Our Gardens

2022-12-09T20:05:43+00:00

In our grounds, there are gardens and memorials and these act as a focal point for remembrance and reflection. Over the past couple of years, we have worked hard to create peaceful and beautiful areas in and around the church for those who continue to mourn.

Recently, we noticed an eye catching, splash of colour in our Jubilee Memorial Garden. Whilst, it is a welcome sight on a cold December day, we felt we should use it as a gently reminder that, to be fair to all those visiting the gardens, we do operate some simple rules.

Our gardens form an important part of our bereavement ministry. In the New Year. we hope to continue the development of our Jubilee Memorial Garden.

We aim to have a draft proposal for the project in the next month or so. Our main objectives will be to create safe  level access, reduce maintenance and continue the tidying up begun last year in the North/South part of the garden.

If you would like to talk to us about the garden then contact the parish office 01793 522832 or parishoffice@christchurchswindon.co.uk

Please do not disturb the ground – it can upset other families whose loved ones rest nearby. We do try to keep on top of the weeds and some gentle weeding is always welcomed.

Please do not leave paper cards, plastic decorations or pot plants. They can blow around and soon become untidy.

Cut flowers are welcome. We offer vases for our visitors to use and water is available throughout the site. The vases can safely be pushed into the ground and will keep the flowers fresh for a few days after which our Sexton will remove them.

A tip from our Garden expert – avoid using carnations in your cut flowers – for some reason, members of our local wildlife demolish them within hours. Not sure who the culprits are but they are very partial to carnation!

Our Gardens2022-12-09T20:05:43+00:00

Invitation to give a Christmas present to Christ Church

2022-12-09T20:04:29+00:00

We thank you for all your encouragement, prayers, practical help and financial giving to Christ Church and St Mary’s over this last year. By God’s grace we have seen much growth for which we thank God. However, financially it is likely that at the end of this year we will be running at a financial deficit of around £10,000. We are blessed to have financial reserves to meet this. However, we are asking whether you would be able to make a Christmas gift to Christ Church to help us to reach the New Year with a balanced budget, all being well. Please make cheques payable to Christ Church PCC or you can donate via our Just Giving page here

In saying this we are very aware of the financial pressure on so many people and understand if you are unable to do this. However, every little bit helps. Thank you gratefully in advance.

Thank you and every blessing for Advent and Christmas, Simon, Jim and Nitin Vicar and Church Wardens.

Invitation to give a Christmas present to Christ Church2022-12-09T20:04:29+00:00

Enchanted Gardens Light Trail

2022-12-02T17:45:27+00:00

The Enchanted Gardens Light Trail made its debut last year and by popular demand is back again, but with a brand new and even more exciting design for this Christmas! The event raises funds for the Prospct Hospice in Swindon. Adults £11 Children (5-17) £6.00

Buy your tickets here

It runs

  • Monday – Thursday | 5.00pm – 7.00pm, with bookable timeslots every 15mins.
  • Light trail closes 8.00pm.
  • Friday – Sunday | 5.00pm – 7.30pm, with bookable timeslots every 15mins.
  • Light trail closes 8.30pm.

The trail will be closed on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, and the last bookable timeslots on Christmas Eve and from 27th – 31st December will be at 7.00pm, with the trail closing on these days at 8.00pm.

The trail is approximately 1.5km in length. We anticipate your time with us to be around 40-60 minutes, however you are welcome to take your time and stay as
long as you like. We just ask you arrive at your booked session on time.

State-of-the-art lighting effects will be installed throughout the Victorian Gardens, allowing visitors to wander through a magical backdrop of illuminated trees, discovering a trail of remarkable light art sculptures, low-level soundscapes, interactive illuminations and a specially commissioned light show set in the historic Bowl. If you thought last year’s show was great, you will be absolutely wowed by what we have planned for this year! Click the images below to view.

