Saint Paul's Church, Landkey

Christmas services

It looks as though Covid-19 rules will allow us to resume communal worship from 2nd December, meaning that our first service will take place on 6th December and we should be able to proceed with these Christmas arrangements.

We hope to hold a Carol Service outside the church on the afternoon of Sunday 20th December 2020 at around 4pm. Anyone attending will need to practice social distancing and the outdoor setting should make this possible. People should be able to assemble in the churchyard and, if numbers require, on the causeway or on the pavements in Manor Road.

We have also planned a service of Holy Communion for 10pm on Christmas Eve. The Communion will be as bread only, to reduce the risk of passing on infection and participants will need to wear a face covering while in the church.

Unfortunately, we will not be able to hold a Christingle service this year. However we would encourage anyone who would like to experience this popular family-orientated service to join in with the Church of England's online Christingle service on Sunday 13th December 2020 at 9:00am. The link to it can be accessed below.

Online services

Revd Shaun continues to livestream and record services which can be accessed via Facebook. The link is given in the document "St Paul's Coronavirus Procedures" which is available below.

Opening times for private prayer:

• Wednesdays between 2pm and 4pm - by arrangement. Please ring Hazel Price on 01271 831259 or Margaret Perryman on 01271 831534 if you would like to visit the church.

Trying to look to the future

It may sound overly optimistic to consider a post-Covid-19 era at a time when a new lockdown has been announced to control rapidly rising rates of infection.

However, we have to believe that there will come a time when our lives will not be as affected by this pandemic. The impact upon St Paul's has been severe, as it has been with other churches but we are trying to look ahead.

The Parochial Church Council believes that St Paul's has a significant role to play within the parish in the future and is currently discussing and consulting with others on how it might best meet the spiritual and pastoral needs of its parishioners once the pandemic has been controlled.

We would welcome views on this matter. Anyone who would like to do so may contact us via the "Contact Us" page.

Updated 29th November 2020

• Church of England Online Christingle Service - 13th December at 9:00am
• St Paul's Church Coronavirus Procedures
• St Paul's Annual Report and Financial Statement for 2019

Remembrance

St Paul's, together with Landkey Parish Council, conducted a short Act of Remembrance at the village war memorial on Sunday 8th November at 10:45am. Rules to prevent the spread of Covid-19 meant that we could not hold a service in the village hall as we would normally have done.

A group of six village representatives led the Act, including the laying of wreaths and the holding of two minutes' silence at 11am. Around 40 village residents observed the proceedings, as they were allowed to do, and took care to comply with social distancing requirements.

Wreaths were laid by Richard Halliday on behalf of Landkey Parish Council and by Mike Foster for St Paul's Church. Chris James led the Act while Charles Waldron called out the names of those soldiers listed on the memorial as having given their lives in time of war. Peter Elder and John Hayes respectively read the odes, "For the Fallen" and "The Kohima Epitaph".

We thank village residents for coming to observe the Act in a way which complied with rules preventing the spread of infection and also the drivers who waited patiently with their engines off during the ceremony.