Biswas , Bishop of Calcutta preached the sermon and cele- Celebrated the Lord’s Supper in brated the Lord’s Supper. We were also blessed to have the Rev our church on 17.1.16. We Paritosh Canning, Vice-President of the Diocese and the Rev Swarup thank him for his ready services, Bar who is in India on a break from his doctoral studies in Edinburgh. congratulate him on receiving We render a big thanks to the Welland Gouldsmith School for deco- his doctorate and pray for his rating the church for the occasion, doing the background work and family and ministry in Bishop’s singing the Bicentenary special song. College and in our diocese. The Rev Dr. Sunil M. Caleb and Mrs. Beu- lah Caleb served us throughout the year by their presence every Sunday, their pastoral care and by their help in the services. Mrs. Beulah Caleb excelled in playing the organ Ordination in our Diocese Mr. Philip Gupta, Mr. Arpan Makhal, Mr. Rev Swarup Bar visited Sanjib Bishoi and Ms. Lopamudra Mistry our church in December 2016 and is now in Edin- were ordained to the Diaconate by the Rt. burgh completing his Rev Ashoke Biswason 1.5.16 in St. Tho- studies. mas’ Church, Howrah. Rev James Tunellia Marak, Rev. Sushma Gomez Kumar, Ashibo Zhimo (and Lem- helped us pang H. Phom) of Bishop’s Col- throughout lege were assigned to our church the year. for the period 2015-2016 and helped us by their presence, prayers and pastoral care. Healed by his stripes. Bishop Maqbul Caleb, Bishop Dinesh Gorai, Janet Joel, Ashok Pasricha, Prodyut Addy, Quentin Pope,Dr. Gillian Hart and Abdul Basir became very sick in the past year but received God’s wonderful healing Prof Dr. Laltluangliana Khiangte , principal of Serampore College visited our church on 25.10.15. Rev Dr. Roger Gaikwad the Secre- tary of the National Council of Churches in India preached in SAC on 17.3.16 The St. Andrew’s Church Bicentenary Concert of Praise and Worship was held in our church on 19.7.15. Dr. Gillian R. Hart, Chairperson, Bicentenary Com- mittee, warmly welcomed the 230 peo- ple gathered. After the congregational hymn “Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness” played by Mrs. Beulah Caleb, songs were presented by the Calcutta Hill Christian Church, the La Martiniere for Boys’ School, the St. Thomas’ Church, Free School Street, the Scottish Church College, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Bishop’s College and by St. Andrew’s Church. Psalm 148 was read to us by Mr. Charles J. Nyss, Clerk to the Deacons’ Court, and the Oxford Mission charmed us by two orchestral items. The hour-long concert came to an end with a Prayer and Benediction by His Grace, the Rt. Rev Ashoke Biswas, Bishop of Calcutta , who presided over the whole function SAC Bicentenary Quiz Competition took place in our church lounge on 27.9.15. hosted by the SAC Bicentenary Committee to involve children in our cele- brations! Planned by Dr. Gillian Hart, chairperson, and Mrs. Bhaswati Sama- radivakera and with help from Rev James Gomez, Mr. Nikhil Biswas of St. Paul’s Cathedral was chosen as the quiz-master. Nikhil did a super job of quizzing with a power-point presentation on the theme, “the miracles and parables of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark”. Four teams of three persons each from the neighbouring Cathedral of the Holy Rosary, Ling Liang Church, Sacred Heart Church and St.Andrew’s Church took part. Participants from St. Francis Church, Old Mission Church and Jesus Calls also took part. Above all it was great to have Father Hansel, Father Peppins, Rev Pradip Nanda and Rev Souren Sarkar with us. A big thanks goes to Ms. Louisa Jackson and Mr. David John for the physical arrangements and Mr. Ashok Pasricha and Mr. Behera for the food. Mr. John Rafi, Principal, La Martiniere for Boys, preached in our church on 9.8.15. Congratulations! Brandon Murray, Sylvester, Bevan, Jonathan Nyss and Sakchi Arora passed in the ISC and ICSE 2016. Two of our boys got into St. Xavier’s Col- lege. LMB won the Keventer’s Cup. Brandon Murray got the Best Sportsman of the Year award on 12.9.15. Mrs. Swarna Joshua and Mr. John Stephen were inducted as the new Vice-Principals on 2.9.15 and 7.12.15 of LMG and LMB Sunday School & A big La Martiniere thank you The Closing Worship of the Bicentenary Celebrations of the Diocese of Calcutta was held in St. Paul’s Cathedral on 13.12.15. The Most Rev David Chillingworth, Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Most Rev Pradeep Kumar Samantaroy, Moderator, Mr.Alwan Masih, General Secretary of the Church of North India,the Most Rev Thomas Desouza, Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Calcutta, the Most Rev Sisir Sarkar, the Moderator of the Church of Bangladesh were present. The Rt. Rev Ashoke Biswas presided over the service and Rev Nigel Pope, Presbyter of St. Paul’s Cathedral profi- ciently conducted the service. The President of India, Mr. Pronab Mukherjee, accompanied by the Governor, Shri Ke- shri Nath Tripathi were also felicitated on the occasion. God had blessed the diocese of Calcutta exceeding abundantly more than we could ever ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20). St. Andrew’s Church and the Kolkata Scottish Heritage Trust meet in Scottish Cemetery A historic meeting of the Deacons’ Court took place with Dr. Neeta Das, Conservation Architect of the Kolkata Scottish Heritage Trust in the Scottish Cemetery on 19.9.15. Again on On 13.2.16 the elders of our church visited the Scottish Cemetery and took part in a community programme organized by the KSHT. Lord Charles Bruce, Chairman of the KSHT, Bashabi and Neil Fraser, the architects, and the team Banipur Sahayog took part with Mr. Norman and Mrs. Loreta Hall . The KSHT is reaching out to the children and mothers in the areas surrounding the Scottish Cemetery with projects like skilled training for art craft and basic awareness. According to Lord Charles Bruce , this is going to be one of the biggest projects on conservation in South Asia. Dr. Sauvik Mukherjee, professor of Presidency University is also doing research work in the cemetery. The wedding of Rishika Pradhan and Michael James took place on 11.1.16. A marriage ceremony in our church took place after eleven years. Rishika is the daughter of Mr. Neville Ashok and late Anuradha Pradhan. Anuradha who had an untimely death a few years ago was the daughter of Rev D.P. Das who was the presbyter of St. Andrew’s Church some time ago. At the beginning of the service a lamp was lit remembering Anuradha Pradhan and all the grandparents of the bride and the groom. World Anglo-Indian Day Service was celebrated in our church on 2.8.15. Dr. Gillian Hart encouraged all Anglo-Indians in her message. The Welland Gouldsmith Schools 145th Homes Birthday Service took place on 22.11.15 in their Patuli school with the theme of “Gratitude”, Mr. M.J.Pook and Rev A.Simick represented our church . The Dr Graham’s Homes Service of Thanksgiving was held on 20.12.15 in our church. This was attended by Gen John R. Mukherjee, the then President and Chairman of the Homes. Rev Henry Simon, the chaplain of the Homes preached. Thank you members of our staff: The Harvest Festival of SAC was celebrated on 1.11.15 in a service Mr. Chinatamani Behera, Mr. that was conducted by the Rev Dr. Sunil M. Caleb. The Women’s Abdul Nasir, Mr. Avadesh Gaur, Guild of our church participated in the worship and took the proceeds Mr. Sarat Mahala and Mr. Ajit to the Santi Nivash home for the aged near the Oxford Mission, Be- Mr. Abdul Nasir retired on hala. 31.3.16 and continues to serve Roof repairs of SAC. us. Mr. David John, Mr. M.J.Pook, Mr. A. Pasricha and Mr. C.J. Nyss are looking at the repair work. The St Andrew’s Church Picnic was held on 23.1.16 in Udayan. Ms. Sofia Ghani , daughter of late elder Mrs. Ghani attended our wor- ship on 14.2.16. She is working in Geneva. Thursday 1 pm worship continued throughout the year. Mr. P.C. Daniels , Principal of St. Thomas’ Church School, Howrah, along with his family members have been attending worship in our church. He also took part in the Easter Rally on 27.3.16 The Flower Service of the Dr. Graham’s Homes Kalimpong took place in our church on 8.5.15.