It’s Saturday again and so time to uploaded the service for St John’s Bellingdon for Sunday 28th June onto YouTube. This week we’re on the ninth and final week of our series on the Beatitudes!
This week’s readings (read by Eileen) are:
Acts 5:17-42
Matthew 5:1-12 (hopefully you know it by now)
and our psalm is Psalm 119 verses 153-160
Our intercessions are led by Jane, and we have a video from Edward Bowes-Smith who is to be our new rector.
Committee members had started growing from both plugs and seed before the lockdown started so had expended a fair amount of time and effort in the growing.
We decided, therefore, to circulate a list of plants via email to members that we had emails for, with instructions to pay either by direct transfer or cheque/cash though my door. We took over £160 after our costs, so not bad at all.
Social distancing was observed of course when delivering plants and the various growers delivered their own to minimise committee members’ contact too, so a good effort by all concerned.
Huge thanks to our members for your continued support in these difficult times.
I recently had the pleasure of a (socially distanced) guided tour around the new Village Nursery that is finally able to open its doors to children from the beginning of June, and what an amazing place it is!
Enough has been said about the sustainability of the construction but I should mention the extreme quality of the workmanship and the thought that has gone into every little detail to make it a place of wonder and stimulation for young minds.
The exterior, too, will eventually add much to the experience, blending in both with this unique building and its natural surroundings, offering ‘living’ outdoor play areas, raised beds for vegetable growing and even fruit trees to encourage a connection with nature that few nurseries are able to offer.
Now for phase two of the development – the refurbishment and extension to bring the old pub back to life. Watch this space!
Well its been a different few months, to say the least! Shortly after the last newsletter the country went into lockdown to stop the spread of COVID-19 and many people’s lives totally changed overnight.
In our rural area, those with animals to keep and fields to farm may not have noticed too much difference (other than increased numbers of cyclists and walkers) but for others lockdown meant almost total isolation.
Thankfully the community sprang into action and quickly organised a rota of volunteers to pick up shopping and medication for those who were not able to leave the house: our thanks to Don Baker for coordinating and to the many people who volunteered to help. In the end we didn’t need everyone who volunteered: what a neighbourly bunch we all are.
Lockdown meant the cancellation of our village pub night so an enterprising regular set up a well attended pub quiz via Zoom (thanks Peter!) which was repeated for a few weeks until Zoom fatigue kicked in.
Even more ambitious was the Virtual Race Night on 1st May. Huge thanks to Gary Woodley for organising and running this. It raised £160 for NHS Charities!
There’s been a noticeable increase in walkers and cyclists around our lovely villages enjoying the peace and quiet, seeing nature at its very best and for some, perhaps, fully appreciating their surroundings in a way that our busy lives don’t often allow. We would encourage everyone to adhere to the countryside code – particularly with reference to keeping dogs under control, leaving gates as you find them and not cycling on footpaths.
Also its been good to see the recreation ground at the hall being used for daily exercise – including some very intense training sessions by several very committed athletes!
Unfortunately someone saw fit to ignore the newly-installed CCTV cameras at the hall and has sprayed graffiti over the pavillion at the far end of the field, not once but twice! This has been reported to the police.
The weekly “clap for carers” has now ended but a good amount of clapping and banging of saucepans could be heard every Thursday night in support of NHS doctors and nurses – plus all the lovely rainbows drawn, coloured or painted by our amazingly resilient younger residents. There’s even a front lawn with a rainbow and “NHS” etched into it.
While the official VE Day celebrations were postponed until mid August it was fantastic to see so many flags and bunting go up anyway, an amazing spitfire flyover, and some managed to have a socially distanced toast to those who gave their freedom so we can have ours.
Friday night kids’ football
We were hoping to start up Friday night football for U14s again after May half term, but unfortunately we can’t now do this. Hopefully it’ll be able to restart later in the year.
Village hall playground
The playground is currently closed as per government guidelines. We will update the signage as and when the guidelines change and the playground has been checked for any potential hazards that might have occurred during lockdown.
If you’re interested in helping us to keep the playground safe we’re looking for a volunteer. It takes about half an hour once a month, using a checklist provided by ROSPA, who carry out our annual inspections. You then would report your findings in to the committee who will action any necessary repairs. Please contact us if you can help with this!
Great British Spring Clean
The #gbspringclean has been rescheduled to 11-27 September 2020 because of the COVID-19 lockdown. Please contact Don Baker nearer the time (we’ll also provide more information in the Autumn Newsletter/on the website).
In the meantime, why not pick up a bag of litter while you’re out walking anyway? Don’t forget your gloves and be sure to practice appropriate hand hygiene – or use a grabber if you have one.
