Category: St Mary’s Parish Church News

This Month’s Parish News

In last month’s Parish News, we were looking forward to a glorious Easter, when we celebrate the Resurrection of Our Lord with colour, flowers, great hymns and full churches. How so much has changed since then. The coronavirus has changed all that, with most of the world’s nations withdrawing from contact with each other as they close their borders in an attempt to combat the virus, and to protect their people from the ravages that we have seen on our T.V. screens for the past month.

The advice from the Church in Wales Bench of Bishops, is that all church services are to be suspended immediately. Baptisms can be held with only 10 persons present. Weddings are all postponed until 31st July 2020. Banns will not be called. Funerals can only be taken at the graveside, with a memorial service arranged later in the year. Confirmation services and Ordination services at the cathedral are also suspended. The Annual Church Vestry meeting has been postponed with all church officers remaining in office until formal elections can be arranged. The children’s ‘Pebble’ group on Sunday mornings is also affected by this decision, as is the monthly meeting of the Chattery.

The financial implications of these guidelines are enormous and church members are asked to maintain their weekly contributions to the work and maintenance of the church. This can be done digitally by the StM appeal or saved up until the time comes when our church will be open again for worship. Although the church may be closed for formal acts of worship, it is a lot more than just buildings. It is a community of believing people who have accepted Jesus Christ into their lives, bringing his message of salvation and hope to the wider world around them.

The church is duty-bound to reach out to all in the community of Wenvoe and elsewhere. The message of HOPE is there in the Gospel readings and the Psalms for all to read, and it is that hope that will carry us through in the days, weeks and months ahead as we self-isolate from the worst of the virus contagion. God Bless us all as we pray for the world and for all around us, especially the elderly and those with underlying health conditions. Please read the letter Jon, our Parish Priest has written on page 4.

However it is not all such negative news, for we have completed the restoration of the historic floor tiles, and they are looking so much better. The painting of the chancel is also complete and the freshness really does show up the condition of the walls in the Nave… another job for the future. The next project is the re-varnishing of the West, South and Priest doors, with the metal work being cleaned and repainted; this will be followed in the summer with more work on the boundary walls.

Within the church, information panels have been set up with photographs, showing the work carried out on the floors, before and after, in an attempt to raise awareness of the costs involved. We appeal for donations to complete the programme of work as detailed in the last church building survey. The church is available for all in the community and the regular congregation have been very supportive in fund raising from the activities such as the Quiz Night and the Chattery. We also encourage those who use the church for occasional services to consider donating in memory of loved ones who may have had a previous connection with St Mary’s in the past.

The Annual Fun Quiz 2020 brought all eyes on the final scoreboard. Grateful thanks to Ian Moody our quizmaster extraordinaire and everyone who supported the sell-out event, especially the Sully contingent who battled through floods to join in! A most enjoyable evening and the excellent sum of £644.37 was raised for St Mary’s Church. Diolch

Future Plans….The many events we had been preparing for in the coming months are now postponed including the VE75 celebrations. Perhaps we should plan for a VE75+1 for 2021. Given the severity of the current situation, we must accept that for the foreseeable future our lives as we have known them are to be put on hold.

Please stay safe; follow the Government’s advice on all health matters. We will get through this. Keep washing those hands. Don’t panic and carry on.

Parry Edwards

 

---

---

 

By the time you read this, so much has taken place in church towards the latter end of February. We are now in the solemn season of Lent, that period of 40 days before Easter, that the church keeps a low key as a preparation for the glorious feast of Easter, when we celebrate the Resurrection of the Lord in Glory on the first day of the week. Shrove Tuesday (pancake day), the day before Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent was kept, when we joined in proceedings with our friends in Sully. St. David was not forgotten and he was remembered in our church school, with lots of leeks and daffodils in evidence. Our annual fun quiz took place on Leap Years day, and was well supported with all tickets sold out, and our quiz master Mr Ian Moody as usual had much head scratching among the quizzers with his thought provoking questions.

The restoration of the floor tiles meant the church had to be closed during the week so an alternative venue for Ash Wednesday was arranged, and having had a sneak preview of the work being carried on the tiles, the final effect will be a surprise to many people.

The wall plastering within the chancel and at the rear of the organ console is now complete and is drying out in readiness for the final coat of paint after the floor tiles have been cleaned and restored. The dossal curtains, on either side of the altar, have been to the dry cleaners, and will be back in their accustomed place for Easter. Just for the record these curtains were given to St. Mary’s by the Young Farmers many years ago when the Rev John Christopher was Rector, and they have served us well.

Work has continued in the churchyard, with more gravestones being stabilised, and the laurel hedge along Walston Rd/Clos Llanfair has been cut back and lowered. It was thought that this hedge was getting out of hand and was encroaching on graves, and of course being laurel it will all grow back. Many of the older historic memorial stones have been sprayed to remove the layers of dirt and Verdigris which was obliterating the carved inscription, and now are so easy to read.

There has always been a mystery surrounding a pile of dismantled gravestones in the far corner of the “new” churchyard to a family called “HEWINS” recording the death of a son of the family being killed in Cairo in 1942. Investigation on the Commonwealth Graves website has revealed that he was in the Royal Air force Reserve and that he was killed on active service and buried in the Heliopolis War Cemetery in Cairo, Egypt. His grieving family recorded his death here in Wenvoe as a mark of respect and an acknowledgement that he was not forgotten, even though he was buried in a foreign field so far away. His name is not on the Village War Memorial as his family home was in Sketty, Swansea at the time of his death and possibly the parents had moved away from Wenvoe when the war ended in 1945. The other mystery that remains

is why was the grave dismantled, so that the original site of it has now been lost.

Jon and his two churchwardens attended the inaugural 2020 Pilgrimage service at Llandaff Cathedral and brought back to Wenvoe the Pilgrimage Candle which will burn at every service during the year of pilgrimage. The “pilgrim bear” is making its progress around the diocese and will be in Wenvoe sometime at the end of the year. More of that later.

This year, it has been decided that the Lent Lunches will not be held on the Wednesdays in Lent as in previous years, due to falling numbers who attended over the past few years. The Agape Supper on the evening of Maundy Thursday will still take place. More details later.

Mothering Sunday on the 22nd March will be an All Age Celebration of the Eucharist at 9.30 am with a contribution from our “Pebbles” children. The church will be decorated with the daffodils grown from the bulbs given to the children at last year’s Harvest Festival celebration. As in previous years, if the bulbs fail there is always M&S or the garden centre to fall back on.

Christian Aid Update 2020 – This year Christian Aid will be addressing Climate Change and how this affects the most vulnerable communities. They are featuring some of the work they have undertaken in Kenya where families and whole communities have needed to change the way in which they produce their crops. Here families who are suffering the most with climate change have needed to work together to ensure they find ways to harness what rainfall they have so that they can water their crops, and secure their futures.

Count Your Blessings Lent Calendar: This helps us gain day by day information and challenges alongside prayer requests addressing life stories and examples of what can be achieved. The Calendars will be available in church from 20th February or contact Jude Billingham on 02920594708.

VE 75 – Preparations to celebrate and mark the 75th anniversary of the ending of WWII in Europe are in hand and will be announced shortly as we join in with the Community for the peace we have enjoyed since 1945.

Blessings to all readers, and a warm welcome awaits you at St. Mary’s.

Parry Edwards

 

---

---

 

February Parish Church News

 

Last Christmas, the Parochial Church Council decided that the chosen charities for the collections at the Wenvoe Community Carol Service and the “Waiting for Jesus” service, would be shared between the Neo Natal Unit at the UHW and the Food Bank in Barry. The money given on these two occasions came to £900 and cheques have been sent to both charities. This was a wonderful and generous response and thanks are given for all who attended and gave so generously.

During January there has been work in the churchyard on the Jenner family graves. Mr David Randolph had been concerned for some time that the white marble crosses, placed there in memory of former members of his family, had become so discoloured that it was time for a restoration to their former pristine condition. This is a common problem when white marble is chosen as a memorial. The amount of rain falling and the surrounding trees continually dripping on the stone surface, creates a discolouring that is difficult to remove. Thank you David for making the churchyard that much cleaner and a pleasure to all who visit.

