The 2nd Sunday before Lent
8am HOLY COMMUNION (traditional language).
10am HOLY COMMUNION in Church and on YouTube.
4pm CHURCH AT 4 MEETING IN THE CHURCH HALL All ages welcome.
TUESDAY 22nd FEBRUARY 9.00am Morning Prayer in Church
THURSDAY 24th FEBRUARY 9.00am Morning Prayer in Church
SATURDAY 26th FEBRUARY 11.30am Pancake Racing, Willow Gardens and the Church Hall
SUNDAY 27TH FEBRUARY 2022
The Sunday Next Before Lent
8am MORNING PRAYER in Church
Preacher: Revd Chris Hunter
Sidesperson: Alan & Christine Wrixon
10am HOLY COMMUNION in Church and on YouTube.
Preacher: Revd Barbara Abrey
Intercessions: Margaret Penfound
Reading: Exodus 34. 29-35
Reader: Helen Toomer
Gospel: Luke 9. 28-36
Sidespersons: Alan & Kathy Gregory
4pm CHURCH AT 4 MEETING IN THE CHURCH HALL All ages welcome.
Live streaming the 10am service
The 10am service will be live streamed on You Tube. Please visit our YouTube Channel on https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCc6wnuTqXBYTixq-NpQgeLQ (or search for Wroughton and Wichelstowe Parish church) and press the ‘subscribe’ button.
Covid-19…
The government recently took the decision to relax some of the legal Covid restrictions. However, levels of Covid remain high and some people continue to be vulnerable. Different people will have different attitudes to risk. Love and generosity are key principles in the way that we live together and meet as one body in Christ. To help everyone to feel comfortable and safe in church we are continuing to ask people to take these precautions:
- Please wear a mask unless medically exempt, particularly while singing. You may remove your mask to eat or drink, but please replace it afterwards.
- Please be aware of social distancing and respect the wishes of those who might need a bit more space than you do. If you want to be socially distanced then please avoid the pews in the rear of the nave.
- The church building is being regularly cleaned and ventilated.
- Please use the hand sanitiser provided.
Communication
We have come to realise that there are some ‘church’ activities going on that many of us know nothing about. If you run some sort of church group then please let Janet know so that dates can go into the newsletter diary and people looking to join something or to volunteer know who to contact. Feel free to ask Janet to put notices in the newsletter at any time. Barbara
Filling Station Sandwiches
Our church’s turn to supply sandwiches etc. for the Filling Station comes around on 24th February. As usual, if you can supply a loaf of sandwiches or other food as per the sign-up sheet, for the homeless in Swindon, please put your name on the sheet on the church chest and take a reminder card.
Pancake Races
We are having pancake racing and eating on Saturday 26th February in Willow-Brook Gardens and the Church Hall starting at 11.30am. All are welcome regardless of age, but those wishing to race should bring a frying pan. Volunteers to cook and serve pancakes welcome, batter etc. will be provided. Barbara
Tree Planting
Community Tree Planting Day in Wroughton, Saturday 26th February, 11.30am – 4pm, Meet at Maunsell Way Recreation Ground SN4 9JF. Bring a spade and wear sturdy footwear/gloves. Wroughton Girlguiding will be running a pop up café. We hope to see you there! For more details email projects@wroughton.gov.uk
This is the same day as our pancake races, but there will be time for you to go to this after you’ve eaten your pancakes!
Coffee Team – Thank You
Thank you so much to the people who have come forward to help the coffee team. It makes such a difference to us and allows for more flexibility should anyone be off sick or on holiday. It also means we are on the rota once every five weeks instead of one in three. Sally Parker
Fairtrade Fortnight
Fairtrade fortnight is with us from February 21st. You will find offers on Fairtrade goods in some of the supermarkets. Traidcraft have a new catalogue and although I won’t be doing a table at Church please feel free to order through me and I will deliver your items to you. Sally Parker
Lent Lunches
Soup ~ Bread ~ Cheese
Tea Or Coffee
Every Friday during Lent at St Joseph’s Parish Centre, Devizes Road, Wroughton
From Friday 4th March, 12noon to 1.00pm – Donations for Christian Aid/Cafod
Everyone Welcome
Carnival
I am on the Carnival committee and we would love to see a group from our Church volunteer for us. This is how Clive and I got involved originally. Volunteering can be on the field for a couple of hours or helping with the parade. The date this year is July 9th which hopefully won’t clash with ordinations as it did last year. It was a big success last year with £1000 shared between local charities. Hopefully it will be bigger and better this year and the Parade is back!. Please talk to me if you are interested, Sally Parker
The church notice board…
People often stop to glance at our church notice board as they walk past and it is… a bit dull. It doesn’t say very much about who we are or what we’re interested in and it certainly doesn’t suggest that there is any life within (or outside) the walls. It would be really good if could be better used. The key is now hanging up on a hook near the window in the church porch. Please feel free to display posters advertising community events, church activities, mission partner updates, flower arranging classes etc. etc. it would be better to have to tidy it up occasionally than to leave it empty!
Do you know someone who is thinking about getting married?
Anyone who has lived in Wroughton and Wichelstowe for at least six months at some point in their lives is entitled to get married in the parish church, whether they worship with us or not. We’d love to welcome more couples into our building and to help them to begin their married lives together in a way that puts God at the very heart of the promises they make. Spread the word.
Swindon Youth For Christ
For the past 70 years, Swindon Youth for Christ has been working to take the good news about Jesus Christ to the young people of Swindon. The methods have changed over the decades from large evangelistic rallies to work with individuals in schools or on the streets.
