Author: Lauren Harte

Soup and cheese Lenten Parish Lunch – Sunday 12th March

The most recent ‘in person’ Parish Lunch, a Lenten Lunch, took place very successfully three years ago and fortuitously two weeks before the first COVID lockdown. (In 2021 we somehow managed a virtual Lenten Lunch).It is now time to start these social and fundraising gatherings again. We are therefore arranging a Soup and Cheese Lunch for Lent this year. It will take place on Sunday, 12th March in the Parish Hall following the 11am Choral Eucharist. This year we are asking for donations to two organisations. The first is the Welcome Organisation, Belfast, which offers support for the homeless, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Its services include a Drop In Centre, Street Outreach Teams such as those that work with the rough sleepers in our churchyard, Crisis Accommodation for Women, a Floating Support Service for those who have been homeless but have now accessed accommodation and a Mobile Health Unit.The second organisation is Mary’s Meals which is currently feeding nearly 2.5 million children in Syria, Yemen and South Sudan as well as many other places. It spends 93p in every £ on their feeding programme. It used to take £15.50 to feed a child in a place of education for a whole school year but now it takes around £19.20. Mary’s Meals is in urgent need of support.We invite you to come and join the lunch so please make sure that your name is added to the list of those attending so that we can gauge numbers. The list will be available after our Sunday services and in the church kitchen on weekdays until Sunday 5th March.

Ash Wednesday

Our Ash Wednesday services tomorrow are at 7.30am, 10.30am, 1pm and 7.30pm. All Eucharists with imposition of ashes. The 7.30pm service will be a Choral Eucharist with music by the Parish Choir.

TURKIYE (TURKEY)-SYRIA EARTHQUAKE APPEAL

St George’s is responding to the Appeal from the Disasters Emergency Committee for donations following the recent earthquake in Turkiye and Syria. There will be a retiring collection after services this coming Sunday, February 19th, and next Sunday, February 26th.
You can also donate by electronic transfer to the St George’s bank account: (Sort-code: 98-00-10. Account: 09028029) using if possible the reference Earthquake 2023 for clear identification.
You may remember that Angus Lambkin, a former choirboy in St George’s, spoke at a meeting last year organised by the church and the United Nations Association NI following his return as a UN Civil Military Coordinator in Afghanistan for the the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Aid.
Angus flew out to the disaster areas in Turkiye and Syria the day after the earthquake. He gave an interview to BBC Scotland, Radio 1, ‘The Sunday Show’ last week on his first impressions of the devastating situation – the most harrowing event he has had to attend.
You can listen to this interview on the link: https://gmail.us2.list-manage.com/track/click….
Angus speaks in a personal capacity and not as an official spokesman of the UN. The programme is available until 7th March and the interview can be found about 1 hour 32 minutes into the recording.

St George’s Epiphany Carol Service 2023

The Feast of Epiphany falls today, January 6th. This Sunday, January 8th, we will hold our Epiphany Carol Service with the St George’s Chamber Choir at 5 pm and extend a warm invitation to you all.
Carols and music by Warlock, Walford Davies, Darke and more!
St George’s wishes you a Very Happy and Peaceful New Year.

St George’s Singers’ Christmas Concert

St George’s Singers, Sinfonia and Soloists along with Music Director Mark McGrath present ‘GLORIA’ – A Christmas Concert – Vivaldi ‘Gloria’ and ‘Dixit Dominus’, Christmas Carols on Tuesday 13th December at 7.45pm in St George’s Church, High Street, Belfast. Seasonal refreshments following the concertTickets £20 (concession £10 for students/under 25s) are available from choir members and at the door. Also online: please visit www.stgeorgessingers.co.uk (no fee). For further information or assistance with ticket purchase please phone 07793 018748. 

St George’s Parish Choir Christmas concert

The St George’s Parish Choir concert will take place on Friday, December 16th at 7:30pm.The programme will feature Christmas favourites with works by Darke, Praetorius, Chilcott et al.There will be a retiring collection at the end of the concert, followed by refreshments in the Parish Hall at 8:45pm.Please feel welcome to bring family and friends.

Saint George’s Singers raise voices and funds for sight loss charity RNIB NI

Leading sight loss charity RNIB Northern Ireland (The Royal National Institute of Blind People), was delighted to accept a generous donation of £800 from the Saint George’s Singers – a choir from St. George’s Church, Belfast.
 
Established in 1985, the cross-community choir raised this substantial amount from proceeds from a concert of madrigals and partsongs, directed by Mark McGrath and held on Tuesday 11 October at Belmont Tower, Belfast.
 
Chair of the Saint George’s Singers, Helen Blair, said: “I was delighted, on behalf of the choir, to be able to contribute a cheque for £800 to RNIB as a result of the recent fundraising concert at Belmont Tower in Belfast.”
 
Since those early days in 1985, the singers have become a well-established cross-community choir drawn from the Greater Belfast area and further afield. The choir are currently hard at work rehearsing for their traditional Christmas Concert that takes place in St. George’s Church, High Street, Belfast, on 13 December.
You can find out more about Saint George’s Singers via their website at www.saintgeorgessingers.co.uk
 
Hazel Stirling, Regional Fundraising Manager at RNIB, said: “Community fundraising like this is essential to enable us to be there for people affected by sight loss in Northern Ireland and across the UK. There are now 57,400 people living with sight loss in Northern Ireland and with generous donations like this, we can be there to provide vital support when it’s most needed.
 
“I want to sincerely thank all the members of the Saint George’s Singers and everyone who came along to support the concert in October. Working with communities to arrange events in aid of RNIB is so rewarding and it’s wonderful to see more and more groups and individuals able to return to charity fundraising again post-pandemic.”