I hope you and your family are all well and are getting used to the different layers of restrictions which all of us with a connection to Daresbury Church. Some of us live in a Tier 2 area, whilst others live in a Tier 3 area. As I anticipated in my email earlier this week, the Church of England has issued an information sheet on how the different tiers affect church activities. As the Church is in Tier 3, we shall have to take regard of what the fourth column says. This shall take some time working through, although most of it relating to Sunday services, weddings and funerals we have been doing already. More pressing at the moment are the arrangements for the Remembrance Sunday morning service in the light of this advice/information. We have started to look into how we are going to mark this significant annual community event, but it goes without saying that we are going to be very limited as to numbers. I hope to be able to give you more information next week.In recent years, we have had a special service of Thanksgiving for the Departed (All Souls) on the evening of Remembrance Sunday. For obvious reasons we are going to have to make alternative arrangements. So, we have decided to adapt our 10.30 am Parish Communion service on 1st November to give time to remember those we love but see no longer. We have produced the attached prayer card. You will see it encourages you to light a virtual candle. If you would like us to remember someone in particular during the service, please let either Gill or me know.Finally, as a result of the AGMs the other week, Steve Lander and Mark Longstaff were appointed Churchwardens and Simon Lomas joins the PCC as one of our Deanery Synod representatives. My thanks to Pam Taylor-Floyd and Paul Watkins for all that they did as Churchwardens.With God’s blessing,David
I hope you and your family are all well. Those of us who live in Halton or Warrington are having to get to grips with a whole new set of restrictions which I have to say seem to get even more complicated each week. Nevertheless, worship in Church can still go ahead at present.We had two pieces of good news about Sam and Majid. Sam has been granted leave to remain for 5 years. Majid has been released from the Detention Centre he had been moved to. Gill is trying to find out more.A lot of effort has been spent on the Church building this week. All good investment for the future when we can reopen properly. The burner on the boiler has to be replaced after 15 years. Our engineer tells us that we should be able to get another 10 years out of the existing boiler if all goes to plan. There’s nothing worse than going into a cold church – it just confirms people’s prejudices about churches. We have a recurring problem with one part of our intruder alarm system. This is thought to be down to the quality of the power supply to the church. Scottish Power have over many years worked on the overhead lines in the village and to the church but clearly the still needs to be more to be done. Alarm panels are now so sophisticated electronically that any slight power problem can cause it to be activated – normally in the middle of the night! Our insurance policy requires us to have a functioning alarm, in return for which we get a discount on the premium. Looking after a Grade 2* Listed Building requires constant attention. If you let things slip, then the costs quickly mount up. A stitch in time saves nine! It also needs us to build up quality working relationships with contactors we can trust. Thankfully the Facilities Team of the PCC keeps a close eye on things, for which we should be very grateful. Daresbury Church has always been kept in good condition and long may it continue. We’ve recently have just had our 5 yearly architect’s inspection, and he made very favourable comments about the church building’s condition. You can learn more about the Facilities Team work in the Annual Report which I attach again in case you have missed it in my earlier email this week. You can also learn more about what they do, and the many other aspects of our church life, by coming to the AGM on Zoom this coming Wednesday 7th October at 7,30pm. Here are the meeting details again:-https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86116693853?pwd=RTJhYTF0ZmVpT0RDa0JPY0NOaTlrZz09Meeting ID: 861 1669 3853Passcode: 277642This Sunday we are celebrating Harvest Festival. We shall be thinking about our stewardship of God’s world, our abuse of it and what we must do to be able to hand it onto future generations. We shall be giving particular thanks for our farmers and all those who work in the food and distribution industries who have kept us fed particularly over the last 6 months and will keep us so in the years ahead. For many years we have given our collection at Harvest Festival to Send A Cow a charity that was formed in 1988 by a group of dairy farmers who in the early days literally sent cows to farmers is Uganda. If you wish to learn more about their work, please go to their website https://sendacow.org/. You can make a donation please go here https://sendacow.org/donate-now/ With God’s blessing,David
