St Annes

Congratulations to Caleb and Anita who were married at St Anne’s Church yesterday (10 October 2026).

Rev’d Liz said, ‘It was a privilege to get to know Anita and Caleb in the run up to their wedding and celebrate their love with their family and friends. Thank you to Colin, Eunice and Dominic who helped welcome guests and play the organ and make their day very special.’

Yesterday evening (8 October) Rev’d Liz helped lead worship at St Luke’s Church, Stocking Farm, as the City of Leicester Deanery Synod held a celebratory Eucharist for the 100th Anniversary of the Diocese and Cathedral.  Bishop Christopher Boyle presided, Dean Karen Rooms from the Cathedral preached, and Rev’d Liz in her role as Area Dean acted as Deacon.  For Rev’d Liz is ordained as both a deacon and a priest.

It was a wonderful celebration, reflecting the diversity of the parishes within the City of Leicester.

We had a special visitor at St Anne’s last week (Wednesday 30 September) with a very long job title!  Matt Long the Youth Engagement and Intergenerational Communities Enabler, who supports young people accross the Diocese.

Matt led a group of Children and Young People (CYP) from St Anne’s Church plan to lead a forthcoming Soul Space service.  The evening began with Rev’d Liz explaining what Soul Space is (a quiet alternative service for people of faith or no faith) and then Matt guided the CYP in planning the service.  The theme of thanksgiving (Turkeys) came through strongly from the CYP, as they will be leading the service in November.  Rev’d Liz has also promised to bake a cake.

If you would like to join our CYP at Soul Space the service is on Sunday 8 November, 6pm, in St Anne’s Church.

Thanks to Matt and the CYP for all their hard work.

On Sunday 4 October at Leicester Cathedral our Curate John Andrews was ordained a Deacon in the church of England.  In a joyful service, along with five other colleagues, John made the deceleration that he is called to serve God in the ministry of a deacon, and with God’s help, be faithful to the work and life of this calling. John later then knelt in front of Bishop Martyn, who laid his hands on John’s head, and prayed the prayer of ordination as a Deacon.

After the service, John, his family, his friends and the congregations of both churches returned to St Anne’s Hall for a party, where we sang ‘Happy Ordination Day to you’ and John’s cheeks became a little blushed!

Rev’d Liz said, ‘It was a pleasure to stand behind John, praying for him as he was ordained.  My role was to place his deacon stole around his body (from left shoulder to right hip) and give him a big hug afterwards! John is a wonderful colleague and he has taught me lots, and I am looking forward to journeying through his curacy with him.’

Please pray for John as he embarks on this next stage of his ministry, and gets used to regularly wearing his clerical collar!

On Tuesday 8 September, Rev’d Liz led our annual Mothers’ Union service.

During this 150th Anniversary year, Liz explored how our ministry as the Mothers’ Union echos Jesus’ example in her interactive sermon.

After the service we shared coffee and biscuits in the hall.

Thanks to Rev’d Liz, Mary for playing and everyone who took part in the service.

On Sunday 6 September we had an eventful afternoon in Western Park for our annual Praise in the Park service.  Eventful, because the technology did not work, so Rev’d Liz had to speak in a VERY LOUD VOICE to lead the service.

However it was a beautiful afternoon and worship went on, exploring how Jesus had breakfast on the beach with his friends. After worship we ate ice-creams in the park!

Thanks to Patrick, Khashy and Helen for leading the music and Justin for sorting out the games and ice-cream.

See you next year!

PS We have bought a new battery for the speaker!

September is the Season of Creation in the church calendar and we are marking this season with special services and bible study at St Anne’s Church.

In addition, Rev’d Liz is wearing her new Creation Stole, made by our former Curate, Rev’d Sharon Plant.  Sharon gave Liz the stole at her last service, before she move to the Diocese of Norwich to become a Rector.

In early July, John Andrews was licensed as a Lay Worker and began his curacy in the Benefice of St Anne, St Paul and St Augustine, at a service in the chapel at Bishop’s Lodge.  John has been on quite a vocational journey, joining us when Rev’d Sharon Andrews was licensed as our Curate in 2021.  Since then John has explored, trained and been licensed for Lay Ministry and then explored, trained and been licensed for Ordained ministry.  John will be Ordained at Deacon on 4 October at Leicester Cathedral.

On Sunday 14 June, the Mothers’ Union took over our morning worship!  To celebrate the 150th Anniversary of the founding of the Mothers Union by Mary Sumner.

While the worship was led by Rev’d Liz (herself a MU member), Mothers’ Union members contributed to all aspects of the service.  We even had a visit from Mary Sumner (thank you Jean!) who had her ‘first grandchild laid’ in her arms!

You can read Sheila and Margaret’s talk as co-chairs of the Mothers Union here https://st-annes-church.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/St-Annes-MU-Story.pdf

The Mothers Union meets monthly on the 2nd Tuesday of the month, 2.30pm, in St Anne’s Hall.

Thanks to Northside Bikes who held their regular ‘bike repair drop in’ on Saturday 6 June, while our Summer Fair was on.  They had a steady stream of bikes to repair from 10am until 2pm.

