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In Brief

Next Service:

16th August at 10:30 am.

Morning Prayer
(Tenth Sunday after Trinity)

Diocesan Magazine

Click here to visit the Exeter Diocese website

A link to the magazine is available on the Home page.

Safeguarding

View our Safeguarding policy

Diocese of Exeter Safeguarding contacts

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After 19 Sundays without congregations gathering, St Paul's held its first service in church on Sunday 2nd August 2020. It was in the format of Morning Prayer and the 11 worshippers all wore face coverings - but it was good to be back in church! Image courtesy of Charles Waldron 2nd August 2020.
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Coronavirus restrictions eased from 13th June 2020, allowing the church to reopen for private prayer for the first time since March. Here, on Wednesday 24th June 2020, Hazel Price (left) and Emma Waldron wait in the porch to welcome anyone wishing to come into the church and to ensure that social distancing and hygiene rules are observed. Image courtesy of Charles Waldron 24th June 2020.
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In Brief

Next Service:

16th August at 10:30 am.

Morning Prayer
(Tenth Sunday after Trinity)

Diocesan Magazine

Click here to visit the Exeter Diocese website

A link to the magazine is available on the Home page.

Safeguarding

View our Safeguarding policy

Diocese of Exeter Safeguarding contacts

Recent Images Highslide JS
After 19 Sundays without congregations gathering, St Paul's held its first service in church on Sunday 2nd August 2020. It was in the format of Morning Prayer and the 11 worshippers all wore face coverings - but it was good to be back in church! Image courtesy of Charles Waldron 2nd August 2020.
Highslide JS
Coronavirus restrictions eased from 13th June 2020, allowing the church to reopen for private prayer for the first time since March. Here, on Wednesday 24th June 2020, Hazel Price (left) and Emma Waldron wait in the porch to welcome anyone wishing to come into the church and to ensure that social distancing and hygiene rules are observed. Image courtesy of Charles Waldron 24th June 2020.
More Images
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Welcome to the website for St Paul's Church, the Church of England church for the parish of Landkey.

The tranquil village of Landkey is situated just three miles from the busy market town of Barnstaple in North Devon. With a growing population in excess of 2000, a strong sense of community exists within the village and, of this, the church is an important part. As well as offering regular Christian worship, the church provides valuable links to other areas of the community such as the local Primary School and the Mothers' Union.

St Paul's is a friendly church in which the Christian message is heard regularly by a congregation of around 25 worshippers. All are welcome to attend our services.

Coronavirus Procedures

Services have restarted!

Please note that news items updated recently are highlighted in yellow.

After over four months (19 Sundays) without congregations gathering at St Paul's, we were able to hold our first service on Sunday 2nd August 2020. It was in the format of Morning Prayer as we feel that the offering of Holy Communion is a step too far at the moment in the effort to limit the possibility of spreading Covid-19. However, with the help of his wife, Kerry, Revd Shaun had prepared a slideshow of the Order of Service which was projected on to a screen. Hymns had been downloaded and were played via the sound system.

There were 11 in the congregation, an ideal number for the first service since the easing of Lockdown and everyone wore a face covering. The wearing of face coverings was "strongly advised" at the time when this service was held but will be mandatory from 8th August 2020. It is not especially comfortable wearing a face covering for the duration of a service, especially for those of us for whom steamed-up glasses is a matter to contend with (!), but seems a small price to pay for being able to attend church.

Services will continue to be held on Sundays at 10:30am with the next one due to take place on 16th August: all are welcome!

Restrictions to limit the spread of Covid-19 will remain in place but this will not prevent us from extending an invitation to anyone who would like to take part in forthcoming services in their parish church to feel free to do so.

Worshippers can be reassured that we have carried out a "Covid-safe" Risk Assessment and we will be adhering to  guidelines issued by the Church of England for this purpose. They include:

  1. Social distancing will apply (2 metres) but people in family groups are welcome to sit together.
  2. Hand sanitiser will be available and should be used on arrival and departure.
  3. The wearing of face coverings is strongly advised.
  4. We intend to project the service on to a screen to avoid the need for Orders of Service or hymn books. At present, singing is not allowed.
  5. The "Peace" will be shared by a gentle nod of the head.
  6. To begin with, we will not offer Holy Communion and services will be in the format of Morning Prayer.
  7. We will need to record the names and contact details of worshippers to assist the government's track-and-trace system, should that be required.
  8. Unfortunately, we will not be able to offer refreshments after the service.

