PARISH INFORMATION NEWS SHEET

Parishes of Newcastle and Newtownmountkennedy

with Calary

Rector:
Rev Ross Styles
087-9892941
Email: [email protected]

Diocesan Layreader:
Caroline Tindal
086-2553001

Parish Administrator:
Karen Reynolds
087-2866889

Parish Office:
Email: [email protected]
01-2819300
Open Monday to Friday

Parish Websites:
www.newcastleparish.org
www.newtownmountkennedyparish.org
www.calaryparish.org
Dear friends,
Wishing you all a very Happy New Year!
We enjoyed a busy and fun Christmas in our parishes this year, with a
fantastic Nativity play by our Sunday Club, an excellent school
performance by St. Francis’ National School, the community crib
created by our amazing Youth Group in Newcastle village, community
carol singing, carol services in both Newcastle and Calary, midnight
service in Newcastle and worship in all three of our beautiful churches
on Christmas morning! My sincere thanks to everyone who decorated
the churches so spectacularly, to our Senior and Junior choirs for their
beautiful singing, to our readers, to our Sunday Club and Youth Club
and their leaders, to Charlotte and Sheila for their wonderful organ
playing and to everyone who attended our services. It was wonderful to
be able to come together as a community of faith at this truly special
time of the year!
A huge thank you to everybody who supported our collection for Gaza.
We have raised nearly €5000, which is fantastic! Special thanks to
Caroline for all the amazing work she did to make this happen!
A huge thank you also to Jane O’Herlihy and to everyone who
collected and donated towards our Christmas box appeal.
Huge congratulations to Fred and Shana Rountree, who were married
in Newcastle church on December 2nd. We wish them every blessing
for their future life together!
We extend our deepest sympathy to the family and friends of David
Kearon. His funeral, a service of thanksgiving for his life, was held in
Newcastle Church on Tuesday 2nd January.
We also extend our deepest sympathy to the family and friends of
Thomas Webster. His funeral, a thanksgiving for his life, was held in
Calary Church on Saturday 27th January.
Our new prayer course will begin on Wednesday 7th February at 8pm
in Newcastle Parish Centre. The course will run for 8 weeks, through
Lent. The course follows the format of the Alpha course, offering a
very gentle way to explore prayer. If you are free please do join us for
prayer, fellowship and light refreshments! All are very welcome!
As part of a community outreach week, from 5th to 9th February, some
Transition Year students from East Glendalough School will be visiting
parishioners. As they obviously don’t have their own transport, this will
be centred around Newcastle and Newtownmountkennedy. I have
created a list for them but if you would like to receive a visit, please do
let me know. A huge thank you to the students involved, it is a project
that I would love to see become a regular feature.

At 6pm on Sunday 18th February we are introducing a new monthly

Youth Service, in Newcastle church. The service will be followed by
food in the Parish Centre. This service will be initially lead by our
confirmation class, so please do come and support them. All are
warmly welcome!

Our new Senior Youth Group, for secondary school students from first
year upwards, will begin on Friday evening, 1st March at 7.30pm. We
held a preliminary brain storming pizza evening before Christmas and
they came up with some great ideas, so watch this space!!

This year’s walking challenge is a little gentler for me! It is also

something everyone, if they wish, can get involved in! It will be “6k a
day” for lent! That is roughly twice around the heritage trail in
Newcastle each day! Or for me, from The Rectory, around the heritage
trail, down to Newcastle beach for a stroll and back! If we do it, we
each will have walked 276km by Easter, approximatly the same
distance as the length of ‘The French Way’ (The Camino from León to
Santiago de Compostela!) Aside form the physical and mental health
benefits, it is also a wonderful opportunity to commune with nature and
with God. You can walk with me, alone or in a group and you can walk
anywhere! As well as improving our overall health and well being I
also hope to raise funds for works on Newcastle Church and for
‘Jigsaw’. Jigsaw Wicklow is a free, non-judgemental and confidential
mental health support service for young people aged 12 – 25 living,
working or studying in Wicklow. They provide guidance and support
for young people who are going through a difficult or distressing time.
They also provide advice and guidance for anyone who is concerned
about a young person in their life. If you wish to get a sponship form,
they will be available in the parish office and at the back of each church
or you can donate through all the usual ways, we will be sending
details on WhatsApp and our social media pages. While we hope to
raise funds for two worthwhile causes, this is also a great opportunity
to get us all out in the fresh air and support each other doing so. I look
forward to dusting off my walking shoes and I hope that you’ll join me!

As I sit and write these notes, the first of our daffodils outside the
Rectory window are starting to emerge, heralding new hope, new life in
the world. The snow drops are also peeping out too, though hopefully
that’s the nearest we’ll get to snow!

As it wouldn’t truly be Spring without a parish play, you’ll be delighted

to hear that Karen has put pen to paper, the actors are being assembled
and ‘Champagne Tours’ is on the way! Saturday March 9th, more
details to come!

