Dear Friends,

We are really excited to announce our continuing plans to resume some of our regular parish activities and organisations in October as we work our way through the risk assessments we need to complete. During the past month the Sunday School, the Boys’ Brigade and Anchor Boys, Messy Church and St. Finnian’s Toddlers have been looking at how to return to meeting in person safely.

These processes are not without their complexity and I want to thank, on all our behalf, our dedicated leaders and volunteers who are working in partnership with the Glebewardens and the Select Vestry to see if we can make these important activities happen again.

As we make these preparations and plans we want to reassure you that people’s safety is our paramount concern. We want our activities to feel safe for both our leaders and all participants and so we need to work well and cooperatively together to ensure this is possible. As the regulations continue to change it will also involve new risk assessments in the church itself as we put in place measures to allow for a gradual increase in numbers allowed to assemble at services.

While these are really exciting and positive developments we are also aware of the high infection rates at present and in order to keep one another safe we ask you to continue to wear a face mask, to wash your hands and keep your distance as we gather together.

I want to thank our wardens and caretaker and stewards for the way in which they have worked so hard and cheerfully to keep us all safe over this past 6 months since the building reopened after the last lockdown.

The Mothers’ Union and Men’s Society are also exploring how best to approach their return and all these important discussions take time as we try to consult with people and see how they feel about returning. While we are doing all in our power to reopen we ask for your prayers and we recognise the ongoing challenges of our current situation. Regulations are constantly changing and we are doing our best to respond to these and put in place the best measures we can to keep all our parishioners safe. There is also the recognition that people feel the need to be cautious and may not yet feel ready to return to such activities at the present time. Throughout this difficult season we have sought to be as open and transparent with people as we possibly can and we will continue to do so and communicate any information we have about the changing situation.

We are also looking forward to our Harvest Thanksgiving services at the end of October. We look forward to welcoming Reverend Adrian McCartney, Rector of Belvoir as our preacher at the morning service on 24th October and our preacher at the evening service will be the rector of St. John’s Orangefield, Reverend Ross Wilson. Adrian and Ross are both very gifted communicators and we look forward to having two of our neighbouring Rectors from our local Area Deanery coming to share with us on this special Sunday.

Because of the current restrictions we will not be in a position to decorate the church as we normally do with all the flowers and fruits of Harvest but we hope we will be able to have some flowers by that point and we also hope to encourage our congregation to bring some non-perishable foodstuffs which will be distributed through The Larder foodbank run from St. Christopher’s, Mersey Street. We have partnered with The Larder before and it’s a real beacon of hope and support for families going through desperately difficult times so we hope you can get involved in that. In particular The Larder would be grateful for tinned fish, custard and rice pudding. Keep an eye on the church’s Facebook page and the parish website and there will be further information given out in church announcements in the coming weeks.

It is a real joy to have Reverend Andy Hay among us as our new curate and I know he has really appreciated your kindness and welcome as he gets settled in with his wife and family.

Last year we were forced to conduct our annual service of Thanksgiving and Remembrance for those who have died in the past year in very restricted circumstances. As a result, we asked the congregation to stay at home and watch or listen online as we invited the families who had lost loved ones to come in person to that particular service. This year we hope to offer the Service of Thanksgiving & Remembrance at both the morning and evening services. Further updates will appear on the church website and Facebook page.

Can we ask you to pray for all schools and teachers and pupils as they work their way through this term? It would be wonderful for students at primary, secondary and third level to get through this year without the disruption of the past number of years.

Can we please remember, too, to stay in touch by phone or cards with those who live alone or have moved into nursing homes or sheltered accommodation? One of the great strengths of this parish is how people support one another and we have seen the value of this in the past couple of years so, if we can, continue to build upon that into the future.

Very best wishes to everyone.

Yours sincerely,

Jonathan Pierce (Rector)

Telephone 028 9079 3822