50p THE CROSSLET A church sponsored community newsletter for the villages of Landcross, Littleham, Monkleigh and Weare Giffard Foxy Window Cleaning AHJ CURTIS To advertise in this space Reliable Service Please phone YOUR LOCAL RELIABLE BUILDER 25 Years Experience 01237 479210 Est. Over 20 Years All Frames & Sills Cleaned 1 off advert £5 STONEWORK PLASTERING PATIOS ROOF REPAIRS Single £30 per year also ALLGutters WORK CONSIDERED and Fascias Double £60 per year Free Quotes! QUALITY WORK AT ALL TIMES 01237 42062307890 or 34976207977668164 7 Queen St Bideford To advertise in this space Please phone Day centre for01237 the 479210 homeless and those in need. We would welcome1 off advert gifts £5 of tinned food, clothing,Single shoes, £30 per bedding year and Double £60 per year toiletries - and support in any form. 01237 423891 [email protected] To advertiseHair in We this spaceAre To advertise in this space Please phone Please phone Unisex 01237 Hair479210 Salon 01237 479210 Wig consultation and Personalisation1 off advert £5 1 off advert £5 SingleServices £30 per year Single £30 per year Double £60 per year Double £60 per year 21 South Street Torrington Devon WOOD’S ENGINEERING Dunn Farm, Littleham 01237 473338 AGRICULTURAL & HORTICULTURAL SALES & REPAIRS Collection and return of all Horticultural Machinery [e.g. lawnmowers, rotovators etc] for repair or servicing can be arranged if required. 2 DATES FOR YOUR NOVEMBER DIARY Tuesdays 6pm till 7pm Gentle Yoga Weare Giffard Village Hall Wednesdays 2 pm till 4 pm St Swithun’s, Littleham is open for private prayer. Everyone is welcome. OCTOBER Sat 24th - Sat 31st Pumpkin Trail Littleham (see p.12) Wed 21st - Last open afternoon for private prayer St Swithun’s Sun 25th - Service of Reflection from Monkleigh NOVEMBER Sun 1st Feast of All Saints and All Souls on-line service Wed 4th Littleham Village Hall AGM - 7.30 (via ZOOM) Thur 5th Online Taize Service from Landcross Sat 7th Takeaway Breakfast Rolls 10 till noon Weare Giffard Village Hall Sun 8th Remembrance Service St Swithun’s Littleham 11:00am. Thur 12th Knit and Natter 10 to 12 noon W.Giffard V.Hall Sun 15th Holy Communion All Saints Weare Giffard 11:00am. Wed 18th 'Wellbeing Cafe' The Bell Monkleigh 10 - 12 noon. Sun 22nd Online service of reflection from Monkleigh Sun 29th Online Lay-led Advent Service ADVANCE NOTICE DECEMBER Sat 12th Dec Christmas takeaway rolls 12 till 2 pm. W.G.Village Hall The December Crosslet will again be in digital format. Copies will be emailed to as many folks as possible. Also check social media (Facebook) and local websites e.g.: - www.littleham-landcross.org.uk/ December Crosslet th NOTE: Deadline for contributions: 10 November Please send your emails to: [email protected] Or phone 01237 479459 3 Dear All, There’s an old Middle Eastern curse which says ‘May you live in interesting times!’ (There’s also one which says ‘May the fleas of a thousand camels infest your armpits!’ But to return to the first one –) we are certainly living in ‘interesting times’. We’re having to learn new skills and are experiencing new things. We have to experiment with different ways of doing things. The Annual Readers’ Celebration service usually held at the Cathedral had to go onto Zoom this year. It took a very different format, but it was excellent. I missed my retreat in June because of lockdown. So this month, I tried one on-line. I wasn’t at all sure how it would work out because I thought that, being at home, there’d be too many distractions – the phone ringing, emails to answer, and jobs around the house that needed doing. However the Northumbria Community produced a very useful ‘planning your retreat’ video with helpful suggestions about limiting time spent on emails, television and news broadcasts. I’m still limiting the news broadcasts! The retreat itself was very restful. I love the Northumbria Community services. It’s what we use for the on-line Morning Prayer on a Wednesday. (If you want to try it, let Debbie in St Mary’s Office have your email address, and she’ll send you the weekly bulletin with the necessary link in it.) What came out of the retreat for me was the word ‘unshackled’. In a time when we are shackled by restrictions on social gatherings and, in some places, with limited freedom of movement, it seemed an out-of-place word. But on reflection, I realised that when we first went into lockdown, my weekly structure disappeared and, after initially enjoying the freedom – getting the garden straight and catching up on the DIY – I found it hard not having much to do, so was