The Chardstock Newsletter OCTOBER 2020 ISSUE 400 News from the Hall Trustees We are very grateful to everyone who turned up on 8th September and worked so hard to ensure that every aspect of the Hall is clean, sanitised, and safe to use, with all Covid requirements in place for future hirings. We will be meeting on Monday 21st September to discuss matters relating to the Hall and how we may proceed according to whatever rules may be in force by then. We plan to hold our AGM on Monday 19th October at 7.30pm in the Hall, and if permitted by then, this will be an open meeting, observing social distancing. HELPLINE DRIVERS Another month has passed since my last report and, unfortunately, Covid-19 is still deterring the carriage of passengers. Ann and I, however, have come to a decision which we think you should know at this point of time. We have been involved with the Helpline Drivers for over 23 years and we feel that now is the right time for us to “retire”. We both celebrate and acknowledge the sterling work of a dedicated band of volunteers over this period and thought that the following may be of interest to you. When we joined as drivers, the service was organised by June Wellington and, after a couple of years, I took over the financial side of recording donations, drivers’ expenses and arranging payments to local charities as and when we had a cash surplus. June Wellington “retired” in 2015 due to illness, and I took over the role of co-ordinator. Over the past twenty years we have had a total of 34 different drivers. Many thanks to you all, past and present. Some of our earlier drivers (now retired) are making use of the service themselves! We have made in excess of 1,000 trips, 96% of these have involved transporting local people to doctors, dentists, opticians and the hospitals at Exeter, Taunton and Yeovil. The remaining 4% of trips have been to collect and deliver prescriptions from both Axminster and Chard. We have made 23 donations totalling £4,190 to local charities including Devon Air Ambulance, ShelterBox, Chardstock Community Hall Trust, St. Andrews Church, Chardstock Youth Club, Chardstock Newsletter, and Chardstock Historical Record Group. At the time of writing this report, I am pleased to inform you that I have cleared the accounts by donating our final balance of £359.12 to The Chardstock War Memorial Fund. The majority of the current drivers have stated that they will be happy to resume normal services as soon as they feel safe and, as the majority are in the “vulnerable” age group, it is understandable that this is an individual choice for them to make when the time is right. Obviously, someone will need to replace me to keep this wonderful service going and as there is this Covid-19 hiatus at the moment, it seems this is a good time for Ann and me to say “Goodbye”. HELPLINE DRIVERS (continued …) It gives time for people to reflect on the benefits of the Helpline Drivers and maybe step up to the plate. One day, you may well benefit from the service yourselves! To be the co-ordinator you would need to organise the rota for the Newsletter and be the treasurer – you do not even have to be a driver yourself. I will happily give any advice to anyone who wishes to take my place. John Gough 01460 220348 ST ANDREW’S CHURCH St. Andrew’s Church is opening again for services on some Sundays in the month. We have altered the seating arrangements to allow for safe social distancing and we ask that members of the congregation wear face coverings whilst in the building. Services in St. Andrew’s Church during October: 10am on Sunday October 11th Parish Communion with Father Geoffrey Walsh 10am on Sunday October 25th Morning Worship with Rev’d Nicky Davies (our new Priest in the Axe Valley Mission Community). Lady Chapel opening As some of you will know, the Lady Chapel at St. Andrew’s Church is open for private prayer and reflection between 10am and 3pm on a Sunday and a Wednesday. The Lady Chapel is accessed through the door in the North-East wall of the church. (Unfortunately, the rest of the church is closed apart from during services). We request that visits are limited to a maximum of 30 minutes and that there should be no more than 4 persons in the Chapel at any time. We also ask that visitors follow the cleaning instructions inside the chapel. Annual Church Meetings – The Future of St. Andrew’s There is a requirement that every church should hold an open meeting for the people of the community to consider the management of the church. This year, because of Covid and ‘lockdown’ the Annual Church Meetings were postponed from April and will now take place on Wednesday October 14th in St. Andrew’s Church. There is a short business meeting at 6.45pm followed by the Annual Parish meeting to which all are welcome at 7.15pm. We are fortunate that the church is big enough to accommodate plenty of people whilst Annual Church Meetings – The Future of St. Andrew’s (continued…) complying with social distancing requirements, although you will need to wear a face covering. The meeting this year will be a particularly important meeting as Tim Purrett will be standing down from the role of Churchwarden and currently, we have no replacement. Tim has brought much energy and creativity during his time as Churchwarden and will be sadly missed. We shall also be losing a significant number of our Parochial Church Council (PCC) members for various reasons. Legally a church must have a properly constituted PCC in order to continue to function. It is therefore vital that people come forward to replace our retiring members in order for the church to continue to serve the village. Please put this date (6.45pm on Wednesday October 14th in St. Andrew’s Church) into your diary and come along to consider the work of the PCC and the future of St Andrew’s Church as it seeks to serve and engage with the village and wider community. It is important that everyone shares their thoughts and opinions and this open meeting gives us all the opportunity to consider the future and development of the church in Chardstock. If you would like to learn more about the PCC then please do contact Roger Damon on 01460 221344 or by email on [email protected]. Or, better still, come along to a special Zoom meeting at 7pm on Tuesday October 12th to hear about the importance of the PCC to the church and how you might help. Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86325904480 Church bookstall – we’re open again but we need your help! Many of you will be familiar with the bookstall at the back of the church where we take in books and sell them for 50p or £1 in aid of church funds. Sadly during lockdown we had to close the church and therefore the bookstall too. As things change at the moment we are trialling a few books in the Lady Chapel when it’s open for a few hours on Wednesdays and Sundays. Unfortunately we cannot accept more books at the moment until we’ve sold some – we’ll let you know when we can! Judy who has done a brilliant job running it for a number of years is stepping back and unless we can get someone (or some people – the more the merrier!) to take over, we’ll have to close the bookstall which would be a real shame. It’s not too onerous, simply keeping an eye on the books, arranging and topping up as necessary and dealing with donations when we start taking them again. If you’d like to know more, please contact Mike & Tina at the shop. Roger Damon Rev Nicky writes – As I sit here writing, it is a glorious autumn day. I give thanks for the sunny weather as we are still in such uncertain and difficult times and the good conditions really help to lift the mood. I am slowly settling into The Rectory in Uplyme and want to thank everyone who has helped make me feel so welcome since my move and licensing as Team Vicar for the Axe Valley Mission Community on 11th August. I promised to share more about myself with you and want to report that I am ‘loving’ swimming in the sea. What a blessing that is for me. I have always loved swimming, and like to get in wherever there is water! This has become known as ‘wild’ swimming – in lakes and rivers, as well as the sea! I have swum in, what is advertised as, the deepest lake in Uganda! Anyway, back to the task in hand - October is a busy month in the life of the Church. Many Harvest Festivals take place. They will be on a much smaller scale this year and a different experience from normal because of restrictions. Assuming they can go ahead, do look out for details in your local magazines. It is so important to thank the farmers and all those who work the land, and to give thanks to God for our food that we can often take so much for granted. Although we cannot have congregational singing in churches at the moment, it is possible to listen to others singing such favourites as: Come Ye Thankful People Come, We Plough the Fields and Scatter, All Good Gifts and All Creatures of Our God and King.