Holy Saviour Roman Catholic Church,
Nelson Lancashire

What a fantastic celebration of Advent and Christmas it has been. I thank everyone in the parish who has contributed in any way to what has been for me, and hopefully for you, a very memorable time of preparation and celebration of Christmas at the end of a very busy and enjoyable year.

We were very busy from the First Sunday of Advent onwards. Thank you to everyone who is involved in the preparation of our children for the sacraments. It is wonderful that we now have a family celebration on the first Sunday of each month which has been greeted enthusiastically by so many people. It is great that people have been made welcome and everyone together has joined in these celebrations.

Even the day before Advent began we had a very positive meeting for those who are interested in becoming Catholics and there is now a group that will be meeting from Saturday 13th January onwards. If you know of someone this may be of interest to please let me know or just invite them to come along on Saturday 13th January 1.00pm in the presbytery, number 2 Vulcan Street.

Early in Advent the Afternoon Club had a celebration at Whalley Abbey and now this group is up and running once a month and open to everyone. Thank you to all those who are involved and trying to involve others!

Throughout Advent as throughout the year we have had good links with our secondary school Fisher More which I am delighted about. We had the Advent Service led by our secondary school pupils here in the church which went down extremely well. Thank you to all who helped in that service and supported it and to all involved in the very important work of our secondary school throughout the year.

Our Primary school came up trumps again with 'The Shepherd Boy' and it was wonderful to have the children involved in the family mass and the Thanksgiving mass for Mrs. Broughton. A big thank you to all our staff, parents, pupils and governors for their hard work and support throughout the year.

The Mass with the Sick and Housebound was a great success again thanks to the hard work of everyone involved in the catering, driving, and entertainment. A big thank you, generally, to our Eucharistic ministers who take communion out to the sick and housebound every week. And a big thank you to all our readers who help us celebrate the liturgy each week, and to all who help set up, read and minister the chalice at our daily mass.

The music at Mass has been very well maintained by the choir after the retirement of our choir master, and I am very grateful to John Stinchon for all his hard work over the years and the continued hard work of the choir now. On a Sunday evening the music has been enhanced by our music group every other week which is another good development.

I am very grateful to all those who have been working very hard in the parish centre ensuring that it will continue and grow from strength to strength as a place of welcome and celebration for everyone in the parish. In Advent the Fair Trade Christmas fair was one of the highlights of a busy programme with great support from everyone raising lots of money and awareness which is fantastic. Again for all the hard work thank you.

It was a joy to have a nativity play performed by our now well established children's liturgy group and a big thank you to everyone who leads and supports this event each week and the extra hard work for the play. It was worth it. And it was lovely that we had a toddlers' Christmas service and a big thank you to everyone who is involved. It was also a privilege to celebrate carols services in two of our nursing homes and to have the opportunity to sing carols around the tree with so many of you. Thank you everyone who was involved in cleaning and decorating the parish centre and the church so that everyone was ready and looked fantastic!

I think that it is important to say thank you particularly at a time of growth and building in the parish. Hopefully by now you will know that the priorities for me are welcome and involvement. If we continue to do that together then 2007 will be a great year because whatever happens we will be trying to build the Kingdom of God together.