Category: St Mary’s Parish Church News

ST. MARY’S PARISH CHURCH NEWS 

At the recent Parochial Church Council meeting it was reported that the plans for the church extension on the North side of the church, were progressing with further discussions with our architect Julie Boulby. There is much to sort out before we can think of applying for planning consents from the diocese and the local authority. We must ensure that before a spade is put into ground we are quite sure that what we want will stand the test of time, and will serve us and the community for many years ahead. There are a number of restraints on the site, such as the yew tree and the cremation burial plots, and we are anxious that these are not interfered with, so discussions will continue until we are ready to present our plans to the full PCC and then the congregation.

The quinquenial works in the churchyard are slowly coming to an end with only the cleaning of the East window and the new security guards to be fitted. The lime render applied to the boundary walls between the church and the Old Rectory has failed due to frost damage, and will be replaced when all danger of any frost has passed. The old concrete channelling on the south side of the nave and chancel will be removed and new French drain dug with a new soak away under the path. A faculty is being applied for the work scheduled later in the year, to avoid any interference with weddings, as access to the church will be affected during the time the work will be carried out. The saga of the replacement of the hawthorns on the path outside the porch continues with more promises from our contractor that they will be replaced, and the existing trees pruned to a more regular shape. A new notice board will shortly be erected in the churchyard facing the Old Port Road which will enable posters and other information to be more readily available.

Mention of Saga’s… the choice of a Bishop for our Diocese is proving to be difficult. The Electoral College met for three days at the cathedral in February, but failed to find a candidate with 66% of the vote. It passed to the Bench of Bishops who have met for another three days in the cathedral, who have come up with a short list on which they will take soundings around the diocese and hopefully will eventually present us with a new Bishop. Watch this space!!!

We are now in the Season of Lent with opportunities to explore the faith with Lenten Talks and discussion groups in Wenvoe and Sully. The Lenten Lunches in the church hall have been well attended, with very tasty soups prepared by members of the congregation. The Pebbles children will be giving us their presentation on Mothering Sunday at the All Age Eucharist, with flowers for Mums and Grannies. We will be delivering a Easter Card to all the homes in the parish, the cover being designed by the children, giving all the times of the services during Holy week and Easter day. Once again the appeal is made for Easter Lilies to be given in memory of loved ones who have died, to decorate the church for Easter.

On Sunday April 2nd we are launching an appeal for the Famine in East Africa. The loose moneys on the collection plate will be donated to Christian Aid and we know that there will be a generous response to this appeal. This Sunday marks the beginning of Passion Tide and there can be no better way than marking Our Lord’s passion and suffering by doing something to relieve the suffering of the people in that part of Africa who are in dire straits due to the failure of the rains to grow their crops.

Support for Traidcraft continues with the Spring Catalogue available in addition to Easter goodies and cards and gifts. The Food Bank collections have continued with the weekly collections taken into the Barry Food bank.

The next session of Messy Church will be on Saturday April 8th between 3.30pm – 5.30pm in the community Centre with an Easter theme for the crafts and worship and a tea party etc. It is FREE and all people of all ages are welcome.

Ministry Area Trip to Brecon on 30th April following the United Service in St John the Baptist Church in Sully. After lunch in the Pilgrims Tea Rooms there will be an opportunity to go on a tour of the Cathedral and attend the 3.30 pm Choral Evensong if you would like to. Names please on the lists in church to confirm the numbers as soon a possible. The cost of the coach is approximately £10.00 and the return home will after Evensong. Please note that your time in Brecon is your own if you wish to do other things. The lunch and the tour have been organised and are just our suggestions.

Happy Easter to all readers

Parry Edwards

ST. MARY’S PARISH CHURCH NEWS

Discussions have been going on during the month with our architect as to what form our proposed church extension is going to take. We have been talking about what we want the extra space used for, not only on Sunday mornings but its use during the week for church and non- church activities. The plan is that this extra space will be offered to any group in the village to meet, in surroundings that will have kitchen facilities and toilets available. Until we get these initial ideas on paper, and agreed, our architect will not be able to produce any preliminary sketches of what is possible within the means of our budget and available funds. The decision to sell the Church Hall still stands and the proceeds from the sale will be used to fund the extension and we intend seeking other grant aid, so that we have a well thought out design we can be proud of for the future development of our church and community.

