News

Farewell to Ben and Family

By the time you read this, the Maynard family will have moved out of the vicarage at Ogwell and will be moving into the Rector’s house in Uffculme.

For information: Ben and Sarah’s new address is The Vicarage, Bridge Street, Uffculme, Cullompton, Devon. EX15 3AX.

Ben Maynard’s Induction as Team Rector of the Culm Valley Mission Community will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday 16 th October at St Mary’s Church, Uffculme. Everyone is invited to attend.

Debate around Assisted Dying

You may have seen coverage of the upcoming debate in Parliament in the press. If you’d like to think more on the topic, can I suggest listening to this interview on the ethics and problems with assisted dying. You’ll find it here, Euthanasia + Assisted Dying: What Kind of Mercy is “Mercy Killing”? Prof. John Keown || THE WAY BACK (youtube.com) with plenty of other excellent interviews and content available on the main site: Videos Archive - Speak Life

The Christmas Journey 2024 - w/c 2 December at Abbotsbury Church

With 6 schools and around 125 children already booked in for the Christmas Journey, we now need to assemble our team of actors (reading simple scripts) and helpers (for the very simple art activities) To find out more, please come to our briefing and training session at Abbotsbury Church on Sunday 3rd November from 3pm-4pm.

Operation Christmas Child Church Collection Centre

Dates for this year at St Paul’s Church:
We will have the church open to receive shoeboxes on:
Monday 11 November from 9-10am
Wednesday 13 November from 9-9.45am
Saturday 16 November from 9-11am
Sunday 17 November from 9-10.30am

Last year we managed to collect 230 shoeboxes to send off so we are hoping to do even better this year!

United Parish Service

We had a fabulous time last Sunday with around 120 people gathering at St Paul’s for our United Parish Service. We were also able to say a formal goodbye to Ben and his family and present them with a number of gifts including a substantial financial gift. We then enjoyed a lunch together with around 100 people staying for the food! A huge THANK YOU to all those who cooked, baked, bought, served, washed up and tidied away. You were all wonderful!

Harvest Services

October will see our Harvest services spread over the first three weeks of the month. On Sunday 6^th October, there will be harvest thanksgivings at Abbotsbury, St Paul’s and St. Mary's. All Saints will celebrate harvest on Sunday 13th October, and St Bartholomew’s in Ogwell on Sunday 20th October. Once again, any produce brought along will be donated to the THAT food bank in Buckland. They would be particularly grateful for the following items

Rice Tinned fish (other than tuna) Sugar Jam

But donations of these items would also be gratefully received.

Cooking Oil Eggs Ketchup

Custard Pasta Sauce Mayonnaise

Tins of Sweetcorn Tins of Soup Women's Deodorant

Men's Deodorant Anti-Bacterial Spray/wipes Washing up Liquid

They can also use fresh fruit and veg provided that it will still be fresh after 2 or 3 days.

Adult Baptism

ADULT BAPTISM: We are planning to hold another service with adult baptism by immersion at Abbotsbury Church on Sunday on 3^rd November. If you haven’t yet been baptised and would like to be baptised in this way, you’ll need to book on the Identity course above!

Parish Library

Through the Speaking Volumes programme, we were given a grant of £250 to spend on books for a Parish Library. Our Parish Lending Library is now up and running at Paul’s where it will be for the next 3 weeks. The selection includes some great autobiographies, and plenty more to help deepen our faith and equip us to share it well. We will set it up in each church for a month at a time. There will be a note book to write down the book you borrowed so we can keep track of who has what. The selection includes some great autobiographies, and plenty more to help deepen our faith and equip us to share it well. Thanks to Choice Words staff for supplying the books. Do take a look when it comes to your church!

First Saturday Outreach in Town

Fr Matthew and Dave are planning to do some outreach in town every first Saturday of the month, probably from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. or thereabouts. They are looking for volunteers to come and join them for an hour or so each time. Could that be you? If so, come and chat with Dave over the coming weeks.

Milk Bottle Tops

St. Luke’s are collecting for the Childrens’ Hospice South West. Please save your plastic tops (not cartons) and send them to the office or leave them in church to be brought to the office. Thank you.

BEWARE - SCAM!

Churches in Devon are being warned to be on the alert for an email scam in which fake emails are being sent out which look like they are from a bishop or the local vicar.

In fact they are a fraud, designed to trick recipients into doing the sender a 'favour' by buying online gift cards for them.

Some people have lost thousands of pounds before realising their bishop or vicar has not really emailed them and they have been conned.

Police Advice

Action Fraud, a national police scheme, offers the following advice about scam emails:

The first email typically reads something like “[name], are you free at the moment?” or it may be more detailed, such as “Do you have a moment I have a request I need you to handle discreetly. I am currently busy… so no calls just reply to my email.”

A reply then draws the recipient into a dialogue in which they are encouraged to buy vouchers, and ultimately send images of their serial and security numbers to the fraudster.

Please click here to read the full story and for detailed advice about spotting scam emails.

Stay Safe Online

Missed some church services?

Catch up on You Tube - same series in each church

Abbotsbury Church YOUTUBE

St Paul's Church YOUTUBE

Parish Office Hours.

Parish Office at St Paul's Church, Devon Square is open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday: 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. For all enquiries, please phone 01626 211346 or email office@newtonabbotparishes.co.uk

Mel Dunn, Benefice Administrator.