Dear Friends

Please find elsewhere on this page a Short Service for Use at Home at All Souls Tide.

This is a version of the lovely All Souls Memorial Service we've held at St Andrew's for the last few years. Sadly, of course, we are unable to have the service this year due to the closure of places of worship in Wales under the "Firebreak" lockdown rules. But I hope you will make use of the attached version and find it helpful. The readings follow the service in the attachment.

Just a reminder that our two Welsh Churches – Presteigne and Discoed – are closed for the duration of the lockdown and that, although services will be held in Lingen on November 1st and Knill on the 8th, I must ask parishioners on the Welsh side of the border not to attend.

Presteigne Church will be open again for private prayer from Tuesday 10th and there will (God willing) be a service of Holy Communion (BCP) on Sunday 15th to which all will be welcome.

A word about Remembrance Sunday...

There can be no service in church this year, but there will be a small gathering at the War Memorial in Presteigne at which the Names of the Fallen will be read, prayers will be offered, and wreaths will be placed on the Memorial.

However, as Welsh Covid Rules state that we may not have more than 30 people gathering even in the open air and most of those places will be taken up by the members of the Royal British Legion, everyone else is asked to mark Remembrance Sunday at home - either by standing on their doorsteps to mark the Two-Minute Silence at 11am, or by watching the National Commemoration from the Cenotaph in London on the TV.

It is obvious that we are entering a new and serious phase in the pandemic, so any plans we may have for the future will need to be very flexible and could be changed or abandoned at any moment and short notice.

I'll do my best to keep everyone informed - so please watch this space!

In the meantime, we would do well to start using St David's "signing off" words again...

Be joyful, keep the faith, do the little things...

with very best wishes

Steve