Posada in a Campervan!

This year the Holy Family will be travelling around the AVC Parish in a VW campervan, stopping off at various places en route. See the calendar for anticipated venues, subject to Covid. Please come and see us if you can and tell others too!

AVC Christmas Services

Remembering AVC’s Remembrance Service 2021

To see these wonderful photographs of the Remembrance Service and procession in Fordingbridge last Sunday by our own Julie Mitchell Francis, in this week's Forest and Salisbury Journal, please click here:

https://www.salisburyjournal.co.uk/

Canon Gary Philbrick led the service, assisted by the Mayor, Cllr Edward Hale, and Members of the Fordingbridge British legion. Hyde Band provided the Last Post and Reveille, and accompanied the procession. Many uniformed organisations were well represented with wreaths laid by local youth groups.

Co-op Support for Avon Valley Community Matters

If you shop at the Co-op you can help support AV Community Matters for the next 12 months by visiting the Co-op website and clicking the ‘Select Now’ button under the heading ‘Support a Local Community Fund cause’.

For every £1 you spend on selected Co-op products and services, 2p goes into your membership account and double this amount is paid to support community organisations and local causes of your choice.

Children & Families Worker

This is a wonderful role engaging with families with young children. Our vision is that every child and young person has a safe and happy childhood, and the foundations they need to thrive. Your key role will be supporting and developing the services we already offer to our Children and Families. This includes our Messy Churches (2 groups) and Little Acorns playgroup, which are our existing children’s groups. You will also be instrumental and take the responsibility for helping set up Superstars, which is one of our strategic development projects. We are closely affiliated to the churches within the Parish of Avon Valley Churches but our outreach is targeted not only to those within the church community but to people of all faiths and none.

Please click below for full details and share with anyone who fits the part:

Children and Families Worker Job Spec

Children and Families Worker Application Form

Covid Practices: Worship in October/November

CAUTION - CONSIDERATION - CONSENT

There is now no central Church or Government advice on our Covid practices – we are on our own to decide!

As we enter into the next period we are moving cautiously towards the new Normal. Covid Rates are low in our part of Hampshire, and we would like them to remain so.

We continue to urge Caution in removing masks and distancing, Consideration for others’ wellbeing and feelings and not just our own, and Consent wherever possible, such as asking others whether they are OK with the removal of masks, or people sitting near them.

If you have symptoms of any kind you are requested not to come to Church.

For further details please refer to the leaflet.

Fairtrade Coffee Mornings are Back!

Fairtrade Coffee Mornings are back!

Please join us from 10.30am to 12pm on the last Friday of every month (except December when it’s the 2nd Friday) at St Boniface Woodgreen.

Come and meet old friends and new and discover the wide range of fairly-traded goods available from Traidcraft and others.

Coffee, tea, biscuits, chocolate and much more.

Dates for the rest of this year are:

24 September 2021

29 October 2021

26 November 2021 &

10 December.2021

Everyone welcome!

#fairtradecoffeemorning #fairtradecoffee #fairtrade #fairtradeproducts #avonvalleychurches #avcfamilies #avcreachingouttoall

CONSULTATION : Avon Valley Churches becoming one Parish

The four PCCs together with congregations voted to become a single parish with one PCC before Christmas. The consultation process has been progressing in the background and now everyone has the opportunity to view the Draft Pastoral Scheme drawn up by the Winchester Diocesan Mission and Pastoral Committee. Details of the Draft Scheme, a Glossary of Terms and the way in which representation can be made to the Church Commissioners can be found below :

• Draft Scheme

• Glossary of Terms

• Form P76 – how to make representation to Church Commissioners

Canon Gary talks to Bishop Dan

Canon Gary Philbrick, Area Dean of Christchurch, in conversation with the Rt Revd Dan Zoreka, Bishop of our Partner Diocese of Kinkiizi in South-Western Uganda.

BBC Films Easter in a Bag

BBC Films Delivery of Avon Valley Churches 1,000 Easter in a Bags!

This week 1,000 craft and gift-filled ‘Easter in a Bags’ were sent out to preschools, nurseries, schools, home school groups and indivduals in the Fordingbridge area by a 50-strong team of volunteers at Avon Valley Churches. Some were requested nationally and even internationally after a social media post went viral! Hearing of this good news, BBC South Today came to film the vast ocean of bags which filled St Mary’s Hall in Fordingbridge whilst finishing touches were added. Reporter Michele Cross interviewed Canon Gary Philbrick, Jo Heath and some of the volunteers, who have all been working hard to make this project happen, then accompanied a crew of drivers to deliver some of the bags to Fordingbridge Infant and Junior School. The BBC News item was aired 3 times today (link to follow).

