Author: Jo Claridge

A new Parish Magazine covering Winscombe, Sandford and Churchill was launched on 1st. September.  And it’s FREE! 

A one off printed copy is being delivered to everyone who subscribed to the old magazine. At the same we are sending out email copies to people who have subscribed to the Church Newsletter during the pandemic. Please check your spam if you don’t see it in your inbox. 

From October, Signpost will be available by email and only those few people who are unable to receive it electronically can request a printed copy by calling the Church Office on 01934 844650, leaving a message including their full name and address.

A copy of the magazine will also be available to download from this website.

A limited number of printed copies will be available from our three Churches and the Church Centre plus a few local shops.

We hope you enjoy it and that you will want future copies. If so, send an email to  parishmag2@gmail.com to be added to the mailing list.

If you wish to contribute an article to the magazine please email parishmag2@gmail.com. The deadline is the second Sunday of the month prior to publication.

A slide show of the beautiful flowers created to celebrate Christmas at St James’s

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Are you ready for our online Christingle Service this weekend?

Christingle is always a popular service with families. Our all age special ‘Christingle Service’ will be available to watch on our Christmas Services page from Sunday morning.

You can make your Christingle during the service or afterwards. This is what you will need.

Small candles are available to pick up in each of the villages. Winscombe: St. James’s Church porch. Sandford: All Saints church porch . Churchill; from the Post Office.

There are also other resources that you can download such as a colouring sheet on our Messy Church page.

What do a dog dressed as a reindeer, a guitar, and an ‘It Begins in Bethlehem’ booklet have in common? – it must be time to record our Primary Schools Collective Worship Christmas Video! This video will be accompanying the nativity booklets our churches are giving to every child next week.

On Sunday 20th September Rev’d Andrew made the following announcement;

I am delighted to be able to welcome St John’s Churchill to our Church community of Winscombe and Sandford.  Archdeacon Adrian has asked me to take temporary pastoral and ministerial oversight of St John’s, whilst arrangements are being made concerning their long-term future.   St John’s has good links with Churchill Academy, works ecumenically with the Methodist Church in Churchill, similar to our approach in Churches Together, and has historic links with All Saints, Sandford.   We welcome them to our benefice in prayerful expectation that their time with us will promote the flourishing of all our churches.   I intend to work closely with lay ministers and retired clergy to ensure we are able to provide services at all of our parisheschurches in the future’.

During September we will be starting to hold services in St James’ Church Hall and on Sunday 20th September there will also be a service at All Saints, Sandford. Please click here for further information.

Therefore, St James Church will not be open for Private prayer during September but

All Saints Church, Sandford will be open in September from 11.00 – 12.00 except for Sunday 20th September.

N.B. Access into the Churches outside these times is not permitted except by members of the PCC Standing Committee making the arrangements for these ‘open for prayer’ sessions.

For our part, we will ensure that it is as safe as possible for you to visit the Churches by carrying out a thorough Risk Assessment and implementing the necessary control measures.  During the time that All Saints Church is open someone will be present to supervise those attending for Private Prayer.  Those parts that visitors touch (e.g. door handles, pews, chairs etc.) will be properly cleaned on a regular basis and at the end of the session.

An update from the Elizabeth Ann Charity

The Report below gives some idea of the significant blessings our donations provide to the people of Burlavaripalem, many of whom have lost their total income through government measures to curb Covid. The pictures above show the items of food and the queues to get the life-sustaining supplies for hungry families. I am pleased that, unlike some of the food distribution in India which excludes Christians, the food distributed by EAC is given, with Christian love, to ALL needy people in the village. There are about 100 Rupees to the pound, so each needy village family gets about £4 of food regularly supplied by EAC, for as long as funds allow.
 

“This early morning at 2 o’clock we went to the market and got 6 kinds of vegetables. This time the vegetables were a bit expensive. We started the groceries distribution programme after the church service at 3.30. This time we removed dal and Sooji and instead added ginger and garlic.

These are the items 

Onions.                   15.00 rupees                  Garlic.                     25.00 rupees 

 Ginger.                    20 .00rupees                Wheat powder.      38 .00rupees 

Salt.                         08 .00rupees                 Soap.                       16.00 rupees 

Chilli powder.         60. 00rupees                  Oil.                           100.00 rupees 

Eggs (6no.s).          20.00 rupees                 Biscuits.                  05.00 rupees 

Brinjal.                     20.00 rupees                 Ladies fingers.       15.00 rupees 

Cucumber.              10.00 rupees                 Chillies.                   10.00 rupees 

Tomatoes               10.00 rupees                  Beans.                      10.00 rupees 

Total.                        382.00 rupees

Everything went on well. All were very happy. They all have asked us to convey their thanks to you.

We also thank you and specially our Lord Jesus for using us mightily in this noble work. 

Best wishes, 

Vinaya Kumar 

Project Director.”

The All Healthy Living Centre food bank has remained available throughout lockdown, although not everyone has been aware of that. At the start of lockdown, 60 individual food parcels were made up and a few weeks later it was topped up with 25 more family ones. A few more have been added for large families.

Throughout Lyn, who co-ordinates the foodbank has been doing some emotional support for those who have had to shield, with a local response team. Although they were geographically out of the normal foodbank ‘catchment area’, they have been provided with a few food parcels too.

Demand is now starting to pick up a little, as people are beginning to getting out  more.

About a month ago the financial donations from our Church were used to do an Asda shop to top up. In addition Alliance Care donated about 6 bags of food they had left over.

Lyn says ‘Please thank your Church and all the congregation for its ongoing support, and as soon as  we are able, we will hold another coffee morning to say thankyou again.’