The Leprosy Bell is an imaginary story inspired by the Gospel set in Capernaum on the Sea of Galilee. It suggests what people might have thought of Jesus when He began His ministry and offers insight into the everyday life of his followers.

Leprosy was a dreaded illness which had devastating consequences when social distancing was more than keeping two metres apart.

The profit from the sale of The Leprosy Bell will be split between The Friends of Christ Church Swindon and The Leprosy Mission, England, and Wales.

A signed copy of The Leprosy Bell is available at a cost of £5:

• from the author, Margaret Williams tel. (01793) 421102 email: margaretwilliams111@gmail.com
• from The Rainbow Bookshop in Swindon, Aldhelm’s Church Centre, Edgeware Road, Swindon, SN1 1QS (01793) 538220 or via the order form from Rainbow Book Shop order.

Leprosy Today

2000 years after Jesus ministered to people affected by leprosy, the disease continues to affect men, women, and children.

Hansen’s disease (also known as leprosy) is an infection caused by slow-growing bacteria. With early diagnosis and treatment, the disease can be cured.

Every two minutes, someone is diagnosed with leprosy. That’s more than 200,000 new cases a year. Although it is curable, millions of people worldwide are living with the effects of the disease, from physical disability to mental health problems, poverty, and discrimination.

https://www.leprosymission.org.uk/

Margaret Williams

Margaret

Author of Bridging the Gap MBE recipient Margaret Williams was recognised for services to the Bristol Diocese and the community of Swindon in 2015.

She is a gifted storyteller particularly in all-age worship where her empathy with both young and old is obvious. Margaret loves travel, Welsh culture and entertaining. She is a co-ordinator for residential care home visits and a supporter of the healing prayer ministry.

Over the past eighteen months a team of friends from Christ Church have been meeting to discuss and agree the best ways to keep our services as safe as possible. The team, under the direction of Daniel Pitt, formulated a detailed risk assessment which has formed the basis of our covid response plans.

Now that the government have announced the end of legal restrictions on many of the aspects that we have come to accept as normal, the group has met again to assess what changes we propose in the light of this relaxation.

At each decision point over the past year or so, the group has considered a set of criteria and made decisions based on them.

1. The R number (rate of infection)
2. The number of local cases and admissions to, and deaths in, GWH

The current measures are increasing rapidly week by week so, despite the legal changes to Government policy, we feel that, logically, we should not rush to change everything back to normal.

We are keen that no-one feels unsafe in church and so have decided for July and August to remain with current social distancing measures and to recommend the wearing of masks inside the church. Congregational singing remains to be decided and we expect advice on this in the coming days. We will of course continue to monitor trends carefully in the meantime and should things change for the better, reconsider our position accordingly.

The Re-opening Committee members are Simon Stevenette, Daniel and Caroline Pitt, Stephen Grosvenor, Chris Smith, Norma McKemey, Anne Macmillan, Sandie Rule. It is important that we listen to everyone’s views on this as whatever we do, we must do as a church community caring for each other.

If you can spare a few minutes, we would like to hear your views on our proposals or any other ideas you may have.