The AVC team are so grateful to see their outreach projects recognised in this way, as well as those who have worked hard on all our lockdown outreach projects - Half Term & Christmas in a Bag, Cupcakes to Care Homes and Children, Easter in a Bag and, in partnership with The Cottage Loaf in Fordingbridge, even Hundreds of Hot Cross Buns to The Burgate School and Sixth Form which are being delivered on Maundy Thursday.

These outreach projects, which have also been purposefully planned to include and boost local businesses, have been funded by generous individuals within the Benefice through the AVP Youth & Community Trust. AVC’s Youth, Children and Families Development Worker, Jo Heath, who masterminded and coordinated a team of dedicated volunteers to make each project happen, said:  

“It has been a privilege to join together to prepare Easter in a Bag. A huge thank you to Gail in the office and the amazing team of volunteer helpers and drivers. We could not have done it without their commitment, enthusiasm and encouragement. It is our pleasure to offer these gifts to many of our local children and home educating families and we are delighted to invite them to join with us to celebrate this time of year in spite of the restrictions still in place.”

AVC is grateful to Gail Newell and Jackie Rowe, all our volunteers and drivers, First Response Training in Christchurch, 10th Christchurch (Mudeford) Sea Scouts, Christchurch Scouting and Sirius Business Services Ltd for donating bandages, Lidl GB for the Fairtrade Foundation chocolate lollipops, and Rainforest Alliance eggs, Jan Brian and Mary Adams for recycling all the cardboard and plastic and Allsorts Emporium in Fordingbridge for the last minute dash for glitter glue! Not forgetting the wonderful Jo Heath who has masterminded and coordinated all of the projects which have received such amazing responses. And of course thank you to BBC South Today - we very are excited to share our good news clip which accompanies this Press Release.

Reflecting on a year of Covid, Avon Valley Churches Canon Gary Philbrick said: “Whichever road each one of us has been on, this year is going to take a long while to process – we need to be kind to ourselves and those around us, to support others and to ask for help ourselves if we need it."

Death of HRH, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh

You will have heard the sad news of the death of HRH, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh. Where we have them, our flags are at half-mast, and bells will be rung muffled where possible. Books of Condolence: there will be a link to an on-line Book of Condolence, and a number of books in larger centres – to be announced. Parish Churches are urged not to open Books of Condolence, as there is nowhere to store them, and they will be destroyed. There are opportunities to light candles and write prayers in our open Churches. We are likely to arrange a special Service on the day before the Funeral, and to show the Funeral in Church for those who would like to gather for that occasion. Further details will be available over the coming days. Gary.

FareShare Larder is coming to Fordingbridge

The FareShare Larder is a membership scheme aimed at helping people make their money go further by reducing food shopping bills. FareShare is the UK’s longest running food redistribution charity. They were born out of the belief that no good food should go to waste, especially when people are going hungry. They work with national supermarkets and food producers together with local volunteers.

For a set weekly membership fee the local community can have access to a variety of tinned products as well as fresh fruit and vegetables and chilled items. Membership options are based on household size.

The FareShare Larder will be operating from Avonway Community Centre, Fordingbridge every Friday from 1.30pm to 3pm. For more information please click below for the information leaflet, or visit www.fareshare.org.uk

Link

• FareShare Larder Information Leaflet (Note: Location now updated, as above).

For an application form, please click below

• FareShare Larder Application Form

Tom Burden – our new Curate

Welcome to Tom Burden, our new Curate.

Tom, our Curate from summer 2021, is currently at Wycliffe Hall in Oxford in his final year of training. 

Wycliffe is a return to Oxford study for Tom after just over 25 years.  In the meantime, he has been a teacher, and then Headmaster of a couple of schools, most recently The Pilgrims’ in Winchester, the choir school of our Cathedral.

Tom was born and grew up on the Isle of Wight – he still thinks of Hampshire as ‘the mainland’.  He is a lifelong supporter (and season-ticket holder) of Southampton FC and a keen walker.

Tom very much enjoyed his work in schools but feels powerfully called to full-time ministry.  He is excited about the opportunity to serve in the Avon Valley and looks forward to getting to know you over, probably, a cup of tea.

