Weekly Newsletter, Sunday 24th September, 2023

Dear friends,

I hope you are well. Firstly, I’d like to thank everybody who helped, served and supported the recent Open Gardens event in Basildon last weekend. Despite the awful weather at the beginning of the afternoon, it was on the whole a very successful event and lots of fun too!

This weekend we celebrate Harvest Festivals across our churches and we have a wide variety of activities going on. Firstly we’ll have a Harvest Holy Communion service at Ashampstead at 8.30am. Next there will be a 10am Family service with bacon butties at Basildon. We shall round off the weekend with a Harvest Evensong service at Aldworth, followed by apple pies and cider too - so a full Sunday of celebrations thanking the Lord for his goodness towards us. Please do come and join us.

At Harvest time we are always pleased to receive special donations of dry, long life and tinned foods, so that we can pass them on directly to refuge centres around our villages. Please either bring your gifts in advance of the services and leave them in the church, or bring your donations with you on Sunday and we’ll gratefully distribute them next week to well deserving centres local to us.

‘

Love and blessings,

Grant

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A special gift for Jen’s ordination

(2 weeks left to give)

Our curate Jen Green will be ordained to the priesthood on 18th October at a very special service at St. Stephen’s, Upper Basildon at 4pm by the Bishop of Reading - (please do come if you are free!).

We have organised a gift for her which is a silver home communion set which she will be able to use in her ministry throughout her life. It symbolises the work and role of a priest in sharing and celebrating God’s special meal with his people.

If you would like to make a contribution towards the cost of this lovely gift, we would be gladly welcome contributions using the button below. Thank you so much.

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SERVICEs THIS WEEKend

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Upcoming in the villages

See all upcoming events on our website

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Services next Sunday 1St OCTOBER

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Join us for morning prayer and worship

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LAtest episode of our Podcast

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Weekly Newsletter, Sunday 17th September, 2023

Dear friends,

Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters” (Genesis 2:8–10).

From this brief description, we note several things about the Garden of Eden: 1) it was planned and planted by God Himself; 2) it was mankind’s first home; 3) it contained incredible variety, with “all kinds of trees”; 4) it was a beautiful place, as the trees were “pleasing to the eye”; 5) it was a fertile, fruitful place; 6) it provided nourishment and nutrition, as the trees were “good for food”; and 7) it was well-watered.

The Vicarage garden is not any of these things. We are not quite as good in the garden as some of the previous occupiers.

However, we are very thankful for many green-fingered neighbours in Basildon who have been kind enough to agree to open up their gardens this Sunday 17th from 2pm-5pm for those of us who are inspired by nature to have a look around in an effort to raise some funds for St. Stephen’s. Please do consider coming out, finding some peace, tranquility and joy in many delightful gardens, enjoying delicious homemade teas, cakes and supporting the Church too.

We look forward to seeing you on Sunday!

Love,

Grant

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Thank you to all those who have agreed to open their gardens, make teas and cakes and gate-keep. We all at St. Stephen’s really appreciate your generosity.

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A special gift for Jen’s ordination

Our curate Jen Green will be ordained to the priesthood on 18th October at a very special service at St. Stephen’s, Upper Basildon at 4pm by the Bishop of Reading - (please do come if you are free!).

We have organised a gift for her which is a silver home communion set which she will be able to use in her ministry throughout her life. It symbolises the work and role of a priest in sharing and celebrating God’s special meal with his people.

If you would like to make a contribution towards the cost of this lovely gift, we would be gladly welcome contributions using the button below. Thank you so much.

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SERVICEs THIS WEEKend

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Upcoming in the villages

See all upcoming events on our website

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HArvest Festivals

As I am sure you’ll have seen, our wonderful local farmers have been very busy recently harvesting the fields. Some folks have been asking when we are celebrating Harvest this year and the answer is 24th September right across the whole benefice. We’ll have a celebration communion service at Ashampstead at 8.30am, followed by a Harvest themed bacon butty Sunday at Basildon. then we round the day off with a Harvest Evensong at Aldworth followed by homemade apple pies and local cider! I hope you can join us as we give thanks to God for his goodness and provision.

