The Magazines are attached but can also be obtained in hard copy at each church.To obtain a copy of The Estuary Magazine please visit St Margaret's Church or The Topsham Bookshop.
Dear FriendsWe find ourselves looking forward to Easter. However we have Palm next week and then relive the passion story. It makes me really value being in the present. Let us value every moment especially with all this sunshine. I have just come off a train delayed for an hour in the middle of nowhere. I kept thinking at least there is no earth quake, war zone or pestilence.Let us dedicate our lives to being thankful and grateful for our circumstances and all the people around us. Let us pray for our churches that we grow more into his purposes for our lives as a community together. Let us look with anticipation for what he has for us this week.Have a great weekendRevd PeterIf you are needing to contact Louise, please use either email or mobile phone, text or call.louisegrace45@gmail.com or 07779585908 SafeguardingFor any safeguarding concerns, please contact one of the following:Revd Louise Grace: 07779585908 louisegrace45@gmail.comKatie Gray: safeguardingtopshamwear@gmail.comCaryll Ingerslev – St. Luke’s: C.I.churchbookings@outlook.comJane March-Mcdonald – St. Margaret’s - jane.march-mcdonald@plymouth.ac.ukFor issues with rough sleepers:Elizabeth Reed: reedelizabeth04@gmail.comPlease send all contributions for the newsletter to Gill Yates by the end of Thursdaygyates@uwclub.netMaterial for A Church Near You to Tony Raven: tony@theravens.orgServices and calendar for the week Sunday 6th April10am…Holy Communion…St Margaret’s 10am…Holy Communion…St Luke’sMonday 7th April10am…Mini Messy Church…St Margaret’s7pm…Compline…ZoomTuesday 8th April 9am…Morning Prayer…St Margaret’s3.30pm…Anna Friends Support Group…St Margaret’sWednesday 9th April10.00am…Morning Worship…Zoom1.15pm…Lunchtime Concert…St Margaret’s2.30pm…Coffee and Cake…St Margaret’sThursday 10th April10am…Mini-Messy Church…St Margaret’s2pm…Funeral for John Davies…St Margaret’sFriday 11th April 9am…Morning Prayer…St Margaret’s12.30pm…Lent Lunch…St NicholasSunday 13th April (Palm Sunday)10am…Holy Communion…St Margaret’s 10am…Holy Communion…St Luke’s3pm…Forest Church…St Luke’s (Countess Wear Community School) 6.30pm…Evensong…St Margaret’sThe Zoom links and meeting IDs for all the Zoom events are on our pages on ACNY (A Church Near You)BookingsSt. Margaret’s bookings are managed by Caryll Ingerslev.Contact: C.I.churchbookings@outlook.comSt. Luke’s Church and Church Rooms bookings are managed by Sandra Greedy. kenneth.greedy@sky.com or phone 01392 271458St. Luke’s church is open on Wednesdays afternoons between 2.00 and 4.00.St. Margaret’s church is always open from approx. 9am, but closure times depend on the season. The church is now being closed at around 5pm. News and NoticesJohn DaviesRev John Davies passed away at Sheridan House in Exmouth on 18th March 2025.There is a Service for him at St Margaret’s Church on Thursday 10th April at 2.00 p.m. He was 97.Chris Brightman has written the following :The Reverend John Davies was the second oldest member after the late Dick Trafford, also Royal Navy, of the Topsham Branch of the Royal British Legion. For many years John contributed to the services at St Margaret’s church with other clergy on Remembrance Sundays and Armistice Days. This was particularly poignant as a 17 year old Midshipman he was on board battleship HMS Duke of York in Tokyo Harbour when Admiral Fraser signed the surrender of Japan on behalf of the British Empire on board USS Missouri on 2 September 1945. Lent LunchesHoly Cross church will be offering lunch on the last Friday of Lent, April 11th between 12.30 p.m. and 1.30 p.m.. A simple meal of soup, bread and cheese will be served with a donation of £4 suggested.All are very welcome!Easter LiliesLilies will be used to decorate the church at Easter. If you would like to remember someone by purchasing a lily, please put your donation in the printed envelope which is on a table in the social area and complete the information on the outside. The envelope can be given to June Swan or placed in the wall safe in the choir vestry. All names will be printed in a card and placed on the altar on Easter Day.”Coffee and CakeDo come along to