URGENT APPEAL: We’ve all seen images over the past week of shelves emptied of their goods as panic has set in over the threat of Covid-19. St Mary’s and St Michael’s always have a food bank collection on the go, but with current circumstances in mind we’d really appreciate donations of essential items that we could then distribute to anyone in our community who finds themselves struggling in the coming weeks. Items can be brought to any church event or dropped off at The Vicarage (Next to The Three Tuns in Bransgore). If, as things progress, you find yourself in need, or become aware of someone who would benefit from a care package of essential items, please let us know via our Facebook page or by calling the vicar, Ben, on 07990 695830. Please give generously!
How will Church services be different? Updated advice from the Church of England can always be found at https://www.churchofengland.org/more/media-centre/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-churches
- If you have any symptoms, please self-isolate as advised by the government.
- Arriving at Church: We’ve not been able to get sufficient quantities of hand gel in either parish. Please enter St Mary’s Church via the Resource Centre and wash your hands as you arrive in the toilet sinks, not the kitchen sinks. At St Michael’s, we will have anti-bacterial wipes: please use them. At All Saints, please wash your hands as you arrive.
- Sadly, you won’t get a handshake at Church – not as you arrive or leave, nor during the peace. Let’s be imaginative with our non-infectious greetings! We’ll remind you of the British Sign Language expression for ‘Peace be with you’.
- The time has now come to take the Lord’s Supper in one kind only – I.e. just the bread.
- Refreshments need to be handled by one person only. If you’re serving in the kitchen, please nominate one person to lay out the cups and serve the drinks and a different person to wash up. The designated server will be given hand gel to use. This is about keeping the number of people who have handled things to a minimum.
That’s all for now. Please donate, keep an eye the needs of your vulnerable friends and neighbours and keep coming to Church if you’re well enough to do so. At times like this when so many are worried, it’s so important to encourage each other with the Good News of the one who casts out fear and gives us real reasons to have hope!
New Forest Edge Churches 