I hope you and your family are all well. Those of us who live in Halton or Warrington are having to get to grips with a whole new set of restrictions which I have to say seem to get even more complicated each week. Nevertheless, worship in Church can still go ahead at present.We had two pieces of good news about Sam and Majid. Sam has been granted leave to remain for 5 years. Majid has been released from the Detention Centre he had been moved to. Gill is trying to find out more.A lot of effort has been spent on the Church building this week. All good investment for the future when we can reopen properly. The burner on the boiler has to be replaced after 15 years. Our engineer tells us that we should be able to get another 10 years out of the existing boiler if all goes to plan. There’s nothing worse than going into a cold church – it just confirms people’s prejudices about churches. We have a recurring problem with one part of our intruder alarm system. This is thought to be down to the quality of the power supply to the church. Scottish Power have over many years worked on the overhead lines in the village and to the church but clearly the still needs to be more to be done. Alarm panels are now so sophisticated electronically that any slight power problem can cause it to be activated – normally in the middle of the night! Our insurance policy requires us to have a functioning alarm, in return for which we get a discount on the premium. Looking after a Grade 2* Listed Building requires constant attention. If you let things slip, then the costs quickly mount up. A stitch in time saves nine! It also needs us to build up quality working relationships with contactors we can trust. Thankfully the Facilities Team of the PCC keeps a close eye on things, for which we should be very grateful. Daresbury Church has always been kept in good condition and long may it continue. We’ve recently have just had our 5 yearly architect’s inspection, and he made very favourable comments about the church building’s condition. You can learn more about the Facilities Team work in the Annual Report which I attach again in case you have missed it in my earlier email this week. You can also learn more about what they do, and the many other aspects of our church life, by coming to the AGM on Zoom this coming Wednesday 7th October at 7,30pm. Here are the meeting details again:-https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86116693853?pwd=RTJhYTF0ZmVpT0RDa0JPY0NOaTlrZz09Meeting ID: 861 1669 3853Passcode: 277642This Sunday we are celebrating Harvest Festival. We shall be thinking about our stewardship of God’s world, our abuse of it and what we must do to be able to hand it onto future generations. We shall be giving particular thanks for our farmers and all those who work in the food and distribution industries who have kept us fed particularly over the last 6 months and will keep us so in the years ahead. For many years we have given our collection at Harvest Festival to Send A Cow a charity that was formed in 1988 by a group of dairy farmers who in the early days literally sent cows to farmers is Uganda. If you wish to learn more about their work, please go to their website https://sendacow.org/. You can make a donation please go here https://sendacow.org/donate-now/ With God’s blessing,David
I hope you and your family are all well. Current developments, both national and for us locally, in the Coronavirus outbreak are very concerning for many reasons. At this stage I do not expect many changes in pattern of our Church’s life and worship which we have developed over the last few months, but I will keep you informed. If you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact me.Don’t forget to download the NHS Covid-19 app. There are QR codes around the Church and the Chapel by the hand sanitisers and you are encouraged to use them. I am pleased to report that Gavin and his wife, Sharon, tested negative for the virus. However, Gill’s daughter, Joanne who lives with her and Glynis, has tested positive. This means that Gill and Glynis will have to self-isolate for the time being. Please pray for them all at this very unsettling time.It also means that I will be presiding at the Communion services for the next two weeks. This week Simon will be preaching and assisting as Deacon. Next Sunday (4th October) will be Harvest Festival which we shall celebrate at 10.30am with a service in Church. Don’t forget to reserve your seat through Eventbrite early in the week.However, on 11th October there will be no service in Church because Sally and I are having a few days holiday, hopefully in Anglesey. It will be our first break/holiday this year. That day there will be no service in Church. Gavin will be taking Morning Prayer on Facebook Live 10.30am along the same lines as we did for Sundays during Lockdown. So, there will be no need to reserve a seat!This Sunday’s service is attached.With God’s blessing,David
