It has been a long and rather grey winter so far but things are already waking up in the Church grounds. Our new gardens are begining to come to life. Do take some time to have a look around the graveyard and appreciate the great work that is being carried out to make Christ Church a beautiful and restful place to be.
Can you spare some time to help at Christ Church with St Mary’s?
As part of Christ Church’s ongoing review of how we support our local, national and international community we’re checking, via a simple set of questions to the charities, whether the support we provide is still relevant and appropriate.
As part of this review we’re keen to understand whether you would be willing to support in ways other than by financial donations. If practical help is required in the form of hands on support would you be interested and willing to give a little of your time? This might involve tidying up a garden space or perhaps painting a room. At this stage we don’t have anything firm in mind but want to find out if you are willing to help. If you are able to give any of your time please send your name, an idea of what you might be willing to do (painting, gardening, carpentry etc) and a contact number to parishoffice@christchurchswindon.co.uk.
Thank you
A practical Guide to looking after yourself in the midst of parenting
Thursday evenings from 3rd March 2022 to 7th April, running from 7.45pm to 9.15pm
Mindfulness, is a meditation-based practice, backed by neuroscience, which has helped countless people learn the skills they need either to find a clearer focus and stillness in the midst of a busy, high-pressure life or to cope creatively with anxiety, stress and depression. The heart of the programme is based around learning some simple but formal meditation practices. However, mindfulness is really an attitude to the whole of life which, when we have caught it, has the ability to change everything for us. It can be practised by people of any philosophy or faith and all are welcome, whatever their background.
The course takes the form of 6 weekly group sessions where we practice the various types of meditation and reflect on our experience of them together. Meditations can be done sitting in a chair or on a cushion, standing, lying down, or walking. If you have particular physical concerns please get in touch. There will be opportunities to meet in break-out rooms as well as being in the ‘main’ room. During the week, you will be invited to practice the meditations via short audio recordings. I will also offer some informal meditations that you can share with your child/children. These won’t involve sitting still for a long time! For instance, they maybe something you can do when out for a walk or when eating. The mindfulness course is adapted from the book “Mindfulness – A practical Guide to Finding Peace in a Frantic World” by Mark Williams and Danny Penman. It is a skills-based 6-week course, consisting of a combination of mindfulness meditation practices with discussion and simple cognitive exercises. This course is rooted in the evidence-based clinical course, Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy developed by Mark Williams and others, and recommended by NICE (the National Institute for Health & Clinical Excellence)
This course is about discovering the difference Mindfulness can make to our everyday experience. The group may be large (up to 24) and this is partly because the approach is not ‘group therapy’ but learning a new skill in a group setting. For some this will come as a relief!
Download the course & taster information
COURSE STARTS MARCH 3rd 2022
Subsidised Cost: £50
Find out more about what to expect attend one of our FREE TASTER SESSIONS
Thursday 10th Feb – 8-9pm
Thursday 17th Feb – 8-9pm
For an application form or further information, please contact: Chris Smith Community Centre @ Christ Church, Development Manager
Mob: 07582 305760 or Email: chris@christchurchswindon.co.uk
Last year Christ Church achieved a Bronze award in its quest to become a more eco aware community. The organisation that promotes and helps with this process is called Arocha. We heard this week that they have celebrated a milestone. All 42 of the Church of England dioceses have now registered for the Eco Diocese scheme. This shows a significant commitment to getting more churches signed up to Eco Church but more importantly, that all dioceses in the Church of England are united in taking collective environmental action. This is also the case for the Church in Wales where all six of its dioceses have already registered for Eco Diocese.
You can read more about the work of Arocha and how they promote awareness about caring for our planet here.
Watch our for more information on how we take Christ Church forward towards a Silver award in the New Year.
This week’s service was about Transformation. Our Gospel reading
was about the Wedding Feast at Cana
Listen to Ailsa’s talk about transformation from this Sunday’ s service.
You can listen to all our services either on our Services Page
or on our YOU TUBE Channel
The Trustees of Swindon United Charities are inviting applications for a ground floor unfurnished one bedroom flat at the almshouses adjacent to Christ Church. Applicants should be single, in housing need, aged 50 and over and have lived in the Borough of Swindon for a minimum of three years. For further information and an application form please contact the Clerk to the Trustees, c/o the Parish Office, parishoffice@christchurchswindon.co.uk Please note there are no parking spaces allocated to the almshouses.
You may not have felt able to get to Christ Church this season, but you can still stay in touch with our audio services.
You can also get a flavour of the Christmas scenes at Christ Church from some of Hugo Stevenettes excellent and atmospheric shots.