Enchanted Gardens Light Trail2022-12-02T17:45:27+00:00

Classical Music Concert in aid of Ukraine

2022-12-02T15:14:02+00:00

 

Date: 10th of December, 2022

Place: Christ Church, Swindon

The concert will start at 7.00pm with doors open at 6.30pm.

The program includes works of prominent European and Ukrainian composers from different eras. The compositions will be performed both in solo and in chamber ensembles.

All money raised, including the full price of the ticket, will provide:

1. Orthofix systems for civil Ukrainians, who were injured because of the war

2. Ex-NHS ambulance, loaded with disposable medical supplies eg. bandages, dressings, sanitizers etc. and shipping it over to a hospital in Ukraine.

Buy a ticket

If you cannot come to the concert, then you can make a donation on our website.

Performers:

  • Vira Symchych (Ukraine)
  • Denis Gravina (France)
  • Stefan Bulyha (Ukraine)
  • Alisa Zaika (Ukraine)
  • The Wessex (Swindon, UK)

The Programme:

  1. Shumann: Drei Romanzen op.94
  2. Bartok: Romanian Folk Dances
  3. Alisa Zaika: “Chimaeras”
  4. Skoryk: Melody
  5. Deus Salutis – Welsh hymn-tune (Arr. by G H Jones and Mansel Thomas)
  6. Georgio Susana: Restera La Luce
  7. Trad spiritual: My Lord What a morning
  8. Traditional Irish folk song The Rocky Road to Dublin (Arr. by Martin Eikeset Koren)
  9. Lysenko/Konynsky: Prayer for Ukraine (Arr. by Tom Graff)
Classical Music Concert in aid of Ukraine2022-12-02T15:14:02+00:00

Alone (together)at Christmas

2022-11-26T11:24:16+00:00

For the first time since 2019, I am pleased to confirm that we will be running our Alone at Christmas event again this year, in what will be its 5th year. This will replace the hamper scheme that we have run for the last 2 years.

For those of you that haven’t heard of it before, basically, we invite anyone who will be on their own on Christmas Day to the Community Centre @ Christ Church for a 3 course meal. See our video on the activities page of our website – https://ccccswindon.co.uk/page/activities -for the last one that happened

The event itself runs from 12noon till approx. 3.30pm. As well as the lunch, the day includes Christmas quizzes, singing Carols and concludes with the Kings speech.

This event takes a lot of co-ordinating and, if last years hamper numbers (150) are anything to go by, I anticipate that we will have a lot of lonely people to provide for this year.

Therefore there are quite a few ways in which I need help. I detail all of the roles below (although I may miss something):

PRE EVENT HELP NEEDED

  • General Admin – planning the event, working out logistics, keeping spreadsheet up to date. People happy to be involved in a planning group
  • Help to contact previous attendees on existing database.
  • People to promote the event, through posters, on social media, in local press etc
  • Help to find new attendees
  • Provide donations, be it monetary (preferable) or food items, drinks, Christmas crackers or gifts for the attendees etc.
  • Christmas Eve – volunteers needed to set up the room and wrap up presents
  • Christmas Eve – volunteers to help with food preparation and potentially cooking of the meals.

ON THE DAY

  • Provide transport for people to and from the lunch
  • People to help with the cooking etc – preferred to have people with specific cooking qualifications or experience.
  • Run a table (2 people per table) looking after 6 attendees ensuring that they have a good day, making conversation and helping to deliver their meal/ clear the table.
  • Volunteers to run drinks table
  • Extra people to help with the set down at 4pm

If you feel that you can help with any of the above things, please do get in touch with me. mailto:chris@christchurchswindon.co.uk or 01793 617237

I look forward to hearing from you.

