Dear Friends,

As this edition of the Village News comes out before Christmas it still isn't too late for you to get your tickets to our Young People's Pantomime.  This year it is `Cinderella`, with performances in the School at 3 pm and 7 pm on Friday 2^nd and Saturday 3^rd January.  Tickets are available from the Rectory - also from Sarah Goodship (702613), Gill Ellis (702250), Helen Page (702899), Rachel Dunnage (702242) & Peter Muir (702360) at £4 each, children £2.  See you there, I hope !

By the time the new year actually appears - and Christmas is put back in the loft, or wherever you keep it - we shall all be wondering what on earth 2009 might bring.  The signs (at least in the financial heavens) are not good.  But perhaps, just perhaps, the long-term effects of heading into uncharted waters may be to encourage us to become once again more reliant on one another, and less reliant on what our money can buy ?  In Elstead we are remarkably fortunate (compared to other villages) in the range of activities for both old and young that is available, but virtually all of them are reliant upon volunteers to keep going, and we have got all too used to imagining that there will always be other people who will be those volunteers.  Perhaps a few more of us might consider getting involved in community activities (and not just as 'consumers').

At St. James, we are looking to introduce a whole new Pastoral Care scheme for our 'Church Family'.  Again, we are virtually all volunteers, and we shall need more...  but the needs of young and old for human contact, for offers and expressions of care and concern, will only grow - so we are looking to improve and expand how we can do that.  It will take a lot of people to make it work - not a lot of work, but a lot of people.  More details later, when the PCC has approved the scheme, but please pray for the right answers and for sufficient volunteers.

The PCC has already approved a scheme of a different sort - to improve the accessibility of our church building.  At present, when you approach the church you walk up to two heavy oak doors - only one of which normally opens -  and a surprising number of people have real difficulty opening them.  Quite a few simply find them intimidating (much to the bafflement of the regulars, for whom it is like 'coming home'!).  Unassisted wheelchair access is impossible, even though there is only one, very shallow, step.

So a plan has been drawn up to improve every aspect of our church's accessibility.  The oak doors will be re-hung to open outwards, and left open during the day, and one new glass door will open smoothly inwards, with a small ramp replacing the small step.  This will be not only much easier to open physically, but also far more welcoming visually. Those approaching the church will be able to see what they are coming to (and of course at service times the interior will be lit and the light will be welcoming) and those waiting inside to greet them will be able to see them coming and open a decent-sized door to welcome them.

The plans will be on display in the New Year - do come and take a look.  The door may not be open, but it really shouldn't be locked !

Happy New Year !