BLOG and Social Media

Celebrating the start of Lent at the after-Mass tea and coffee time at Holy Cross church.

Come and join us next time!

#holycross #lent #community #catholicchurch #tea

The letter from the Bishop of Portsmouth regarding the sad closure of St Swithun Wells Church.

You can read this letter in a larger format on our website.

#stswithunwellsparish #catholicnews #portsmouthdiocese

An amazing view of the full moon with the silhouette of Holy Cross church, taken from the presbytery 🌙

#fullmoon #silhouette #brightskys

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FR RAFFAELE!!! #stswithunwellsparish #youthgroup #happybirthday

The Knitting Group!

We have a knitting group who are dedicated to knitting hats, scarves and gloves for the homeless.

The group meets on the third Tuesday of every month (next meeting 17th February), from 2-4pm at Holy Cross Resource Centre.

Everyone is welcome to join. No need to book in advance, please just show up on the day. Bring your own yarn and needles and enjoy some company and chat as you knit.

#knit #theknittinggroup #knitandbehappy #knitandnatter

If you haven’t yet registered your details with our new parish database, ChurchSuite, you can do so now, by following the links attached to these QR codes, or by following the links on our website.

Please complete one form per person. There is a separate form for adults and children.

#churchsuite #parishcensus #stswithunwellsparish

Church Flower Arranging! 🌺

This is an open invitation to a coffee morning being held at St Edward’s Church on Saturday 28th February 10-11.30am.

All are welcome, particularly those who wish to consider joining our flower arranging teams parish wide, regardless of age or ability.

We appreciate that we all have other commitments during the week, but we can assure you that on joining one of our teams, you will foster friendship, deepen your faith and have fun.

If you are interested in coming along to find out more, or just to watch several flower demonstrations, please contact Jean at jeanviola@yahoo.co.uk

#flowerarrangements #churchflowers #stswithunwellsparish #florals #community

Tea and coffee after Mass at St Andrews church on Sunday.

Come snd join us!

Our usual tea and coffee times are after Mass as follows:
Holy Cross: Thursday 10am and Sunday 12noon
St Edward’s: Wednesday 10.30am and Sunday 10am
St Swithun Wells: Saturday 6pm
St Joseph: Friday 10.30am
St Andrews: Tuesday 10.30am and Sunday 10am
Our Lady Queen of Apostles: Sunday 10.30am

Everyone’s is welcome!

See you there!

#stswithunwellsparish #tea #coffee #chat #company

The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, in Holy Cross. The church was filled with candles to symbolise Jesus as light of the world.

#holycrosschurch #catholicchurch #stswithunwellsparish #eastleigh

The Stars of Abraham love to celebrate God, but other celebrations are imortant too, like birthdays!

Happy birthday to two of our Stars of Abraham!

#starsofabraham #stswithunwellsparish #catholichurch

Our latest Voice from the Parish belongs to Tim, a successful musician and teacher, who plays an active role in our parish, as part of several of our community groups and volunteering in various roles.

Find out more on our blog!

www.stswithunwellsparish.org.uk/blog

#blog #voicesfromtheparish #parish #musician #stswithunwellsparish

Our *Good Companions* group last Friday. The children of St Swithun Wells Catholic primary school came to sing songs to the people attending the session.

What a lovely way to spend an afternoon!

#stswithunwellsparish #catholichurch #stswithunwellsprimaryschool #goodcompanions

A look inside our beautiful St Edward the Confessor church, in Chandlers Ford, with the winter darkness outside highlighting just how special the stained glass window is!

#stedwardtheconfessor #church #stedwards #catholicchurch #stainedglass

The dove, a symbol of peace. Made in today’s children’s liturgy.

#dove #peace #symbolofpeace #childrensliturgy #stswithunwellsparish

Preparing great food for this evening youth group… chicken curry!#youngpeople #chickencurry🍗 #stswithunwellsparish

Our Lady has moved!

We have moved our Lady at St Edward’s to a different position. She is now up front and centre in the side chapel and can be seen much better from other areas of the church.

The response seems to be very positive so far!

What do you think?

