Author: Jo Claridge

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.

Sunday Celebration!

Sunday Celebration is the new name for our all-age service at the Church Centre in Winscombe, which will take place on the first Sunday of each month at 10.00 am from January 2025.

The services will be informal and led by a variety of people including the clergy and several of our newly trained Lay Worship Leaders. We hope they will be topical and offer something for everyone.

There will be crafts and lego challenges for the children as well as video versions of bible stories and songs to enjoy.

All are welcome so why not come along? The first one is on Sunday 5th January which is Epiphany when we celebrate the three kings visiting Jesus in the stable at Bethlehem.

Our Family Holy Communion service on 17th November marked ‘Safeguarding Sunday’. This came at the end of a week when sadly, the Church of England had been in the news after the publication of the Makin Report.

We watched a video message from Bishop Michael in response to recent events which can be viewed by following this YouTube link.

Safeguarding Sunday provides a time when churches think about how they are supporting those who have been hurt or harmed and highlight and celebrate all the good work that is being done, in the majority of places, to protect vulnerable people and create safer cultures and communities for all both now and in the future. These themes were reflected in our prayers, reading and worship songs. Our reflection took the form of a poem especially produced for Safeguarding Sunday which was both thought provoking and challenging. If you would like to watch it, you can find it in the Church News section of our website https://winsandchurches.org.uk/church-news/

We are fortunate to have two dedicated Parish Safeguarding Officers in our benefice who ensure that all our staff and volunteers undergo the necessary checks and have training that is up to date and relevant to their roles. They also deal  promptly with any issues that may arise.

On Friday 18th October, St James’s Events team hosted an Autumn Supper with entertainment from the duo ‘The Fab Twins’. The Church Centre was packed with people who came along to enjoy live music from the 60s amid 70s played by Jon and Stace.

It wasn’t long before the dancing began and by the end of the evening you could hardly move on the dance floor! Meanwhile at the tables several of the more mature participants invented their own seated dances, so everyone joined in.

An Autumn Ploughman’s supper was served during the evening with a delicious selection of cheeses and accompaniments, and the bar was well stocked and much visited.

We also held a raffle and a tabletop quiz on the theme of music from the 70s and 80s.

Everyone had a great time and it was lovely to see so many different people from our local community enjoying themselves together.

If you missed it, don’t worry, we’re planning to do it all again next year. Put Friday 17th October in your diary now.

Services were held at each of our churches on Remembrance Sunday  as our villages paid their respects to the fallen with the two-minute silence being kept at 11.00 am.

In Sandford a large number of people assembled at the memorial to lay wreaths and listen to the names of those who died. There were poignant displays of poppies and artefacts in the church as a reminder of those who served in conflicts past and present.

At St John’s  a poppy wreath was placed on the two war memorial tablets in church.

 St James’s was decorated with knitted poppies and the church was full. This included over 40 young people representing Girl Guiding and Scouting in Winscombe, as well as representatives of many local organisations. During the service Scouts and Guides read the names of the fallen. Wreaths were laid on the altar before being placed on the churchyard War Memorial at the end of the service. These included one from our local MP, Tessa Munt.