St Oswald's Church

Saturday 12th November 7.00pm - Hot Grub on a Cold Quiz Night
Still in the planning stage - there will be food (chilli/spuds/sausages - that kind of thing) and probably other stuff to - we'll let you know.

Saturday 26th November 11.00am - St Oswald's Christmas Fair
You don't need me to tell you - you know the drill.

Friday 2nd September 7.00pm - Fish & Chips Quiz Night
Sixteen contestants battled over 7 rounds of questions by quiz masters Fr Nick after scoffing fish & chips and raised £40 for the church.

Saturday 11th June 11.00am - St Oswald's Summer Fair
The Summer Fair raised just over £900 thanks to the stirling efforts of all concerned.

Friday 13th May - Choir and Cream Tea
A choir and cream teas - just like it says on the tin.

Saturday 19th June - Summer Fair
Bottles... blah, blah. Cakes... blah, blah. Barbecue... blah, blah. Let's face it, you know the drill (and if not, why not?). We set it up and people bought stuff and won stuff and generally had a good time, Thanks are due to the 5th/80th Scout Group who supplied the marquee and to Jan, whose bacon batches proved so popular that she ran out of bacon before we'd even opened! If you want to see the pictures click here

Sunday 13th December - Carol Service
Our annual Carol Service - what can I say? The resident Scout Group led us in some Carols, the COOL Kids acted out the Nativity story and there was a special guest. Actually there were two - the first was Charlie (a recurring annoyance at St Oswald's) and the second was Fr Mark Liddell (who had no intention of being upstaged by a puppet with big goggly eyes). For the fourth year in a row the first prize in the Grand Draw went to a member of the congrgation (who says going to church doesn't pay?). What else can I say? - Next year, no kids!

Summer Fair
Saturday 13th June - As always, a lovely sunny day (eventually). And there's really very little to say about it that I couldn't say every year. Bunting, burgers, bottles, books, cakes (that would have sounded better if it began with 'B' - maybe they served Battenburg). Lots of stalls, lots of games, lots of prizes and, at the end, lots of money. At the very end, a nasty head injury, but it seems that the steel bar came off worse than the Vicar's head. Thanks to all who attended, you gave us our most profitable Summer Fair yet. And if you missed it, come to the Christmas Fair; it's just the same, only without sunburn.

Pancake Saturday
Okay, it was a few days late. But on a chilly Saturday morning the same chef from the 2007 batter-fest was convinced to start tossing again. Pancakes were again free to all who could face them, and some managed to face more than others. First prize - had there been prizes - to Becca who saw off seven of the 123 surviving pancakes. Also, we can happily report that the smoke alarm in the kitchen works fine.

I seem to have lost my files of the 2008 event write-ups. If I find them again I'll get them posted, but it was usual highlights - Summer Fair, Confirmations, Harvest, Christmas Fair, Carol Service - and all went well. The high point of the year, though, was 14 (I counted) Baptisms on one Sunday morning!

Carol Service
Sunday December 9th - St Oswald's Carol Service and drama. The drama started well before the service. Firstly the realisation that some of the hymn numbers in the service sheet were wrong (isn't Tippex a wonderful thing?). Then, would we have the requisite number of wise men? We wound up with four - better safe than sorry (gold, frankincense, myhrr and a Playstation maybe?). Finally would the choir turn up? They did and a good thing too, or else we would have missed a haunting unaccompanied solo of the opening verse of 'Once in Royal David's City' by Victoria - if you missed it then come to Midnight Mass, you won't reget it.

The actors were recruited from the Scouts and the COOL Kids. We had a Mary and Joseph, Shepherds, Wise Men and a horde of argumentative Angels (it's okay, it was in the script) who provided far more cuteness than you'll see in church any other day of the year. The carols were sung with gusto and a great time was had by all.

After the service the guests crammed themselves into the hall where refreshments were served and the Grand Christmas Draw took place. The cries of "fix" were heard again as, for the second year running, first prize went to a member of St Oswald's choir.

Christmas Fair
Saturday December 1st - the annual Christmas Fair. Very similar to the Summer Fair, only indoors. Because it's cold outside. This event doesn't boast a burger barbecue (I'm glad I typed that and didn't have to say it), instead Julia tortured us all with the smell of bacon batches. The bottle game went down to the wire with the star prize bottle of brandy winding up in the vicarage after the final game.

Cakes of various kinds were snapped up along with jewellery, books, videos and all the usual bric-a-brac (actually the brics didn't sell very well). Julia provided a lovely Christmas cake for us to guess the weight of and now we know what happened to the lead off the chapel roof. This was all rounded off by some guy with a beard and a red suit, and a small horde of Spider-Men courtesy Victoria's face-painting.

Harvest
Sunday October 7th was our Harvest Festival. Sue and Patsy did an outstanding job on the flower displays and the church was filled with the donations of food from the local schools and the congregation. The morning service included a performance of the traditional play "Jack and the Beangoat" in which Jack is given five beans to trade for a loaf of bread, but instead meets a man from Farm Africa and swaps them for a goat.

