St Helens Church, High Street, Wheathampstead, St Albans, AL4 8AA. Worship Times: 10am every Sunday

12-Dec Email with Livestream Link
 

In this email:
  • Sunday’s Services
  • Advent and Christmas Listings
  • Gingerbread Stars Giveaway
  • Christmas Jumper Sunday
  • Carol Singers needed
  • Christmas Lunch on Jesus
  • Community Christmas Messages
  • Praying through the Vacancy

DIARY  CHANGES DURING THE CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS
20th December 2025 – 4th January 2026

  • Coffee in the Chancel – last weekday session for 2025 is Tuesday 16th December. Reopens on Monday 5th January, 9.30–11.30AM. Saturday opening hours remain unchanged –   the café will be open on 20th and 27th December, 10–11.30AM.
  • ‘The Ark’ Parent-and-Toddler group – last session on Wednesday 17th December. Sessions resume on Wednesday 7th January at 9.30AM, St Helen’s Church.

 

 

 
 

SUNDAY’S SERVICES

 

 
 

Join us in St Helen’s Church at 10am for our Parish Communion Service. We welcome Archdeacon Charles who will preside and preach.

Before ordination, Charles worked for eight years as a commercial lawyer in London. He was ordained in 2008 at St Paul’s Cathedral and served his curacy at All Souls, St Margarets near Twickenham, before moving to Broxbourne, where he has been involved in launching new worshipping communities, as well as working with local schools, children and families. In 2023, he was licenced as the new Archdeacon of St Albans

If you can’t join us in church, please join us online. Click here or on the image above for the YouTube link..

 

All are welcome at this Reflective Carol Service at St Peter’s. A service with gentle music, peaceful candlelight and silence for contemplation

 

 
Gingerbread Stars

We have a tradition of visiting all the businesses in the High Street and offering best wishes for Christmas in the form of a gingerbread star. We would like to do this again on Tuesday 23rd December.

We need people to make gingerbread stars please! We also then need people to visit and give away the biscuits! It is a lovely thing to do! So if you are free to help at 10am on the 23rd for about an hour please let Hilary (07712791625) know.
Christmas Jumper Sunday – 21st Dec

Get ready to show off your most festive Christmas wear at our 10am Sunday Service next week! “Christmas Jumper Sunday” is Sunday 21st December. Prizes for the best jumpers!

 
CAROL SINGERS NEEDED!

Do you have half an hour to spare on Tuesday 16th December at 3pm?

JIll Bareham is looking for volunteers to sing some carols to the residents of MacIntyre Home. If you are able to help spread some Christmas joy, please contact Jill at 07977 445 473
Christmas Lunch on Jesus 2025 is now go! We have 20 hampers that have been requested. So we now need 10-20 volunteers to deliver 1 or 2 Christmas lunch hamper boxes on Sat 20th December, probably from late morning. The hampers will be in church to be picked up – they are heavy so volunteers will need a car.  This is a wonderful way to spread a little Christmas joy around our local community. Please contact Helen Caldwell on 07974 762997 or helen_caldwell2000@yahoo.co.uk if you would like to be part of this. Thank you x
In the UK, we send enough Christmas cards that if we placed them alongside each other, they’d cover the world’s circumference 500 times. As an eco-church, St Helen’s aims to save trees by offering a central point where congregation members can send one Christmas card to everyone else. All are welcome to add a Christmas message to friends and family to the noticeboard in the chancel.
The church is in use on Thursday 18th December
so prayer meeting will be via Zoom only

ZOOM LINK: https://tinyurl.com/ymrfkfx9

To download a prayer booklet, please click here.

 

Vacancy Prayer Themes for 18th December
  1. Please pray that the church remains forward focusing, that current projects and outreach receive support especially for families and children.
  2. Please pray for the leaders of our Sunday morning worship and all those who hold meetings. May God bless us with quality and continuity so that the church feels fed and supported.
  3. Please pray for the Pastoral care in the church. That people feel connected and cared for. Pray for the building of new relationships and friendships at this time.
  4. Please pray for the Welcome team and any new people or visitors to the church. We want people to feel welcomed and to come back.
The usual Morning Prayer sessions will continue to run in church (Monday and Tuesday) and on Zoom (Monday – Wednesday). No sessions on Christmas and New Year’s Day. We reconvene on 8th January!
Snowdrop Garden Open Days — Possibly for the Last Time —
in Support of the Beds & Herts Historic Churches Trust
We are pleased to share that the Bishop of St Albans’ Garden will open to visitors in February 2026, offering a much-loved chance to enjoy God’s creation in its early spring beauty. Next year’s openings may be the last time the garden is made accessible to the public, making the occasion especially meaningful.

Thousands of snowdrops and other early bulbs will be in bloom, creating a peaceful, uplifting place to wander and reflect. All proceeds will go directly to the Beds and Herts Historic Churches Trust, which helps fund essential repairs to historic churches across Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire.

Open Garden Dates
Abbey Gate House, Abbey Mill Lane, St Albans AL3 4HD
• Saturday 14 February
• Sunday 15 February
• Saturday 21 February
• Sunday 22 February
Time: 2pm–4pm

Entry: £5 per adult (all proceeds to the Trust)

All are warmly invited to visit the garden—perhaps for the final time as we are not sure if the new Bishop will continue to allow the garden to be opened to the public —enjoy its seasonal beauty and support the preservation of our cherished church buildings.
 

If you have a concern about someone else or yourself:
please call 07870748773 or e mail Christine.anstice@yahoo.co.uk

 

 

 
 

Events and Activities this week (at St. Helen’s Church unless otherwise indicated).
Please ask if you need further details

 

 
 

Monday 15th December
9.30am – 11.30am Coffee in the Chancel
7.30pm – 9.15pm Bellringing Practice

Tuesday 16th December9.30am – 11.30am Coffee in the Chancel

Wednesday 17th December
9.30am – 11.00am The Ark Parent-and-Toddler Group

Thursday 18th December
9.15am – 10.30am St Helens School Christmas Service
4.00pm – 5.00pm Year 7 Christmas Donuts

 

 

Friday 19th December

Saturday 20th December
9.15am – 10.00am Celtic Morning Prayer
10.00am – 11.30am Coffee in the Chancel

Sunday 21st December
10.00am – 11.00am Parish Communion
3.30pm – 4.30pm Kids Worship
7.00pm – 8.00pm Carols by Candlelight