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Services next Sunday 24th September

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Join us for morning prayer and worship

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LAtest episode of our Podcast

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Weekly Newsletter, Sunday 3rd September, 2023

Dear friends,

Isaiah 26:4 says“Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord is a rock for all ages.”

In life, there are many things we should and can be unsure about — but God's love is not one of them. He never wavers, He is always there. If there is anyone we should put our faith in, it's the Lord. That’s what we’re doing across all our churches as we begin this new term and there’s lots going on so we continue to trust in the Lord as we restart lots of things:

Prayer and Worship on Monday, Wednesday and Friday begins again on Monday 4th.

Our Toddler group ‘Tiddlers’ begins again this Thursday 7th from 9.30.

We’re planning for Cafe St Stephen’s to be open every Monday alongside the community post office.

Naomi and I are launching The Blessing course at the vicarage over the next few weeks.

We have a brand new family communion service at St Stephen’s this Sunday with communion for all ages.

A little further ahead with have our open gardens event on 17th September and our harvest festivals all happening at the end of the month on 24th with something for everyone! So in all these events and activities we trust in the Lord for his goodness, provision and joy! Come and join us.

Love

Grant

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The Blessings Course

Discover how blessing releases the presence of God and freedom!

The Blessing's Course is a 7-week video based session which will be held at the Vicarage, Upper Basildon on Wednesday evenings beginning on 13th September for anyone in our Benefice. For more information contact Rev Grant 01491 671555 or grant@thebenefice.uk

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WE STILL NEED HEDGE HELP!

We are still looking for a green fingered hedge lover, or a group for a rota to share the load, with some free time and suitable equipment, to trim the Beech hedge behind the War Memorial, in the St. Stephen’s car park.

It is quite pricey to maintain if allowed to grow past its current manageable height. It would be good to have it cut back, anytime from now onwards. But, if you would prefer to donate towards its maintenance that would be appreciated too.

If you can help in any way, please let Jo Eley know.  Thank you.

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SERVICEs THIS WEEKend

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across the villages

See all upcoming events on our website

---

HArvest Festivals

As I am sure you’ll have seen, our wonderful local farmers have been very busy recently harvesting the fields. Some folks have been asking when we are celebrating Harvest this year and the answer is 24th September right across the whole benefice. We’ll have a celebration communion service at Ashampstead at 8.30am, followed by a Harvest themed bacon butty Sunday at Basildon. then we round the day off with a Harvest Evensong at Aldworth followed by homemade apple pies and local cider! I hope you can join us as we give thanks to God for his goodness and provision.

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Services next Sunday 10th September

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Join us for morning prayer and worship

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LAtest episode of our Podcast

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Weekly Newsletter, Sunday 27th August, 2023

Dear friends,

People often ask me where is a good place to start reading the Bible. My response is often “Any book, chapter 3, verse 16.” If they choose John, this works out really well for me. But there are many other books where you would find an encouragement from the Lord.

Ephesians 3:16 - I pray that from his glorious unlimited resources, He will empower you with inner strength through His Spirit.

Colossians 3:16 - Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly, as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.

2 Thessalonians 3:16 - Now may the Lord of peace himself continually grant you peace in every circumstance. The Lord be with you all.

2 Timothy 3:16 - All scripture is God breathed and profitable for teaching, for correction, and for training in righteousness.

Whatever you choose to read this week, I pray that you would be encouraged, blessed, and that you would know God’s love.

Love,

Grant

P.S. We still have space on the Blessings course starting on 13th September. If you would like to know more, or to sign up, please get in touch, or sign up below.

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are hedges your thing?

