April 2021
Welcome to our What's On page. Here you will see a list of activities that are going on within and across our three churches. If an item relates to a particular church, it will be indicated at the start as follows:
CTS: Christ The Servant, Digmoor
SMD: St Michael's Dalton
STM: St Thomas The Martyr, Up Holland
Sunday Worship
We wanted to let you know that we have decided to reopen our three churches from Sunday 7th March 2021.
In each church we will observe all the guidelines, which means that masks must be worn inside the church and throughout the services. Social distancing must also be observed at all times.
There will be no refreshments at the end of the service and people are asked to enter and vacate the building maintaining safe distances.
There will be one service in each church as follows:
• Christ the Servant, Digmoor 10.30am
• St Thomas the Martyr, Up Holland 10.30am
• St Michael & All Angels, Dalton 10.30am
PLEASE NOTE – that St Michael’s will return to starting its Sunday service at 10.30am starting this Sunday.
We want everyone to stay safe and well and we appreciate that this may not be the right time for some to return and our love and prayers will be with what ever decision you make.
We will still have for this week a recorded service which will be available as normal on our social media channels
Online Services
From Sunday 14th March, we aim to live stream a service from our parish. This is likely to be from St Thomas The Martyr, as hymns will be performed by the choir and organist; feedback from the previous opening was that you welcomed having hymns included in the streamed service.
Funerals
These will continue to take place, following Covid guidance.
Baptisms
No baptisms will take place. Please stay tuned for updates, as the lockdown roadmap progresses.
Weddings
Will only take place in exceptional circumstances. Please stay tuned for updates, as the lockdown roadmap progresses.
Please let as many people from church (especially those you know who don’t have access to the Internet) know about these changes to our service times.
In your prayers
Please continue to pray for all those affected by Covid19, those who work in the NHS and all who serve as Carers. Please pray for all those involved in rolling out the vaccinations and all the support required to make this possible. This week, please remember teachers and children returning to school. Let us also pray for all those who volunteer their time and energy to help others, among them the homeless, those who need the support of Food Banks, all who suffer as a result of addiction and all who are facing these difficult times alone.
MONEY COUNTING
We are making arrangements so that all collections and money paid to the churches and parish can be counted and banked centrally. We need people from all three churches to volunteer to do this (one day on the week), at the moment planned for Tuesday morning. Please speak to a churchwarden if you would willing to help out.
FOOD BANK
Please leave donations in any of our churches and they will be sent to a local food bank where food and other items (e.g. toiletries) are desperately needed. Please be as generous as you can in these challenging times.
BIBLE STUDY
Every Thursday, 7.30pm via Zoom. All welcome. Please email Rev'd Paul Lock for the meeting number and password. Each session is stand alone, so please come if you missed the last one. At the moment, we are looking at readings for the following Sunday.
PARISH MAGAZINE
We have set up a separate page for our Parish Magazine. Go to the page here or via the menu button. March's edition is now available.
NEWSLETTER
You can catch up with all the latest news by visiting the Newsletter page. You can see the current Notices and the service sheet for the last Sunday service, the recording of which can be viewed on the Services page.
CHURCH BUILDINGS
Our three churches, like others across the country, are operating under restrictions. Please keep an eye on this page for updates, and for Paul's regular newsletter. See the top of this page for current details.