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The Online Circle

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Latest News, What's On & Announcements

Contents

Events News
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Sunday Evening Prayer Timetable

​16 February, 18.00 Sunday Evening Prayer

Presenter: James Westlake​​

23 February, 18.00 Sunday Evening Prayer

Presenter: Anna â€‹â€‹

​02 March, 18.00 Sunday Evening Prayer

Presenter: Janet Lees​​

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Brighton: Monks in the City

MONK TALKS  Tuesday 18 February 2025

“Humility” Chapter 7 in the Rule of St Benedict is the longest chapter in the Rule.  St Benedict rates it highly.  This talk is given by Fr Richard Carter, Associate Vicar of St Martin in the Fields, Leader of the Nazareth Community and formerly chaplain to the Melanesian Brotherhood, an Anglican religious community in the south Pacific.

18.00 Evening Prayer, 18.30 simple supper, 19.00 talk begins; concludes with the prayer of Compline at 20:15.

This event will be held in the Fitzherbert Community Hub adjacent to St John the Baptist, 2 Bristol Road, Kemptown, Brighton BN2 1AP.

Martin Hollins RIP Memorial Service

Friday 21st February - 14.00

Martin Hollins' memorial service will be at Worth Abbey on Friday 21st February at 2pm (with an option to arrive early for monastic Midday Prayer at 1pm). There will be tea, coffee and cake in the Narthex afterwards. Please RSVP by 10th February: 

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https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfudXDkxlLQ4oQFhhbyve6IJpwO-6xiwr9Q3YHJOLnQJPGsuQ/viewform

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Dear Members, Seekers and Friends,

 

We have just received the sad news that Martin Hollins died on Sunday afternoon at home. His family were around his bed, as he died gently and peacefully. Martin Hollins RIP 9/4/1944 – 12/1/2025.

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Martin and Sheila visited the Lay Community for the first time at Worth Abbey Easter 1977, with their children Kathryn, Nigel and Emily (Abigail was born a year later), having been invited by Brother James (now Father James). They came every Easter to start with, gradually getting more involved with the community. In the 1980s, with a few friends in the LC, they started running a families’ week for families with a disabled child; and were founder members of the Dumbledon prayer group. Martin took on more roles over the years including being on Council; being in a working group with Fr Patrick, to consider how St Bruno’s should be adapted to suit the LC when our residential community moved there from the original ‘LC building’; helping write the LCSB constitution when we became an independent community; and more recently editing (and writing parts of) a History of the LCSB (more details here: https://www.lcsb.uk/history). He was brought up an Anglican but converted to Catholicism in 1985, influenced by both his involvement in the family’s parish and in the Lay Community. Worth Abbey and the Lay Community have always been an important part of Martin, Sheila and family’s lives.


Martin was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease a couple of years ago, and he has deteriorated a lot over the last year, losing strength, speech and mobility. He was still going for a daily walk a couple of months ago but has only been able to walk around the house since then (with occasional outside trips using a wheelchair). He has kept so positive and joyful, giving everyone lovely smiles. He really valued his visits from family and friends, and chats online with LCSB friends at Vespers. On Sunday, late morning, all the family gathered around his bedside, singing his favourite hymns and praying with him. He died peacefully at 2pm. 


Please keep all the family in your prayers at this time. If you would like to send cards to the family, Sheila’s address is: Savannah, Little Bookham Street, Bookham, Leatherhead, Surrey KT23 3BU.


We will keep you updated when we have details about the funeral arrangements.

 

Best wishes,  love and prayers Adam

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Teens Weekend, 21 - 23 February 2025

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For anyone in Year 7 or upwards, a residential event at St Bruno's, Worth Abbey, Paddockhurst Lane, near Crawley, West Sussex RH10 4SB.  Non-residential places also available if you live locally.

The theme for this weekend is ‘Word!’ - Part 1. A whistle-stop tour of the Old Testament...
Inspiring talks // Uplifting prayer // Fun activities // Space to just be // and more...

Booking deadline: Friday 7 February 2025

Costs:   £50 per night. £100 for weekend. 2 monthly payments of £50 also available. Non-residential rate: £15 per day (including lunch), or £25 per day (including lunch and supper).

Subsidies are also available. Please email Sharon for details.

