Month: October 2018

On Monday, October 29, two dozen people braved below-zero temperatures to make a crowd at Letton Church for the annual Guinea Service. Following the Prayer Book order for Evensong, the invited preacher was Dean of Hereford Cathedral, The Very Revd Michael Tavinor.

Taking as his text Mark’s story of the poor widow putting her two small coins into the temple treasury (Mark 12:41-44), Michael revealed something about himself that his hearers did not know – his life-long interest in studying and collecting coins. He had brought three with him, all of which ‘told a story’. Read more...

The Dean of Hereford Cathedral, The Very Revd Michael Tavinor, will preach at this year’s Guinea Service at St John The Baptist Church, in Letton, at 6.30pm on Monday 29 October, in a tradition which dates back to the early 1800s.

In the last will and testament of parishioner Elizabeth Freeman, dated 1810, she left provision to ‘pay The Minister of Letton Church, one Guinea for a sermon in The Church on the 29th October yearly, forever.’ Read more...

A congregation of canines filled the Cotterell chapel and sat reverently for the start of a service of blessing in St John’s, Byford, on Sunday, Sept 30, which is the nearest Sunday to St Francis’ Day. Those owners not brought by their dogs had pictures of cats, chickens, gerbils, images on tablets and ‘phones – and Barney the pony brought his young rider, Ruby, up to the church but preferred to stay outside for his blessing. The service led by the vicar, Revd Sean Semple, gave thanks for God’s creation in responsive psalm style. It included a short sermon which recognised the value pets and other animals of God’s creation bring to our world – including our local farms and farmers. All Things Bright and Beautiful (of course!) featured as the hymn, and at the end every pet went home buoyed by a personal, prayerful blessing. Here are some pictures from the day