News and Information
On this page you will find information about what is happening in the six churches of the benefice. This includes the weekly Pew Sheets which you can download or print.
Pew Sheet for Sunday 22 Dec
Pew Sheet for Sunday 22 Dec
New Year Letter from the Rector
2025, a new year just begun. There will be all sorts of things we cannot imagine today that will happen over the next 365 days. Some will be joyous, some will offer new opportunities, and there will, no doubt, be some challenges too.
We are now in the middle of winter, and spring is still some time off, but living here in this gloriously beautiful part of the world we are so fortunate to have stunning countryside and views to enjoy.
I am also astounded by how many beautiful and generous people live here. Neighbours who reach out to their neighbours in need, to those wanting some solace or consolation, to those who just need to see another face and have a conversation with another person, to those who a small generosity means the absolute world. Unusually in this modern world, we also still have so many wonderful community lunches, events and get togethers as well. I think, at the start of a new year, that it is perhaps a good moment to thank these people who work so hard to do all of these things. Who bring and keep our communities together, and without whose diligence and friendship and graft we would be so much poorer. In the middle of this year’s winter, looking forward to these occasions brings so much hope and comfort to so many; thank you.
In the Church year, the Christ child born in a manger in Bethlehem is being taken by Mary and Joseph to Egypt, Herod is doing ghastly things in Bethlehem, and having seen the hope of the world in His stable, the three wise men are on their way home full of joy. The shepherds, of course, have returned to their daily tasks of caring, watering, feeding and protecting their flocks in the cold winter of Judea.
2025 has begun, and over this month, I will continue to thank God for all of those people here who look after their neighbours and offer hope and friendship throughout the year. But also, at the start of a new year,and especially during these cold months, my prayers are also for you, for your families and friends, and to ask God to grant you the joy and the strength to meet everything that will happen this year, with hope and with love.
May God bless you all, over the course of this year and forever.
Every blessing, Dowell