St Michael & All Angels, Bude Haven St Winwaloe, Poundstock Our Lady & St Anne, Widemouth Bay St Mary the Virgin, Week St Mary St Marwenne, Marhamchurch St Anne, Whitstone JAN & FEB Free 2021 MAIN CONTACTS FOR OUR CLUSTER: Please contact any of the following for information or enquiries about Anglican Church life in the Cluster: Our Parish Priest & Rural Dean: Father David Barnes,The Rectory, The Glebe, Week St Mary, EX22 6UY Tel: 01288 341670 [email protected] Our Churchwardens: St Anne’s, Whitstone: Mervyn Collins: 01288 341598 Phyllis Walter: 01288 341699 St Marwenne’s, Marhamchurch: Rob Corney: 01288 359754 Angela Grills: 01288 361247 St Mary the Virgin, Week St Mary: Lesley Booker: 01288 341221 Dick Sowerby: 01288 341348 St Michael’s, Bude Haven: Our Lady & St Anne’s, Widemouth Bay: Judy MacDonald: 01288 362254 St Winwaloe’s, Poundstock: Hilary Kenny: 01288 361504 Barry Smith: 01288 361716 Stratton Deanery website: www.strattondeanery.co.uk/ Editor of Voices Together: Clare Hicks, Trelowen, Lynstone, Bude EX23 0LR. 01288 352726; [email protected] Copy deadline for March 2021 issue— by Friday 19th February please ELECTRONIC COPIES OF VOICES TOGETHER If you would like to receive a copy of this magazine please email Lesley Booker: [email protected] 2 PARISH NEWSLETTER Dear Friends I write this letter prior to the Christmas festivities and there is no doubt this coming Christmas will be very different to that which we have experienced for many a year. Christmas by its very nature is a great time of expectation and hope and this year is no different with a COVID-19 vaccine on the near horizon giving great hope to many people. We seem to have been preparing for Christmas for an eternity, not quite knowing how we will be able to celebrate this great feast. One of the things I’ll miss the most is sing- ing the great carols of Christmas. One of my favourite carols is “O little town of Bethlehem” especially the line “Yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting Light”. To me it expresses that a great hope has come into the world in the form of a baby named Jesus shedding an everlasting light. However no sooner will Christmas arrive than it seems to be disappearing into the far-flung corners of our memory. Fast on the heels of the Christmas season comes the feast of Epiphany. It might be said that the feast of the Epiphany is a little bit like after the Lord Mayors Show, the only thing that is left to do is the clearing up. Yet for the Greek and the Russian Orthodox Churches the feast of the Epiphany is given as great a precedence as Christmas Day. This doesn’t mean that in the Eastern Churches the story of the Magi ranks above the birth of Jesus. It acts as a reminder to show that Epiphany is some- thing much more than a simple story about the three Kings visiting the Christ Child. The truth of the matter is simply this: as we move from Christmas to Epiphany, we move from an emphasis on the coming of Christ to his revelation of who and what Christ was. The coming of Christ, which we celebrate on Christmas day and the revelation of Christ which we celebrate throughout 3 Epiphany are in a sense two aspects of the same truth; the incarnation, the fact that God became man! The same is true for the Resurrection and the Ascension. They are both aspects of the Easter truth. The story of the Magi became attached to the feast of Epiphany because it was the first revelation story. The gifts of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh pointed to who Jesus was and what he was going to be, gold for Kingship, frankincense for priesthood and Myrrh for sacrifice. Throughout the Epiphany season the gospel readings show a gradual unfolding of the truth about Christ. We see this through his baptism, the calling of his disciples, the signs and wonders which Jesus performed, the wisdom he exhibits and the revelation of what God the Father is like. Most people put the Crib scene away with the Christmas dec- orations but in many ways, it makes sense to leave the Crib erected throughout Epiphany. It’s a reminder that Epiphany is not a season in isolation, it is in fact an extension of Christmas. It reminds us of the great mystery that God became man. As we move into January, we stand at the beginning of Epiphany; let’s not make the mistake of thinking that it is an event after the Lord Mayor’s Show. Let us not think of Christ- mas as something which is past but a thing that is continually with us shedding its everlasting light on everyone. As we have celebrated God becoming man at Christmas, let us view Epiphany as a period of God unfolding more and more of him- self to each us. May I wish you all a happy and holy new year David Week St Mary HUBS House Group This group is now meeting on Thursday mornings at 9.30 on zoom. Everyone is most welcome to join us. Please call Sue Dickinson on 01288 341016 if you would like to receive the zoom connection. 