Church celebrates 150 years
St Cuthbert’s Parish Church has been at the centre of the town for 150 years. This year, the hope was to have a year of celebration events leading up to Sunday 18 October when a big celebration would mark the actual day 150 years ago when Amble finally got its own Parish Church. Of course, none of this happened.
The congregation were able to celebrate the day at a socially distant service in the company of Christine Hardman, Bishop of Newcastle. Bishop Christine blessed the new font, part of the refurbishment of the back of the church, which includes a kitchen/ servery and a toilet. The church has also had a replacement boiler for the heating system which assures you of a warm welcome when you can return!
At the time of writing the church building is closed again for everything except funerals, but hoping to open again for public worship on Sunday 6 December, depending on Government guidelines.
But the building being closed is not the church being closed. The members of the church are active in the community, many being involved in support in various areas of community life. The church is still praying. Prayers are offered for individuals, local and national situations, and your prayer requests are welcome. Each morning a prayer is posted on the Church Facebook page, Instagram accounts and on the web page. These are designed and written by the St Cuthbert’s team.
St Cuthberts Church, Amble
Since March the team has also been producing an online service. These have proved very popular and produce positive feedback. Parts of the service have come from various venues in the town as well as the Church building. The town square, gardens, the beach huts and allotments have all featured as venues for worship. They can be seen on the Church YouTube channel.
“It has been a lifeline for me during lock down” said one person who contacted the church. A Zoom Christingle is planned for Christmas Eve and booking is now open.
St Cuthbert’s is looking forward to the next 150 years of being “The Parish Church for Amble”. Details of services and contacts can be found online: www.stcuthbertsonline.com
