Category Archives: Community

Parish visit to Auckland Castle, Gardens and the Faith Museum

The parish is planning a visit to Auckland Castle, gardens and the Faith Museum on Thursday 11th April. The group admission fee is £17.10 per person, although anyone who already has an Unlimited Pass would be able to use that to enter free of charge. Anyone who is interested should give their name to Helen Schofield after Mass or get in touch via the parish office office@stcuthberts-durham.org.uk or 0191 3843442, before Monday 25th March.

CAFOD Big Walk 2024



Cafod Big Walk 2024 – starting 2pm-meet outside church on Saturday 23rd March – In partnership with parishioners from other local churches a walk of about 5km to raise money for Charity. Participants are requested to make a donation. For anyone wishing to get sponsors for Cafod the form can be downloaded from the link below. Scroll down to ‘Resources’. https://cafod.org.uk/fundraise/sponsored-challenge-events/community-big-lent-walk.

Church Reopening

Additional stewards would be welcome to help resume opening to the public on Fridays and Saturday mornings. The new rota will start after Easter. Stewards are DBS screened and serve with a partner; sharing conversation and coffee means the two hour shifts  (10.00-12.00 or 13.00 -15.00) every two or three weeks are not very onerous. If you could help, please contact Ciara (office@stcuthberts-durham.org.uk) or Susan Penswick (scpenswick@hotmail.co.uk)

Thank you

 A very big “Thank You” to those who donated so generously to the Christmas Flowers.  Without the generosity of parishioners such displays would not be possible. At Christmas and Easter we purchase the flowers from the wholesaler which means we can get different and higher quality flowers than from the supermarkets. I hope you feel that we spend your money well!  Please remember the donation box in the Narthex or the new card machine. All donations are gratefully received as the cost of flowers just keeps going up. If you have any thoughts or comments please contact Cliona Kear on either 386 3400 or c.m.kear@dunelm.org.uk 

’Knit and Knatter’ group

The next meeting is on Saturday 10th February at 12 Noon in the Parish Room to make Easter chicks and egg cosies to be sold in aid of CAFOD. All are welcome to join in. Hats for  the Stella Maris (Apostleship of the Sea) Charity are also being knitted. These are given to seafarers arriving in our very cold climate from warmer parts of the world who are in need of them. The pattern is on the parish website for anyone, whether knitting at home or with this group. 

Next Year’s Local Charity – Your Suggestions

Money raised each year from Coffee after Mass supports one local charity and one overseas charity. From April 2024 to Mar 2025, Kidshelp Cambodia is the chosen overseas one.

For the local Charity, suggestions are now being invited from parishioners. It must be a registered Charity.

If you have a charity which you wish to be considered please complete the details on the sheet in the narthex. The Justice and Peace group will then make decisions for the coming and possibly future years.

Calling all Readers, Welcomers and Ministers of Communion

We are in desperate need for volunteers to minister at the Christmas liturgies. If you can read, welcome or help to distribute Holy Communion at any or all of the following services: Christmas Mass during the Night at 10pm on Christmas Eve; Christmas Mass on Christmas Day at 10am, then please sign up on the list on the noticeboard or contact Andy Doyle on 0798 543 4185 or andydoyle1066@sky.com Please do not leave it to the last minute.

Christmas Film and Pizza Night

On Friday 15th December we will be showing our festive film, the 1994 version of “Miracle on 34th Street” starring Richard Attenborough. Doors to the Parish Room open for pizza and drinks at 6:30pm and the screening begins at 7pm. There is no charge but, to help us with the catering, please let Andy Doyle know (0798 543 4185 or andydoyle1066@sky.com) if you are planning to come along. 

Proposed Sunday Parking Charges

Durham County Council is currently proposing to increase on-street car parking charges in Durham city and to extend them to Sundays. Details can be found at 

https://www.durham.gov.uk/article/30424/Car-parking-charges-and-tariff-review and this page also includes a simple form where we can give our opinion regarding the proposal. If the proposal to extend charges to Sundays were to be approved this would obviously impact the people of our parish and others in the city centre and so please consider reading the proposal and submitting your opinion.

The deadline is 5pm on Monday November 13th.

Lumiere

Lumiere is this week, running from Thursday to Sunday inclusive and we hope to open St Cuthbert’s on Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 4:30pm to 10pm and on Sunday from after 6:30pm Mass to 10pm. We aim to offer a restful place, a chance to light a candle in prayer or reflection and also some warming drinks. To do this, we URGENTLY need volunteers to be available in the church. Please sign up on the list on the noticeboard or contact Andy Doyle (andydoyle1066@sky.com or 0798 543 4185) if you can help.