St George’s Day Service 2012
The Bicester Area Scouts held their annual St George’s Day service in St Edburg’s Church on the afternoon of Sunday 22nd April followed by their traditional march through the town centre. The Scouts were supported by the Mayor of Bicester, Cllr.Rose Stratford and senior Scouting staff. It was great to see the church full of so many young people and their parents. 
Lincoln Noel Trio
If you weren’t with us on Saturday night, you missed a real treat. The Lincoln Noel Trio feted us with an evening of jazz and the humourous interludes from Lincoln himself were very entertaining. He is a mean keyboard player as well and his improvisations impressive. I particularly enjoyed his varied referencing from Bach to heavy rock via Chas and Dave! The other two members of the Trio did very well to keep up with Lincoln’s sudden changes of theme, especially when he took the mickey out of the event organiser (enjoyed by those who know him!). The drummer’s bongos (all the way from Hemel Hempstead) got a good work out and I was fascinated watching the bassist’s technique. A great night of music in beautiful surroundings. The chat at coffee time in church on Sunday morning revolved around the concert and the entertainments team have been tasked with arranging another evening with the Trio as soon as possible. 
SPD Workshop
St Edburg’s Church was pleased to be able to host a workshop concerning Sensory Processing Disorder on Tuesday 31st January. The event was open to parents and carers of children suffering from this disorder, healthcare professionals working in this field and teachers and other education professionals. The workshop was led by Naomi Clayden who is a Paediatric Occupational Therapist. We were so pleased that over 80 people attended from all over Oxfordshire, and it gave everyone the opportunity to gain an insight into the disorder, share their experiences and gain strategies for helping the children with this issue.
Advent and Christmas at Launton and Bucknell
As you can see, Advent and Christmas have been very busy times in the villages of Launton and Bucknell with events such as a breakfast for men in the benefice, the passage of the Posada around Bucknell via the Trigger Pond to the popular Christingle services in both villages. A wonderful time was had by all!
The visit of the Archbishop of Canterbury
Sunday 8th May 2011 saw the visit to Bicester of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Revd Dr Rowan Williams who was on an official tour of the Oxford Diocese. He joined Emmanuel Church to bless the footings for their new church and then we were delighted that he was able to join the 11am service at St Edburg’s. It was very pleasing that he had time to meet the congregation during our coffee time between the main services. He also examined the tapestry, each section of which has been made by different local primary schools and is on display in the church. The congregation was joined by many welcome visitors who had come to hear Dr Williams preach. The celebrant for the service was the Bishop of Dorchester, the Rt Revd Colin Fletcher. Two beautiful new collection plates, which have been commissioned by Mr Tony Baldry MP for North Oxfordshire, to commemorate the Archbishop’s visit were blessed during the service. Each church, St Edburg’s and Emmanuel, will receive one of the plates which will be treasured momentoes of an exciting day. (The first three photographs are reproduced with kind permission of KT Bruce/Diocese of Oxford).
