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St Lawrence Church, Eastcote
The people of Eastcote are the treasure of God's church
News
A round up of what's been going on - if you have something you would like included, please email
comms@stlawrenceeastcote.org.uk with pictures and a few words.
Regular News
Lunch Club
Thirty-five members of the Lunch Club met together in January 2025 to enjoy a very tasty meal. The first course consisted of sausages, creamy mashed potato, onions and baked beans. To follow we were served a delicious dessert of pear and ginger sponge with custard. Over tea and coffee we were able to check our answers to this month’s quiz, testing our knowledge of the counties in which various towns are located.
At our meeting in November we were served a delicious meal of cottage pie with peas, or cabbage, followed by apple crumble with either custard, or cream. Next came tea, or coffee, and chocolate mints, which we enjoyed as we worked on solving the latest quiz. Our thanks go to Elaine and her busy team of helpers and to Terry for his quiz.
Film Club
There were a few issues in choosing the film for the December 2024 meeting of the Film Club, because the two films in contention didn't seem to be available with subtitles (which are needed for some of our members). In the end, a compromise was made, and the chosen film was The Last Bus, which stars Timothy Spall. The film follows his character on an incredible journey from one end of the United Kingdom to the other by bus. The film is a little melancholy, but also quite inspirational.
Other News
2025 Parish Supper and Fundraising Quiz
On Saturday 8th March 2025, the 36th Annual Parish Supper & Fundraising Quiz was held in our church hall. This enjoyable evening raised £339 for Church funds. Thank you to Katie, Robert and Christopher for an entertaining quiz, and to Elaine who arranged the evening and ran the catering.
2025 St Lawrence Church, Eastcote, choir fundraising for Crisis at The Ascott
On Saturday 14th December 2024, the St Lawrence Church, Eastcote, Choir, and friends, led the singing of carols and fun Christmas songs at The Ascott public house in Eastcote. They raised a total of £110 for the charity Crisis, the national charity for people experiencing homelessness.
2024 Christmas Wreath Making Workshop
On the evening of Sunday 1st December 2024, the popular St Lawrence Church, Eastcote, Christmas Wreath Workshop took place. This event was well attended & raised over £500.
Scouts climb high
Members of 4th Eastcote Scout Group enjoyed a session of clip and climb in October 2024. See our Uniformed organisations, or 4th Eastcote Scout Group Facebook page for more information.
Fundraising for Christian Aid Week 2024 (12th to 18th May)
Thanks to all who donated to the 2024 St Lawrence Church, Eastcote collection for Christian Aid.
A total of £1066.20 was given. This included a generous £873.70, plus Gift Aid of £192.50.
Thanks to all who gave their time to take part in the Churches Together in Eastcote (CTE) street bucket collection for Christian Aid on Saturday 18th May 2024. Passers by donated £205.08!
In addition, thanks to all who supported Christian Aid week with their thoughts and prayers.
The money sent to Christian Aid could be used to help people access the skills and knowledge they need to push back against the inhumanity of poverty, such as those in Burundi that were highlighted in the campaign this year.
Remembrance Sunday 2023
Thanks to all who donated to the 2024 St Lawrence Church, Eastcote collection for the Royal British Legion's Poppy appeal. A total of £134.54 was raised to support the Royal British Legion Poppy appeal.
More information about the Royal British Legion Poppy appeal can be found on their website.
On Sunday 12th November 2023, crowds of people, including those from uniformed organisations gathered to remember the sacrifices that have and continue to be made by members of the Armed forces in order to protect our freedom. Wreaths were laid and Reverend John Seymour led a service of Remembrance, including the traditional 2 minutes silence.
90th Anniversary celebrations
St Lawrence Church, Eastcote, was dedicated on 21st October 1933.
St Lawrence Church, Eastcote, 90th Anniversary was celebrated as follows:
Saturday 21 October 2023:
.2pm - Eucharist at St Martin's Ruislip followed by a pilgrimage walk from St Martin's to St Lawrence Church.