Best Wishes

Chris

Alone (together)at Christmas2022-11-26T11:24:16+00:00

 Pictures for Sale in Aid of Ukraine

2022-11-24T18:40:41+00:00

There is a delightful exhibition of landscape paintings of Derby, Cornwall and more, for sale, in the Community Centre @ Christ Church. You can see some examples below. The artist was Stephen Jacoby, (Daniel Pitt’s uncle). Any money raised will be passed to The Swindon Humanitarian Aid Partnership which supports Ukraine, Ukrainians and others in need. Please ask at the Community Centre office or Parish Office if you would like to buy one or contact Daniel Pitt directly on (01793 521732)

Click a picture below to see a larger image

 Pictures for Sale in Aid of Ukraine2022-11-24T18:40:41+00:00

Our next Mission Giving Day

2022-11-11T13:00:46+00:00

Our Giving to WaterAid and Swindon and Gloucestershire Mind charities

Sunday 20th November is our last mission giving day for 2022. All the money collected in the plate on that day be divided between WaterAid and Swindon and Gloucestershire Mind. If you are a UK tax payer please put your gift in a gift aid envelope which can be found at the back of the church. This enhances your gift by a further 25% at no cost to you. We will keep the collection open until Monday 28th November; please put any gift (after Sunday 20th) into an Gift Aid envelope marked with an “M” so we know where it is to go.

We were able to send over £292 to both Ripple Effect and The Willows after our last mission giving Sunday.

Thank you very much for your continuing support.

Our next Mission Giving Day2022-11-11T13:00:46+00:00

Street Pastors – Relaunch

2022-11-04T14:57:24+00:00

Anna Soulsby from Street Pastors will be talking at our 10am service about the need for 26 more Street Pastors to volunteer for shifts in Old Town. Uniforms and training will be provided.

Watch a short video about their work below.

There are a number of ways of getting to know more about being a Street Pastor:

  • Saturday 26th November an Introductory day event on the role & responsibility (R&R) of a Street Pastor.
    These are always fun days and give a real insight to this ministry, free to all, no expectation to sign-up to anything, just rock up with a packed lunch.
    By the end of this day people will know if Street Pastors is for them, or not. It is only at this point that we ask people to commit or leave with our blessing.
  • Training mandatory 12 themes: 5 in-person group sessions held in Swindon. 7 on-line live teachings with the Ascension Trust.
    Six themes are ‘Core’ (R&R being one of them). Volunteers must complete 4 of 6, before they can join a team and go out on the streets.
    BUT, they must complete all 12 within 18 months, to secure their position.
    The local training is being planned for December, January & February
  • Observing on the streets
    Anyone interested can join a team and go out as an observer for either part or all of a night, again without any expectation of making a commitment
  • Saturday 10th November 2022 – Swindon Street Pastors Fellowship Day
    Periodically we bring everyone associated with Street Pastors together for a day of praise & thanksgiving, fellowship, testimonies and up-date. Always fun, great day. We’re extending an invite to anyone interested, especially if they’re interested in Prayer Pastors to come along. No cost, just rock-up with packed lunch.
Street Pastors – Relaunch2022-11-04T14:57:24+00:00

Public Defibrillator installed at the Community Centre

2022-11-02T16:05:02+00:00
Thanks to South Swindon Parish Council and an anonymous donor, Christ Church have received funding of just over £2000 to install a publicly accessible defibrillator on the entrance wall to the Community Centre @ Christ Church.
 
This is a vitally important piece of kit for anyone who suffers a cardiac arrest as it can be used to send a shock through the heart which increases the chance of it being restarted.
 
A Sudden Cardiac Arrest victim’s chance of survival increases significantly from around 5% to 75% if they receive good CPR combined with therapy delivered by a Heart Defibrillator within the first 3 minutes after a Cardiac Arrest.
 
For every minute that passes without defibrillation a Sudden Cardiac Arrest victim’s chances of survival decrease by between 10% & 12%. A simple calculation shows that the victim’s likely maximum chance of survival in reality is between 8 & 10 minutes after the Cardiac Arrest occurring. With the current Ambulance target response time of 8 minutes, time is of the absolute essence and acting quickly with appropriate therapy, essential.
 