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Men's Bible Study: Peter    24 February 2025

Led by:  Adam Simon

If you haven't seen the Men's Bible Study  this is an impressive programe!

 

​You lucky men! And if any men haven't joined this group you really should - just have a look at their web page which includes their full 2025 programme. Why not give it a try in January and find out more about this study programme. ​

The Men's Bible Study programme is managed by Jim Rae.

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Brighton: Monks in the City

SATURDAY SANCTUARY  1 March 2025

What can St Benedict’s instructions to the Infirmarian teach us about care? 

 

This morning is led by Brother Anthony who for 10 years was Infirmarian at Worth Abbey, in charge of the care and health of the Community.

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A morning of fellowship, reflection, prayer and silence. 10.10am – 12.10pm

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This event will be held in the Fitzherbert Community Hub adjacent to St John the Baptist, 2 Bristol Road, Kemptown, Brighton BN2 1AP.

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Northern Group Meeting     1 & 2 March 2025

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Peter and Cathy Stott will be talking to the Northern Group about their work with Sustainable Tiverton on Saturday afternoon and will then lead us on Sunday in a discussion which Adam has asked for about the qualities we seek in the next leader of the community. Chris Dobson will be the chaplain.

Please make your bookings with Alain Anderton northerngroup@lcsb.uk. All are welcome.​

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Silent Prayer for Sick Members Friday 7 March 2025

Every 1st Friday of the month from 20.45 - 21.15 we hold a session of silent prayer, for community members who are ill.

The next Friday will be 7th March.

This takes place in the Candle Chapel. You can see more detail here​.​

If you would like your name to be added to this list please email Stephen Serpell at prayerforsick-1st-friday@lcsb.uk.

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Southern Group Meeting     8 March 2025

​A Heroine for our Time

We will be acknowledging International Women's Day with a talk on the subject of a woman within the church whose vision, beliefs and strength provide inspiration to us in the 21st century.

In the Merstham / Redhill area. More information concerning the venue and speaker will be posted shortly.

​Please Please let Liz Brereton know before 15th February if you can come and make your bookings with Liz Brereton southerngroup@lcsb.uk.

All are welcome.​

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Northern Lights Group Meeting     9 March 2025, 16.45

Online in St Bede's

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The Northern Lights Group meet on the second Sunday of each month, online in St Bede's.

All are welcome.​

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East Anglia Group Meeting     22 March 2025

in Woodbridge, Suffolk

At Chris Dobson's house,  gathering at 1pm and spending day together, finishing with vespers.​

​Please make your bookings with Jane Brooker

All are welcome.​

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TIME TO SIGN UP! The LCSB Young Adults Walk

 A Holy Week Walking Pilgrimage weaving the English -Welsh Borders for adults aged 18 - 35

Saturday 12th  - Maundy Thursday 17th April 2025

In this Jubilee Year of Hope when pilgrimage is being encouraged for us all, why not join us on a walking pilgrimage to our Easter Retreat at Cefn Lea?  It is a wonderful opportunity to experience community and spend quiet time whilst enjoying beautiful countryside as we carry a cross towards Cefn Lea.

The current plan is to meet in Wolverhampton on Saturday 12th April in the evening, and start walking on the morning of Palm Sunday.  We will walk between 11 and 16 miles (18 to 26km) a day, arriving at Cefn Lea on Maundy Thursday. Provisional accommodation is as follows:

 

Saturday night - Tettenhall, Wolverhampton

Sunday night - Norton, Shifnal

Monday night - Much Wenlock, Shropshire 

Tuesday night - Church Stretton, Shropshire

Wednesday night - Bishop's Castle, Shropshire

The cost is likely to be around £80 - £100 based on previous experience, but no one should be excluded because of cost.

Click below to complete the Express of Interest Form (EoI).

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TIME TO SIGN UP! A Holy Week Walking Pilgrimage weaving the English -Welsh Borders

13th  - 17th April 2025, Palm Sunday to Maundy Thursday

In this Jubilee Year of Hope when pilgrimage is being encouraged for us all, why not join us on a walking pilgrimage to our Easter Retreat at Cefn Lea?  It is a wonderful opportunity to experience community and spend quiet time whilst enjoying beautiful countryside as we carry a cross towards Cefn Lea. We gather on Palm Sunday evening and will be staying in various church and village halls along the way so you'll need a camping mat/ bed and a sleeping bag. In several places the local Christian community welcomes us for a short service and refreshments.  Pip is providing a support vehicle so you will not have to carry luggage and so that you can sit out a leg if you need to.

