Sunday services at 10am are now in church and online. The online option is Facebook Live, using the link https://www.facebook.com/standrews.northswindon/live_videos/ - you can join online from 9.55 am, or watch the recorded video afterwards. (You don't need a Facebook account: See our guide for details.)We're continuing to keep the social distancing measures in place and ask you, please, to wear masks when you come into church. We hope you will return to church when you feel ready, but you can also continue to worship with us from home if you prefer. We are learning to sing wearing masks as well!If you would like to print the words in advance you'll find them here for Holy Communion and here for Morning prayer. The children's corner is available again with books, toys, colouring and activity folders.<strong>During October we will be praying together at 7pm each Wednesday from our homes online. To join, use this link: http://bit.ly/StANS or by phone dial 0208 080 6592 and enter 813 6651 6924 # when asked.We also meet online for Coffee Prayer and Chat on two Wednesdays at 11am (words here or here). This is usually in church on the first date and online from home on the second date. Please check the Calendar for this month's dates. To join the online session, use this link: http://bit.ly/StANS </strong>or by phone dial 0208 080 6592 and enter 813 6651 6924 # when asked.
As part of making our churchyard more environmentally friendly we now have a bug church.This is a variant on the 'bug hotel' idea - a space filled with nooks and crannies ideal to encourage insects to make it their home. The hope is that the insects we rely on as pollinators will move in and help to turn the churchard into a green space that is a haven for plants and wildlife.Our wonderful bug church - more a bug cathedral! - can be found at the north end of our east wall. If you have just come through the gate from the car park into the churchyard, it is on your left, near the wall.
Sunday, 3 October, saw the Harvest Festival return to St Andrew's with a lovely family service at 10 and communion at 6.30pm.It was lovely to be able to welcome 23 adults and 18 children to the morning service. The children had a craft made from a paper plate, which created a lovely harvest basket of vegetables. The congregation were so generous with their gifts for the Swindon Food Collective that we had to sing the hymn (We Plough the Fields and Scatter) twice, to give everyone the chance to bring them up. Afterwards we shared fellowship in the churchyard with coffee, tea and a choice of delicious cupcakes or chocolate brownies.
