St Catherine's, Drayton

Holy Trinity

The communities of Long Sutton and Long Load are vibrant communities sharing a church building and church community.

Our church is now open daily during daylight hours and church services have resumed. Please use hand sanitiser on entry and respect the preferences of others. For services here and in the benefice, please look at 'Services and Events' - calendar section.

Before pandemic struck, the style of services varied from an 8.00am BCP Communion service once a month through Evensong and Traditional Language Common Worship to an informal Cafe Praise grouped around tables at the back of church.

The 1st Saturday in the month Coffee Morning & produce stall is a regular item in people's diaries, and money raised is between £400-£700 each month.

The west end of the church is flexible, and social events such as the Harvest Supper are held there.

The church and the school are closely linked and the children worship in church once a month and have special services for church festivals and for Remembrance and Shrove Tuesday (pancakes are popular!)

There is an active 'Friends of Long Sutton Church' (FOLSC) who raise money for the repair of the building when needed. They arrange fund-raising social events through the year.

Long Load have recently dedicated a new War Memorial, replacing the one left in the church as it was too fragile to remove when the church was sold.

Safeguarding:

"The parish of Long Sutton & Long Load is committed to the safeguarding of children, young people and adults. We follow the House of Bishops guidance and policies and have our own Parish Safeguarding Officer(s), PSOs. The Diocese of Bath & Wells’s safeguarding pages contain vital links and information including contacts for the Diocesan Safeguarding Advisor (DSA) who advise our PSOs. If you are concerned that a child or adult has been harmed or may be at risk of harm please contact the DSA. If you have immediate concerns about the safety of someone, please contact the police and your local authority Children or Adults Services."

St John the Baptist

Welcome to St John the Baptist, Pitney

Our church is open daily during daylight hours and all are welcome to visit and enjoy the tranquility of our little village church. For services here and elsewhere in the benefice, please look at 'Services and Events' - calendar section.

Pitney is a small church with a 'Sunday Club' for children which meets in term time in the Village Hall and sometimes outdoors or elsewhere in the summer months.

On the first Sunday of the month there is Holy Communion in the church and on the third Sunday we meet in the Village Hall for Cafe Church, where we explore what it means to follow Christ. Learning is interactive and lively and all are welcome: families, those interested in discovering more about faith as well as those who attend church regularly.

In addition to these, special and festive services occur throughout the year. For instance, Harvest Festival is celebrated on a farm with piles of grain as a background, and Rogation Sunday includes a prayer walk around the village, concluding with an open air Communion service. A Bible Study group meets most Tuesdays.

Some services are lay led.

The church community runs occasional Friday Feasts for the village (a Friday evening meal in the Village Hall giving busy families an evening free of cooking!) and through the winter months on Mondays from 11 to 2pm we operate the Pitney Social Hub where folk can meet with friends and neighbours, enjoy tea, coffee and home made cakes and soup at lunchtime. These activities are very well supported by church members and the people of the Pitney village community.

St Peter & St Paul Muchelney

The Parish Church of St Peter & St Paul in the beautiful little village of Muchelney welcomes visitors and is open daily approx 10am to 4pm, weather and daylight permitting.

Initially part of The Levels Arc Benefice, we began a Vacancy in November 2020 but in 2022, the Diocese of Bath and Wells announced some major pastoral re-organisation would be undertaken throughout the Diocese. The result is that our small benefice of Drayton, Long Sutton with Long Load, Pitney and Muchelney is to be split to join bigger neighbouring benefices. It will take time to complete the legal processes but in the meantime from 1 January 2024, the parochial parish of Muchelney will be forming new ties with our neighbour to the south, the parochial parish of Kingsbury Episcopi together with Martock and Ash. We will continue to provide a monthly service of Holy Communion in Muchelney church - please see ACNY calendar for details. For those who already love Muchelney Church, you can now donate online to keep it looking beautiful and open for all visitors, every day - go to 'News & Notices' for more information and a link.

The Church St Peter & St Paul is situated between Muchelney Abbey (English Heritage) and The Priest's House (National Trust), and although the church was never part of the abbey, the Abbot was the patron.

Muchelney is a small and friendly village and is rightly proud of its church and looks after it with diligence. There are not many homes around the church but the village runs south from the church and also encompasses the hamlet of Muchelney Ham. There are a number of working farms in the parish and a celebrated Pottery. Muchelney folk prefer traditional language services and a BCP Matins is most popular with the most senior worshippers! The congregations of Muchelney and Drayton often join together, sometimes led by one of our Lay Worship Leaders.

Muchelney became famous in the floods of 2014, when the village became an island for over 10 weeks! In that time, the church acted as post office, doctors surgery, shop, information hub and an essential cafe for the crew operating the 'ferry boat' link to the mainland. With the vicar arriving by boat, the Sunday services welcomed everyone and were often followed by popular 'flood lunches'. Despite being surrounded my murky flood water, dedicated church members brought all that was needed into the ancient church building including clean drinking water! Hosting lunches in the church has continued since the floods throughout the year, sometimes with a sizzling BBQ in the church porch and it is since then been the intention of the Church Council to improve the basic facilities of the building and in January 2020 full permission for an external WC was granted - the first stage in bringing a new life to the old beautiful building and providing a community space for the village!

SAFEGUARDING: The parish of Muchelney is committed to the safeguarding of children, young people and adults. We follow the House of Bishops guidance and policies and have our own Parish Safeguarding Officer(s), PSOs. The Diocese of Bath & Wells’s safeguarding pages contain vital links and information including contacts for the Diocesan Safeguarding Advisor (DSA) who advise our PSOs. If you are concerned that a child or adult has been harmed or may be at risk of harm please contact the DSA. If you have immediate concerns about the safety of someone, please contact the police and your local authority Children or Adults Services.