We are looking for a green fingered, hedge lover, with some free time and suitable equipment, to trim the Beech hedge behind the War Memorial, in the St. Stephen’s car park.  It is quite pricey to maintain if allowed to grow past its current manageable height. It would be good to have it cut back, anytime from now onwards. If you can help please let Jo Eley know.  Thank you.

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SERVICEs THIS WEEKend

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across the villages

See all upcoming events on our website

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Services next Sunday 3rd September

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morning prayer and worship is now having a break for the summer.

The Guitar is away

Morning prayer and worship will pause for a few weeks. We look forward to seeing you all again in September.

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LAtest episode of our Podcast

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Weekly Newsletter, Sunday 20th August, 2023

Dear friends,

I hope you are well. Today I want to invite you to join Naomi and me at the Vicarage for an exciting new adventure as we explore what it means to bless.

Beginning in September Naomi and I will be hosting The Blessings Course at the vicarage on Wednesday evenings. The Blessings Course is intensely practical. Key themes we’ll explore are:

• THE GOD WHO BLESSES/ Grasping the goodness of God

• BEING BLESSED/ Our Personal Discovery of Foundational Truth

• CALLED TO BLESS/ The Priestly Role of Every Christian

• BLESSING/ The Person in Front of Me

• BLESSING/ The Land

• BLESSING/ Areas, Regions, Nations

• BLESSING/ A New Life and a New Community

By the end of the course you should expect to be more confident in your personal relationship with the Lord; enjoying the experience of his blessing on your life; and effective at blessing others through words as well as deeds.

If you are interested, please could you sign up below. If you’d like to know a little more please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Love

Grant

---

are hedges your thing?

We are looking for a green fingered, hedge lover, with some free time and suitable equipment, to trim the Beech hedge behind the War Memorial, in the St. Stephen’s car park.  It is quite pricey to maintain if allowed to grow past its current manageable height. It would be good to have it cut back, anytime from now onwards. If you can help please let Jo Eley know.  Thank you.

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Saint Laurence is a church in the heart of Reading town centre with a unique vision for a whole community to reach unchurched young people. We have an exciting opportunity for a passionate and experienced youth worker and outreach lead to help us deliver our strategy and embody the church’s vision as we “live to see unchurched young people come to faith and be shaped as church together with them.”

To find out more about Saint Laurence, visit our website, stlreading.org To find out more about the role, watch our video

For a role profile and application form, go to stlreading.org/join-us

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SERVICEs THIS WEEKend

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across the villages

See all upcoming events on our website

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Services next Sunday 27th August

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morning prayer and worship is now having a break for the summer.

The Guitar is away

Morning prayer and worship will pause for a few weeks. We look forward to seeing you all again in September.

---

LAtest episode of our Podcast

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Weekly Newsletter, Sunday 27th August, 2023

Dear friends,

I hope you are well. Today I want to invite you to join Naomi and me at the Vicarage for an exciting new adventure as we explore what it means to bless.

Beginning in September Naomi and I will be hosting The Blessings Course at the vicarage on Wednesday evenings. The Blessings Course is intensely practical. Key themes we’ll explore are:

• THE GOD WHO BLESSES/ Grasping the goodness of God

• BEING BLESSED/ Our Personal Discovery of Foundational Truth

• CALLED TO BLESS/ The Priestly Role of Every Christian

• BLESSING/ The Person in Front of Me

• BLESSING/ The Land

• BLESSING/ Areas, Regions, Nations

• BLESSING/ A New Life and a New Community

By the end of the course you should expect to be more confident in your personal relationship with the Lord; enjoying the experience of his blessing on your life; and effective at blessing others through words as well as deeds.

If you are interested, please could you sign up below. If you’d like to know a little more please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Love

Grant

---

are hedges your thing?

