News from the diocese

HM The Queen to visit Lancashire for Maundy Service

You will be delighted to hear the news, announced today, that HM The Queen and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh will be visiting the region on April 17 for Maundy Thursday to distribute Maundy money at Blackburn Cathedral. This is the first time Her Majesty has visited Lancashire for The Royal Maundy. You can read more about the announcement on the Cathedral and Diocese websites. You can also follow the Cathedral Twitter feed. The national Church of England Communications Team has also worked with us to promote it on their news and twitter feeds. See the CofE homepage.

Arrangements for Chrism Eucharists

As the Royal Maundy will take place in Blackburn Cathedral, the arrangements for the Chrism Eucharists will be a little different this year.

The Diocesan Chrism Eucharist will be held in the Cathedral on Tuesday of Holy Week (15 April) at 11am.

The ‘Traditional’ Chrism Eucharist at which Bishop John will preside will be held on Monday of Holy Week (14 April) at 11am – venue TBC.

Summer Festival meeting

As you will be aware Bishop Julian has issued an invitation to the Diocese Summer Festival which takes place on June 21 and 22 at Arnold KEQM School in Lytham. A lot of work has to be done before then however.

So Archdeacon John Hawley and Bishop Geoff Pearson and their event teams will share the vision and how every parish can be involved in this mega event at a planning meeting to take place at St Cuthberts Church, Fulwood, Preston on Thursday February 27. Please make every effort to send a representative to this event, which starts at 7.30 pm. For a location map for St Cuthbert’s click this link.

World War One commemorations

This year is the centenary of the start of WW1 and we have received an information pack from the organisers of the national events which is attached to this email and is aimed specifically at parishes. It contains links to key background information and other important data such as how to apply for Heritage Lottery Grants. Meanwhile, for those of you based in the area around Burnley, the local council there is appealing for quirky or interesting stories passed down from relatives who lived through WW1 as part of a commemoration event. Contact Mike Townend on mtownend@burnley.gov.ukor call on 01282 477130 if you think you can help.

Respected professor speaks at Cathedral

Respected Professor Mona Siddiqui OBE will be speaking at Blackburn Cathedral on January 30 on the topic ‘Christians, Muslims and Jesus’. See the enclosed flyer for more information and feel free to display it in your church.

Online edition of The See

A new special edition of ‘The See’ – the magazine produced by Blackburn Diocese (The Church of England in Lancashire) for parishes across the county – is now out. This new online edition contains a review of 2013. The next regular printed edition for February should be with you now, or will be shortly.

YouTube

Finally, if you haven’t already done so, take a look at the Diocese YouTube channel and browse the increasing number of videos available, including Bishop Julian’s recent New Year Message. Before you leave be sure to subscribe to the channel to receive notification of when a new video is uploaded.

Best regards

Ronnie

Ronnie Semley Dip. CIPR; MCIPR

Communications Manager

Blackburn Diocese: The Church of England in Lancashire

Email: ronnie.semley@blackburn.anglican.org

Call: 01254 50 34 16

Web: www.blackburn.anglican.org

Office: First floor office 9,

Church House, Cathedral Close,

Blackburn, BB1 5AA http://goo.gl/maps/o3jWZ