 

It would be WONDERFUL to have a bumper group of people in this Jubilee Year! It really is a great way to arrive for the celebration of Easter.  You can also use it as a way of introducing a non-member who enjoys walking to the LCSB:  for many of us going on a Cross Walk was our introduction to the Lay Community.

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Easter - Cefn Lea     â€‹17th – 20th April 2025 

The theme of our Easter celebration is ‘Guide our feet into The Way of  Peace’. Join us as we once again invite the new life of Christ into our community.  We are pleased to announce our keynote speaker this year is Fr Liam Hayes, Director of the Centre for Ecclesial Ethics at the Margaret Beaufort Institute. 

 

Tickets can be booked here: LCSB - Easter 2025 Tickets - Eventbrite

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For any access needs, please take a look at the Cefn Lea access guide here

News Section
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Our Leader, Adam's trip to Rome

Adam and Barbara recently went to San Anselmo in Rome. Adam spent Saturday all day, and Sunday morning working with the Abbot Primate, Jeremias Schröder, who is the head of the Benedictine confederation (which brings together the 19 congregations of Roman Catholic Benedictines across the world).  The topics they discussed included the promotion of Benedictine life in the context of St Benedict Week and a project which the Abbot Primate has in mind for 2029 (the 1500th anniversary of the foundation of the first Benedictine monastery). 

You can listen to the podcast (button below), Adam Simon, leader of the LCSB, speakingwith Abbot Jeremias Schröder, the Abbot Primate of the Benedictine Confederation, in his offices in Sant' Anselmo, Rome.

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Extraordinary General Meeting - 8th February 2025

Dear Members

 

Thank you for turning up so generously - there were 93 people in attendance which for a Saturday outside of Covid is remarkable.

 

Thank you also for all the supportive words and feedback at the meeting which give a great boost to all of us, as we develop and grow in our mission and prayer life. 

 

As promised, I enclose the slides from today, and, if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me or any Council member. We are meeting next Saturday. 

 

With love and prayers

 

Adam

Dear Members,

 

In recent years, the Community has experienced a transformation - we have grown in numbers with 40+ new members, and our prayer life has flourished both online and in community gatherings. This is a real blessing. In this period we have invested in developing our young adult, family and teens mission, and in creating a meaningful digital presence through the website, blogs, podcasts and on social media.

 

This activity required additional financial investment which we achieved through using the seed money received from Porticus (a funding charity); benefiting from a significant increase in our members’ donations after the 2020 appeal; and reducing the level of our reserves.

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We are now at a turning-point where we need to address sustainably the needs of the Community that we have become and our aspirations for the future. We feel, therefore, that now is the time to return to the Community.  

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​​Council has recently met in order to review options for a plan which covers three areas – adapting the structure of the LCSB to our current and future needs, continuing to invest in resources to support the Community's youth and family outreach, and offering spiritual formation for the wider community. 

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Council has invited a working party to develop these options, and, given that these plans will require additional fundraising, Council has decided to hold an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) on Saturday 8th February online from 9.30am to 11.45am which all members are urged to attend.

 

The meeting will include a presentation on the plans from members of the working party and myself.

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Details about the agenda will be finalised at the next Council meeting on 13th January. We are informing you in advance of the date of the EGM (in accordance with the Constitution) so that you can make plans to attend if you so wish. More details will follow after the Council meeting.

 

This is an important moment in the life of the Community, and I pray that God will bless us in our plans. Please feel free to contact me or any of the Council if you have any questions, and I hope to see many of you there on the 8th February.

 

With all blessings, love and prayers

 

Adam   

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Surplus to Requirements

2025, Longdendale Press

Janet Lees

ISBN 978-1-0685628-0-8

Janet Lees writes:

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Some of you may know I have been writing a novel – my first. Of course it is about walking and the remembered bible, but it is not like my other books that have so kindly been published by Wild Goose (www.ionabooks.com )

It’s dystopia set in the future in 2050 in the north of England (further north than Wolverhampton). The main character is a 79 year old woman who has been declared ‘surplus to requirements’. It’s a book about ageism and ableism in our society and is as much a story for 2025 as for 2050.

