From your Parish Church

Into 2026 and finding our next Vicar.

Thanks to great support from the whole Trumpington community there was a happy atmosphere at St Mary and St Michael’s over the Christmas period. Starting with the Christmas Tree Festival we welcomed and thanked the army of volunteers who help us at a preview reception where Gig-a-Bull also entertained everybody. No one wanted to go home! Over the actual Christmas period, the church was full of joyful singing and celebration as we marked the birth of Jesus, our Messiah.

While the time after Christmas is often seen as a quiet period, the church remains in a celebratory mode right through the 40 days leading to the Feast of Candlemas on 2 February, when Jesus was presented to the Temple in Jerusalem. Shrove Tuesday (Pancake Day!) and Ash Wednesday quickly follow and are as early as 17 and 18 February this year, starting the 40 days of Lent leading to Easter Day on Sunday 5 April. Readers will be pleased to learn that we have already arranged a full set of services through Holy Week from Palm Sunday to Easter. Thanks to support from visiting priests we are certainly maintaining our momentum and indeed welcoming new and returning members of our congregation.

At Christmas the Archdeacon was happily able to advise us that the process of finding a new Vicar is progressing well. One key document is the Parish Profile which assists potential applicants in discerning whether they wish to apply for the post. It is available on our website for all to read. By the time you read this edition of The Trumpet, Trinity College, as Patrons, will have advertised the position and an interview date has been set. Provided a suitable candidate comes forward (and we know there is already interest) hopefully a new Vicar will be installed in the Summer. In the interim please continue to support and pray for those leading us through this period of Vacancy. We could not achieve what we have and will do without you.

— Edmund Brookes & Sheila Betts, Churchwardens