©Morna Simpson

Ian Imlay MBE...

                                                                          It is with great sadness that we announce the death of                                                                                Ian William Edward Imlay MBE on Monday 16th August                                                                                after a short illness. His passing is a real shock, though                                                                                he had become increasingly frail in recent months.                                                                                      Ian has played the organ; directed music and choirs, and                                                                            tutored generations of musicians from St Nicholas and                                                                                the University of Leicester over his 61 years at the                                                                                          church. It is great that he has been active and playing the                                                                            organ for services right until he was admitted to hospital. 

                                                                          To celebrate his 84th birthday he held a post-lockdown                                                                              concert in June this year, a Hymn-nathon, playing 84                                                                                    hymns to fundraise for local charities for whom he raised                                                                            £1700. This was a wonderful last hurrah from him - a                                                                                    performer to the end! 

He was a much-loved member of St Nicholas, a wonderful musician, warm hearted faithful friend, playful soul, sometimes infuriating St Nicholas enthusiast. We miss him terribly and hold his wider family in our prayers.

If you were unable to attend his funeral, a recording is now available on YouTube. There will also be a muscial thanksgiving for his life held at Leicester Cathedral on Saturday 30th October at 7:30pm.

May he rest in peace, and rise in glory.     

Leicester Pride 2021...                                        

On Saturday 4th september we had a glorious time at Leicester Pride marching and serving throughout the day as part of Christians at Pride. 

With an array of delicious homemade cupcakes, lovingly decorated by members of the congregation the night before, we made our way to Victoria Park. Tables were dressed, gazebos were lifted and banners strung high alongside varieties of pride flags and soon it was time to make our way to the Curve Theatre to march alongside the numerous LGBTQ+ communties of Leicester. As we stood waiting for the procession to begin, crowds gathered and grew with people adorned with rainbows, dogs in neckties and tutus and many many balloons, banners and slogans held high filling the streets of Leicester City Centre. With the blessing of the presence of those with a corageous faith that boldly walk alongside their LGBTQ+ peers as well as the important presence of clergy visible in dog collars and purple shirts, we made our way through the city. With joy we celebrated the first Pride experience for Manuela our curate who with ever understanding patience and love wore a rainbow wig for (almost) the whole day. 

As the march reached the fences of Victoria Park's stage ground, the LGBT Centre Choir opened performances with glroious chorus, joined by Mel singing tenor. Our stall stood towards the centre of the grounds, and we saw many people come to talk and enjoy cake and sweets, often with a suprised exclamation of 'they're free?'. With the hard work of many of our siblings in Christ across the spectrum of inclusive churches in Leicester and Leicestershire, people were guided to prayerful reflection, offering up space to attach their hopes, thoughts, desires and prayers onto the cross. Throughout the day this wired cross fleshed itself into life with the technicolour ribbons of conuntless prayers, dreams and cries as people ambled and browesed around the stalls nearby. Mel writes: "It never ceases to amaze me the courage and genuine care that so many come to the cross at pride with and I'm moved that we can safely hold that space for people." 

The day was filled with so much laughter, solidarity, hard work (and cake) and we are so thankful to have people from across many churches come together to make it happen. The hardwork of everyone involved really can't be understated, so a huge thank you to all who so generously gave their time and energy!

Happy Pride to all those celebrating and protesting in Leicester and Leicestershire (and beyond)!

Ride and Stride and Heritage Open Day...

Church will be open to visitors on the 11th September from 10am till 4pm for two wonderful events and a host of activities:

Ride and Stride

Ride and Stride is an annual event held each september which encourages people to gain sponsorship to cyle or walk between participating churches, and is a valubale way of raising funds for these historic sites as well as giving people the chance to visit these places of worship and heritage. You can cycle or walk between participating churches and you can ask friends and family to sponsor you either for the number of churches you visit or for a lump sum. Half the money goes to the church of your choice (hopefully St Nicks!) and the other half goes to Leicestershire Historic Churches Trust who are able to give grants for repairs restoration and improvements. Last year £37,900 was raised in the county. Please do consider getting involved!

Heritage Day

On the same day we will also be taking part in the Heritage Open Day. Join us alongside the many cyclists, amblers and ramblers for a variety of activities held in our historic St Nichloas, also from 10am till 4pm. 

A Word From Our Curate, Manuela... 

                                                                    Manuela has recently joined us at St Nick's as our Curate.                                                                            We are excited to have her here with us and can't wait to                                                                            see what she will bring to our church and community.

                                                                    We asked her what is something you would like to change in                                                                      the world:

                                                                    "The world is full of beauty and good things, reflecting our                                                                          good God. Nonetheless, sin and brokenness are also part of                                                                      the world as we know it right now and so I am sure all of us                                                                        have things we would like to change. One thing I would like                                                                        to change about the world is racism. For the past year and a                                                                      half, I have read, learned and thought a lot about the sin of                                                                        racism as part of my dissertation. Racism is at the root of a                                                                          lot of injustice and suffering across the globe. As Christians we believe that every human being is made in the image of God, no matter our ethnicity, gender, sexuality or any other way we might be considered different. Racism goes against this Christian belief and dehumanises black and brown people. God made us all different. In the ways we look different, see and experience the world differently and with our different cultures we all are fearfully and beautifully made in the image of God. I long for a world, which fully reflects this truth." - Manuela 

Ornithologist in Residence...

  Dr Alexander Bond is our Ornithologist in Residence

                                                         If you want to know a bit more about the research of the Adrift Lab                                                           (Alex's research group at the Natural History Museum and                                                                         University of Tasmania), and how Alex weaves it in with his queer                                                               identity, you can watch a talk from last winter for Scientific                                                                           Queeries over on this website.
                                                         You can visit Alex’s website, and follow him on Twitter                                                                                  @TheLabAndField. 

Services...

We are currently meeting in person and on zoom - alternating between the weel. Please check the calendar on our What's On page to see our events and services. Services that will be held on Zoom can be accessed via a link - please email or get in touch via the Contact Us form for this.  To recieve the weekly newsletter please get in contact and ask to be signed up to the mailing list. You can also stay up to date via our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages.