Our Churches Are Open For You! Though we are unable to hold public services at the moment, please be assured the church is not in lock down. Our buildings will remain open for private prayer and your priests will continue to pray for our communities. In our local churches there will be prayer stations for you to come and pray for those near and far. Within our homes we are encouraged to light a candle at 7.00pm on Sunday evenings as a symbol of prayer and of our faith. We would also like to be an active church in the community and offer practical help and so if you are unable to leave your home and need errands run then please do contact us and we will do our best along with our communities to arrange some support and help. God has Given Refuge We have some beautiful church buildings, but the church is also the people, so we are here to help and be very much part of the community. Parish News Take care of yourselves and one another, April 2020 with prayers Belchamp Otten, Belchamp Walter, Bulmer, Belchamp St. Paul and Ovington Gill The North Hinckford Team All events advertised in this magazine are subject to change ie postponement or cancellation due to the Coronavirus crisis. Please check with organisers and on social media. WHO'S WHO? Notice RE: Coronavirus (Team Clergy, Churchwardens, Primary Schools and Magazine Contacts) There will be no services at church for the time being. However, our churches will remain open. Please feel welcome to come in and pray. If there are other inside please keep your Team Revd Margaret King revd.margaret distance. 01787 269385 Rector (Not available Fri) @northhinckfordparishes.org.uk Loving God in whom we live and move and have our being We pray for an end to this virus which is keeping us all apart from each other Team Revd Gill Morgan 01787 584993 [email protected] Vicar (Day Off Friday) Help us to look out for our vulnerable neighbours Help us to find ways of being together through the gifts of the internet and social media. Curate Revd Paul Grover 01787 269223 [email protected] We ask this prayer in the name of Jesus Christ Amen Pastoral Lena 07789 087070 [email protected] Assistant Chandler 01787 277870 Fiona Slot There are a range of Christian resources already available, go to the Church of England Team Hours 9.00am-4.00pm Mon, 01787 278123 [email protected] website. Administrator 8.30am - 12.30pm Tues &Thurs • #LiveLent: Care for God’s Creation - the Church of England›s Lent campaign Belchamp Rosemary Branwhite 01787 460214 for 2020. With weekly themes shaped around the first Genesis account of creation, [email protected] Otten Sue Colson 01787 278174 it explores the urgent need for humans to value and protect the abundance God has created. This daily audio content is available via the app and daily emails. Sign up for Belchamp free. Michael Kingston 01787 277795 [email protected] St Paul • The BBC’s Daily Service and Sunday Worship - radio programmes will be using Belchamp some of the themes from #LiveLent as part of their broadcasts. Martin Runnacles 01787 372476 [email protected] Walter • Prayer for the day - each day the Church of England publishes audio and text of the Prayer for the Day. Bulmer Liz Fulcher 01787 269935 [email protected] • Smart speakers – daily prayer and #LiveLent audio content can be accessed via our smart speaker apps. Stephen Norris 01787 278123 [email protected] Ovington Fiona Slot 01787 278123 [email protected] • Live streaming services - users can watch live streams of services from a range of churches and we will be improving AChurchNearYou.com in the days ahead to make Primary Belchamp St Paul 01787 277222 this clearer. Schools Bulmer 01787 372383 Magazine Fiona Slot 01787 278123 [email protected] Editorial Magazine Jon Yates 01787 277776 [email protected] Advertising 2 31 Pastoral Ponderings... Belchamp Walter to join full fibre broadband revolution after rural residents show demand Dear Friends County Broadband, a specialist rural broadband provider based in Aldham, near Colchester, has announced Belchamp Walter is joining the rural While we are still in Lent we are perhaps being forced to think more about our technological revolution after the local community expressed significant interest to connect to the provider’s new full fibre ultrafast network. lifestyle with the impact of COVID-19 than we might usually do during Lent. The news means residents and business owners in Belchamp Walter will be able to access some of the fastest and most reliable internet speeds Perhaps we are a little less focussed on giving up chocolate and more focussed on in the UK when the community is connected. The company’s ‘fibre-to-the-premises’ (FTTP) infrastructure offers ultrafast internet speeds of up to our store cupboards! 