Our Remembrance service at 10.30am this Sunday, November 11th, will also mark exactly 100 years since the First World War ended at the “eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month” of 1918. There will  be an Act of Remembrance for all those who died, calling to mind particularly the 17 young  men from St Paul‘s who left Glenageary for the battle fields during 1914-18 and never came home. They were: A. Acton, R.H.M.  Bury, F. Carter, H. Dudley, J. Douglas, E.G. Coldwell, E. Harpur, J.D. Niven, W. O’Conor,  L. Orr, W. Phelan, T.E. Talbot, F.W. Rickets, E. Robinson, C.G. Sherlock, A.E.  Stokes and A.E.  Strong.

You are invited to participate in a time of quiet reflection as we remember those of our families and friends who have died at our Annual Service of Thanksgiving and Remembrance of loved ones this Sunday, November 4th, at 7 pm.  If you want the name of a loved one to be read out at this service but have not yet added their name to the list at the back of the church, you can also email stpaulsdub@gmail.com.
 Please note: The names of those who have died in the Parish since the service last year will automatically be read.

Handel’s Messiah will be performed in St Paul’s on Saturday, November 17th at 7.30pm as part of our 150th anniversary celebrations and to raise funds for Focus Ireland. The Occasional Singers, under conductor Robin Moore, will be joined by soloists Judith Lyons (soprano), Sarah Luttrell (contralto), Luke Horner (tenor), David Corr (bass), with Will Palmer on trumpet and Charles Pearson on organ. Tickets €15 (concessions €10) available at St Paul’s on Sundays or at the door from 7pm on the night. For information, contact stpaulsdub@gmail.com

The annual Service of Thanksgiving and Remembrance of loved ones will be  held in St Paul’s on Sunday, November 4th at 7 pm. You are invited to participate in a time of quiet reflection as we remember those of our families and friends who have died.
 If you would like the name of a loved one to be read out at this service, please add their name to the list, which you will find on the table at the back of the church or email stpaulsdub@gmail.com.
   Please note: The names of those who have died in the parish since the service last year will automatically be read.

All creatures great and small are invited to our annual service for the thanksgiving of the companionship of animals, this Sunday, October 7th, at 10.30am. The speaker will be Tina Lowe, who will be accompanied by her beautiful guide dog Forest.  Humans are welcome too!  There will be a retiring collection for the Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind.

We look forward to welcoming the Very Rev. Arthur Barrett (pictured below), Dean of Raphoe and a former parishioner, back to St Paul‘s as a visiting preacher at our Harvest Thanksgiving this Sunday, September 30th, at 10.30am. His family connection with the parish continues through his son Nathan, who is our organist and choir director.
 The church will be decorated for Harvest the day before, Saturday September 29th, at 9.30 am.  All help and materials would be very much appreciated.

As part of marking our 150th anniversary, St Paul’s is launching a community project to support the creation of a sensory garden behind a residential complex on Adelaide Road  run by Acquired Brain Injury Ireland, just a few hundred metres from our church. The garden at “Anvers” will be  used not only by residents but also by those who attend the ABII day centre in Dun Laoghaire, as gardening is a valuable therapeutic exercise for those recovering from brain injury.
 This garden will be the final phase of a development project  launched at Anvers this week. And this Sunday, September 23rd, Barbara O’Connell, CEO of Acquired Brain Injury Ireland will be the speaker at our 10.30am service to talk about what her organisation does to help people adapt to life after a traumatic brain injury.
 There will be a retiring collection after this Sunday’s service to kick-start our fund-raising campaign. A brain injury can happen in seconds and change a life for ever.  See the ABI website for more information abiireland.ie

St Paul’s Indoor Bowling Club is currently looking for new members and is holding an Open Night this Wednesday, September 12th, in the Parish Centre, from 7.30pm-9.30pm. Please come along and give it a try over a cup of tea. 
Indoor bowling is for people of all ages and is fun, sociable and can be as competitive as you want it to be!  We meet on Wednesday and Friday nights in the Parish Centre.  Social play is a very important for our members. We also enter (about four) teams in various cup and league competitions run by the D&DUCIBA which involves parishes around Dublin.  If you have any queries, contact David Pain (087 219 7512).

Congratulations to Linda Gunning who grew the tallest sunflower from the seeds given out by the Rector on Rogation Sunday back in May. She nurtured this Giraffe variety to a height of three metres and 24 centimetres (that’s 10 feet and seven-and-a-half inches in old money). The winners of the children’s competition were sisters and cousins, Kate and Natalie Peirce and Amy and Zoe Wood  – their tallest  was three metres, 20 centimetres. The children’s runners up were Annabel and Vivienne Harte. The prize for the best grower’s story went to Karen Lavery; it was an escapade that involved a dog and sunflower survival against all odds.
 The prizes were awarded during our annual outdoor service  (photograph below) and barbecue for which the sun shone brightly and there was a great turnout of parishoners.

It’s the time of reckoning for the sunflower seeds given out in church on Rogation Sunday (May 6). Prizes for the tallest plant and for the largest flower will be awarded at the Outdoor Service and Barbecue this Sunday, September 2nd at 12 noon (please note later time for service). All welcome to the service and barbecue; there is no fee but small donations towards defraying costs welcome on the day.
 Parishoners are invited to forward their sunflowers’ measurements (height of plant and diameter of flower -metric or imperial) to the Rector at garydowd@eircom.net on or before this Friday, August 31st.  If your plant is very tall please be careful when measuring it!  (And if it’s in a pot, measure from the soil up.) You may wish to send a photograph as well. And if you have a story to share about your adventures with the sunflower seeds since May you may like to include that in your email.
 Meanwhile, continuing the eco theme and with the bonus of a later starting time for the morning service, we have designated this Sunday Walk/Cycle to Church Sunday – so everybody is being asked to try to leave the car at home if at all possible.