Main Hall  19m x 10m (excluding stage).  Various seating plans can be accommodated e.g theatre, cabaret, rectangle.  Capacity (up to 200 people) is limited by seating arrangements.

Stage (main hall) 8.5m x 4.5m

Small Hall 11m x 8.5m Various seating plans can be accommodated e.g theatre, cabaret, rectangle. Capacity is limited by seating layout.

Committee Room 10m x 4.5m Suitable for small group meetings or as dressing rooms when hiring the main hall and stage. Capacity 20 people (boardroom layout). There are serving hatches from the kitchen.

Kitchen 5m x 2.5m

For full details, please contact the Hall’s Manager on 020 8804 7721

7.30 for 8.00pm start

Nibbles + Licenced Bar + raffle

Tables of 8 at £8.00 per person

To order tickets, phone  020 8886 6260  or 020 8882 1433

or e-mail  parishoffice.stjohnspg@london.anglican.org

In the November magazine Roger wrote about change and Fr John’s departure. By the time you read this we will have finished interviewing for a new vicar and we will be looking forward to a new era in the life of St John’s. Your support and prayers have been invaluable during the interregnum period and I know you will continue to support and pray for our new incumbent as we prepare for their arrival.

Christmas is always a busy time, but how lovely it was to see our church full of people at all of our services and our parish centre full after Nine Lessons and Carols. Thank you to everyone who made this possible

Personally, I would like to thank everyone who supported ‘Crisis’ through our Christmas card scheme. We raised over £200 which I believe is a record. I spent 6 nights working at the Rough Sleepers Centre in East London. We looked after 389 guests this year, 100 more than in 2010. Overall 3200 homeless people were catered for in Crisis’ 9 centres. This was a 7% increase on last year.

Many of you have already commented on the display boards that I have re-vamped at the back of church. We hope to use these to display photographs, work from the Sunday school children and notices about parish activities. The PCC are continually looking at ways to improve communication within the parish. So please take time to see what’s there over the next few months.

2012 will see us welcome our 11th vicar to St John the Evangelist. Please keep them and our parish family in your thoughts and prayers. 

With best wishes to all at St John’s. 

Kathy Lawrence

Winchmore Hill Methodist Church, 8pm on the following dates.

28th Feb

6th, 13th, 20th and 27th March

Do you read your bible on your mobile phone?

You don’t have to own a mobile phone or a computer, or even know what they do.

All are welcome

‘God is light and in him there is no darkness at all.’

Words from the 1st Chapter of the First Letter of John.  St John’s Day Sermon – edited version

Traditionally the “New Year” brings to mind resolutions for improving ones lifestyle or behaviour. Realistically many aspirations fall by the wayside, some resolutions are only talked about and not implemented, others may be made, but with the comforting thought that they won’t last long. Regrettably few achieve permanent results.

What if we were able to make resolutions for others rather than just ourselves? How much easier it would be to see their problems and faults than our own. But, and it’s a big but, there could well to be some insurmountable difficulties in implementing the changes that you believe to be needed. Just for a start, imagine explaining to your friends just what it is that you think they need to change or do to make them or their lifestyle more acceptable to you.  Then if that doesn’t cause you to pause, think about the reactions you might get when you go on to suggest suitable resolutions for their betterment!

Probably the traditional approach is better after all! 

A Christian approach to resolutions might be found in a quotation from the American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971).

 “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

This is thought provoking, particularly when you apply it to putting your own house in order. It leads me to a suggestion that a resolution to be more tolerant of what we believe to be the faults in others could be the start of a very good New Year for each one of us.

 A Happy  New Year to all at St Johns.

                         Roger Gardner

This time last year I was excited and apprehensive about spending part of my Christmas working for Crisis in their Rough Sleepers Centre. This year I am just excited. We have secured the same building in East London and we will be opening our doors on December 23^rd for 300 of the most vulnerable rough sleepers in London. We are hoping that this year the weather will be kind to us and that the snow will stay away, at least for that week.  

Crisis at Christmas is reaching its 40^th year. Whilst we should celebrate the dedication of the many tens of thousands of volunteers who have made this possible, it is a scandal that we are still needed at all. In 21^st century Britain, it cannot be right that some people are left with no option but to sleep rough, but Crisis at Christmas still exists 40 years on, in fact, we are busier than ever, as homelessness begins to rise again.  

Crisis has achieved much in the past four decades to persuade successive governments and other agencies to tackle homelessness. With the recession, unemployment and rising living costs, homelessness is already rising, and this is before cuts to benefits, support services and housing really start to bite. We must not turn the clock back; no one wants to see a return to the days of cardboard cities in our town centres and underpasses.  

During the year Crisis offers support and advice to the homeless. They have accredited education, training and employment centres which offer practical and creative workshops along with formal learning opportunities that lead to qualifications and finding work. They have health days which offer free health checks and first aid training and of course they support and help people to find accommodation that they can call ‘home’ once again.  

So my four12hour night shifts are booked, including Christmas night, I expect like last year I will do more than four nights. I am looking forward to meeting up with my fellow volunteers and making new friends. I would like to think that many of last year’s ‘guests’ will not be returning this year, some will be celebrating Christmas in their new ‘home’. Unfortunately most will be returning and empty places will be filled with new homeless people.  

So Christmas for me will be divided between my immediate family and my rather large extended Crisis family.  

St John’s will be supporting Crisis again this year. For those of you who don’t know, the idea is that you send one Christmas card to your friends at church and the money you have saved is put in the donation box for Crisis at the back of church. Cards can be pinned up on the notice boards.  

Over 2000 years ago an innkeeper opened up his stable for a family in need. Crisis will be opening its doors again for the 40^th time this Christmas.  

I wish you and your families far and near, a very happy and holy Christmas and a joyous and successful 2012.  

Kathy Lawrence (Churchwarden)