We were represented at the eucharist service, to mark the retirement of Archbishop Barry at Llandaff Cathedral. Allen Oliver, attended with Jon, and reported that the cathedral was full but due to the wet weather that afternoon there was space available. We wish Archbishop Barry Morgan peace and joy in his retirement, and trust that he will settle into his new routine and home, to enjoy many years with his family.

The Annual Quiz Evening was a great success with a sell out of tickets well in advance of the evening. The quiz master was Ian Moody and his questions had many scratching their heads for answers. The evening raised the amazing amount of £748.46p and will be placed in the Church Building Fund to carry on the work needed around the church to cure the damp in the walls on the south side of the nave and porch. Our current programme of work continues at a slower pace that we would like, with the church gates having been removed for painting and repair. The large East window remains to be cleaned and new window guards fitted.

Traidcraft Plc… Helping us bring Fair Trade to our parish

Jude Billingham reports.. 2016 was a busy year for our team in Wenvoe. In addition to the usual stalls following the All Age Services and at the Chattery, we held stalls at the Scarecrow Festival, another following the Remembrance service. And at the joint Parish services. Sales to friends and families also help to boost our takings. During the year we sold goods worth £3166 and gave donations of Easter Eggs to the Foodbank in Barry and for distribution to the congregation on Easter Sunday. We also donated Advent calendars to the Foodbank in Advent.

Last year Traidcraft launched a “Let it grow” campaign to raise money for rural farmers and their families. This aimed to help farmers develop their skills in farming and business know how. This was highly successful raising over £550.000. In Wenvoe we donated £200 of our surplus and are planning to send another £150 later this year as the campaign enters its second year.

Looking ahead… a “Sale table” has been introduced to help clear some of the remaining Christmas stock, to make way for new items when the Spring catalogue is launched before Easter.

Ash Wednesday (the first day of Lent) falls on St David’s Day, March 1st this year. As usual there will be a series of Lent courses running in Wenvoe and Sully. The course in Wenvoe will be at the Rectory on every Monday afternoon in Lent from 2.pm to 3.30pm. Lent lunches in the Church hall begin on the 8th March, when soup and rolls and cheese etc will be served. Volunteers to make the soup have been arranged and a list is available in church to give some idea of numbers attending.

The next showing of “Faith in Film” will be at the Rectory on Friday 3rd March, and again names on the list in church, to make sure there is enough popcorn available. The film is “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen”. is a tale of a fisheries expert is approached by a consultant to help realise a sheik’s vision of bringing the sport of fly-fishing to the desert and embarks on an upstream journey of faith and fish to prove the impossible possible.

Looking further ahead.. on the 30th April after the United service at Sully there will be a Ministry Area Trip to Brecon. The coach fare will be approx £10 with lunch available at the cathedral restaurant, if required, followed by an optional tour of the Cathedral and 3.30pm Choral Evensong before returning home.

Parry Edwards

ST. MARY’S PARISH CHURCH NEWS

Christmas has come and gone and the New Year is already three weeks old as I write this, looking back at the Christmas Services, we had almost record numbers attending the Community Carol Service, The Waiting for Jesus service, and the Midnight Communion Service saw the highest number of communicants for many years. It is thought that the Christmas Card, designed by the children in our “Pebbles” group, and delivered to all homes in the parish, brought the Christmas services to all in a way that we have not done for a number of years. Reaching out into the community is one of the prime reasons why we are here to spread the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus, born at Christmas to be the Light of the World and the Saviour of Mankind.

In the midst of all the celebrations this year, two families lost their loved ones and the funerals of Joan Bosley and Vera Tipples were very well attended, showing the respect and love that these two ladies were held in by their families and neighbours.

We were able to donate to various charities from the collections taken at recent services. The Remembrance Day service raised £208 for the Royal British Legion Poppy appeal. The collection for Ty Hafan was increased to £400 for the childrens hospice at Sully. An additional amount, again for Ty Hafan was taken using a sealed collection tin, amount unknown.