4 Jan & Feb details for “Zoom” Services at time of going to print All the details below are subject to change depending on circumstances prevailing at the time and to the internet being willing. Every Wednesday at 9 am there will be Morning Prayer on zoom. Please contact Lesley Booker if you wish to be included on the zoom service contact list: [email protected] There will be a service in at least one church each Sunday in the month which will also be available on zoom—for details please see pages 14 & 15. Voices Together during the Coronavirus pandemic As the churches still have limited opening, there are various places where you will be able to collect your magazine. David Williams has kindly offered his house, Rock Haven, Upton, as a collection point and you can also collect one from the Crescent PO and shop in Bude, the Beach House shop at Widemouth and usually in the village shops. The magazine will also be available on the Voices Together facebook page and St Michael’s facebook page and also on the Stratton Deanery website. Lesley Booker will also send out as a pdf attachment to emails (see bottom of page 2 for Lesley’s details). Any problems with obtaining a copy please contact either Heather Whit- lock (07771 964672) or Clare Hicks (01288 352726) Why not lend your copy of this magazine to a neighbour or friend when you have finished with it? 5 MOTHER* & CAMEO TODDLER COFFEE POT CLUB Come And Meets every Tuesday 10am— Meet Each 12pm in Other Week St Mary Parish Hall. Contact Emma Woolfe or Kathy Jef- Next meeting: frey 2-4– pm (Search for Coffee Pots in Fa- Contact: cebook Groups) Sue Dickenson (*Grannies, Grandads, Carers etc) All Welcome 01288 341016 Widemouth Bay Summerhouse Activities We meet on the 2nd & 4th Friday of each month Join us and off load any prob- lems, have a cup of tea and cake. Some- times we play a game. Whatever we do it get us out of our house to enjoy time with friends. Ring Hilda on 01288 361323 for more details 6 Meet ’n’ Eat STRATTON Next Soup and Sweet DEANERY Lunches BOOK CLUB We are reading: 'WHY' writ- Held in WSM Par- ten by ish Hall at Russell Stannard. 12.30pm on the First Monday of each month first Mon- day of 14 Monterey Close, Bude, each month (not EX23 8DX at 7.30pm August) Gail Brace: 01288 352412 Everyone is very New members always welcome Locally reared, pasture fed beef and lamb Restaurant quality, rare breed beef and traditional lamb. Low food miles, supporting local jobs, local delivery available. 10 or 15Kg Beef boxes, mixed joints, steaks & mince etc. !/2 Lamb packs approx 10 Kg Email [email protected] or phone 01288 361 666 to order 7 PROPOSED REORGANISATION OF LOCAL BENEFICES The following is extracted from a letter from Simon Cade, Secretary to Diocesan Mission & Pastoral Committee, dated 2nd December 2020 MISSION AND PASTORAL MEASURE 2011 STRATTON DEANERY The Bishop of Truro has asked us to prepare a draft Pastoral Scheme in respect of pastoral proposals affecting Stratton deanery. I attach a copy of the draft Scheme and a glossary of terms used. I am sending a copy to all the statutory interested par- ties, as the Mission and Pastoral Measure requires, and any others with an interest in the proposals. Anyone may make representations for or against all or any part or parts of the draft Scheme (please include the reasons for your views) prefer- ably by email or by post to the Church Commissioners at the following address no later than midnight on Monday 18 January 2021. Rex Andrew Church Commissioners Church House Great Smith Street London SW1P 3AZ (email: [email protected]) (tel: 020 7898 1743) If they have not acknowledged receipt of your representation before this date, please ring or e-mail them to ensure it has been received. For administrative purposes, a petition will be classed as a single repre- sentation and they will only correspond with the sender of the petition, if known, or otherwise the first signatory for whom they can identify an address – “the primary petitioner”. If the Commissioners do not receive representations against the draft Scheme, they will make the Scheme and it will come into effect as it provides.