Notices

An appeal from Rory
Rory will be taking part in the Cheshire Ring Race on 28-29 June. This is a 97 mile non-stop canoe race around a series of six canals, including about 4 miles of portaging around locks and tunnels. He's raising money for Amnesty International, which is a movement of ordinary people from across the world standing up for humanity and human rights. He asks you to sponsor him for £1, which is 1p per mile, or more if you want to give more. A list is on the notice board for writing down names and amounts of sponsorship.

Sounds of Heslington CD - only £3
Order forms for the Sounds of Heslington CD are available in church. Have your own copy of our Scouts/Cubs/Beavers song and of our Rainbows singing, not to mention our band, the congregation and a special contribution from our organist.

New venture - Brox
Thanks to a very generous donation by a member of our congregation, we can pay for a part-time children's worker to start an after-school children's club at Badger Hill School. The head teacher is very pleased with this development. Our new children's worker is John Hattam, but Jess and Laura from our own congregation are keen to get involved. Brox will meet after school on Wednesdays for about an hour and a quarter, starting in September. It is still in the planning stage, so if you want to join in there's plenty of time to do so.

Heslington member honoured
Linda Ali, the Chair of the Church Council, has been honoured by being made an Honorary Lay Canon of York Minster. Her installation will be at 12.30pm on Monday 30th June in the Minster. All are invited to attend.

Organ appeal
A recent report on the organ found that it needed repairs to enable it to continue playing well into the future. Its performance is slowly degrading and eventually it will break down completely. The total cost is in the region of £11,000, but more quotes are being sought. Permission to go ahead with the repairs has been granted, so we are now opening an organ fund. Details of the fund raising will be presented in due course.

Celebration 2008 – Hospitality, please
13th July The Rev. & Mrs Chris Simmons
20th July Graham & Rachel Jones and family
27th July Archdeacon Richard and Mrs Seed
31st August Rev. Stephen & Mrs Burgess
Would you like to invite one of our Guest Preachers home for lunch? Please let one of the clergy or the office know so we can make arrangements.

Challenging Richard Dawkins
This is the title of Professor Kathleen Jones' latest book. Kay is a member of Heslington Church and has written a vigorous reply to Richard Dawkins' book 'The God Delusion'. This bitter attack on Christianity and other religions has received wide publicity, but Kay Jones' response exposes many of the weaknesses in Dawkins' argument. In particular, Kay criticises the methods used by Richard Dawkins, stressing that he ignores much of the evidence that others use to support their belief in God. His case is, therefore, unbalanced. Kay Jones' book costs £9.99 and all the royalties are donated to Christian Aid for its work among the world's poorest communities. John Eckersley (tel. 410389) has a supply of the books at the vicarage and he encourages as many people as possible to read this stimulating and important publication.