Month: June 2020

St Helen’s Lockdown Diaries

For the 3rd week running we have recorded an episode of Lockdown Diaries which is your chance to see how people in the parish have fared under lockdown. This week we have brought together some young people and teacher Jennie Gough to talk about their experiences. We are sure that you will find it as interesting as our previous conversations.

Thanks to Maeve for presenting and Melanie and Jenany, Kieran, Clare, Aoife, Emma and Jennie for taking part.

Follow us on Facebook

Our St Helen’s Facebook page is fast reaching 500 likes. Of all the digital channels we use, it is without doubt the one with the most regular activity.

👉 https://www.facebook.com/sthelenscaerphilly

We use it for the following:

👍 To let people know that Mass on a Sunday is about go live

👍 So Canon John can offer up his daily reflections

👍 Where Canon John can share photos

👍 Where we can notify you of online events: Book Club, Bible Study and Coffee Mornings

👍 Where we can let you know about news from the diocese and even further afield

👍 To let you know about our lockdown diaries

👍 To let you know that the parish newsletter has been added to this site

👍 And much more

Like our page today: https://www.facebook.com/sthelenscaerphilly

June Book of the Month

And we selected a book! On Tuesday we held our first St Helen’s Church Book Club event. After considering several books we decided that the book that we’ll read over the next 4 weeks will be The Beekeeper of Aleppo. If you click the link below and order, the church will receive a small commission from Amazon.

Buy the Beekeeper of Aleppo on amazon.

Nuri is a beekeeper; his wife, Afra, an artist.  They live a simple life, rich in family and friends, in the beautiful Syrian city of Aleppo – until the unthinkable happens.  When all they care for is destroyed by war, they are forced to escape.   But what Afra has seen is so terrible she has gone blind, and so they must embark on a perilous journey through Turkey and Greece towards an uncertain future in Britain.  On the way, Nuri is sustained by the knowledge that waiting for them is Mustafa, his cousin and business partner, who has started an apiary and is teaching fellow refugees in Yorkshire to keep bees.  

Please remember that anyone can join our Book Club which will next be held on Tuesday 7th July at 7.30. At this event we will discuss The Beekeeper of Aleppo and select our next book.

We will post the event to the Events page and closer to the date we will release the Zoom invite – click the “Events” link to the left.

If Amazon is out of stock, check Amazon “New” or “used” options from other sellers through Amazon. Kindle is another option. Waterstones and Blackwells sell it as do many suppliers on eBay.

Can anyone join the Book Club?

Of course! The club has just started and, for the moment, we ask that you head over to our Book Club Events page on Facebook and indicate that you are interested or will be going to our next event – 7th July and we will send you a Zoom invite. Alternatively, you can always email Canon John on caerphilly@rcadc.org

St Helen’s Lockdown Diaries – Episode 2

📽️ Hi folks. We are super excited to let you know that the 2nd instalment of our Lockdown Diaries is now available on YouTube. This week we have invited Simon, Rory, Maeve, Margaret, Claire, Brett and Canon John to give you some idea about what they have been up to over the past few months.
We do hope you take as much enjoyment from watching it as we did in making it.

➡️ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YE00q3rUn4

Please feel free to comment or like it either on YouTube or below. AND make sure you Subscribe to our YouTube Channel so you can find out about our latest videos.

Join the St Helen’s Book Club

Hi Everyone

How do you fancy joining us for Launch of the St Helen’s Book Club? Here’s how it will work:

📗 We will select one book a month to read.
📕 Read it (obviously!)
📙 Then meet as a book club to discuss it

Initially, everything will be done through Zoom.

If you’re interested, please let us know through this Facebook Events Page or email Canon John at caerphilly@rcadc.org.

Lockdown Diaries – Episode 1

On Monday evening Father John presented the first instalment of our Lockdown Diaries. Dawn, Nick, Sandra, Johanna and Kieron gave us some insight into how life has been for the last two months. Dawn’s story is particularly powerful.

We do hope you enjoy and we plan to do these every week. We have got a few people lined up for the coming weeks but if you’d like to take part, let us know by messaging us on Facebook or emailing: caerphilly@rcadc.org.

Enjoy!