Newsletter - May 2026
Alleluia! Christ is risen!! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!!
We’re now in the joyous season of Eastertide, so a very Happy Eastertide to all our readers!
Easter Sunday at St Philip’s was a wonderful occasion, with the church full of happy families, some who only come at Christmas and Easter, so it’s a special pleasure to welcome them. It’s traditional to welcome the news of the Resurrection with “a joyful noise” and this has become a particular feature here at St Philip’s. Over the years we have amassed a very impressive collection of handbells (pictured). Everyone is given a bell as they arrive, and then, throughout the service, every time the word “Alleluia” is spoken, sung or heard, the bells are rung. Our congregation was especially enthusiastic and diligent in following the instruction and the sound was wonderful! It was lovely to see so many happy faces.
We also had lots of smiles in our service on April 26th, another St Philip’s tradition: “Hymn Sunday”. In the weeks leading up to the service, the congregation were asked to vote for their top 3 hymns, and then we counted down and sang the St Philip’s Top Ten throughout the service (normally we have 5 hymns each Sunday). For those of you wondering, there top five were: 5 – I, the Lord of sea and sky; 4 – Be still, for the presence of the Lord; 3 – Abide with me; 2 – Love divine, all loves excelling; and at number 1 – Amazing Grace. It was my first Hymn Sunday here at St Philip’s and was so successful we’ve decided to make it an annual feature in our diary. Huge thanks to our Organist (and Churchwarden), Annie Hilder, for all the work that went into making it happen.
Finally we are delighted to share the wonderful news that after a long and very quiet five months, our church bell is finally back in action! We had feared, given the height of the hatch leading to the top of the bell rope, that the repair would be very complicated & expensive (perhaps necessitating internal scaffolding), but the solution lay under our nose all the time – in the shape of St Philip’s family member, Phil Dilworth. Aided by Churchwarden David Collett, Phil brought his extremely long extendable ladder along to church last Wednesday morning and managed to attach a new rope! It’s terrific timing that the bell will be able to ring for the first time this Sunday, when we’ll be celebrating the Feast of St Philip, our Patron Saint. Listen out to hear it rung not only before the service begins, but also during the service . . . We will also be singing (and ringing) Phil’s praises. We hope that all who live on and near Nutley Lane will be as excited as we are to hear it again after all this time.