We are looking for a green fingered, hedge lover, with some free time and suitable equipment, to trim the Beech hedge behind the War Memorial, in the St. Stephen’s car park.  It is quite pricey to maintain if allowed to grow past its current manageable height. It would be good to have it cut back, anytime from now onwards. If you can help please let Jo Eley know.  Thank you.

---

Saint Laurence is a church in the heart of Reading town centre with a unique vision for a whole community to reach unchurched young people. We have an exciting opportunity for a passionate and experienced youth worker and outreach lead to help us deliver our strategy and embody the church’s vision as we “live to see unchurched young people come to faith and be shaped as church together with them.”

To find out more about Saint Laurence, visit our website, stlreading.org To find out more about the role, watch our video

For a role profile and application form, go to stlreading.org/join-us

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SERVICEs THIS WEEKend

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across the villages

See all upcoming events on our website

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Services next Sunday 3rd september

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morning prayer and worship is now having a break for the summer.

The Guitar is away

Morning prayer and worship will pause for a few weeks. We look forward to seeing you all again in September.

---

LAtest episode of our Podcast

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Weekly Newsletter, Sunday 13th August, 2023

Dear friends,

I hope you are well. Today I want to invite you to join Naomi and me at the Vicarage for an exciting new adventure as we explore what it means to bless.

Beginning in September Naomi and I will be hosting The Blessings Course at the vicarage on Wednesday evenings. The Blessings Course is intensely practical. Key themes we’ll explore are:

• THE GOD WHO BLESSES/ Grasping the goodness of God

• BEING BLESSED/ Our Personal Discovery of Foundational Truth

• CALLED TO BLESS/ The Priestly Role of Every Christian

• BLESSING/ The Person in Front of Me

• BLESSING/ The Land

• BLESSING/ Areas, Regions, Nations

• BLESSING/ A New Life and a New Community

By the end of the course you should expect to be more confident in your personal relationship with the Lord; enjoying the experience of his blessing on your life; and effective at blessing others through words as well as deeds.

If you are interested, please could you sign up below. If you’d like to know a little more please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Love

Grant

---

are hedges your thing?

We are looking for a green fingered, hedge lover, with some free time and suitable equipment, to trim the Beech hedge behind the War Memorial, in the St. Stephen’s car park.  It is quite pricey to maintain if allowed to grow past its current manageable height. It would be good to have it cut back, anytime from now onwards. If you can help please let Jo Eley know.  Thank you.

---

Saint Laurence is a church in the heart of Reading town centre with a unique vision for a whole community to reach unchurched young people. We have an exciting opportunity for a passionate and experienced youth worker and outreach lead to help us deliver our strategy and embody the church’s vision as we “live to see unchurched young people come to faith and be shaped as church together with them.”

To find out more about Saint Laurence, visit our website, stlreading.org To find out more about the role, watch our video

For a role profile and application form, go to stlreading.org/join-us

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SERVICEs THIS WEEKend

---

across the villages

See all upcoming events on our website

---

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Services next Sunday 20th August

---

morning prayer and worship is now having a break for the summer.

The Guitar is away

Morning prayer and worship will pause for a few weeks. We look forward to seeing you all again in September.

---

LAtest episode of our Podcast

---

Weekly Newsletter 5th August, 2023

Dear friends,

I hope you are well. Today I want to invite you to join Naomi and me at the Vicarage for an exciting new adventure as we explore what it means to bless.

Beginning in September Naomi and I will be hosting The Blessings Course at the vicarage on Wednesday evenings. The Blessings Course is intensely practical. Key themes we’ll explore are:

• THE GOD WHO BLESSES/ Grasping the goodness of God

• BEING BLESSED/ Our Personal Discovery of Foundational Truth

• CALLED TO BLESS/ The Priestly Role of Every Christian

• BLESSING/ The Person in Front of Me

• BLESSING/ The Land

• BLESSING/ Areas, Regions, Nations

• BLESSING/ A New Life and a New Community

By the end of the course you should expect to be more confident in your personal relationship with the Lord; enjoying the experience of his blessing on your life; and effective at blessing others through words as well as deeds.