Mothering Sunday Cards

A MOTHERING SUNDAY IDEA - Paper Flower Blessings

MOTHERING SUNDAY: Although we can’t do our usual Mothering Sunday events, here are a couple ideas for cards (there will also be a few copies in the Church Porches). Perhaps we can send a card, or drop a note through someone’s door, or do something else special for someone on Mothering Sunday (PS, there will be some posies for collection from St Boniface, Woodgreen – thank you to Dot Wagg for preparing them)

Links

• Mothering Sunday card to colour

• Mothering Sunday Flower Petal

Reconnecting with Church

Laura Cowdery shares her own journey; from the confusion of the church of her childhood to a sense of homecoming at Hyde Church discovered in her adult years.

Why did I go to Church??

My parents were Atheists but they sent me to Sunday School. When I was too old for this it was choir practice every Friday night, 10am for Saturday weddings and of course all the Sunday services. I knew there was something odd about this. Mum believed in the history of the church and in the beauty of the liturgy and the music. Dad was a scientist and has never believed in anything without concrete proof. I suspected they just wanted me out of the house for some peace and quiet three times a week, so I went along dutifully, regularly. I loved the hymns and got lost in the words and the familiar, safe, structure of the melodies.

It made No Sense!

But everything else made no sense to me. When I was feeling overwhelmed with confusion, or my voice couldn’t reach the descant bits, I mimed the words and hoped I was doing a good job of fooling everyone. I guessed the notes that were way too high or low to work out on the staves. I tried not to wriggle and snigger at the vicar’s fondness for squashing spiders during prayers and psalms. I recited the liturgy from the red book, carefully copying the adults who always knew exactly when and where to turn the pages, jumping ahead and flicking back again with amazing assuredness, but never grasped the meaning or the logic behind all the missing pages in between…

The Sunday Best (and Worst) Crowd

Church to me was an austere place, where smiling was not allowed. It was filled with posh people in their Sunday best seated in rows determined by their wealth as far as I could make out. And as I processed with the choir along the polished nave floor, my grubby trainers squeaking shamefully and kicking up my sins from the hem of my cassock, I always had a strong sense that God would not believe in me, even if I did believe in him.

“We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy Table…” It said so in the red book.

The Lost Years

Fast forward 15 years or so after a posting overseas, studying and not much in the way of religion in between, I found myself feeling drawn back to church after the death of my lovely Granny. From Scottish Presbyterian beginnings, she was a quiet kind of Christian who didn’t go to church - her Sunday best didn’t even get an airing on Sundays! - but she always said her prayers and I knew for sure that passing on wasn’t the end for her. She left too much of a mark on all of us. She was good and funny and kind, if a little strict at times, and I knew that wherever she had gone to, I wanted to be with her again some day.

Stepping back into church, Hyde Church of the Holy Ascension as it happens, some 50 miles from the church of my youth, as the door creaked open loudly I took a deep breath that reached down to find the anxious, scruffy, nail-bitten choir girl from all those years before still trembling there...

Fear of Being Found Out

But what I found in this church was lightness and air and no sense of heaviness on the heart. I was welcomed by smiling Sidesman, John, and with a hug from gorgeous, warm-hearted Brenda, and what I felt immediately was a culture of kindness here. No Old Testament, old-skool judgement. And had the Sunday-best rule relaxed, or was it just me? I sat in a pew on my own near the back, mindful of any established hierarchies, as light poured in through the windows. From several rows in front a lady, Penny I later discovered, looked around and clocked me. She turned back again. Moments later she got up got up from her seat and started walking towards me. I started to panic in case my number was up. She’d found me out. She could see the grubby trainers under my cassock from several rows and many years away! But as she drew closer I saw there was both kindness and sadness in her expression. Somehow she had sensed my feeling of loss and after she sat down next to me, she picked up my hand and held it. We both sat together, two strangers, and held on tight throughout the service. I noticed her tears falling during the prayers alongside my own and squeezed a little tighter.

Afterwards I learned from Penny that she had just lost her husband. She said to me, “you looked so kind and warm I needed to come over to be near you.” It was possibly the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me. And although another decade or so has passed since that day, with marriage and kids in between, it is a moment that I’ll never forget. Someone reaching out and comforting me despite her own feelings of pain. And someone who also sought comfort from me which felt like the ultimate validation and purpose of my being there.

Coming Home

From the moment I opened this new door I felt welcome. Not just from one person to another, but into a whole community bonded by care and concern for one another as well as a strong faith in God.

