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As anticipated back in November, the 9am Mass will return to St Mary of the Angels on Sunday 23 March, with the return of milder weather, this Mass having transferred to Our Lady Star of the Sea for the Winter months due to no heating at St Mary of the Angels.

You will recall there are several outstanding building maintenance and repairs: 1) the Side Chapel, due to water ingress and stone erosion; 2) substantial repairs on two of the four the Cottages; 3) the complete replacement of the boilers for the Church.

These works remain pending because of the lengthy processes the diocese has to undertake given that St Mary of the Angels is a listed building and the significant workload that the diocese manages across the whole of our Shrewsbury diocese - including schools churches, and parish centres. The costs, to be borne by the parish, are estimated at around £165,000.

When building works begin, it is likely that the car park at St Mary of the Angels will be affected, with the presence of builders vehicles and perhaps a welfare unit and toilet to allow contractors to take their lunch and other breaks, operate a small working office, and have facilities for their own use. Although we will return to the Sunday 9am at Hooton from Sunday 23 March, I must share with you there may be some disruption over the coming weeks and months as each of these building projects are undertaken at a timetable determined by the diocese and the availability of contractors to complete the works. This may not be able to communicated with much notice, depending on these factors and the Sunday Mass may need to once again be relocated if the Church needs to be handed over to the contractors entirely and/or if the building works take over the site, limiting car parking to ensure spaces for the residents of the rental properties.

Possible Additional Sunday Mass
The 9am Mass congregation, which has increased in numbers whilst at Our Lady Star of
the sea, might be too large now upon return to Hooton. I may need to consider an additional Sunday Mass, especially as we work with the five schools of the parish to boost the attendance at Mass. What might be a good time?