The Harvest Evensong was followed by our Harvest Supper when Joan and her ladies laid out an excellent buffet upon which the guests descended like a flock of vultures (or possibly goats). After the meal Roger and Duane auctioned off numerous tins of beans (and a few other things) and we finally raised over £600 which will be donated to Farm Africa to provide goats for African families.

You can find out more about Farm Africa and the work they do here.

Confirmations
On Saturday 21st September the Rt Revd Colin Bennetts, Bishop of Coventry, lead a service of confirmation at Christ Church, Cheylesmore, Coventry, at which Brian Hitchcock, Victoria McNaney, Naomi Holborough, Michael Keenan, Liam Titman, and Susan Fellows were confirmed into the church of Christ. Hilda Northall, Joan Steptoe, Julia McNaney, Barbara Wilde and Doreen Watson renewed their confirmation vows. Please keep these people in your prayers.

Grateful thanks are due to the people of Christ Church for their hospitality, and for the excellent spread laid on after the service. (photos to follow soon)

Dedication Service
Sunday June 10th saw the culmination of the 50th Anniversary celebrations. The church was decked out in gold drapes and flowers (grateful thanks to Sue and Patsy). The service was lead by the Rt Revd John Stroyan, Bishop of Warwick.

In place of a sermon Fr Brian interviewed several people who had played a part in the history of the church: Mrs Hilda Northall who was on the planning committee; Vincent McHugh who was one of the builders of the church; Mrs Sheila Paul, wife of Revd Eric Paul our second vicar; and Mrs Doreen Watson, who was present at the opening.

The service was followed by lunch at Tile Hill Social Club where all of the guests were presented with a St Oswald's commemorative mug. Entertainment was provided by Fr Brian and a churchwarden who really ought to remain nameless.

Summer Fair
Activity started on the green at 7.00am with the construction of marquees, the stringing of bunting, the attaching of balloons, the laying out of tables and the replacing of burst balloons. By 11.00 all was in place and the Fair was opened by the Lord Mayor, Cllr Dave Batten, in the presence of assorted Teddy Boys.

We were also very pleased to welcome Revd Peter Bennett, the first vicar of St Oswald's, who came along to support our celebrations.

Under the blazing June sun the hordes of Tile Hill descended and had a great time. The Women's Evening Fellowship ran a cake stall which was soon cleared of everything edible (even the cake baked by the churchwarden was sold - perhaps someone needed a doorstop). The children's area in the hall was constantly busy (which kept the little angels out from under everyone else's feet) and Victoria McNaney had to send out for two extra cans of Dulux for the face-painting.

For three hours the residents of Tile Hill ate, drank and were, if not actually merry, at least enjoying themselves. Mike and Duane lured a constant stream of willing victims to try their hand at winning a bottle, Julia's Barbecue served up a small herd of Fresians and the ladies serving the refreshments decided it would be easier to work for Gordon Ramsey.

All this to the constant accompaniment of the barrel organ; punctuated only by Roger's running commentary, the kids setting off the siren in the police car and occaisional bang as another balloon left this mortal coil.

At 2.00 the tables were cleared, the marquees dismantalled, the tower de-bunted and the takings counted (smashed our previous best). So everyone who had worked so hard could sit back and relax. Until tomorrow...

Dedication Day Concert
June 6th marked the 50th anniversary of our dedication and to celebrate the occasion a concert was staged in the church. The concert started with the youngsters (aged 3 to 18) from the Mary Hulme Dance Academy facing a packed house and performing 13 excellent dance routines.

They were followed by the Peter Taylor Singers who performed a selection of old favourites and newer songs. This included a medley of war-time songs which involved unsuspecting members of the audience getting a microphone thrust in front of their faces (many of whom were in surprisingly fine voice).

The interval saw the audience tackle a buffet of wine and cheese (actually about half the Gross National Product of Holland and a significant part of the European Wine Lake) with fresh fruit, bread and biscuits. This was demolished with enthusiasm until the Peter Taylor Singers re-took the stage to finish out the night.

Kids Disco
Saturday 14th April saw our second Kids Disco. 24 kids aged 5-11 (and eight or ten bigger kids) enjoyed dancing, foam, bubbles, prizes, facepainting, Kids and adults limbo (congratulations, Mike) and loads of food. It was hard to tell if the youngsters or the (alleged) grown-ups enjoyed it more.

Pancake Party
On Shrove Tuesday this year we decided to serve free pancakes in the Church Hall to anyone who wanted one (or two)(or three). During the course of the afternoon around ninety pancakes were tossed and most of them survived to be served to our customers. Our youngest customer was 3 years old and our oldest was 93. The afternoon was enjoyed by everyone, although the chef was heard to say that if he never saw another pancake it would be too soon.

Carol Service
The Advent Carol Service at St Oswald's was again a standing room only event.

Beginning with the blessing of the tree, the service included an amusing dialogue between Fr Brian and our organist, Roger Cashmore, on the meaning of Christmas and the purpose of the church ("alright; but apart from holidays, hospitals and pubs what has the church done for us?").

There were also three excellent performances from the Mary Hulme Dance Academy which drew great applause (and a few raised eyebrows) from the crowd.

After the service wine and mince pies (lots of mince pies) were served in the Hall and the annual Grand Draw took place. First prize went to our own chorister Jim Woodhouse to the traditional cries of "Fix!"