St. Brigid’s Day, February 1st , marks a traditional start to spring, even
though it usually signals no change to the weather! May I wish you all
every blessing for this St. Brigid’s Day and the year ahead:

May God bless the house wherein you dwell,

Bless every fireside, every wall and door,
Bless every heart that beats beneath its roof,
Bless every hand that toils to bring it joy,
Bless every foot that walks its portals through,
May God bless the house that shelters you.

God bless,
Ross
 SUPPER
THEATRE

NEWCASTLE
PLAYERS
PRESENT

CHAMPAGNE
TOURS

Join us for a unique dining experience

of fun, food, drinks and drama
Saturday 9th March 2024
Doors open 7.30pm
Tickets €35 from the Parish Office
Matinee Sunday 10th March 2024 at 5pm
 Po Up
Tearoom

Downstairs in the Parish Centre

Friday mornings 10.30 am to 12.30 pm
Thursdays at 7.30pm
in the Parish Centre.

ADULT CLUBS

TABLE TENNIS

Mondays 8pm Parish Centre

 Junior Table Tennis
Mondays 7 - 8pm
at the Parish Centre.
All aged 9 and over
very welcome!
Calary Christmas Communion
16 people attended the communion service and lunch on 6 December
giving us an opportunity to meet at the start of the festive season.

Candlelight Carol Service

The service, which took place on Wednesday 20 December was a huge
success with over 120 people joining us for singing and then tea and
mince pies in the Church Room afterwards. This is the largest number
who have attended the Carol Service for a long number of years.
Music in Calary
The committee are currently working on the programme of concerts for
2024 and hope to have this finalised in the next couple of weeks.
 Rotas at Newcastle Church
The rotas for cleaning and flower arranging are up at the back of
Newcastle Church. If you can push a vacuum cleaner or put a
bunch of flowers in a jug—we want you! Please put your name
on the list. Thank you.

Jane O’Herlihy would like to

thank everyone who donated
to the Christmas Box Appeal
Fred and Shana’s Wedding, 2nd December 2023
 Wildlife in February
Badger
Female badgers, known as sows, birth very
early in the year, often in January or February.
Though this may sound counterintuitive, it
makes sense. Cubs born now will take their
first wobbly steps above ground, blinking in
the moonlight, in roughly 8-10 weeks’ time –
during the full flush of spring.
Earthworms, insects and a plethora of plant foods will be easy to
find. These cubs will have the longest possible run-up to the autumn,
when they must fatten up enough to tide them over the coming
winter.
Long-tailed Tit
One of the first birds you’re likely to see
gathering nesting material each year is the long-
tailed tit. The female will usually be on a clutch of
between eight to 12 eggs by March, or early April
further north, but before that the extraordinary
nest has to be made. Construction takes up to
three weeks, longer than in most other small
songbirds, and the male and female work as a team.
They select a site low down in a thorny bush or hedge or hidden
among the tangled stems of a rose or some other climbing plant,
then start to weave an oval-shaped ball from moss, adding a small
entrance near the top. They cover the structure in crusty grey lichen
for camouflage, line it with thousands of tiny white down feathers –
as many as 1,500 – and bind it all together with spider silk. A
masterpiece!
Pine marten
Our winters are no great challenge for pine
martens, which are adapted for much colder
continental conditions in the boreal forests of
the far north. Their ‘flexitarian’ diet means
they can find plenty of food year round. But
they do spend much longer in their dens.
One study in Poland found they were active just three hours a day in
winter, compared to 12 hours in summer.
 DATE CHURCH TIME ? SERVICE READING
Sunday Calary 9.30 RS MP
4th Proverbs 8: 1, 22-31
St Matthew’s 10.45 RS MP Psalm 104: 26-37
2nd Sunday Colossians 1: 15-20
before Lent John 1: 1-14
Newcastle 12.00 RS MP
Sunday Calary 9.30 RS
11th Service 2 Kings 2: 1-12
St Matthew’s 10.45 RS of the Psalm 50: 1-6 1
Sunday Word 2 Corinthians 4: 3-6
before Lent Mark 9: 2-9
Newcastle 12.00 RS
Ash Isaiah 58: 1-12
Wed. St Matthew’s 10.30 RS HC Psalm 51: 1-18
14th 2 Cor. 5: 20b - 6:10
Matthew 6: 1-6, 16-21
Sunday Calary 9.30 RS HC
18th Genesis 9: 8-17
St Matthew’s 10.45 RS HC Psalm 25: 1-9
1st Sunday Peter 3: 18-22
in Lent Mark 1: 9-15
Newcastle 12.00 RS HC
Sunday Psalm 119: 17-32
18th Youth Genesis 2: 15-17;
Newcastle 18.00 RS
1st Sunday Service 3: 1-7
in Lent Luke 13: 31-35
Sunday Calary 9.30 RS FS Genesis 17: 1-7,
25th 15-16
St Matthew’s 10.45 RS FS Psalm 22: 23-31
2nd Sunday Romans 4: 13-25
in Lent Mark 8: 31-38
Newcastle 12.00 RS FS
Holy Communion is celebrated every Wednesday,
with prayer for the sick, at 10.30am in St. Matthew’s
Everyone is welcome to the McLean Room
for tea/coffee afterwards.