Our Lady used to be on the left hand wall of the chapel.

#ourlady #mary #stedwards #catholicchurch #catholic

Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me.

#bible #wordofgod #jesus #childrensliturgy

Today marks the baptism of Jesus by his cousin, John the Baptist. The Christmas season is now officially finished, and we begin the season of life in ordinary time.

We wish you all a blessed 2026!

#johnthebaptist #baptismofthelord #baptismofjesus

A letter from Bishop Philip on the close of the Holy Year.

#portsmouth #portsmouthdiocese #holyyear #newyear

Booking is now open for our Come and See Half Term club, which will be running from Monday 16th-Friday 20th February.

For more details, and to book your child’s place, please visit our website www.stswithunwellsparish.org.uk

And take a look at our blog for photos and the itinerary of October’s Come and See club!

Let’s hear from Aimee, a member of our parish, who is undertaking a very important and ambitious project in order to raise money for Meningitis research.

‘My name is Aimee Owen, and I am a third-year Law student at the University of Reading. Through my studies, I have developed a particular interest in health inequalities and how they disproportionately affect vulnerable communities. This has strongly influenced my choice to support the Meningitis Research Foundation.

Participating in the Kilimanjaro trek allows me to combine a significant personal challenge with the opportunity to raise both awareness and funds for a cause that I consider deeply important.’

You can find out more about Aimee’s journey and find out how to sponsor her trek on our website blog www.stswithunwellsparish.org.uk/blog

#kilimanjaro #trekforcharity #charity #kilimanjarotrek #meningitis

If you’re currently a member of the congregation sat inside Holy Cross Church this morning, you might feel something in common with this mop and bucket that was accidentally left outside the resource centre overnight… both are freezing! 🥶 😂

The boilers in the church are being replaced in the next few weeks, which means the heating is not currently working. We’ve got the electric heaters going on overdrive, but if you are attending Mass at HC in the next few days, best to wear an extra layer, or 5!

… or arrive early to get a spot next to a heater! 😂

#heating #winterproblems #babyitscoldoutside

#catholicyouth #youthgroup #youngchurch #hampshireyouth #hampshireyouthgroup

Happy St Stephens’s day to all our parishioners. We hope you have had wonderful Christmas celebrations with loved ones and we look forward to hearing all about your Christmases in the new year!

#stswithunwellsparish #christmaschurch #ststephensday

Merry Christmas from everyone at St Swithun Wells parish churches!

May your day be filled with happiness!

#christmas #thanksbetogod

And here it is! Holy Cross church, looking gloriously festive, ready for the Christmas services to begin this evening,

A huge thank you to the flower arranging volunteers at Holy Cross and at all of the St Swithun Wells parish churches, for all their hard work in making our churches look so festive and beautiful this week!

Happy Christmas Eve everyone!

#stswithunwellsparish #christmasflowers #flowervolunteers #christmasvolunteers #floralarrangements

BEFORE!

Stay tuned to see what our amazing team at Holy Cross church, Eastleigh, do with these magnificent flowers! It’s worth the wait! ❤️💚

#churchflowers #christmasflowers #christmaschurchflowers #stswithunwellsparish #christmas

This week’s Voice from the Parish is Melanie, who is a volunteer at Holy Cross Resource Centre.

‘My name is Melanie , I attend mass at Holy Cross church.

I volunteer at the church.

Every Friday , I clean the Resource Center, and once every 4 weeks, on a Thursday, I help with the tea and coffee which is served in the Resource centre after mass.

I am glad to be involved , it’s very rewarding. I get to meet and know other parishioners.

I have made new friends

It’s only an hour or so of my time, yet the rewards are many.’

Thank you Melanie for volunteering your time and efforts and for all the hard work you put into helping our amazing community!

If you are a volunteer and would like to be featured on our next blog post for Voices from the Parish, please send no more than 100 words about your role within the community, as well as a photo to Faye at events@stswithunwellsparish.org.uk

Some photos of our wonderful community, singing carols in Eastleigh town centre on Saturday.

