In the centre of Eastbourne, sits Holy Trinity Church, which this year hosts an exciting weekend of events on the 15th and 16th of June. Following last year’s very successful Celebration in Flowers held to celebrate King Charles III’s coronation, this year the church invites you to come along and enjoy Songs of Praise, celebrating with 15 carefully chosen songs and hymns imaginatively and creatively illustrated in flowers.

Alongside the flower festival there will be a variety of events appealing to a large number of people – so that there’s something for everyone:

From 10am until 4pm on Saturday, Eastbourne’s very popular Pop-Up Market will appear in the Hall, with up to 40 stalls showcasing a vibrant and diverse range of local sellers and small businesses, including local car boot sellers, handmade crafts, antiques, collectables and jewellery.

On Saturday evening, Noteworthy Voices, the very popular East Sussex chamber choir will be entertaining us with an evening of beautiful music, including arrangements of many of our illustrated hymns, and a glass of wine (by donation) to be enjoyed in the interval.

On Sunday morning the church is inviting everyone to their 10:30 service to celebrate together, as they sing many of the songs and hymns, and to hear speaker Bishop Julian Henderson, the retired Bishop of Blackburn, thanking God for his beautiful creation and our place within it.

At 3pm on Sunday afternoon, Eastbourne Silver Band will be leading a rousing celebration of both their repertoire and more of the illustrated hymns, with cream teas on sale and a wonderful afternoon’s entertainment together bringing the weekend to a close.

Everyone is welcome throughout the weekend with a children’s trail, disabled access, refreshments on sale and free parking (for the church events) in Eastbourne’s town centre.

A special prayer time is planned for Monday – May 13.  It’s at 2 pm at St Wilfreds Broad Road, Willingdon. It is for everyone but especially those who can’t get out at night. It will last for 1 hour 15 minutes and tea and coffee will be served at the end.

You are invited to join in any day.  Just turn up on the day or register your interest by emailing prayeastbourne@aol.com and be sent a more detailed itinerary and timings so you could join part way round or at one of the stops for prayer.

This is just the start.  Look out for information on other prayer walking initiatives over the next few months including in the area where you live, work or worship, a youth prayer relay walk and even a prayer run.

There is a free bespoke Eastbourne Prayer Resource booklet designed to inform, equip and inspire you to pray for our town and area. Download from the website, look out for a copy at your church or request a copy from prayeastbourne@aol.com. Find out more at www.prayeastbourne.co.uk … or the facebook page.

11am, Sunday 19th May 2024

Eastbourne Bandstand

This Pentecost Sunday, join together with hundreds of Christians from churches across the area to worship and pray ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ in Eastbourne and beyond.

With guest speaker Glen Scrivener

Parent and toddler area (0-3s)
Kids-themed activities (4-10s)

An opportunity for Christians across the area to share the transforming gospel of Jesus with the town we love and call our home.

If the weather is bad, we’ll meet at the King’s Centre, Edison Road (opp. Morrisons) Eastbourne. BN23 6PT. If the weather is nice, bring a picnic and meet with friends from your churches on the beach for sea baptisms.

Bible by the Beach – Sunday 5th May at 7:15pm in Devonshire Park Theatre

As always,  the trustees of Bible by the Beach are delighted to invite local churches to join them for the Sunday Evening Celebration – free of charge.  We are delighted to have Jason Roach, Director of Ministries at London City Mission, speaking on “God’s word for the world”

However, this year, the celebration will be in the Devonshire Park Theatre and consequently there is limited capacity.  Therefore we will be issuing wristbands to those who would like to attend and we will be sending these out to local churches.   We want to make this as simple as possible:

• we don’t need names
• you might just want to put the wristbands out for people to take.
• booked delegates do not need a special wristband – they will automatically be admitted.
• there will be a relay in the Floral Hall
• seats in the Devonshire park Theatre will be on a first come/first served basis

We would be very grateful if you could give me an estimate of how many you might require please?  Otherwise, I can send a few out and am very happy for people to get in touch if they need more.

Many thanks for your help

Songs for Churches.   Bible by the Beach are delighted to welcome Ben Slee, Music Pastor at Christ Church Mayfair.  Come and join us for Ben’s concert “Songs for Churches” at 21:15 on Sunday 5th May at the Devonshire Park Theatre.  For tickets (£10 – but free to delegates)) visit www.biblebythebeach.org

Accommodation needed.  We have 80+ children and youth workers serving at Bible by the Beach and we are so grateful to those who provide them with bed and breakfast over the weekend of 03-06 May.  If you are able to serve in this way, we would love to hear from you.  Please email biblebythebeach@gmail.com

Counter Terrorism Policing are offering further personal security briefings delivered on Microsoft teams for elected representatives as well as local faith leaders.  The briefings will be taking place monthly in February, March and April and will then move to bi-monthly briefings being delivered in June, August, October and December. Whilst the personal security briefings will continue to be broken down into geographical areas and will be delivered locally, you are welcome to attend any session.

There will be an opportunity within the briefing to ask questions to the presenter, however any questions should relate to details contained within the briefing. Any specific questions regarding individual security measures or issues should be directed to your local policing team. For more information see link below

NCPP Letter for Personal Security Briefings (003)

Faith Security Training project
We are pleased to announce the piloting of the Faith Security Training
project. This is a brand-new course developed by the Home Office, in
consultation with experts from security and policing partners, that will be
a free learning resource for faith communities.

The course, which is five modules in total, is designed to equip
participants with essential skills to enhance the security and safety in
their places of worship. Participating in the pilot will give you the chance
to contribute your expertise and materially shape the project, ensuring it
is effective at helping keep communities safe when the project is rolled
out more widely.

We would like to invite members of faith communities, particularly people
in positions of leadership or responsibility for security at places of
worship, to attend and provide feedback on the content and delivery.
If you are interested in attending one of the pilot sessions, please
complete the expression of interest form here