1,000 megabits per second (Mbps) as well as a low-cost telephone service, too. We find ourselves being encouraged to look after ourselves, our loved ones and Other villages near Belchamp Walter set to benefit from the rollout include Belchamp Otten and Belchamp St Paul. our neighbour as a way of life that is being likened to World War II. The Coronavirus has found us entering uncharted territory and that in itself brings uncertainty and fear. Hope for us to come through this as an individual, as a family, community, nation and world is what we do have. Hope is our foothold and our anchor in the storms of life. When we have that certain hope within, it is then, I think, that we can offer true kindness to others around us. For more information visit www.countybroadbandfibre.co.uk or call 01376 562002. Through the many distractions, my thoughts turn towards Easter and I wonder about that first Easter. Certainly uncharted territory for those following Jesus. This man was causing quite a stir and unrest. His followers had both hope and faith and even those who doubted still had hope of some sort. They didn’t BULMER VILLAGE HALL know what was ahead but I am sure there would have been fear and uncertainty. But their faith and hope leads them through; they face the death of their dear AVAILABLE FOR HIRE friend, they themselves are at risk, they watch, wait and grieve but though they FOR PARTIES, WEDDINGS as followers may have felt isolated, they were not alone. They were encompassed by love, their faith washed away their fears, the support of each other kept them FUND-RAISING EVENTS going and ahead, was certain hope as Jesus appeared to them alive and well. Residents You may or may not celebrate Easter as a Christian festival, but take a small £8 per hour (max 4 hrs) amount of the faith that is in the essence of this story, add to it as much hope as £55 per day you can and through it acknowledge the gift of life. Times of uncertainty are Non-Residents opportunities to slow down, reflect and be thankful (to take a look in our store £10.50 per hour (max 4 hrs) cupboard of life!). So as we reflect on our current situation and on the season of £80 per day Easter, may our lives be enriched, our love for others grow and our kindness flow throughout our communities, nation and world. NICOLA HAMILL Take care of one another and let us look forward to the gift of life given to us at 01787-827723 Easter. 07971-048455 With prayers (texts preferred) Gill 30 3 ONE FAMILY - THREE TRADES Scribbles from the rectory.... AK SMITH PLASTERING Est 1986 Dear Friends Ceilings, Walls, Floor Screeds, Dry-Lining, Plasterboarding, I began writing this letter before the Corona virus became so concerning and every day Coving. Lime Work Undertaken. brings different news and different measures. It’s a time of anxiety and we all need Friendly, Honest & Reliable. No Job Too Small to take sensible precautions. We need to look out for each other, the lonely and the Keith: 01787 212352 / 07808 027 116 vulnerable by keeping in touch at least by email and phone. For references please visit: www.aksmithplastering.co.uk By the time you receive your magazine we will be fast approaching Easter but first we run the gamut of Holy Week just as Jesus did. So, on Palm Sunday we join with R SMITH ELECTRICAL SERVICES KJJ SMITH PLUMBING & HEATING the crowds who welcomed Jesus as their King into Jerusalem only for the same crowd All Electrical Work Undertaken, turned fickle and by Good Friday they were baying for his blood. What a week Holy Clean, Honest, Reliable. John-Jo Smith: 07950 204255 week is. On Maundy Thursday all sorts of things are remembered. We remember the 01787 212352 very first Eucharist (Holy communion) when Jesus asked us to remember him by taking Please call Ryan on: [email protected] bread and wine, his body and his blood, which he freely gave for us all. On Maundy 07981 528 948 or Thursday many clergy go to the cathedral to renew their vows and to receive the various Assington 01787 212352 No job too small Holy Oils to bring back into the parishes for use at Baptisms, for anointing the sick and www.rsmithelectrical.co.uk Full bathrooms undertaken those close to death and also oil for Confirmations. Some churches have a foot washing remembering that Jesus welcomed his disciples to that upper room and washed their feet (due to coronavirus this has been suspended this year).