tempted to look for tasks to fill the void. What my retreat time reminded me was that I didn’t have to shackle myself with activity; I could just take time to ‘be’, to wander round the garden enjoying the plants instead of noting the weeds, to walk on the beach or by the river looking and listening to God’s world. As lockdown eased, so some things are starting up again. But I need to keep in mind that even when we are shackled by Covid 19, we can still chose to be unshackled in our approach to daily life. If this resonates with you, try an unshackled hour a day putting the ‘I must’ and ‘I ought to’ aside and just enjoy ‘being’ rather than ‘doing’. God bless you and keep you safe. Sarah 4 EDITORIAL Dear Readers, Please feel free to send me any photos / poems / thoughts / “thank- yous”/ stories / ideas or anything else you might like to share for the next issue of the Crosslet. All will be welcomed. Please send them to me at:- [email protected] From the Parish Registers Mollie Grant was laid to rest at St. Swithun's Littleham on Friday 18th September 2020. May she rest in peace as we remember her and her family. Nick Beckley was laid to rest at St. Swithun’s Littleham on Saturday 19th September. We remember him and all who loved him. May he rest in peace. Thank-yous Big thanks are due to all our lovely churchyard volunteers who have kept our churchyards looking so beautiful over the summer. We are really grateful for their gifts of generosity and expertise. Many people have commented on how well-kept the churchyards are, and we have been able to experiment a little with leaving uncut areas which looked absolutely stunning and featured in our online services. Thanks are due to as well to our stalwart wider community volunteers who have helped steward our services, clean our churches, support the marking of VE and VJ day – you know who you are and we have been touched by your offers of support. (more thankyous p.18) Memorial services This year our usual 4 parish Memorial service will be marked in a different way, due to the restricted numbers our churches can accommodate at present. All those who have lost loved ones in the last 18 months will be invited to submit their names to be included in a memorial section of our on-line service on Sunday 1st November, when we celebrate the Feasts of All Saints and All Souls. Everyone who is normally contacted about the service will receive a card to say we are thinking of you at this time and will include you in our prayers during this Season of Remembering. November is the time when we remember those dear to us and also the fallen – a time for reflection and quiet, as our earth prepares for her winter sleep. But the buds of spring can already be seen on branches and we look forward in hope to the coming of the Christ child in dark days – a renewal of life and hope and the promise that we will be reunited together in heaven. 5 New Government Test and Trace Support Payment scheme launched in Torridge Government grants to help support low income workers who need to self-isolate can be applied for through Torridge District Council from Monday 12th October. Payments can be backdated to 28th September if you were eligible for that period. The payments of £500 are being made available through the Test and Trace Support Payment scheme and will apply to people who are instructed by the NHS to self-isolate and who also match the following requirements of the scheme: You can apply for a self-isolation payment if you are aged 16 or over and you: • live in the Torridge District • you have been told to self-isolate by NHS Test and Trace - either because you have tested positive or you have been in close contact with someone who has • have a job or are self-employed • are unable to work from home and will lose income as a result For the Standard Scheme you also need to be currently receiving one of the following benefits • Universal Credit • Working Tax Credit • income-based Employment and Support Allowance • income-based Jobseeker's Allowance • income support • housing benefit • pension credit There is also a discretionary scheme for people not receiving any of the above benefits but who satisfy all of the other criteria and also the following: • A maximum gross earnings threshold of £372 per week. (This equates to 40 hours x £9.30 Real Living Wage).This means that if someone has earnings above this level then they would not normally be eligible unless there was an exceptional circumstance. • A minimum number of hours that an individual will need to be working is 16 hours per week.