If you are interested, please could you sign up below. If you’d like to know a little more please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Love

Grant

---

are hedges your thing?

We are looking for a green fingered, hedge lover, with some free time and suitable equipment, to trim the Beech hedge behind the War Memorial, in the St. Stephen’s car park.  It is quite pricey to maintain if allowed to grow past its current manageable height. It would be good to have it cut back, anytime from now onwards. If you can help please let Jo Eley know.  Thank you.

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SERVICEs THIS WEEKend

---

across the villages

See all upcoming events on our website

---

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Services next Sunday 13th August

---

morning prayer and worship is now having a break for the summer.

The Guitar is away

Morning prayer and worship will pause for a few weeks. We look forward to seeing you all again in September.

---

LAtest episode of our Podcast

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Weekly Newsletter 27th July

Dear friends,

I hope this update finds you well.

Last weekend we trialled our new project “The Master’s Studio” at St. Stephen’s. This is an initiative to gather together creative people of all faiths and none from across our communities to share experience, to collaborate, to create together and have a space to explore the relationship between creation and the creator. It was wonderful to see the church building used in a creative way to host and facilitate such an event which brought people from all across the district and county. There was painting, music, writing, songwriting, composing all going on - I’ve included some photos from the day below. We are looking forward to planning a few more of these sessions after the summer so if you have a creative streak, we’d absolutely love to see you there so look out for future dates - God saw all that he had made and declared it was good!

This weekend we join together as one church family as the villages unite and share a joint service together which will be at 10am at St. Mary’s Aldworth. Absolutely everybody is welcome so please do come along.

I hope you have a lovely week ahead.

Love,

Grant

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St. Bartholomew’s News - Don’t miss out

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Whole Benefice SERVICE THIS WEEKend

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across the villages

See all upcoming events on our website

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Services next Sunday 6th August

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morning prayer and worship is now having a break for the summer.

The Guitar is away

Morning prayer and worship will pause for a few weeks. We look forward to seeing you all again in September.

---

LAtest episode of our Podcast

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Weekly Newsletter 20th July

Dear friends,

Baptism is one of the most amazing gifts that God gives us. It is an outward sign of an invisible grace. Some of us are baptised as children, some of us are baptised later in life as we find Jesus and wish to commit ourselves to Him. Some of us are not yet baptised (chat to me if you would like to change this!).

In the waters of baptism, be it a font, a river, or any other body of water, God washes away all of our sin and clothes us with new life. Baptism marks the start of a life long journey of faith where we can grow in our relationship with the living God. For all involved, but particularly parents, godparents and sponsors, it is a joyful moment when we rejoice in what God has done for us in Christ as we give thanks for our children.

Recently we had the wonderful privilege of baptising Amelie from Aldworth, in the River Thames from the beach at Lower Basildon behind St. Bartholomew’s Church. It was a glorious day and memorable in so many ways. Amelie inspired us all by sharing why she wanted to be baptised and then she said some baptismal promises to God. We stepped into the refreshingly cool waters of the Thames and baptised her by fully immersing her (photo below). As Amelie rose out of the water she was greeted with huge cheers and celebration from her family and friends, and even the wild swimmers using the river! It was both a moving and marvellous occasion. If you’re thinking about baptism, let me encourage you to take the plunge (bad joke, I know), as a first step in response to God’s love.

I hope you have a lovely week.

Love,

Grant

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Final Chance - Don’t miss the Summer Concert

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SERVICES THIS WEEKend

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across the villages

See all upcoming events on our website

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CAN YOU HELP?

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whole benefice Service next Sunday 30th

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morning prayer and worship is now having a break for the summer.

The Guitar is away

Morning prayer and worship will pause for a few weeks. We look forward to seeing you all again in September.

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LAtest episode of our Podcast

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