St. Margaret’s on a Wednesday afternoon for coffee, tea, cake and a chat! From 2.30 p.m.DREAM BIG UPDATE. Amazing news. From the ten major grant applications the fundraisers submitted once our faculty was issued, we have already received three positive responses - £1000 by cheque from a family trust who prefer no publicity; £10,000 from the National Lotteries Community Fund, and £15,000 pledged by the Bernard Sunley Foundation to be paid when we are ready to start work. There are also a number of smaller or less well known trusts to whom we will make our own applications over the coming weeks. The other news is that we have decided to aim for a start date for the project in early January 2026. This will give us time to get all the funds in place (not all donors are as responsive as those mentioned above), and proceed without disrupting either of the booked autumn weddings. The goal is to have toilets and a new servery ready for next Easter – and because Easter is earlier next year, that’s less than a year’s time!Could YOU spare one hour per month for the church?The cleaning team rota has some gaps. Cleaning volunteers work in pairs, choose their own day and time (not 10-11.30 on Monday and Thursday during Mini Messy please!). Please talk to Sue Wilkinson, who organises the rota, or to any of the clergy or PCC.Lunchtime ConcertThis coming Wednesday at 1.15.Stephen Tanner: organist and composer. “Colours of the Organ”.Retiring Collection for St Margaret’s “DreamBig” project.Sponsored by Wilkinson GrantWalking GroupThe first walk this year is coming up on Monday April 28th in the afternoon.Full details will be in next week’s newsletter.Alpha CourseAll are still welcome to join the Alpha course! (See below) We are having a truly blessed time, with conversations flowing, questions being asked, and answers bringing clarity and confirmation. If you'd like to attend, please register or email Jackie at beejacque@aol.comSt. Luke’s is running an Alpha course as our Lent study group on Tuesdays at 6.30 p.m. in St. Luke’s Church Rooms. A meal, a talk and great conversation is included!It’s not too late to join in!Message from Louise:This Lent, the benefice offering for both churches is the Alpha course. If you have previously been attending courses in either St Luke's and St Margaret's, demonstrating availability and a commitment to weekly attendance, you are very much encouraged to sign up for the Alpha course. Whilst many would see Alpha as only for enquirers, it is true that we come back to the same Bible readings year in year out, but each time with fresh insight because of experience and study in the preceding twelve months. No one is too mature for Alpha, in other words. Be open and prepared to be surprised by the joy and wisdom of others; and also as maturer Christians, it is a wonderful opportunity to serve the wider church community.All of us can serve by holding the course in daily prayers.At the very least, hold in your prayers the principal organiser, warden Jackie Crozier, and all the volunteers who are making it happen, as well as the folk who will be coming. Everything from making sure we have enough food to feed everyone to praying that the wisdom in the room will lead us further into God's grace.LOST PROPERTY AMNESTY – there is lost property and other discarded items around the Social Area. Nothing will be cleared away between now and Sunday 6th April, but after that, things will start disappearing to charity shops or to the tip as appropriate. There are glasses and umbrellas and everything in between - even a Father Christmas hat. Please take anything that is yours.Please find the monthly newsletter for St. Margaret’s attached.Exmouth Food BankWe are currently focusing on replenishing our core stock so that we can continue to feed those in need.In particular we would welcome donations of :• Cereals• Porridge oats & instant porridge• Pasta• Stir in pasta/pasta bake sauces • Tinned fruit• Tinned vegetables (sweetcorn, mixed veg)• Fruit squash/juice• Longlife milkIn addition toiletries such as hair shampoo, conditioner, body wash and deodorant would also be helpful. Also bags for life. Thank you for your support. You are AMAZING ! For further information email: info@exmouthfoodbank.org.uk 07787758511PrayersFor those who