Since the carpeting in the nave, choir and sanctuary has been removed revealing the historic tile flooring, many have commented on the beauty of the designs and colours of tile used. The church will close for two weeks in the month to allow the restorers to remove the unsightly white deposits, replace broken tiles, clean and polish the tile surfaces. This will bring them back to what the earlier generations who had the care of the church building in the mid 19th century, when they decided to beautify the church.

The church is now kept heated, at minimum temperature, during the week in an attempt to cure the condensation on the walls and floors. This is a work in progress, and already the building is much warmer and much easier to raise the heat level on Sundays. To keep the heating on is costly as there is so little insulation in the building. The roof is not insulated, the windows are single pane stained glass, the main entry via the south door lets the heat out and the cold in. The walls are solid stone, so we know that there is a great heat loss to be expected.

Preparations are in hand for compiling the 2020 Parish Electoral Roll. This is a listing of all communicant members of the church over 16 years of age, who can then stand for the Office of Churchwarden, serve on the PCC and also be able to vote at the Easter Vestry Meeting, should a vote be called for. All forms to be returned to church by Mothering Sunday March 22nd.

2020 in the Diocese is the ‘Year of Pilgrimage’ which was launched at the service in the afternoon of January 12th in the cathedral. The current issue of ‘Croeso’ had a very interesting article on the idea of pilgrimage, as we explore our own personal faith together with an invitation to make a pilgrimage to

Llandaff Cathedral as it celebrates its 900th year of foundation. During the service Bishop June talked about ‘flying the flag for faith, supporting our communities and encouraging cooperation and friendship’ Presentations were made to schools and parishes of a faith candle, a pilgrim’s staff, a scallop shell and a pilgrim bear to be used during the year at services in the parishes of the diocese to mark the progress of the pilgrimage.

Events to remember during February:

Shrove Tuesday (Pancake Day) – February 25th

Ash Wednesday (First day of Lent) – February 26th

Fun Quiz in the Community Centre – February 29th

A warm welcome awaits you in St Mary’s.

Parry Edwards

 

---

---

 

 

A Blywthyn Newedd Dda – a Happy New Year to all Readers.

The first Sunday in December was Advent Sunday; the beginning of four weeks of solemn preparation for the greatest event the world has known, the Birth of the Saviour in a stable at Bethlehem nearly 2000 years ago. It is also the first Sunday of the churche’s year, so we are already in the year 2020. As we enter the third decade of the 21st century, Christians the world over are looking forward with hope in their hearts for a continuing peace and prosperity for all peoples, of all faiths and creeds.

For the Church in Wales it also marks the centenary of its own birth, away from the Church of England. There was much talk and discussion about the dissolution of the four Welsh Dioceses away from the Church of England in the early years of the 20th century, and the necessary measures, the Welsh Church Act of 1914, were put on hold with the outbreak of WW1 in 1914. With the ending of the war, the movement to break away was once again agreed upon and so the Church in Wales was created with its own Archbishop the Very Reverend Alfred George Edwards, who was Bishop of St Asaph at the time in 1920.

How did these changes affect the Parish of Wenvoe are not very clear. Our Rector at the time was Rev. George Herbert Jenner who, with advancing years, retired from the parish in 1924. The years following the ending of the war were years of financial hardship and Wenvoe had never been a rich parish with any endowments. Mrs Laura Jenner of Wenvoe Castle still had the right to appoint a priest here, so the church just got on proclaiming the Good News of the Gospel, and we now enjoy all that earlier generations of church going folk in Wenvoe left for future generations.

As I write this preparations for the celebration of Christmas are well advanced and we look forward to the “Pebbles” children giving their presentation of the Nativity story in church. Once again a Christmas Card, giving all details of the services in St Mary’s and St Bleddian’s has been delivered to all homes in the parish, and Christmas Edition of the parish magazine “Connections” is full of good cheer for the festive season

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 200 Club continues to be successful in raising much needed money for the building fund. The Christmas Draw of winner numbers was drawn at the Church Hall following the Community Carol service on 18th December, when great fellowship was accorded with mince pies and mulled wine, courtesy of Wenvoe Community Council.. The 200 Club has donated £1,800 to the St. Mary’s Building Fund for this year.

