Kington Langley and Draycot Cerne Village Magazine For this month only, the Magazine Committee have decided to deliver a magazine to all villagers to help people stay informed and connected. With grateful thanks to the Community Response Team and volunteers who are delivering this month, in order to shield many of our usual distributors. Hoping that normal service will be resumed for June. May 2020 Issue no. 489 1 Services at St Peter’s for May 2020 and across the Draycot Group of Churches Dear Friends What strange and uncertain times we find ourselves in! There are no service details in this issue of the magazine because current circumstances mandate that our churches should remain locked with no shared worship. However, as a Benefice we recognise the importance of spiritual wellbeing in many people’s lives. Every Sunday we send out by email reflections on the Gospel readings, and links to online services which we all watch – shared worship, just not in a shared space. If you would like to be included on the Distribution List for this, please email Iain at [email protected]. Our Administrator, Maggie, continues to work from our office in Brinkworth House, and does an excellent job of answering any practical questions you may have! She can be contacted on [email protected] We look forward to being able to meet and worship together as soon as restrictions are lifted. In the meantime, please Stay Safe and Stay Well! You can find Church of England services on the BBC via television and radio. There are also a variety of on line services available from Malmesbury Abbey, our neighbours in the Woodbridge Group, and other churches in the North Wiltshire deanery via Facebook and Youtube. Union Chapel Christian Fellowship – Kington Langley SERVICES & EVENTS - MAY No Sunday Services, Rendezvous or Bible Study meetings during May. If things change, we will post a notice outside the Chapel, and phone members of our regular congregation. In the porch there are displayed a few items for private devotions. Thanos has a series of messages on Youtube . Type in “Bible Blessings by Pastor Athanasius”. 2 FROM THE EDITOR Welcome to this month’s edition. I hope However, as you can see, there is much to this finds you well and coping with your read! Many thanks to all those who have new Covid-19 routine. contributed this month - words of inspiration, poems to reflect on, helpful First, apologies for the incorrect details hints on keeping ourselves fit in body, mind included in last month’s edition for the and spirit. Please do send me quizzes, jokes, refuse collections—unbeknown to me the uplifting stories to share as we continue in lockdown. collections in Kington Langley are no longer the same as here in Draycot Cerne. Thank Can I just remind you all that the you to Steve Duffil for pointing this out and Community Response Team is up and sending me the Kington Langley dates. running, with ample volunteers ready and willing to help anyone in the village. If you You may have thought that this would be a do need help, please just ask - you may reduced edition, due to both the absence need help with shopping or prescriptions, of events, but also a large number of dog walking, or other practical tasks, but advertisers who have withdrawn this they are also available for a telephone chat - after all, a problem aired is a problem month - hopefully just for this period of shared! After so many weeks at home it is uncertainty and lockdown. I’m sure we are easy to feel lonely, frustrated, anxious or all aware of local businesses that are bored. PLEASE do not struggle, or put struggling, and where possible supporting yourself at risk. We are so fortunate to live our local businesses is really important. We in a village where people seek to care for are so pleased to be able to produce a one another, please do take up the offer. paper copy through Digiprint, and are Until June, stay safe—and keep in touch grateful to Martin Casey and team for delivering these safely. You can also continue to access it on line at https:// Katherine Bloomer www.kingtonlangleymagazine.org/ Editor June Edition deadline on ** Monday 18th May 2020 ** Please email a Word Document or PDF to [email protected] It may not be possible to include any items received after the midday deadline on the closing date. 3 CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) KINGTON LANGLEY RESPONSE SELF ISOLATING, WE CAN HELP……. If you are self-isolating in Kington Langley we can help! We have a number of volunteers registered to help you with: collection of shopping, prescriptions, dog walking or any other service you might need. LISTEN to Government advice and NHS messages, TELL someone you are in isolation. Contact: [email protected] or phone 01249 704584 Please post this note on your front door and inform a neighbour if you go into isolation so we can help you. VOLUNTEERS If you wish to volunteer please register at: www.klcommunity.org.uk …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Helpful information to us: Date of self-isolation Duration of isolation (days) With good communication we can beat self-isolation!! WORD FACTS from Susie Dent A reminder that to 'quiddle' (1700s) is to busy oneself with entirely trivial things as a way of avoiding the important one! Given that 'scurryfunging' is running about the house in an effort to tidy up before visitors arrive. I'm wondering what the lockdown equivalent is: slowly clearing up with no visitors in sight - dawdlefunging? I keep thinking of the beautiful and centuries-old word ‘respair’: a recovery, and a return to hope 4 CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) – KINGTON LANGLEY’S RESPONSE from The Caseys The effects of Coronavirus have been felt across the world and I am sure that the residents of Kington Langley are watching the Government’s regular briefings on the national and international situation as it develops. The country feels as though it is on a war-like footing, never seen before by some generations, in order to combat an unseen enemy. Britain’s determination to defeat the epidemic remains strong and once again villagers are standing together in support of each other, the NHS and our leaders. We are all in this together! We quickly set up our ‘Neighbourhood Network’ which is replicated across the county. Wiltshire Council now has a register of some 500 voluntary organisations across the county, and is supporting our communities by signposting important information on its website (www.wiltshire.gov.uk/public-helth-coronavirus). Our challenge is to ensure that our vulnerable Villagers have a way of signalling their need for assistance without compromising or exposing themselves to anyone who might be carrying the virus. For most of us this is easy, computers and mobile phones keep us up to date with the situation, keep in contact with families and friends and provide entertainment. However, our village has a number of elderly folk who do not access IT (possibly up to 70%) and they, and a number who fall into the most vulnerable category, have recently received a letter to remain in isolation for at least 12 more weeks. Nikki and I have details of more than 50 volunteers who are keen to assist others with shopping and collection of prescriptions. We have printed, and with the aid of our volunteers, distributed the notice (opposite on page 4) to all households in the village so please, if you do not have access to the internet and need help, call us or put a note in a window near your front door for your neighbours (or passing walkers) to alert us. Your neighbours are willing to help! 01249 704584 or email: [email protected] (www.klcommnity.org.uk) STAY SAFE - STAY AT HOME PROTECT LIVES – PROTECT THE NHS Martin Casey 5 6 7 Learning to Adapt or Adapting to Learn… It has been a distressing few months for many, and a time of great disruption for those teaching and tutoring. All lessons at Prior Park are now being taught virtually, using Microsoft Teams – 3 weeks ago my knowledge of this was as near to nil as made no odds! The children did however adapt well, providing the teacher puts in a LOT of pre-work and structure. It is a little more like a lecture, but you can still interact (the fun part of teaching!), and no one escaped without answering a question!! Tutoring has been bizarre. Having been booked solid from the start of this year, there was then an announcement that “There will be no exams”. All my year 13’s and 11’s rightly immediately gave up!! Good luck to them all in the teacher assessments. So, down from 13 sessions a week in person, to 3 on line, through Skype. Strangely, I am now getting busier again even in the holidays, as some children want to continue their learning and regain some structure to their week, as schools remain closed to most pupils. If you are interested in a session, do drop me an email (see below) It has certainly been an interesting and slightly stressful learning experience for me, and it has been a pertinent reminder being back on the other side of the teacher’s desk, not knowing which button to press in MS Teams… We all learn differently, but we do learn! David Bloomer 8 9 THE BENEFICE OF DRAYCOT DIOCESE OF BRISTOL Dear Friends, As I write this, we are at the end of our third week of lockdown during the Covid 19 pandemic.