Thanks to the hard work of many local volunteers, donors and shoppers, this year’s Alone at Christmas Hampers are all delivered.
Special mention must go to our brilliant Community Centre Team Chris Smith and Jenny Hatter, without whose energy and organisation none of this would have happened.
Thank you to everyone who contributed to making someone’s Christmas just a bit more cheerful.
It’s not too late to help make someone’s Christmas a little less lonely. Our Christmas Hamper scheme still needs your support. We have managed to increase our hampers to 150 this year – thank you to all those who have donated items and money so far.
We still need donations to cover the cost of the remaining hampers. If you are able to help finance a hamper of goodies to cheer up someone who will be on their own this Christmas, you can make a direct bank transfer: Typically £20 covers each hamper but any gift is welcome.
Account name PCC – THE COMM CTRE @ CHRISTCHURCH
Sort 30-98-41
Account no. 68490368 – please mark it Hamper.
You can also Email me – Chris Smith or on 07582 305760 – Thank you for your support.
We have reviewed our practices in line with the government’s Plan B measures to restrict the spread of the Omicron virus mutation. Whilst formal, 2 metre, distanced seating arrangements will continue to be relaxed during normal services, we ask that everyone remains respectful of each other’s space to ensure that we all feel safe during worship.
Those who are able to do so, should wear masks whilst in church in accordance with the new rules. We do intend to continue to take Holy Communion from the front of the church. (See below). It is difficult to distinguish Covid symptoms from those of a cold or flu, especially for those who have had all their jabs, so, if you have any cold or flu like symptoms, then please consider taking a Lateral Flow test or staying at home to protect each other. We will continue to monitor the situation closely.
We will ask those sitting in the back pews, to come forward first, down the centre aisle, you will be directed by the sides persons. You should return to your seat via the side aisles Those who requested it can still receive communion in their seats.
Gluten Free wafers are available. Please ask. If you are unable to move freely around the church, you can request to take communion in your seat – please mention this to any of our welcomers. If you would prefer a simple blessing rather than communion then keep your hands down and the vicar will say a short prayer for you instead.
Second Phase
The project to restore the former Rose Garden is almost complete. Our team, led by Ian Handy, has completed the pathways, mulching, raised beds and planting at the north end of the garden.The plaques have also been cleaned and restored at this end. Phase two, the Southern end of the Rose Garden main bed, is well on the way. Don’t be alarmed if you can’t see your loved one’s plaque. They have been carefully logged and cleaned ready to be restored as soon as the groundworks are complete in this part of the garden.
Timetable
Much of the work is done by volunteers but the raised beds, landscaping and pathways require specialist workers who are not available at the moment due to other commitments. Our hope is that we can complete Phase 2 of the garden which will cover the remaining beds to the South by early next year.
As ever, funds for the work are in short supply so if you would like to help us realise this ambitious, but long needed restoration, then please visit our Just Giving page where you can donate to the project.
Phase 3
The east – west area of the garden is a much more complicated project and as yet we have not been able to form a plan to deal with the area.
The mature trees, roots, gravestones and general lack of access make this area much more difficult to control and manage. At present this area is subject to a review to assess potential designs and costs. We welcome ideas or comments from any families with loved ones remembered in this part of the garden. We try to keep it as clear as possible of weeds and suckers in the meantime. If you would like to talk to us about any aspect of the garden write to us parishoffice@christchurchswindon.co.uk
You can also subscribe to our quarterly newsletter to stay in touch with our plans and progress
Flowers
We have also installed the vases for fresh flowers. They can be found in the bin at the extreme north end of the garden.
Fresh flowers can be left using the vases provided
Container for vases
Wreath hook for remembrance
The postions of all the plaques have been carefully marked so that we can return them safely to their original positions. As the project progresses, it will be necessary to remove the plaques further down the beds to enable us to install the new raised beds, pathway and mulch. Don’t worry all the plaques will be returned once the installations are complete.
The remaining raised beds are ready to go.
Occasionally, plaques have been moved by other visitors. If you think that your familie’s plaque is in the wrong position, then let us know via the parishoffice@christchurchswindon.co.uk email address.
There is a comprehensive on-line database of the burials in both the former rose garden and the burial ground in general – you can access it here.
Every now and again its good to get new perspectives on Christ Church. Hugo Stevenette, Simon’s youngest son is a budding photographer and is taking a Creative Media Production course at Cirencester college. See below his creative new slant on Church in media. You can follow more of his work on his Instagram page https://www.instagram.com/hs_media/
