Saint Paul's Church, Landkey

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Christmas Tree Festival

Our Christmas Tree festival was a success again this year with eight local organisations competing for the title of Best Decorated Tree. Visitors to the church over the three days 13th-15th December were able to vote for their favourite tree and the standard was very high! These are the entrants with the voting results for the top three:

• Landkey Horticultural Society - first place with 24 votes
• Landkey Brownies - second place with 20 votes
• Millennium Green Trust - third place with 10 votes
• Swimbridge Nursing Home
• Landkey Women's Institute
• Landkey Village Hall
• Landkey Parish Council & Toddler Group
• Landkey United Fellowship

We congratulate the winners but also extend our thanks to all who decorated trees as their work was much appreciated and will provide a festive attraction in the church until the New Year. Although the competition has now closed, all are welcome to come along and view the trees.

Church open for prayer

We are aware that there could be people in the parish who might like to come into the church at times other than when services are being held in order to offer personal prayers.

Accordingly, we will be opening the church on Wednesday mornings from 8:30am when anyone will be welcome to come along for prayer in the manner that they feel comfortable with. A member of St Paul's will be on hand to talk with, if required.

Visitors will be welcome to stay for our Holy Communion service at 9:30am if they wish.

Remembrance

Members of St Paul's Church took a leading role on Remembrance Sunday, 10th November 2019.

The service took place at 10:00 am in Landkey village hall and was led by Chris James. In his sermon, Chris reminded the gathered church members and village residents of the awful losses of human life during the D-Day landings. He drew inspiration from the work of West Country poet, David Prowse whose poem, "Normandy", evoking the emotions of that time, was especially poignant.

The 40 or so people who met in the village hall were joined by many more at the war memorial, swelling numbers to as many as 100 to observe the Act of Remembrance. Wreaths were laid by Bill Parker on behalf of Landkey Parish Council and by Tom Wilks on behalf of St Paul's Church.

This year, the war memorial was draped with a garland of 365 knitted poppies, one for each day since the last Remembrance Day. The industrious knitters were revealed to be Karen Trigger, Sue Ackland, Anita Thorne and Liz Davis. Their work received a round of applause!

Bishops' Brexit letter

At our service on 28th October 2019, Revd Shaun read out the main points of a letter signed by 25 Church of England bishops, including the Rt Revd Robert Atwell, Bishop of Exeter.

The letter expressed the concern of the bishops over the increasing tensions caused by the Brexit debate and, in particular, the prospect of a no-deal Brexit. The letter is dated 28th August 2019 and this debate has moved on since then, but the concerns remain. The bishops encourage people on both sides of the Brexit divide to respect each other and to adopt an attitude of reconciliation for the good of society as a whole.

The letter can be viewed on this link: https://www.churchofengland.org/more/media-centre/news/bishops-issue-open-letter-brexit

Gift Day and Water Aid - thank you

We would like to say thank you to all who contributed to our Gift Day on 6th October 2019. The welcome sum of £744 was raised and will go to church funds.

We are also grateful for the sum of £38 which was raised at our Harvest Lunch on 22nd September. When added to the £290.50 which raised at our Lent Lunches earlier in the year, we have been able to send a total of £328.50 to Water Aid.

Remembrance Service

We will be holding a service of Remembrance at 10:00 am in Landkey village hall on 10th November to recall the sacrifice paid by our armed forces in defending our nation.

The service will be followed by the Act of Remembrance at the war memorial, including two minutes' silence at 11:00 am. All are welcome to attend.