Author: Jo Claridge

Our Church Room was built in the early 1970’s to not particularly exacting standards.  It has been suffering from rising damp, a leaking roof and damaged ceiling, and poor insulation.  It has a far from adequate kitchen, in what is effectively a large broom cupboard, and a very basic toilet.

Thanks to a grant from the Thatchers Foundation and a generous anonymous donation, together with reserves we have built up over the last few years, we are now in the process of carrying out a complete refurbishment.  

The structural repairs are being carried out and a new modern kitchen fitted.  The toilet is being enlarged and completely revamped to conform to disabled access requirements, and a baby changing station is being fitted.  At the same time we are taking the opportunity to upgrade the electrical installation.

The work is expected to take a couple of months, and during that time our Tuesday midweek communion services will take place in the Chancel of the church.  Our very popular Community Cafes will relocate to Sandford Village Hall on Saturdays 1^stFebruary and 1^st March during the work.  Our regular services will take place as normal in the church.

We will update you as the work progresses.

Every blessings

The Project Team

All Saints was packed for their Carol Service on Christmas Eve.

It was lovely to see so many families at our Crib Service. The children did a great job of retelling the Nativity Story dressed as the traditional characters. However it wouldn’t be the same without the annual appearance of the Christmas dinosaur . We also had two very lively Christmas puddings to complete the scene!

Reverend Jacqui led this service. The church was beautifully decorated with greenery and candles. The choir performed several special pieces and the lessons were read by different members of our local community.

This year the Benefice Christingle Service moved to the Church Centre.

This enabled us to provide two or three Christmas crafts as well as making our Christingles. The crafts were followed by a short service where the candles in our Christingles were lit and the lights were dimmed as we sang.

The Christingle Service is Primarily for children but it was lovely to welcome people of all ages to the service.

The tradition originated in Germany in 1747 and was brought to this country by the Children’s Society 60 years ago. The Children’s Society look after vulnerable children and at the end of the service, there was a collection to support their important work.

One big difference in Winscombe is that Christingles are usually made with an orange but as we are in cider country we use an apple!

A big thank you to all the lovely ladies who came to Wreath Making 2024, creating such a variety of incredibly beautiful wreaths! 

Thank you to all those who helped to advertise and sell tickets, opened their gardens to share a wealth of different greenery, catered and served the Christmas refreshments. Those who came to help set up and clear up.

Together, we have raised over £600 for St James’s Church Funds. This includes the money raised, at the Tuesday coffee morning, Christmas tabletop decoration workshop.

The St James’s Events Team organised a very successful community carol singing evening at the Church Centre on Saturday 14th December. Once again, the singing was accompanied by Weston Brass who brought along more players than ever and made a brilliant sound.

This year the Carol Singing was preceded by a Christmas Fair in the Church Centre jointly run by the events team and stall holders from the Saturday Winscombe Village Market. Santa made time in his busy schedule and enjoyed meeting youngsters in his beautiful grotto attended by some of his very helpful elves!

On Saturday 7th December, Badgerset returned to Winscombe for their annual Folk at Christmas concert which has become a much-anticipated part of the run up to the festive season.

Even though Storm Bert had done its best to disrupt things the band were not put off and a sell-out crowd turned up at the the Church Centre to be treated to a varied evening of music, dance and prose.

As usual, there were plenty of opportunities for the audience to join in the singing of some familiar carols.

Badgerset also treated us to songs and tunes drawn from the folk music and Morris tradition including well known carols such as In the Bleak Midwinter and Silent Night and some less well known ones such as the Halsway Carol, Chariots and Upon a Winter’s Night. It is always great to learn something of the history of each item from the cast.

A number of the ensemble disappeared during the second half to transform themselves into Morris Dancers and perform the Shepherd’s Reel, a dance from the ‘Borders’ region of Hereford and Shropshire.

Numerous instruments accompanied the singers including guitar, violin, flute, accordion, piccolo and mouth organ. They truly are a talented and versatile bunch.

The concert once again raised over £1300 which will be shared between St James’s and All Saints Churches.

On Sunday 1st December we welcomed the season of Advent with an atmospheric candlelit service of readings and music.

St James’s Church was decorated with seasonal greenery and candles for the occasion and the path to the church was lit with tea lights to welcome people.

The organist and choir played and sang the most wonderful anthems and led the congregation in singing specially chosen Advent hymns.

You can hear the choir singing Adam Lay Ybounden by playing the clip below.

Our Christmas Fair was well attended once again and we welcomed people who don’t normally attend our church.

Filled turkey rolls and soup were very popular in our tea shop as well as home made cakes.\The church was filled with stalls selling beautiful Christmas gift and treats.

Thank you to everyone who came along and supported our event.