Dear Friends,

I wonder where you sit on the New Year spectrum? Many people like to see in the New Year with family and friends, others prefer to go dancing and hit the town so to speak. Others find it a really difficult evening, a painful reminder of times past when people were present who sadly are no longer with us or it brings up feelings of loneliness and isolation.

It’s one of those evening when popular culture suggests we should all be having an amazing time, loving the parties and the busyness and the rushing around.

Some years ago I remember reading the autobiography of the former Prime Minister, Tony Blair. He recounted the challenging circumstances of his New Year’s Eve in1999/2000. He confessed in his book that he is not normally someone who makes a big thing of New Year celebrations. Sometimes he stays up if family or friends are around, other times he’s happy to go to bed and treat it as any other evening.

When you are in public life and you hold the office of Prime Minister, sometimes these things get decided for you. On New Year’s Eve 1999 he was scheduled to travel on the maiden voyage of a new stretch of rail that had been designed to ease the congestion of London traffic and the Minister for Transport had asked him to come along for the photo opportunity. A big firework display had been organised on the banks of the Thames and he was to light the pyrotechnics before heading into one of the big concert venues like the Royal Albert Hall or the Millennium Dome to mark the dawn of a new Millennium. There was some underlying anxiety about how the new Millennium might affect computer networks so he had various experts working on monitoring all of that.

As he headed off on the new section of rail with some journalists and film crews, the train broke down. While the issue was eventually resolved, it was a very embarrassing start to what was supposed to mark a significant achievement for the Department of Transport.

On a damp London night, as he attempted to light the fireworks with huge crowds gathered to watch the spectacle, they failed to ignite. He had that humiliating experience of repeatedly striking lighters with nothing happening until eventually, with some assistance, the fireworks started to go off. It wasn’t the rip-roaring spectacle everyone had hoped for but more of a damp squib.

When he got inside the concert hall he describes wishing the evening was over and that he could be at home and, as midnight struck, he was in the Royal Box standing beside the late Queen, Queen Elizabeth II. The Queen, who was renowned for her dignity and graciousness, was standing there applauding the music when the band struck up Auld Lang Syne at midnight. In a now viral clip on the internet, the Prime Minister, not known for his rhythm or musical skills, made the impromptu decision to link the late Queen’s arm and try to do a little dance. It was a moment that had awkwardness writ large all around it. The Prime Minister knew he had embarrassed the Queen and yet felt the glare of the world’s cameras upon him and made this rash decision to involve the Queen in some New Year’s revelry.

When he eventually got to bed around 3am, his wife Cherie asked him how he had enjoyed the evening. She had seen little snippets on TV and unaware of all the mortification he had endured, suggested the evening had gone rather well!!

Sometimes we begin a new year full of good intentions about taking our diet in hand, getting healthier and pursuing some life-long goals. Others are more preoccupied with survival and getting through recovery after surgery or a round of gruelling treatment. Some are glad to say goodbye to the year that is past as it has been so difficult and painful for them. Others are keen to embrace the promise of the year to come. Maybe they are looking forward to starting a new job, getting married or the birth of a child.

Whatever your feelings on the New Year are, be sure to approach it in the knowledge that you will not be alone, that God is keen to travel alongside you whatever the year might bring . Sometimes we have lost sight of that fact, sometimes, because of circumstances, we have tried to distance ourselves from God. What about opening your heart and inviting Him to come in and walk with you into 2026?

In January there are two important things we are keen to do in church life. One is to offer an opportunity for people who are searching for faith, searching for God, to come together to explore that search together. We hope to use a resource produced by the well known theologian and pastor Dr Tim Keller called ‘The Reason for God.’ Over the course of 5-6 weeks we will have the opportunity to take a look at some of the issues together and it would be suitable for both people who have faith or those who are searching or who want to go deeper. Details of the starting date and time will be published soon once we finalise them, but please know you would be really welcome to come along and bring a friend.

The second thing we are keen to do is to update our Safeguarding Trust volunteers’ register. We are so grateful to all our volunteers who serve as volunteers with ministries to children, young people and vulnerable adults. Recent updates in legislation mean that all our volunteers have to be Access NI checked to assist with our programmes every 3 years. We are conscious that some volunteers have been in place many years and while historically one check would have been sufficient, now these checks have to be constantly renewed as we continue to offer ongoing training and support to all our volunteers.

I completed my own check with the police and Access NI about a month before Christmas to comply with these new regulations. With the help of our Safeguarding Panel, we will be asking all our volunteers to complete this process in January. All our volunteers have been checked and completed these checks in the past but we need to get them updated and we appreciate everyone’s patience and attentiveness to the importance of these issues. The Safeguarding Panel and the clergy will be available to help everyone involved to complete the process which involves submitting an application online.

May we take this opportunity to wish everyone a peaceful and happy 2026.

With very best wishes,

Jonathan Pierce (Rector)

Telephone 02890 79382