I hope you are all well and have had a good week.

Although the Prime Minister announced earlier this week that Churches can open for worship from 4th July, we are still awaiting further advice from the national Church. You'll find the response from the Bishop of London here:-

https://www.chester.anglican.org/news/reopening-of-buildings-for-public-worship.php

Here is what Bishop Keith wrote to clergy on 26th June which sets out the position as I understand it at the time of writing .

"The Government has yet to publish its guidance, and the Church, therefore, has also yet to respond. Nevertheless, we wanted to write to you to confirm that this is the current position [i.e. that churches can open from 5th July] as we appreciate there are still many questions unanswered. We will communicate any updates via the diocesan website and the Coronavirus Briefing as soon as we can over the coming days.

We are very aware that not all church buildings will be ready to hold regular services on 04 July and it is important that this happens only when you have confidence that you can do so safely. As has been the recurring theme to the guidance in recent weeks, it is permissive not prescriptive."

We are planning to open the Daniell Chapel this Sunday from 2.00pm-4.00pm for private prayer. The Church won't be open for Sunday morning service until at least 19th July because more needs to be in place first. I'll try to keep you in touch as we go along.

I learnt this week that Beryl Smith, the wife of my predecessor Revd David Smith, has just died from cancer. Their daughter, Sarah, told me that:-

“My mother, Beryl Smith, passed away [on 23rd June] at Northampton General Hospital after a short illness, she was 86. She was at Daresbury Parish with my father, Rev David Smith who served as vicar 1987-1998. My husband and I had our wedding blessing service at Daresbury in ‘93.

Mum and dad moved to Northants on his retirement in 1998 and we were fortunate to have them living in the same village as we did, seeing our children grow up and take a full part in church life here in Nether Heyford and the surrounding parishes. Dad died in Sept 2018 from cancer and despite missing him immensely, mum continued to make a life for herself and enjoy the social events of the village as much as she could, given that her own health was a bit frail and she had limited mobility.

When we heard the news that her treatment would become palliative care on Monday [22nd June], we were allowed to visit mum as much as we wanted which was good. On my first visit, by God’s good grace the chaplain arrived at the same time so we could share in a final service and anointing; I noticed mum was able to mouth some of the Lord’s Prayer even though she was unable to properly speak by then. The chaplain had known dad well, they both went back over 20 years so that made the situation more personal. The shared service gave mum a lot of comfort and having had all the family speak to her either directly or by video phone, she passed away peacefully the following day.”

We should also note the deaths of Elsie Taylor, Pam Taylor-Floyd’s mother, and Brian Booth, both of whom passed away peacefully. May they rest in peace and rise in glory.

This Sunday morning 10.30am service is at the end of this email as usual, along with other useful publications.

The Bible Study Group on Wednesday night and Coffee Morning on Thursday are still very popular. Joining details are the same but do contact me if you’ve lost them. If you have problems in getting in at the time, please call my mobile 07778 859935 and I’ll help you.

Don’t forget the service will be available on the telephone from Sunday 2.00pm and throughout the week on 01925 568220. You can also watch the service again on Facebook, where you will also find all the weekday services. You can now watch the Sunday services on our YouTube channel from Sundays 2.00pm. Just search for Daresbury Church.

With God's blessing,

David