Dear friends, These notes come to you a bit later that usual as I have been to see family for a couple of days. When people ask me what I miss about the Netherlands the first thing that comes to mind is ‘water’. It’s difficult to explain how the rivers, canals and lakes shape the landscape and wildlife populations. My sister’s flat overlooks a very large pond and every year a couple of terns raise their young on what they catch there. Vann Lake in Ockley hosts terns in summer but their comings and goings are much more hidden from view. The cormorant in the picture is one on a multitude of waterbirds I spotted last Friday near Gorinchem. Today after the parish service in Capel I will be running my LOAF stall again with new stock. Please come and browse. God bless, Dineke notes-20241020.pdf Weekly Notes Readings-20241020.pdf Weekly Readings Post expires at 8:10am on Monday October 20th, 2025

Dear friends, At last this week I witnessed Aurora Borealis. The picture shows more than could be seen with the naked eye, probably due to exposure time. I am so very pleased that I have seen this most beautiful phenomenon now after having been on family visits north of the arctic circle to no avail. What a wonderful world we live in! This Sunday I will be running my LOAF stall around cafe church and also during teas in St John in the afternoon. Please come and see what is on offer (no obligations) for Christmas baking and day-to-day goodies. God bless, Dineke van den Bogerd notes-20241013.pdf Weekly Notes Readings-20241013.pdf Weekly Readings Post expires at 8:02am on Sunday October 12th, 2025

Dear friends, St Francis Day was last Friday: 4 October. In many countries this day is know as World Animal Day. Those who know their saints will understand why this day was chosen to celebrate the relationship between humans and animals. In this light we had the pet service in Ockley last week and we can continue to show our concern for animal welfare by being critical consumers when we buy meat, dairy and fish. Consuming less, but of higher quality standards (free range, organic etc) will not harm us and improve living standards of farm animals no end. God bless, Dineke van den Bogerd notes-20241006.pdf Weekly Notes Readings-20241006.pdf Weekly Readings Post expires at 8:22am on Sunday October 5th, 2025

Dear friends, This week I picked up this clock from a service. It hadn’t run for decades and I’m pleased it is well again after some tlc and repairs. Apparently clocks need a service every 60 years so someone else will have to worry about the next one. Does that sound a bit like church life? We must not worry too much about how things will be many years from now but in the meantime we must do what we can to shine a light in our community. On this note I invite you all to come to church whenever you can (even when the parish service is on the other side of the A24) and do all you can to strengthen our part of the body of Christ, knowing that none of us is more important than the others and the baton will be passed to coming generations. God bless, Dineke van den Bogerd notes-20240929.pdf Weekly Notes Readings-20240929.pdf Weekly Readings Post expires at 9:42am on Sunday September 28th, 2025

Dear friends, This month is creation tide and part of it is Harvest Festival. Also part of this big picture is the fact that both our churches are registered ECO churches. As such we aim to buy in Fair Trade and Organic food and cleaning stuff. The coffee in St John is Cafe Direct, which is both organic and Fair Trade. I supply this at cost along with washing up liquid and other cleaning products. When you buy supplies for either of our churches PLEASE buy LOAF. If you struggle to find it just get in touch and I will supply at cost. It would be so nice if one (or both) of our churches could reach Silver level soon and this is one of the things we can do to reach it. The cyclamen in St John church yard were irresistible earlier this week. God bless, Dineke notes-20240922.pdf Weekly Notes Readings-20240922.pdf Weekly Readings Post expires at 8:29am on Sunday September 21st, 2025

Dear friends, This week we went up to London and passed All Hallows, which turns out to be the oldest church in town. It’s just north of the Tower and I highly recommend a visit. One of the joys of no longer commuting to London is being able to travel up, explore at leisure and appreciate so much that one never sees as a tourist or an office worker. I hope you all enjoy the fine autumn weather after the hailstorms. God bless, Dineke van den Bogerd notes-20240915.pdf Weekly Notes Readings-20240915.pdf Weekly Readings Post expires at 8:34am on Sunday September 14th, 2025

Dear friends, September arrived in style, what weather we’ve been having these last days! I saw the wedding party spill out of St Margaret’s between downpours. Let’s hope they had a wonderful time despite the weather. God bless, Dineke van den Bogerd notes-20240908.pdf Weekly Notes Readings-20240908.pdf Weekly Readings Post expires at 8:33am on Sunday September 7th, 2025

Dear friends, This Sunday we have the start of the meteorological autumn. Children and teenagers are getting ready for a new year in school and freshers week is not far off. We must enjoy the coming weeks when there is still more daylight than night time. The weather is lovely so do enjoy it while you can! The picture today is of a small herd of cows and calves we came across on our walk on Bank holiday Monday. God bless, Dineke van den Bogerd notes-20240901.pdf Weekly Notes Readings-20240901.pdf Weekly Readings Post expires at 4:42pm on Saturday August 30th, 2025

Dear friends, The Capel Show is over and was very successful. The church burger stall made a good amount of money so congratulations to all the volunteers for preparing and selling on the day! The overall show was very busy. It’s early days but we are on track to make more than £20,000.00 a large part of which will go to the Friends of Capel church. The picture is of a left-over of the roadworks that closed the Horsham Road up until the day before the show but the 93 bus was running again on show day. It was lovely to have some wonderful weather in the last few weeks and we are set to have some more later this week so the summer did not disappoint after all. God bless, Dineke van den Bogerd notes-20240825.pdf Weekly Notes Readings-20240825.pdf Weekly Readings Post expires at 11:50am on Sunday August 24th, 2025

Dear friends, Yesterday was our busiest Capel Show ever. I’m sure you will understand that it will take a while for the final figures to be available but the committee is very pleased indeed. The church burger stall did very well so some badly necessary funds coming to the parish and the friends of St John plus all the charities and local clubs that help out and profit. The committee is very grateful for you support and prayers. God bless, Dineke van den Bogerd notes-20240818.pdf Weekly Notes Readings-20240818.pdf Weekly Readings Post expires at 5:52am on Monday August 18th, 2025

Dear friends, The annual Capel Show will be upon us coming Saturday. The forecast looks good and we hope to welcome many people to this festive event. Please come and support the local community by visiting or volunteering. All funds raised benefit St John, our parochial parish and many local clubs and charities. The picture today is of a berry shrub in our garden, which looks a bit like a cross between a bramble and a raspberry bush. I hope there will be some berries left by the end of the week to enter in the Capel horticultural show. God bless, Dineke notes-20240811.pdf Weekly Notes Readings-20240811.pdf Weekly Readings Post expires at 2:11pm on Sunday August 10th, 2025

Dear friends, It was a good thing that the window was not open at the time or she would have come in! Only two weeks to the Capel show and the committee is working hard to finalise all preparations to get us ready for the last push to set everything up in the week leading up to the show on 17 August. It’s great that the church is fundraising on the day and it requires a lot of volunteers to make the burger stall into a success so please sign up for a couple of hours if you can. God bless, Dineke notes-20240804.pdf Weekly Notes Readings-20240804.pdf Weekly Readings Post expires at 9:32am on Sunday August 3rd, 2025