I should warn you, it’s not a cosy story of the sort celebrities write about living in residential homes. It’s a bit grim in places; there are scenes of violence and some strong language. It begs the question, what do you think it will be like in Britain in 2050?

It’s also a book about the Rule of St Benedict. The book ask ‘Will there still be communities for vulnerable people in 2050?’ and it begins with a quote from the Rule. When Adam first asked me to write about the Rule I don’t think either of us thought it would turn out like this, but the book is about community, creating and sustaining it as well as undermining it.

My sincere thanks for all the support and encouragement of community members in getting it completed. It was published on Friday 31st January 2025, by Longdendale Press. You can order it online from the usual places or from your local bookseller, as a paperback (978-1-0685628-0-8)  or ebook (978-1-0685628-1-5). Please contact me if you want to know more.

Thanks to everyone who attended the book launch zoom for my first novel,

Surplus to Requirements.

It was great to see so many there and have a good discussion.

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You may (or may not have!) noticed that a number of those holding leadership roles are now using new LCSB email addresses. This is part of our current work plan to become fully GDPR compliant and just as importantly, to make working together online easier.

 

Now that so many people have LCSB email addresses we have created a separate page so you can find them easily. Click here to be taken to this email list.

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This link can also be found on both the Members' and Seekers' login pages.

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On Saturday we held an EGM at which Adam, our leader, set out a development plan to take us forward. You can read more about that and watch the EGM if you missed it by clicking here.

Following this members have begun to amend their monthly or annual contributions, or set up a standing order to do so in order to pay for the work outlined by Adam that will take us forward into the future in a more efficient and professional way focusing on building the community especially focusing on families and young people. We recognise that so many give their support also in non-financial ways which is just as important.

We invite you to read more about this on our MoneyMatters page which you will also find on the Members and Seekers Welcome pages once you have logged in.

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We have now compiled a Book of Remembrance for all those members of the Lay Community who have gone before us. These are very cherished former members of our community and we remember them most fondly.

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We invite you to visit it regularly and hold those who have died in your prayers.

 

Also please let us know if anything is not correct in the listings and we would like to add more photos and more information. If you have anything that you can add please just email Pip.

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The latest edition of Listen is out! What a joy to read!

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We have a prayer circle in the community where people who want to join are given someone else in the community to pray for regularly, for a year. 

 

This is a lovely way to build community.  If you join, you could be given the name of someone you don't know, or a close friend, or even someone you find a bit challenging - as you pray for that person over time, you might be surprised how you come to feel closer to them as a member of the community, and how your relationship with the whole community changes.  It can be a profound experience.

 

There are some basic rules to make sure that we protect people's information and respect their confidentiality:
 

  • The complete list of participants is not published.  

  • Person B knows only that Person A is praying for them, and they are to pray for Person C.

  • If you want to share any information with the person praying for you, you are welcome to do that.  But there is no need for you to share any information at all if you don't feel comfortable with that.  You don’t need to know about my health condition (for example) in order to pray for me – God knows all about it anyway.

  • In light of this, it is important that the pray-ers do not press the person for whom they are praying for information.

  • All sharing remains confidential. For example, if I ask you to pray for my health condition, you do it privately and never in public prayers of the Lay Community or any other gathering no matter how small, and of course, you never discuss it with anyone in conversation.

  • If at any time anyone feels at all uncomfortable about the contact they are having with the person they are praying for, or the person who is praying for them, they should get in touch with me or with the Safeguarding Team of the LCSB.

 

If you are interested in joining or continuing to be in the prayer circle, please Lucy Cleary know by 26th February. You can email me at prayercircle@lcsb.uk or fill in your details by following the 'Join the prayer circle' link on this page https://www.lcsb.uk/prayer-circle

 

I will be in touch by Ash Wednesday (March 5th) with the name of the person who is praying for you, and the name of the person for whom you will pray.

Hiking Trail

As we progress in this way of life and in faith, we shall run on the path of God’s commandments, our hearts overflowing with the inexpressible delight of love. 

The Lay Community of St. Benedict is incorporated in England and Wales
as a company limited by guarantee number 04838564.
Registered Office: 2 Egdean Walk, Sevenoaks, Kent TN13 3UQ
Registered Charity No. 1100638.

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