Most importantly, we hope that all will feel welcome and happy to take part in worship in our church again. Once we have held the first one or two services, we will learn from those experiences to build confidence and, hopefully, implement further gradual changes towards normal worship.

Procedures that we have put in place over the past few months still apply and include:

  • The church is open for private prayer between 2pm and 4pm on Wednesdays. All are welcome, but visitors should be aware that social distancing and hygiene rules will apply.

  • In order to open our church for private prayer and for services we have undertaken a Risk Assessment and are complying with guidelines issued by the Diocese of Exeter for this purpose.

  • A weekly letter from Revd Shaun. The text of his latest letter, dated 28th July, is reproduced below under "News" with a printable copy available via the link provided lower in this section. In this edition, Shaun outlines procedures which are being put in place to enable church services to resume from early August.

  • Revd Shaun's Mission Prayer Programme on Facebook. Shaun live streams a service of Morning Prayer each day at 10am with a Eucharist service at the same time on Sundays. This can now be accessed through YouTube by searching for "Mission Prayer Programme".

  • Anyone in the parish (or beyond) may feel free to contact us about matters to do with the church, by using the Contact Us page on this website.

  • Visitors might like to visit the Church of England website where recorded services may be viewed. A link to their site is available below.

  • Online services are also available on the Diocese of Exeter's website. A link to this is also given below.

  • Financial matters. During this period while the church building is closed, congregation members will be unable to give to the church via the collection plate. However, the church continues to have bills to pay and we are grateful to anyone who is able to maintain their contributions by other means. We are happy to receive payment by any method but, in order to reduce the need to bank cash and cheques, St Paul's encourages giving by bank transfer or Standing Order. Please feel free to contact us for bank details. Again, many thanks for payments which either have been made or are intended to be made.

  • This website will be updated as regularly as possible with information on church matters including readings from the Bible and brief explanatory text on the current period in which we find ourselves in the church calendar.

Updated 9th August 2020

News

10th Aug 2020

Letter from Revd Shaun - 28th July

Dear All,

A warm Invitation to Morning Prayer at our Churches from 2nd August

Well, we finally have the good news that we have completed all the requirements to hold church services again! I say a huge “thank you” to all who have been part of the cleaning, roping off and preparation for this moment: we are now Covid-safe and are ready for services to resume.

It is my intention, along with the blessings and support of your PCCs, to RESTART SUNDAY WORSHIP ON 2ND August. Services will initially be in the format of Morning Prayer, just to get everyone back into the swing of things and, of course, these services are usually short. We hope to progress to services of Holy Communion as our confidence in holding services again grows. We have followed all the Church of England and Government guidelines and even gone a little further to ensure you will feel comfortable as you return.

Sadly, we are still not allowed to sing, but we will provide downloaded hymns that we can listen to together. We still can’t share a cup of tea and, at first, church will look and feel a little different, but we are coming to worship our God with joy and we can be together even if we have to sit further apart then we normally would. We will be asking you to wear a face covering for the service in accordance with current guidelines.

We are also very keen to hear from you in your individual churches. You can ask us anything or make suggestions for improvements: we are willing and keen to hear your thoughts.

We will continue to broadcast every day on our Mission Prayer Facebook page at 10am for those who are unable to come to church, just as we have throughout the lockdown.

The link to Mission Prayer is https://www.facebook.com/mission.prayerprogramme

It is a tentative beginning. We are doing our best and we warmly invite you to come and share the services together. This Sunday our services are to be held in Swimbridge and Landkey, next week West Buckland will be holding their service on a Friday evening and East Buckland will be at the normal time of 9.30.

Whilst we warmly invite to you come to church services again, we recognise that some of you will not feel ready to take this step yet. It is important that no-one feels under pressure to come to church immediately and, if you are concerned about doing so, please take a little longer to assess when the time might be right for you. Everyone is appreciated, whether they are in church or not!

So, come, let us pray together. With every blessing,


Fr Shaun

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