The work in hand for 2020 will be the plastering of the lower walls adjacent to the altar, and the rear of the organ console and in February we are due to have the historic floor tiling in the church restored and cleaned. This work will add to the beauty of the church interior and will be as when the tiles were laid sometime at the middle to end of the 19th century in the major restoration of church that took place under the guidance of the Jenner rectors.

The Christmas Chattery

The Christmas Chattery on Thursday 12th December 2019 was a huge success in spite of the awful weather. The church hall was packed with people and we almost ran out of chairs and cups! There was a lovely friendly ambience with lots of chat and laughter. The hall looked very smart with Christmas decorations kindly gifted by the reindeers.

Grateful thanks to everyone who supported us, as in addition to the most enjoyable social occasion, £292 was raised for the church building fund.

The highlight of the raffle was the amazing Christmas cake creation from Glenys Tucker which was won by a lucky resident in Vennwood Close.

Don’t forget that the Chattery meets on the 2nd Thursday of each month when you will find a warm welcome – but fewer people!

Happy New Year to all our readers

Parry Edwards

 

---

---

 

All Saints Day was celebrated on the first Sunday of the month, with Bert Bates giving the congregation an account of the pilgrimage that he and Gwynne undertook in walking the ‘Camino de Santiago de Compostela’. It was a most uplifting spiritual experience meeting up with the other pilgrims who were walking due to many different reasons. The common greeting was ‘Buen Camino’ and the walk was almost 180km long. Many of the congregation had sponsored their walk and the total amount raised was £610, which is to be given towards the work of charities dealing with young people and their problems. Well done Bert and Gwynne who would encourage anyone who is able to undertake this pilgrimage to give it serious thought. Having a kindred spirit to accompany you would help in the quiet rest times to discuss your feelings and to meditate on what you are about.

Remembrance Sunday: We were blessed with a fine, cold, sunny morning as we assembled in church for the service of Remembrance compiled by Ray Harris. It was a most memorable and moving act of remembering the fallen in WWI and WWII and the many wars that have been fought since 1945. Following the service in church the proceedings moved to the village War Memorial where the Vale Brass Band were playing as the procession from church made their way. Following the Silence, wreaths were laid on behalf of the Rector and Churchwardens, the Wenvoe Community Council, the Army Cadets, The Women’s Institute, the Scouts, Gwenfo School and others. The sounding of the Last Post and the Reveille all added to the solemnity of the occasion, as the community of Wenvoe once more remembered the sacrifice of its own sons in the two World Wars. The loose money on the collection plates, with a contribution from church funds came to £300 and has been given to The Royal British Legion for their continuing work in providing lifelong support with members of the Armed Forces who need help.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.

The lantern has now been fitted to the wrought iron arch between the old and the new churchyard; it now awaits connection to the electricity supply. Work has continued in stabilising the gravestones found to be loose in the churchyard. Mike Tucker, our groundsman takes great pleasure in keeping the church surroundings clean and tidy and we receive many compliments from visitors on how well the church and grounds are presented.

We continue to provide ‘Welcome Packs’ to all new householders moving into the village. These are updated on a regular basis and give information on all the activities that can be found in Wenvoe. This is regarded as part of our mission to the wider community in which we live. We welcome them to join in as many of the organisations as they wish, and also to inform them that the church is there to help them through the good times and the sad times.

Jon is always available to discuss any topics in his “Open Door” sessions in church on Monday afternoons as advertised in the church newsletter and church magazine.

The Chattery meets on Thursday 12th December in the Church Hall and will have a Christmas theme with lots going on. The FREE raffle is included in the price of £2.00. All are welcome to join in for tea/coffee and mince pies etc and to chat to old friends and new.

Looking ahead to the Christmas Celebrations

A Christmas Card, giving details of all the Services at St Mary’s will be delivered to all homes in the community.

The Community Carol Service on Wednesday 18 December at 7.00 pm will be followed by mulled wine and mince pies in the Church Hall. The refreshments are provided by the Wenvoe Community Council and all are welcome.

Christmas Eve: Waiting for Jesus is at 5.00 pm and Midnight Mass is at 11.30 pm. The collections at these services are to be given to the work of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at UHW and the Food Bank in Barry.

Christmas Day: The early morning celebration of the Eucharist is at 8.00 am.

We wish all our readers a very Blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Parry Edwards

 

---

---