They were raising money for the charity AVSI. You can find out more about AVSI and donate at this link:

Www.AVSI.org/en/support-us/donate-now

#charity #AVSI #carolsinging #eastleighcommunity #christmascarols

Photos of our Come and See October half term club are now on our website blog. The blog post includes some information about what the young people got up to during the 5 day half term club, including this wonderful trip to Dorset to see Durdle door and enjoy some fresh sea air at the beach.

To find out more about October’s club, please visit our blog at www.stswithunwellsparish.org.uk/blog

#parishblog #comeandsee #catholicclub #catholicyouthgroup #youthgroup #catholic #durdledoor #dirset #dorsetdaytrip

A pastoral letter from the Bishop of Portsmouth on the Priestly Vocation

#priest #priestlyvocation #becomingapriest #catholicpriest

Thank you to all of the amazing volunteers who helped make our St Swithun Wells Parish Christmas Party 2025 the best yet!

Delicious food 🍰
Fun craft activities ✂️
Perfect face painting 🎨
An excellent raffle 🎟️
Great games for everyone to enjoy 🎈
Beautiful music from our very own Fr Pietro, Fr Luca and friends 🎸
And most importantly, time spent with the members of our wonderful community 🤝

The Christmas season has definitely arrived!

#parishparty #christmasparty #christmascommunity

This week on Voices from the Parish, we hear from Brenda, who is a street pastor in Eastleigh! Here is what Brenda has to say on her role in the community:

‘I’ve been a street pastor in Eastleigh for 9 years .

I took on the role to help others but I often reflect on what street pastoring has give me.

The training was extremely professional and has been beneficial to me in many life situations.

I go out with a great group of volunteers from local churches who care for and support each other.

I find myself at the receiving end of sincere gratitude from those we have helped over the years and at the end of an evening I regularly thank God for all the blessings in my own life.

I have personally found the role very rewarding and would encourage others from our churches to find out more and consider going out with a team in Eastleigh as an observer to see if it’s for you.

Brenda’

If you would like to share a little about your role as a volunteer in the parish, please send no more than 100 words describing your role/a story about your role/an anecdote about your role to events@stswithunwellsparish.org.uk or Whatsapp Faye on 07356318616.

Yesterday at the Holy Cross resource centre, we had the absolute pleasure of the Little Flowers toddler group hosting some of the students from @stswithunwellsprimary.

We listened to some beautiful singing and then everyone decorated our lovely Christmas tree 🎄

Now everyone at Holy Cross is feeling very festive!
🔔 🎅 🎄

Thank you to everyone who helped make our resource centre look Christmassy!

#christmastree #christmas #deckthehalls

The evenings may be in darkness now, but the Grail Seekers group doesn’t let that stop them from playing some car park football ⚽️

#grailseekers #stswithunwellsparish #churchyouth #youthgroup

Sunday’s children’s liturgy.

Always a beautiful passage to listen to, and a calming activity to take part in ⭐️

#stjosephs #stswithunwellsparish #portsmouthdiocese #childrensliturgy

Advent and Christmas Mass times for St Swithun Wells Parish 2025!

#christmas #catholicchurch #advent #masstimes

St Joseph’s church in Romsey had the pleasure of welcoming Fr Donato to his first ever Sunday Mass in England!

Fr Donato is from the same fraternity that all of our wonderful parish priests are from. He is visiting for a week, and is giving a talk this very evening in the Holy Cross resource centre, followed by Mass in Holy Cross church.

We are all part of an amazing community at St Swithun Wells parish, so do join in giving a lovely warm welcome to Fr Donato if you see him!

#stcharlesfraternity #fraternity #stcharles #catholicchurch #warmwelcome

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All Posts

Advent and Christmas Notices 2025

A list of all the events you need to know about in the parish for Advent and Christmas 2025, including carol services, penitential services and Christmas Mass times.

St Swithun Wells Parish

Dec 1, 20250 min read

Voices from the Parish

Voices from the Parish, featuring a different volunteer and the role they play in the parish, each week. For more like this see our Instagram and Facebook @stswithunwellsparish

St Swithun Wells Parish

Nov 27, 20251 min read