St Mary's Church, Dymock

Reports

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The Family Service on November 8th took the form of the traditional Service of Remembrance for those who died in war, not just the two World Wars but the many wars since. It began in the church with praise, readings and prayer before everyone went outside to the War Memorial on the Village Green in front of the church. As well as the traditional hymns during the Service in church, the Senior and Junior Choirs (The Young Voices) sang the anthem "We will Remember Them". (Return to top)

At the war memorial, the names of those who fell in the first and second World Wars was read aloud before they were remembered in the two minutes silence and wreathes were laid on behalf of the Church, the Village and the Dymock Poets, as well as several Crosses of Remembrance planted by individuals in remembrance of personal loved ones. (Return to top)

Unfortunately there was a mix-up over the booking of a speaker for the Men's Breakfast on November 7th, and when that was realised the speaker was unable to come that day, so we had a useful discussion among ourselves instead to consider what we do at these events and how they should proceed in the future. (Return to top)

The breakfasts were started some 8 years ago, and the format has remained much the same since, sharing a full English Breakfast every-other month (usually in the Beauchamp Arms Pub next door to the church) then hearing from an invited speaker on a topic of Christian outreach in the world, before a short period of discussion with the guest. (Return to top)

The breakfasts are open to any man who wishes to come and it was decided that we should continue with the same format, but perhaps widen the topics occasionally, such as inviting a young farmer to tell us how they're coping with their business in today's difficult world. (Return to top)

The next Breakfast will be on Saturday 9th January 2016 when our speaker will be Rev'd Richard Atkins, a Methodist Minister in Gloucester who is also the presenter of BBC Radio Gloucestershire's Sunday morning breakfast show. (Return to top)

In recent years our Musical Director, Bob May, has organised a concert of music and readings associated with Remembrance and this year was no different. Friday 6th November saw our augmented choir 'The St Mary's Singers' joined by the choir of Ann Cam School to give a moving evening of poignant songs and readings, several by the 'Dymock Poets' including Rupert Brook and Ivor Gurney, whilst other readings included letters home from the front line in the First World War with the extracts read by a young boy, and pictures from the battle fields of Flanders projected whilst a haunting melody was played on the violin. (Return to top).

This year saw the installation of ceramic poppies at the Tower of London, one for each soldier who lost their life in Word War 1, so Dymock decided to copy the idea with members of the congregation, under the guidance of Eastnor Pottery, having made ceramic daffodils to reflect the speciality of Dymock, one for each soldier of our village recorded on our war memorial. These were brought forward and placed in a holder covered in green grass at the front of the altar whilst the united choirs sang 'A Flower Remembered' and 'Flower of Eternal Sleep' (Return to top).