Maybe it was there all along and I just I hadn’t seen it before? I certainly hadn’t felt it. I finally realised how church should really be. My epiphany. And an even bigger thought revealed itself to me as I walked back out through the creaky door that day… perhaps, God had believed in me all along.

 “…but you are the same Lord whose nature is always to have mercy.”

The words had been there in the next clause of the red book all that time. My younger self had just mouthed them. My adult self could say them with confidence. And maybe the shoes didn’t matter after all! I had left Him but He was still there. Waiting patiently. Gently guiding me with kindness. And He had brought me back to tell me.  

Belonging in Many Forms – Hybrid Church

Some 20 years after that day (the years are really stacking up now), I still feel that sense of place, and welcome into it, is so important in helping others to feel like they belong; to help people to know that God still believes in us even though there are days when we might not believe in Him. And while we can’t go to the physical ‘place’ of church at the moment, God hasn’t gone anywhere and nor has his community. The Avon Valley Church teams are doing amazing work to reach out online - through daily videos, livestream services – as well as in print and person, whilst we try to keep everyone safe during the Coronavirus restrictions. The spirit is so strong outside of the building. I am so grateful to be a part of this work. And although you may be unable to go out to a service, if this story resonates with you perhaps you could share your own here by telling us what brought you, or keeps bringing you back to church. Maybe you never left? Thank you for reading mine!

Whatever your journey, however easy or hard, maybe our shared stories can help others to find their own way back or to a new ‘home’, especially now when they might need it most… Post in the comments below if you feel you can. We’d really love to hear from you and hopefully see you in church soon, online or in person. Everyone is welcome:

·         Visit our website www.avonvalleychurches.org.uk to find out how Avon Valley Churches can support you

·         Like and Follow us on https://www.facebook.com/AvonValleyChurches/ and

·         Watch our @AvonValleyChurches videos on Facebook and YouTube.

Thanks for welcoming me back.

Books to Borrow Lockdown Delivery Service

Our micro-mini library of just over 90 books, is now available to you via a doorstep service for the remainder of the pandemic. Go to the ‘Books to Borrow’ page and follow the onscreen instructions. I will deliver to and collect from your home. Books will be sanitised and quarantined for 72 hours before re-circulation. For anyone who has previously borrowed books and needs to return them, would you also kindly contact me so that I can collect them. Thank-you. Gwenda

KINKIIZI STAFF HOUSE LEAFLET

Christchurch House

A Lent Appeal starts 17 February to support Nyakatare Health Centre, Kinkiizi Diocese Uganda.

Please see below for details regarding fundraising for a Staff House in Kinkizzi or select this link to download the leaflet.

The Joy of Prayer - Colours and Doodles Monday, February 22nd, 8-9pm

The Joy of Prayer is an occasional online series designed especially for those who find prayer dull, boring, frustrating or guilt-inducing. In this second session we’ll experiment with the use of colour in reflection and prayer – and we’ll try Bible-doodling. No artistic ability required – just a willingness to have a go, and to reflect on your experience afterwards. Led – on Zoom – by the Revd Sally Dakin, Spirituality Adviser Enquires to sally.dakin@winchester.anglican.org Bookings to wendy.atkinson@winchester.anglican.org

Bishop’s Permission to Preach

The Diocese will soon be opening for applications for the Bishop’s Permission to Preach (BPP) programme for 2021-2022, which starts in September 2021. If this is something you are interested in, you might like to prayerfully consider the following information. Application dates and information about the process will be available in the next month or so.

People trained through the BPP programme are able to preach on a regular basis at the discretion of their incumbent. The qualification recognises their calling to this ministry and is affirmed by the Bishop of Winchester. You will need to have a love for God’s word and a desire to build up God’s people through teaching and preaching. All applicants will need to have the recommendation of their incumbent to take this training. We have an online open information evening later in the Spring, for those who are interested in finding out more. We will explain the details of the course, the expectations upon you, and there will be an opportunity to hear from someone who took BPP last year. There will also be plenty of time to ask your own questions to help you decide whether BPP is for you. Please note there are limited places on this programme and a selection process is in place. If you have any questions please contact Wendy Atkinson: wendy.atkinson@winchester.anglican.org

Prayer for the Nation

In response to reaching the terrible milestone of 100,000 deaths from COVID-19, the Archbishops invite all to call on God in Prayer. Starting on 1 February we invite you to set aside time every evening to pray, particularly at 6pm each day. More than ever, this is a time when we need to love each other. Prayer is an expression of love.

Download the leaflet here.