Church News

Yet another blanket for Ukraine has been created by our churches and presented to Barley from Sidcot School.

Easter Sunday was celebrated in each of our three churches with services of Holy Communion, beautiful flowers, music and of course Easter Eggs!

It was ‘eyes down’ on Friday 28th March for a fun evening of Bingo at the Church Centre, an event organised by the St James’s Events Team.

Hot dogs and snacks were enjoyed in the interval which was followed by a game of ‘Play Your Cards Right’ and a round of ‘Heads and Tails.’

Together with a raffle the event raised over £440 for church funds but more importantly a good time was had by all and we welcomed several newcomers to the village to the event.

On Friday 31st January the St James’s Events team held a Winter Warmer Quiz attended by 13 very competitive teams representing groups from across the village and our churches.

The questions were themed around winter, hot and cold and covered a range of subjects including general knowledge, music, sport, food and drink, Shakespeare, film and famous people.

Our ‘Find the Link’ had teams scratching their heads to link the following: Green, Chestnuts, Fox, Fullers, Observatory, Well, Apple, Guernsey, Church and Parsons. The answer? They are all names of roads in Winscombe so you could warm yourself up by taking a walk around them!

All the questions appeared on the big screen and each round started with a bonus question linked to a video or audio clip.

A table top quiz challenged teams to solve anagrams, homophones and identify famous landmarks in the snow.

The main quiz was won by the ‘Quizzy Rascals’ with just half a point separating first and second places.

As well as being a really enjoyable evening , the quiz raised £550 for church funds

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.