Parish Notices Sunday 30 June 2019

You are Invited to a Summer Coffee and Tea Day at Trevor & Millie Kingston’s home, in Aid of the Irish Cancer Society.  Saturday 13th July 11 am to 6 pm. Oakfield House, Ballinrea South, Carrigaline,  Co. Cork.   P43 D827. Trevor 086 8167325 / Millie 086 8091443 We would love your support, thank you!

Theological Book Club’s chosen book for the Summer is ‘The Great Spiritual Migration’ by Brian D. McLaren. We will be meeting to

discuss it in the Rectory at 8pm on Monday 30th September so you have plenty of time left to buy it and inwardly digest it before then!

Tonight-Service of Wholeness & Healing 7pm St Mary’s Church

1st July Littlies + One 10-12 Parish Hall

3rd July  Holy Communion 10:30am St Mary’s Church

13th July Summer Tea/Coffee Day  11am till 6pm

Trevor & Millie Kingston’s home in aid of Irish Cancer Society. 

22nd – 26th July     THE ADVENTURE CRUISE

Holiday Club 10-1pm St Mary’s School

Random Notes CCLXXV

Monkstown Chamber Choir recently visited Sherkin Island to celebrate the end of the 2018/19 season. I travelled down on Friday morning, so that I could enjoy an extended weekend. The rest of the choir got the 12pm ferry on the Saturday, so I walked down to the pier to meet them. I was early, so I spent some time lying on the beach just observing the sights and sounds. The atmosphere was beautiful. All you could hear was the odd seagull moaning in the distance; a gentle wave lapping on the shore and the smooth rolling of the Atlantic beyond the beacon. Then the small red and white ferry from Baltimore appears, creeping head on towards me. Slowly it gets bigger and you can begin to see tiny people on board. As she approaches, the engines die back and there is a whoosh as the ferry lands. There is a gaggle of excitement from the few people who have gathered on the pier, and friends wave to each other in anticipation of some time together in this unique island. Then the greetings begin, and accents from all over the globe are heard. Over-kitted-out hillwalkers arrive with enthusiasm and energy. Bags of shopping from “Field’s of Skibbereen” are brought on to the pier by the ferry staff, and all sorts of other bundles appear. A dog has arrived down to meet, greet and sniff. I’ve never met an aggressive dog on Sherkin, as like the locals, they are free to wander without harness or restriction. The atmosphere hots up, with everyone’s plans on how they are going to travel to their destination, asking who is here already and what the weather was like in Cork. The bus has arrived, smelling of warm, old dirt. Without tax or NCT, the battered Volkswagen creeps up the hill past the abbey in first gear, belching diesel fumes that linger for a few minutes. The energetic visitors wander up the road observing the silence and ancient hedgerows. Back down at the pier, the ferry has now gone back to

Baltimore, and the peace returns.  The seagulls moan again as if to say “ya,  ya,  ya…  just another day in beautiful West Cork”.                           RCE