Thoughts from The Vicarage with blessing of bags, flu & news of Mr Vicarage
Greetings on a beautiful sunny morning as the children and young people of the Valley return to school. This prayer is from The Archbishop of York. On Sunday, September 10th at 9am at All Saints there will be a blessing of bags within our usual Sunday service. All welcome – with any of your bags!
Thank you all those who have been asking after Mr Vicarage and have held him in prayer. He is recovering from his operation, despite giving us a scare at one point! All went well and he has been provided with more metal in his knee, screws this time to keep him going along with a leg brace to keep his leg in position. His recovery will include a long period when his mobility will be impaired and of course he is going to have to learn to walk again! All in all – it will probably be about 3 months until he will be striding about and maybe even bell ringing!
Dates for Your Diary
- Saturday September 9th Ride and Stride throughout the Valley
- Saturday September 9th am Gift Day St James Eastbury
- Thursday September 14th 1.10pm Organ recital by Stephen Holmes St Nicolas Church Newbury
- Saturday September 30th am Gift Day St Michael & All Angels
- Wednesday November 29th Confirmation service with Bishop Olivia St Michael & All Angels
A drastic change of subject now with an important message about flu and covid vaccinations from Alan Breadmore, Chair of the Lambourn Surgery Patient Participation Group.
It has been a long time coming but the NHS England policy on Flu and Covid booster vaccinations is starting to become clear. The eligibility this year for both is similar, i.e. Over 65s and those considered vulnerable plus carers of the same.
The surgery has now advised me that they will now be giving Covid vaccines to housebound patients and at the pre-booked Flu vaccine clinics. If a patient has booked an appointment at a Flu clinic they will be offered a Covid vaccine at the same time. There is no need to book, and they do not need to let the surgery know that they would like one. National call and recall letters will be sent out by NHS England over the next couple of weeks.
As long as a patient has booked a Flu clinic appointment with the surgery, they will be offered Covid as well. If they would prefer to have the Covid separately they can either attend both clinics and have one at each, or book the other jab at a National Booking Service (NBS) site. I understand that the NBS will probably open later this week.
Graham Jones (Lambourn Pharmacy) has advised that he hopes to be offering appointments for both vaccines from the middle of September and that appointments should be made via the NBS.
Finally, a suggestion, look at the three readings for this week and if you explore them you’ll find that Ezekiel’s vision, Paul’s letter and Matthew’s gospel reflect upon how we resolve upsets, arguments and even conflict through love. Henri Nouwen, the theologian wrote of a simple ritual within his nightly prayers. He writes how each night he would ask himself the question ‘Did I love well today?’ Like a thread running through our readings for Sunday it’s a simple question for reflection. . .
God bless
Julie