St Andrew's, Dearnley

Duke's Road previous visit St Andrew's, Dearnley

St Andrew's big social event is on Saturday, October 15, when the Wigan-based band 'Dukes Road' will be in Church to present an evening of Retro music, mainly from the 60s and 70s.

This will be the band's fourth visit to St Andrew's in the last five years and we are both grateful and appreciative of their willingness to travel from Wigan to entertain us and to enable us to raise money for church funds.

The five-piece band comprises of Keith Claxton (drummer), Mike Nash (lead guitar), Jamie Harrison (lead vocal and bass player), Mike Conley (vocals and acoustic guitar) and Tony Bostock (guitar, keyboard and vocals).

Mike Nash and Mike Conley will be making their first visits to Dearnley.

The band is charity-based with sponsorship which enables it to work on the principle that every penny raised on the night will go to church funds.

We will have a pay bar open on the night and tickets priced £6, including supper, are available in Church from Ada or Janice or you can ring Ada on 01706 536143.

We have a Holy Matrimony at 5.00pm this Saturday, 1 October, while on Sunday after the usual 9.30am Sung Eucharist, we have Holy Baptisms at 11.30am and 12.30pm and a Marriage Blessing at 1.30pm, a busy day indeed.

Talking of Baptisms, our curate Mike has revealed in an article in our parish magazine that by the time the year ends there will have been more than 50 at St Andrew's in 2016.

It follows, he writes, that these Baptisms will have encouraged an extra 2,000 people to come into Church to attend a service during the year, given that the average number attending christenings these days is between 40 and 50.

Mike goes on: "Christenings are an important part of this church's ministry in the community. God is bringing these families and their friends into church in large numbers nearly every week and they are mostly in a mood to listen."

Regular worshippers who wish to become "baptism buddies", a role which allows them to help families to feel welcome and comfortable when they come into church, is asked to talk to Mike or to existing "buddies" Cynthia, Edna and Christine (Longhurst).

The Mothers Union have an open meeting on Monday 3 October in the parish room, starting at 7.00pm.