St Disen's church

In August, I held my annual coffee morning in aid of the Children’s Society. Lots of people supported the event and enjoyed coffee, chat and delicious cakes.  Thanks to all who baked, made coffee, gave draw prizes or attended.

This coincided with the annual box opening — little plastic boxes have been filled with loose change by people in Bradninch and beyond.  I had the pleasure of counting many pounds worth of coins!  Thank you to everyone who has one of our boxes.

The final total sent to the Children’s Society was £703.00.  This fantastic amount will go to support the charity which does such important work with and for children, and campaigns for change to improve their lives.  Thank you all, once again.

Lyn Lucey

Congratulations to Jen and Craig,

married on  Saturday, 1st July, 2017.

Many thanks to The Town Trust who have bought us a beautiful new baby changing table for Tiddlywinks (and all other little people).  It will be used again….and again…..and again!

Thank you so much to all those who collected for Christian Aid Week around the town and many, many thanks to all our generous contributors.  We collected £1,540 to help the poorest and most desperate people in the world.  A fantastic result, which would have been even greater if we had had enough collectors to cover the whole of Bradninch.

If you would like to help with next year’s collection, please contact Sarah or Ros.  Just a couple of hours of your time could make such a difference!

 

 

I recently received an interesting parcel from a Mr Jack Saunders, now living in Lincolnshire.  It contained an old Bible and Hymn Book which had been presented to him in 1940 when he was an evacuee in Bradninch.

The letter reads — I have sent these two precious books to you as I am now getting on in years and have no-one to leave them to.  I thought you might like to display them in your church which I used to attend as an evacuee during the war.  I will always remember those days which I spent with my younger sister and older brother in Bradninch.

 

St. Disen’s Church Sunday School, Bradninch. Christmas 1940

Given to Jack Saunders in memory of his stay in the above little town.

 

 

Jack and his brother and sister stayed with the Skoines family (who had five children of their own) in Westfield.

 

Jack, with some of the Skiones family.

The boy on the left is John Skiones who was killed in Korea in 1951 and whose name is on our War Memorial.

 

The annual church meeting was held on Wednesday, 26th April. Reports were presented on church services, finance,  church fabric, social events etc. Grateful thanks were extended to all who help in church, in any capacity.  The PCC was congratulated on the way the church has continued to thrive during the interregnum.

PCC members, for the following year, were elected as follows:

Jill Lucas — churchwarden,  Ros Emerton — churchwarden,  Sue Watts — church administrator,  Gwyneth Garner — secretary,  Dorothy Parsons — secretary,  John Emerton — treasurer, June Bolt, Hazel Excell,  Lyn Lucey, Warwick Knowles, Bryan Parsons.

 

Easter Day was celebrated with Holy Communion, at 8.00am led by Revd  Christopher Rowley, and again at 10.00am, led by Revd. Jane Taylor, who spoke on the importance of recognising Jesus when He comes.

It was good to welcome so many, both old friends and visitors to the town.  The church was full of flowers and both looked and smelt wonderful!

The new Easter Candle was lit, and this will be used at baptisms, weddings and funerals throughout the coming year.

We began our celebration of Easter with a Seder meal, conducted by Revd. Christopher Rowley.  This commemorates Jesus’ partaking of the Passover feast with his disciples and His instigation of Holy Communion at what became known as The Last Supper.

The next morning, Good Friday, we joined with our friends from the Baptist Church and the Gospel Hall for the annual Walk of Witness through the town.  A short service was held at each church, finishing with coffee and  hot cross buns at the Baptist Church.