are ill or in need of our prayers:Jean, Jill and Adrian, Fay, Kirsten, Jan, Marlene Gardner, Pam Wormald, Mary, Peter, John Heal, Rosemary Henry, Gail Miller, Carol Walker, Wendy LockwoodHousebound or in nursing/care homes:Alfred Wonnacott, Janet Mutter, Georgina Lear, Peter GwynnePlease pray for Anne Plested supporting the work of Bethlehem Bible College, and Ben and Katy Ray in Tanzania, St. Luke’s CMS mission link.Anne is hoping to fly to Bethlehem during April to spend some time with the Community there.Perhaps pray that her physical presence at this time will help to give the College staff and students a real sense of solidarity with Christians in the UK.AnniversariesRoy Robinson, Sydney NewmanJohn Soul, Amy Meager, Joseph Leger, Ian Luscombe, David James, Stella Watson, George ThomsonRecently departedJohn DaviesGospel Readings for the coming weekSunday 6th April John 12: 1-8Monday 7th April John 8: 1-11Tuesday 8th April John 8: 21-30Wednesday 9th April John 8: 31-42Thursday 10th April John 8: 51-endFriday 11th April John 10: 31-endSaturday 12th April John 11: 45-endSunday 13th April Luke 23: 1-49Collect and reading for Sunday 6th AprilMost merciful God, who by the death and resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ delivered and saved the world: grant that by faith in him who suffered on the cross we may triumph in the power of his victory; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.John 12.1-8Mary Anoints JesusSix days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him.Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, ‘Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?’ (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) Jesus said, ‘Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.’ This email was sent from Mission Community of Topsham and Wear using iknowchurch. If you wish to update contact preferences, please email : gyates@uwclub.net
Dear all I haven't forwarded anything from Bethlehem recently but this request for prayer arrived a few days ago. A few weeks ago a group from the College spent a couple of weeks in Jordan running a summer camp for refugee children from the conflict in Syria. Munther Isaac is one of the best Christian advocates for the Palestinians at the moment. Anne and I heard him speak in Bristol last summer, and he caused some controversy a while back when Justin Welby didn't have time to see him during his visit to the region. Justin apologised later. Margaret and I are hoping to have lunch with Anne Plested the week after next. Will try to keep you in touch, but meanwhile thank you for your prayers. God bless David As we recruit students for the upcoming academic year, please join us in praying that the Lord opens doors for those wishing to study at Bethlehem Bible College. May He guide His children to the right fields where they can continue building His kingdom on earth. We are grateful for the success of our summer community training programs. Over two weeks, we welcomed 26 adolescents and 5 young leaders to our summer camp, along with more than 70 local and international students in our language courses. Please pray that these programs do more than fill their time; may they instill the love of Jesus Christ and highlight the significance of our Holy Land. We ask for your prayers for Rev. Munther Isaac, who has been traveling this summer to share about our College, its impact on the community, and the ongoing conflict in our Holy Land. May the Lord bless and protect him. Due to the water shortage caused by the occupation, please pray for families suffering from a lack of water for days and weeks. Congratulations to our recent high school (Tawjihi) graduates! We wish them blessings as they decide on their next steps!
1 Corona Virus Guidance Click on this heading to go to Exeter Diocese Site and lots of information2 Love Topsham All sorts of news and events going on here only a click away3 Estuary League of Friends All sorts of help can be found here from advise about COVID-19 to having your toenails looked after.4 Coronavirus - Support for Schools, Parents and Pupils - Help is at hand.5 Difficult Conversations A resource from the NSPCC6 Childline More information for parents and children7 Information for parents - Talking about difficult topics
