August 2022 News Update
August 2022 News Update
After many trials and holdups our new priest The Rev. Lyndon Hutchison-Hounsell and his wife Chris finally made it to the Rectory on the evening of the 8th August after a gruelling journey from London, Ontario Canada. They were welcomed with many useful gifts to help furnish their home as well as messages of welcome and greetings. It has been heart-warming to see the response from all over our three churches to make them feel at home in Wales and that they are among friends. Before Vicar Lyndon can take any services in our churches he will have to be licensed by the Bishop, and this hopefully will be in September at a date yet to be announced. He is anxious to meet as many people as possible and has been around the village, with visits to St, Mary’s, the Wenvoe Arms, The Hub and other places, so please make yourselves known to them.
The latest edition of the Ministry Area “Connections” magazine was available during August and a copy has been placed at The Hub in Wenvoe, during the library opening hours. Lyndon wrote a letter for the magazine as follows
“Hello, De Morgannwg Ministry Area!
It is such a pleasure to be able to say hello and I so look forward to getting to know all of you. I’m sure you’re curious about who I am and, of course, you will get to know me over the course of the next few months, too. As an introduction, here’s a little bit about me and my wife, Chris.
We’ve been married for 33 years. We have lived in various locations in the provinces of Ontario, Quebec, and Manitoba. My family is from Newfoundland. We have two adult children, Thomas and Emma. Thomas is studying architecture and has a passion for sustainability. Emma is an artist who enjoys working with textiles – especially knitting.
Chris and I love to travel. We spent two months in Italy in 2012 and four months in the UK in 2019. We enjoy visiting holy sites and places where other pilgrims have walked before. We are looking forward to spending many hours on the trails of the Wales Coastal Path and Brecon Beacons. We hope to share those walks with many of you.
We also enjoy music and dancing, reading historical and mystery novels, and local food and drink. I enjoy singing and playing some guitar. Chris enjoys knitting and researching her genealogy. We are looking forward to being introduced to cricket, rugby, and football, (as spectators) and would like try our hand at bowls and croquet.
I have been a professed member of the Third Order of the Society of Saint Francis for more than 20 years. There’s lots to talk about but suffice it to say this means I have a keen interest in caring for the earth and those in need.
I was ordained priest in 1993 so I’ve been at this for a while. But that’s not to say I don’t have anything to learn. I most certainly do and I look forward to
continuing my spiritual formation alongside the good people of De Morgannwg Ministry Area.
Peace and many blessings,
Lyndon
During the month of August our church services have been led by visiting priests and we have been enjoying the varying styles of worship they bring to the church. Being a holiday month we always expect a downturn in attendances with people away on holiday, but the number of worshippers has been very encouraging, and things can only improve once Lyndon is able to officiate and establish the normal pattern of services in our churches.
Work on the tower is progressing now at a faster rate than before with the mortaring gang applying the lime mortar as quickly as the weather conditions allow. The recent hot sunshine dries the mortar out too quickly and causes cracks, delaying the final mortaring to be applied. So hopefully the work will be completed in September, the scaffolding, removed, the clock restarted, and the ground around the tower cleaned up in time for the Harvest Festival and BYO picnic in the church grounds to meet up with our new priest. So watch for the announcement on the church notice boards and the community pages.
The Rev. Kevin Barry, our former curate will be licenced to the East Vale Ministry Area on Sunday 4th September at Llancarfan church at 6.00pm and members of our three churches will be there to support him and to acknowledge the time he spent with us. Our best wishes and prayers go with Kevin and his family for this next stage in his ministry in the Church in Wales.
We supported the Christian Aid “East Africa Hunger Appeal” with retiring collections at our Sunday services. “After the worst drought in 40 years millions of people across East Africa are facing the threat of famine and dying. With the war in Ukraine causing global food prices to rocket, we are facing crisis on crisis. Due to climate change many families are now homeless, identified as displaced” Faced with a situation like that we have no option but to try and help with whatever money we are able to raise to ease their situation especially in the provision of water purification kits, dispersing animal feed and medicine. Christian Aid is supporting over 300,000 people and more help is needed. Thank you to all who supported this appeal in our churches.
Looking ahead we are planning a number of events to meet up with our new priest during September. They are all in the planning stage and no firm dates have been agreed at the time of writing, so keep your eye on the notice boards in church and on the weekly newsletter.
Thank you for reading this, the very latest news from St. Mary’s and we invite you to join with us during the month as we celebrate a new chapter in the life of the church here in Wenvoe. God Bless.
Parry Edwards