4pm - Choral Evensong with sermon by The Revd Dr Robert Chapman, followed by tea and cake
Sunday 22 October 2023:
Celebratory refreshments followed 10am worship.
St Lawrence Church, Eastcote, 2023 Harvest Festival
On the 1st October 2023 St Lawrence Church, Eastcote, held its 2023 Harvest Festival service, which included some of our uniformed organisations. This was followed by time together as a community sharing in the Harvest Lunch. Thank you for all the generous donations given.
Churches Together in Eastcote (CTE) anniversary celebration
On the 2nd July 2023 Churches Together in Eastcote (CTE) celebrated 30 years of friendship and collaboration among the churches in Eastcote. We had an afternoon service, Annual General Meeting (AGM) and tea in the lovely garden behind St Lawrence Church, Eastcote. were delighted to welcome people who have been involved with CTE over the decades. We are so grateful to everyone who has supported us over the last 30 years and we now look forward to continuing our work together.
Poem from 2023 CTE AGM
Churches Together is 30 years old
Created in June 93
A closer relationship for our churches
Oh what a joy that could be
Setting it up wasn’t easy
There was a little dissent
But after much consultation
All 5 churches gave their consent
So much has happened over the years
Joint worship, socials and more
A wreath each year at Remembrance
And a teddy who went door to door
A great success was a pirate play
And musical evenings with those in a band
Committee members came and went
When we could find someone to stand
Joint Lent groups are an annual eventMany leading or taking partPreparing for Easter the ecumenical wayReally does open your heart
A sad development in recent years
Unfortunately, 5 became 3
The URC is with us no longer
And we’ll miss their company
The committee felt we should honour
This special anniversary
Go visit the orchard of Eastcote House
And you’ll see our cherry tree
We meet one another, and friendship expands
As eye catches eye, and hands welcome hands.
The touch of good fellowship warms all our hearts
Because the whole is greater than the sum of the parts
Over the 30 years of CTE
We asked God our efforts to bless
We’re working together, we’ve made many new friends
That must be a good way to measure success
If you would like to know more about CTE, please visit their website:
2023 St Lawrence Church, Eastcote, Summer Fair
The 2023 St Lawrence Church, Eastcote, Summer Fair took place on 1st July 2023. It was a lovely occasion with a great atmosphere.
Thank you to everyone who helped and attended, in particular Liz Chandler who took the lead in organising it. Special thanks also go to Sally Leszczynski and Sian Rhodes, who organised the Silent Auction, which raised a total of £916.61! Thanks also to Sara Westby, who donated a large amount of toys from her employer Hasbro, & the therapists, businesses and church members who donated their services.
The 2023 St Lawrence Church, Eastcote, Summer Fair raised a total of £2,232.19! This money will be used towards the cost of the renewal of our church building.
Flower Festival celebrating the renewal of our church building
Many thanks to all who helped with, exhibited and visited the very successful Flower Festival on Friday 23rd, Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th June, 2023 including the Evensong on the Sunday afternoon.
The displays all looked wonderful, despite the hot weather and the standard was very high.
The joint winners were No. 5 'The Cross' created by Claudia Ciornei, assisted by Linda Garwood, on behalf of Ruislip Baptist Church and No.9 'Watermelons' by our very own Poppy Owusu.
It was great to welcome so many people from our local community into our newly renovated church and meet & chat with them, as they enjoyed the tasty refreshments.
Joint winning entry No.9 'Watermelons' by Poppy Owusu.
Joint winning entry No. 5 'The Cross' created by Claudia Ciornei, assisted by Linda Garwood, on behalf of Ruislip Baptist Church.
Blessing of church works & re-dedication
On Saturday 13th May 2023, we were delighted that the Rt Revd Lusa Nsenga-Ngoy, Bishop of Willesden, was able to join us to lead a service of blessing and rededication of our church building following the completion of our ambitious renovation project. We were also very pleased to welcome the newly-elected Mayor of Hillingdon, on what was only his first day of official engagements, along with other community leaders.
