
Sunday (2nd of Easter): First Reading was Acts 4:32-35. Responsorial Psalm was Number 117 " Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his love has no end." Second Reading was 1 John 5 :1-6, and the reading from the Holy Gospel was John 20:19-31. The Service next Sunday (3rd of Easter) will be at 9.30am. The mid-week service is back to it's normal time of 9.30am on Thursday.
DROP-IN SESSION:
The weekly drop-in session continues to be held in the meeting area at the back of the church between 10.00am and 11.45am every Tuesday for anyone wanting information about the church, its activities, or simply for a natter and a cup of coffee. Last weeks Tote winner was number 133.

In 1886, she was recruited by Anthony Thorold, the Bishop of Rochester, to revive the female diaconate in his diocese. Her initial reluctance, based on her lack of theological training and her lack of knowledge of the Deaconess Order, was worn down by the Bishop. At the end of October 1886, she felt she received a calling during Morning Prayer. She later wrote, "it was just as if God’s voice had called me, and the intense rest and joy were beyond words." Gilmore and the Bishop of Rochester proceeded to plan for an Order of Deaconesses for the Church of England. In 1887, she was ordained a deaconess and a training house for other woman was put in place, later to be named Gilmore House in her honor. Isabella served actively in the poorest parishes in South London until her retirement in 1906.
In her nearly 20 years of service, she re-established the female diaconate in the Anglican Communion. She had personally trained at least seven other head deaconesses for other dioceses before she died in 1923. At her memorial service, Randall Davidson the Archbishop of Canterbury, foretold, "Some day, those who know best will be able to trace much of the origin and root of the revival of the Deaconess Order to the life, work, example and words of Isabella Gilmore. For this let us give thanks: I feel sure it is most meet and right so to do." Isabella Gilmore is remembered with a commemoration in the calendar of Saints in some parts of the Anglican Communion on 16 April.