As you will recall, Archbishop Barry has retired during the month and we were able to send a donation of £100 towards his retirement fund. The Right Reverend Barry Morgan has been the longest serving Bishop in the worldwide Anglican Communion and has been here in Llandaff since 1999, having been translated from Bangor where he had been their Bishop for 7 years. He has been at the helm of the Church in Wales for the last 14 years, and has arguably been Wales’ most outspoken cleric, never afraid to champion causes from Welsh devolution to the ordination of women bishops. We wish him a long and happy retirement, though sadly without his wife Hilary who died last year.

So there is now a vacancy in the Diocese. .technically, any priest of the Anglican communion who is more than 30 years old can be elected Bishop. Both men and women can be elected, and the process begins with a secret ballot under the control of the Electoral College . 47 members of the church from all over Wales will gather at Llandaff to make their decision and will be literally locked in while the world is locked out. Later the commission will meet again to elect a new Archbishop from among the other diocesan bishops, Until this decision is arrived at the present senior bishop, who the Bishop of Swansea and Brecon has the responsibility of looking after day to day running of the Church in Wales.

The current programme of work in the churchyard is coming to an end with the drainage around the transept and vestry completed and the trenches filled with aggregate to make French drains to take the water off the roofs into another soak away. The church porch is completed with work to the paving slabs and the curved ceiling repaired and repainted. Shortly the cleaning of the stained glass of the East Window will be carried out before new stainless steel window guards are to be fitted. The church gates have been removed to receive the top coat of paint, and the Kissing Gate between the church and the Old Rectory will also be refurbished. Mike, our contractor, has been a most efficient worker, meticulous in his care, and with due respect for the surroundings. We have been very fortunate in having him, and hope he will be the choice for the work we have planned for 2017.

There are in church, leaflets from a Christian Charity called TWAM CYMRU, based in Penarth who collect tools and other items, which are refurbished and sent abroad to equip craftsmen and women to earn a living in the developing world. If you wish to get rid of any tools, of any kind, contact Andrew on 029 2007 05614.

TRAIDCRAFT during the year was well supported with stalls at the various events and coffee mornings. The FOODBANK regular collections have continued, plus the special collections for Christmas goodies and there was an impressive selection of toys and gifts for the Big Wrap. Once again we thank Jude Billingham and her team of helpers for the hard work they put into organising not only the work they do for the Food Bank but also for the time and effort they put into the Christian Aid appeal every year.

During the year, at the many social events held in the church hall and elsewhere, a thank you is due to the Social Committee for all the preparation made for the serving of tea and coffee after services and the “Chattery”. They have arranged that the Lenten lunches will begin on March 8th in the Church Hall and volunteers are asked for to make the soup etc. The Annual Fun Quiz is booked for February 4th at 7.30pm in the Community Centre, Tickets are £6 available from Carol and Sandra. Once again we thank Ian Moody for not only devising the quiz, but also acting as Quizmaster on the night

The Parish Magazine has a new name… it is called CONNECTIONS and is available for collection in church, priced 50p a copy. This month’s front cover is a lovely photograph of Snow Drops, a sure sign that Spring is on the way, and that in church, the season of Lent, followed by Easter is on the horizon, more next month on Lent services. In the meantime please submit any writings or articles or any newsworthy items for the magazine to me for inclusion as part of the Wenvoe contribution.

Parry Edwards

ST. MARY’S PARISH CHURCH NEWS

A Happy New Year to all our readers… a Blwythin Newedd Dda..