The Covid pandemic has brought most of the current work to a halt. The pause has provided an opportunity to review the best way to work in the future.
It has been decided that rather than SYFC working independently, but being supported by the local churches, instead the churches should lead on the work, whilst being aided and resourced by SYFC.
Locally, there are two projects taking place in Wichelstowe. One is a weekly football session for 16 and 17 year olds, and the other is part of the enrichment activities held after school at the Deanery Academy.
Please pray:-
- For wisdom and discernment as opportunities are researched, and new ways of working put in place.
- That the teams working with young people will be enabled to share God’s love with them.
- That churches will be open to working together and with SYFC to reach young people.
Eco Top Tips – practical ways to take better care of God’s creation
February – Be informed
- Read a book to become more “carbon literate” and understand the greenhouse gas cost of your choices. Try “How Bad are Bananas? The Carbon Footprint of Everything” Mike Burners-Lee
- Do your own internet research to become more “carbon literate”: choose one item a day this week to find out what its carbon “cost” is. For example a kg of rice produces 4kg of CO2e in production or a kg of potatoes is 0.37kg CO2e.
Suggestions in response to ‘Shop Local, Act Global’ ….(thank you Jane!)
Some supermarkets (including Waitrose) let you take your own containers for the deli, cheese, meat and fish counters. Use muslin or cotton bags for loose fruit and vegetables (try and buy loose instead of plastic covered) ….. Sainsburys are currently selling muslin bags for 30p each 🙂
Many supermarkets will take back packaging that can’t generally be recycled ….. and Tesco have very good recycling outlets for crisp packets, all sorts of plastics etc. Do lobby your supermarket to ‘do better’ if you think there’s an area they can improve on….
Photos for the notices
Don’t forget you are still able to send me photos of any interesting pictures you take on your travels to put in the notices. Janet
Floodlighting
The Church was floodlit on Friday 18th February by Sharon Hawkins in memory of her Mum, Ann Hawkins on what would have been her 80th birthday; On Sunday 20th February by Pat Yule in memory of the late Kenneth Yule on what would have been his 95th birthday.
Funerals
We commend to God’s care and keeping those who have, died recently Joan Gordon and Charles Greening.
We pray for all those who mourn the loss of a loved one.
| The Parish Office, Priors Hill, Wroughton, SN4 0RT Open Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday 9am to 1.30pm
01793 812050 office@wroughton.com Revd Phill Harrison – Vicar 01793 812301 vicar@wroughton.com Revd Chris Hunter – Curate 01793 814987 curate@wroughton.com Church Twitter Account – @WroughtonWichel Find us on Facebook – Wroughton and Wichelstowe Parish Church Please follow us for all the latest updates from Wroughton Parish Church.
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The Pickle Sandwich
Newsletter of
THE FILLING STATION
feeding the hungry on the streets. Registered Charity No 1072429
February 2022
2021 was a tough year for us all. For the client group that attend the Filling Station it was tough too, and we were unable to operate for quite a part of the year.
The service was suspended from the start of 2021 until 15th April. Without any publicity we returned to our regular pitch …..and that first night we had 12 clients. Numbers have continued to rise since then, the maximum being 49 on a “wet” evening in early December
You may have read about the money that the government gave local authorities to ensure that during the covid pandemic no one was homeless. Many were housed in temporary accommodation, hotels & motorway service area.
In October 2021 we did a survey of our users and where they were planning to sleep that night. The results are shown below (with those for May 21 shown for comparison)
OCT MAY
Private rental 3 2
Local Authority / Housing Association 13 13
Hostel 9 2
B&B / Hotel (Covid provision) 0 4
Sofa Surfing 6 3
Rough Sleeping 12 3
We were interested to note the increase in the number of client that were accommodated in Hostels and still needed / used out service, and of course the absolute increase in numbers, from 26 to 43!
But behind each number is a person, and this is not a full count, but a worry that the numbers are increasing after so much money was given by the government to support the homeless. Perhaps a roof is not the whole answer, and the support need should have included more drug, alcohol, mental health support?
Since October 2021 we have been supported by workers from Turning Point, the Drug and Alcohol support service for Wiltshire. This is welcome, as we can supply food but not advice.
In 2020, until the pandemic started, we, and our clients, were supported each week by outreach workers from Threshold Housing Link. This service is now “contracted” though Swindon Borough Council and the result is we had no support since then!
Covid has affected gifts to the Filling Station as well. During Covid restriction Dauntsey’s school pupils were unable to support us, and we missed their Harvest Festival gifts this year. Many Churches and school were able to help us with both gifts and monetary donations. Our expenditure in 2021 exceeded our income by just £254
We were pleased to welcome visits by the Bishop of Swindon, Dr Lee Rayfield, the High Sheriff of Wiltshire, Sir Charles Hobhouse and Cllr Jim Grant, Leader of Labour group on SBC
With our volunteer team of drivers, packers, sandwich makers, servers we estimate that well over 100 people contribute to making sure that we are ready to give food to the homeless each and every week. In addition we’d like to thank the Staff at Booth House, who heat the soup and water each week, and those at Legge House who take in donations.
Thanks to all who support the Charity
If you have a chance, do come on a Thursday evening between 7.00 pm and 8.00pm in Queen Street Car Park. There may not be a job to do, but there will be up to fifty clients to have a chat with, (and you can have coffee too!)