If someone were to have a cardiac arrest on site that the only possible chance of survival for them is to receive a shock to the heart by use of our new defibrillator.
 
Having a defibrillator on site is a necessity for a site the size of Christ Church with more than 1000 visitors coming through the church, community centre and burial ground each week. Whilst you associate heart attacks with older people, regrettably there are 12 children under the age of 18 that die in the UK each week from Cardiac Arrest and many more young adults.
 
The South Swindon Parish Council donated £1000 through their local community grants scheme. Chris Watt’s, chair of South Swindon Parish Council said ‘we are delighted to be able to support Christ Church to purchase a defibrillator, and in fact we would like to encourage other local community centres to follow suit and do the same. This is a life saving device and you can’t really put a price on someone’s life’.
 
Chris Smith, Community Centre @ Christ Church Centre manager said ‘this is something we have been thinking about for quite a long time now and following a recent first aid course it reminded me how important these devices are. Prior to us getting this device the chance of survival for someone having a cardiac arrest on site was virtually 0%. We have a lot of older people through our site each week and I can’t quite believe how we have never had one until now. I’m so grateful for the funding support that we have received to potentially save someone’s life’.
 
The defibrillator can be used by anyone in the community and is accessible in an emergency by calling 999 for the code to the locked yellow storage box. Whilst training isn’t necessary as you will be talked through how to use it by the emergency services, it is highly recommended that people take a basic first aid course where using a defibrillator is explained and demonstrated.
Public Defibrillator installed at the Community Centre2022-11-02T16:05:02+00:00

Eco Church Silver Award

2022-11-02T16:15:12+00:00

We are delighted to announce that we have been awarded Silver Award in recognition of our efforts to care for God’s earth in the way that we manage our life at Christ Church with St Mary’s.

We have an eco group who  take a close interest in developing and directing our strategies for protecting God’s earth, helping us to focus on doing what we do in a sustainable and earth friendly way.

The award is an acknowledgement that we are heading in the right direction but we cannot be complacent. If you would like to know more about what we do as a church or what you can do as an individual or family to protect God’s earth then please get in touch.

mailto:ecogroup@Christchurchswindon.co.uk

 

Eco Church Silver Award2022-11-02T16:15:12+00:00

Parish Giving Scheme

2022-10-27T23:56:11+01:00

The day to day work done by Christ Church to support our local community is funded by the generosity and commitment of our congregation and friends for which we are very grateful.

We joined the Parish Giving scheme 3 years ago to reduce the administration of our giving and donations, improve our cashflow and free up time for our volunteers to concentrate on doing more with the generosity that we recieve.

The PGS is run by the Church of England and enables our donors to:

  • Give securely to Christ Church with St Mary’s, either monthly, quarterly, or annually via Direct Debit
  • Where eligible,(if you are a UK taxpayer) enhance gifts by 25% by adding Gift Aid to gifts
  • Give anonymously if preferred.
  • The PGS simplifies the giving process for us by making the gift aid claims where applicable and paying our church regularly each month thus improving our cashflow and reducing our administration.

If you would like to support us and our work and would like to know more about the Parish Giving Scheme and how you can donate to us using it, Click here or watch a short video below about how the scheme works.

If you would like to know more or discuss other options for giving to support our work contact our Giving Secretary Stephen Grosvenor (07885 217077) or our Treasurer Andrew Yeoward

Parish Giving Scheme2022-10-27T23:56:11+01:00

Gratitude Sermon Series

2022-10-13T14:02:02+01:00

Gratitude is more than thankfulness; it’s not an action, it’s a way of being. We can be
thankful in the moment but can express it from a place of shallowness. Gratitude speaks of an inherent appreciation, grounded in a quiet self-confidence, and a deep respect for nature and our place in the world.

Over the coming week’s we will be exploring the topic of Gratitude from different perspectives during our Autumn services.

You can download more details and some reflections here

Gratitude Sermon Series2022-10-13T14:02:02+01:00
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