The season of Advent in the church has been marked with the traditional lighting of the Advent candles each Sunday. The first Sunday marked the Patriarchs thinking of Abraham the father of the Nation of Israel. Then on the second Sunday we remembered the Prophets of old, hearing of Isaiah in the Old Testament, on the third Sunday we heard of John Baptist the last of the prophets as he prepared the way for the coming Messiah. On the fourth Sunday our prayer was for Mary and Joseph when the candle for Love was lit and finally on Christmas Eve the white central candle will be lit for the Birth of the long awaited Saviour, Jesus the Light of the Light. Advent is a special time of waiting and preparation for the greatest event in the Christian Calendar. The hymns we sing reflect the solemn nature of our worship and week by week we gradually relax as we draw nearer to Christmas day itself, for on the Sunday before Christmas our ”Pebbles” children performed their Nativity play at the 9.30 am service. This always brings the Mums and Dads, the Aunties and Uncles and even the Grandparents to see their little ones make their debut on the stage, and all are always welcome, with coffee and tea in Church Hall after the service. Well done to our “Pebbles” leaders and helpers in coaching the “Pebblettes” in their speaking roles, now greatly helped with our new sound system so we can hear them clearly in all parts of the church.

The Community Carol Service on Wednesday evening the 14th December, brought the different organisations in the village together, with Readings and Hymns based on the traditional Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols. The collection taken during the service was donated to the work of Ty Hafan, the children hospice at Sully. The evening was rounded off with mince pies and mulled wine in the Community Centre, kindly provided by the Wenvoe Community Council. Mention must be made of the superb decorated Christmas tree outside the community Centre, larger than last year, a mobile crane was needed to erect it in place. Well done, Diolch am fawr.

A session of “Messy Church” with the theme of The Nativity, was held in the Community centre on Saturday afternoon the 3rd of December. The activities included making things that told the story of how Jesus was born in a stable in Bethlehem long ago including a large collage of last year’s Christmas cards for display in the church. This is a combined act of worship and time based around arts, crafts, celebration and eating together, arranged with St Mary’s and The Vale Church, and is well appreciated with the families who attend with their children. Look out for the dates of the next sessions in 2017.

This year we have given a Christmas Card to every house in the parish, the cover designed by children from “Pebbles” giving all the times of the Services over Christmas, and of course extending a warm welcome to all at this special time of the year. To the homes with young children, it is a time of excitement and expectation, to the older generation it is a time of reflection of events in the past, but to all it is the ending of one year and the wondering of what 2017 will bring into our lives.

The work in the Churchyard continues, at a slower pace than we would have liked, but if a job is worth doing is must be well done, and Mike our contractor is very methodical and careful in his work. The drainage to take away the rainwater from the roofs has been a particular problem for him. With old drainage pipes being uncovered, not knowing where they drain to, realising that we have a stream running into the trench around the Transept which means another “soak away” has to be dug. Work in any churchyard raises all kinds of problems and situations which cannot be foreseen at the time until you put a spade into the ground, however the day will come when the work will be finished on the North side of the church, before we commence on the South side of the nave

The church finances can cover the costs of the current work and the St. Mary’s 200 Club has given the Building Fund the proceeds of the year, after the prize money has been allocated. A surplus of £1,750 has been deposited which is a wonderful result, and thanks go to all who are shareholders in the 200 Club and of course there is room for many more. Contact Dickon Oliver for an application form and continue to help us keep the church building fit for future generations. (see page 5).

The other work going on the churchyard is the repair of the “Morgan” grave by the churchyard gate. Messrs Mossfords have removed the white marble stonework to their workshops and have relaid the foundations in readiness for the headstone/white cross to be sited. The cost for this is taken from the trust fund set up by the family some years ago to maintain the grave, and will not need any additional work for some years to come.

Looking back over the year, 2016 has been a very busy year in the life of the church, and 2017 will be full of opportunities to spread the Gospel out into the parish. Work on the preparations and ideas for our extension on the North side will be formulated and examined by many statuary organisations, and it is a project worth doing for the future of the church in Wenvoe. Some time in the year the St Mary’s Building Fund will be relaunched to raise our contribution to the work, and grants will be applied for from Charitable bodies who have funds for this purpose.

Just a reminder… Jon our Priest in Charge, known to many as Vicar Jon, is always available twice a month in St. Mary’s Church on Monday afternoons, as part of the “Open Door” scheme, running in Wenvoe and Sully. He is available for any discussion or problem or suggestion you have, and wish to chat with him. No appointment needed, just turn up.

Once again A Happy and Prosperous New Year to all readers of “What’s On” in Wenvoe from the congregations at St Mary’s and St Lythan’s.

Parry Edwards