(C) Jon Wyand
(C) Jon Wyand
(C) Jon Wyand
This special service marked the end of a 7-month £500,000 programme of work which saw the installation of new heating and electrical infrastructure, modern lighting that shows off the interior features, and new audio-visual equipment.
We are enormously grateful to Fr. John Seymour for his hard work and commitment, alongside the Parochial Church Council (PCC) and others, in overseeing this very ambitious project, and for his encouragement to focus on our vision, which sees “the people of Eastcote as the treasure of God”. Our renewed building means we can begin to realise our commitment to extend our community engagement and service.
For further information, you can read the full article about our service of blessing and rededication as published on the Diocese of London website.
(C) Jon Wyand
Fundraising for Christian Aid Week 2023
Coronation Afternoon Tea
A lovely afternoon was spent on Sunday 7th May celebrating the coronation of King Charles III at our Coronation Afternoon tea. We were able to have this event outside sharing time and memories together.
Candlemas
Lanterns were created at the Family Celebration on Saturday 28/01/2023, celebrating Jesus as the Light of the world through Candlemas.
Grand re-opening of The Ascott, Eastcote
Our choir singing at the grand re-opening of The Ascott in Eastcote on Friday 9th December 2022.
2022 Christmas Wreath Workshop
The Christmas Wreath Workshop was attended by 25 people on 6th December 2022. Wreaths were made and funds were raised!
Thanks to all who attended.
2022 Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child collection
Many thanks to everyone who donated boxes. Off they go to spread a little happiness!
For more information visit: https://www.samaritans-purse.org.uk/
Confirmation
Bishop Lusa confirmed seven candidates on Sunday 27th November 2022.
Congratulations to all of them!
Tuesday Cubs
Investing 6 new members to their pack
Harvest Festival 2022
The Service was followed by lunch in the Church Hall. Good food and good company.
Our annual Harvest Festival Service took place on Sunday 2nd October 2022. We collected food gifts to pass on to the Hillingdon Food Bank.
Platinum Anniversary
Congratulations to Beryl and Alan Braithwaite who have celebrated their 70th Wedding Anniversary.
They renewed their vows in church and then hosted a gathering of family and friends, sharing a beautiful cake made by Barbara Plummer and a glass or two of prosecco!
Quiz Night
Our latest outing to the Quiz Night at The Ascott Pub. Great fun, a good mix of people...but no win! Better luck next time.
2022 First Communion Group
Six young people have just completed preparation for their first Communion. They enjoyed the regular sessions, some of which were attended by their parents and a group of older people within our congregation to discuss the significance of receiving Communion. They wrote prayers, which will appear in church soon, and undertook some intriguing activities with a parachute!
4th Eastcote Scouts
Family Camp Weekend
July 2022
Eastcote House Gardens Jubilee Picnic
Many thanks to all who helped on St Lawrence Church, Eastcote’s games stall on 4th June 2022 and to everyone who came to support us. The whole event was a huge success, the sun shone (eventually) and much fun was had by all who took part. We raised £75 in voluntary donations: this was divided between St Lawrence Church, Eastcote and the Friends of Eastcote House Gardens. The organisers send their grateful thanks for our gift to them.
Bike Safety for the Cubs
400
years old!
Tuesday Cubs hugging the oldest tree in Eastcote - St Lawrence Drive
2022 May Fair
Our very successful May Fair took place on Monday 2nd May, with lots of visitors enjoying a great selection of stalls including plants, books, nail painting, home made cakes and lots more. Refreshments included the ever popular BBQ, organised by the scouts and entertainment was provided by the Bishop Ramsey Jazz Band. A fun day resulted in a profit of approximately £6,000, so well done to the organisation group and thanks to all our visitors.
