To celebrate All Souls' Day, and to remember all our departed loved ones, we held a service at St Mary's at the beginning of November. The Church looked beautiful, with the gleaming brass illuminated by candlelight.

The service, led by the Rector, the Revd Dr Ruth Howlett-Shipley, and newly appointed Revd Maggie Metcalfe, opened with the glorious and apposite hymn Be Still My Soul, written by Katherina von Schlegel in 1752 and set to Jean Sibelius's Finlandia, ably played on the organ by Shelagh Lamb.

Members of the congregation were invited to write the name of a loved one on a card which was then offered up at the altar. It was a moving service, with the clergy team offering comfort and hope where it was much needed.