Thanks also to Leicester City Council who provided the funding to make this a free service, and get more people cycling in Western Park.

Thank you to everyone who planned, prepared, baked, organised and came to our Summer Fair on Saturday. We raised over £1,300 to support St Anne’s Church.

Particular thanks to Paul and Elise who coordinate our two fairs each year.

Thanks also to Daymans who always bring a vibrant plant stall!

Our May Wonderful Walk was led by Lily and Hilary for the first time!  We enjoyed a companiable, reflective and sunny walks, with meditation, singing, poems and some stretching!  We spent time looking upwards as the church has just marked Ascension Day.

While we have begun to miss Rev’d Sharon already, thank you to Lily and Hilary for leading our walk this month.

The next Wonderful Walk is on Sunday 21st June, 9.30am, meeting by the main gate of Western Park.

Messy Church enjoyed learning about the Last Supper yesterday (Saturday 16 May) through crafts, song, science experiments, bubble prayers and sharing in bread and wine (squash) during the celebration. Rev’d Liz even wore her special clothes (vestments) to show us what happens in church on a Sunday.

We also enjoyed eating Rev’d Liz’s home made bread during our meal together.

Messy Church meets next on Saturday 20th June, 4-6pm, when we will be marking Father’s Day.

Thank you and Goodbye to Rev’d Sharon Plant!

Today (Sunday 10 May) we gave thanks for Rev’d Sharon’s ministry over the last four years and prayed for Sharon and her family as they prepare to move to Norfolk.

Sharon led her final service at St Anne’s and Rev’d Liz got the children to help her make compost (cardboard, grass, vegi peeling and worms) as she shared some things about compost heap theology that Sharon had taught her.

At the end of the service we gave Sharon gifts, including a home communion set, a beautiful climbing rose and lots of jams and chutneys.

Sharon’s licensing service will be on 17 June in Wells by the Sea.

Congratulations to David and Angela who were married today at Town Hall Square and came to St Anne’s Church this evening (Saturday 9 May) for their Wedding Blessing.

It was a privilege to pray for God’s blessing on Angela and David on their special day, as they reaffirmed their vows and exchanged their rings (again!).

The church families of

St Anne’s and St Paul’s with St Augustine’s, Leicester

are delighted to invite you to a celebration and final service for

Rev’d Sharon Plant

as she completes her Pioneer Curacy with us and prepares to begin her new role as the Rector of  the Benefice of Holkham, Diocese of Norwich

Sunday 10 May 2026, at 9.30am, St Anne’s Church

Tea, Coffee and Cake will be shared in the hall after the service

At St Anne’s Church we launched SoulSpace two months ago, as we had been asked to provide a quiet, reflective space for those of faith or no faith to just come and be.

In our first two SoulSpaces Rev’d Sharon P and Reader Denis helped us to explore ‘Springtime’ and ‘Journeying’.  This month Rev’d Liz will be encouraging us to ‘lift up our eyes’.

Each SoulSpace will be a bit different, depending on who is leading it, and we love to receive your feedback on what works and what does not work, so that we can make sure SoulSpace works for everyone.

The next SoulSpace is Sunday 10 May, 6pm, in St Anne’s Church

This morning (Sunday 3 May) the intrepid Wonderful Walkers gathered in Western Park at 5am for a Dawn Chorus Walk!

International Dawn Chorus Day encourages us to get up before dawn to listen symphony of song performed by birds looking for love, and to defend their patch. As Christians we also believe that all creation worships God, so we enjoyed being part of natures worship this morning.

The bird song we heard included bluetits, song thrush, robin, blackbird, wood pigeon, black cap, chaffinch, chiff chaff, crows and magpie.  We also heard a woodpecker, doing just that, pecking on wood.

#DawnChorusClub

Our next Wonderful Walk is on Sunday 17 May, 9.30am meeting at the main gate, Western Park.

Rev’d Liz Wilson has recorded a podcast!

Rev’d Liz was a guest in the Methodist Church’s ‘Politics in the Pulpit’ podcast, organised by their Joint Public Issues Team. This is a lectionary based preaching resource, designed to ask the provocative question of how politics could appear in our preaching each week.

During the podcast, Rev’d Liz spoke with Thomas (from the Methodist Church) and Roo from the (United Reform Church) on the Lectionary readings for Sunday 26th April 2026.

If you would like to listen to the podcast you can find it here – https://open.spotify.com/show/3H8jaxOmFHvf3if7q8dYkm?si=OTo_Ju8ATeGPGXYP7GFo6Q

To read Rev’d Liz’s sermon inspired by participating in the podcast, go to our sermon archive.

In our April Messy Church we explored some of Jesus’ miracles, including his biggest miracle of all.  Coming back to life again on Easter Morning!

We learned about Jesus’ healing miracles and how his first ever miracle was turning water into wine (we made juice instead!).

This was also our last Messy Church with Rev’ Sharon, so we all signed a card, which we gave to her during our celebration in Church.

Next month we are going to be learning all about the Bread and Wine we use during the special service of Holy Communion.