CHURCH PRIMARY SCHOOL

Before breaking up, pupils were engaged in functions concerning the Church, the school and the village at large. On Tuesday evening, 13th December, pupils and parents sang carols at four stations in the village. The collection resulted in five guineas for the C. of E. Children's Society. The following Saturday pupils, parents and friends enjoyed a Social Evening organised by the Parents' Committee, who should be congratulated on a most successful venture, major items being the children's concert and the fancy dress competition. Proceeds covered the costs both of that evening and the children's party held on the last Tuesday of term.

The main Christmas event, which received most rehearsal and the co-operation of some talented costume-makers among the parents, was the Christmas Tableau, presented in church on the 19th. The younger children enacted the Nativity, on staging specially made for the occasion, while the older juniors sang carols and read appropriate passages for the successive scenes. Mr. G. R. Bone was at the organ.

C.G.F.

THOUGHT FOR THE MONTH

"Happy is he whose hope is in the Lord his God"

— Psalm 146:5.

What are we to say of the New Year? Chiefly that, as always, what we receive from life is going to depend on what we give. There is no doubt of the unhappy consequences for those who take all they can in this world and are chary of putting anything of the least value back. If, taking a last look at 1966, you cannot see that you have gained ground anywhere, have you put yourself out to use the resources without which there is no true progress? Have your prayers cost you any trouble, or have you gone through them without much thought, satisfied with a minimum? Does your Bible sit on its shelf unused from one week's end to another? Does charity have much of a place in your life, apart from the kind you cannot avoid without showing yourself up? These are time-worn questions. But then there are no new ways of nourishing our souls. It is poor thanks for the means of grace, if we imagine that we can do very well without them. We can only look forward with new hope if we are ready to accept new power through God's promised channels. "O God, our help in ages past" we must say with gratitude. Then let us add, with the force of a new resolve, "our HOPE for years to come".

B.A.

A COLLECT FOR SEPTUAGESIMA

"Lord God, we thank you for creating the world and for the things that are in it. Forgive us our sins, and help us to serve other people better. Help us to learn more about you, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."

Clare, Harris (aged 10).