St Mary's Church, Dymock

Reports

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We held our annual Harvest Festival Service on Sunday 27th September when we remembered the work of the farmers and gave thanks to God for another good harvest. Though well attended, numbers were a little down this year, perhaps because one or two 'stalwarts' of the congregation have now passed on. (Return to top)

Afterwards we had a celebratory meal together in the North Transept of the church, comprising home-made Quiche with salads of leaves, pasta and potatoes, followed by the now traditional apple crumble and ice cream. (Return to top)

The guest at our Men's Breakfast on 5th September was a return visit from Col Robbie Hall (Ex head of the UK Bomb Squad) who this time spoke about 'SASRA', the Soldiers' and Airmen's Scripture Reading Association. He explained that whilst Service units have a chaplain, today like vicars in civil parishes, they're fairly thin on the ground and spend a lot of their time in Pastoral Care - looking after the welfare of the Service men and women from a spiritual perspective. (Return to top)

Similar to the average parish, where the vicar spends a lot of time in pastoral care, the chaplain has less time for spiritual care and teaching so, as the vicar may have a lay team to assist, the team of lay 'Scripture Readers' assists the chaplains in that way with emphasis on helping Service personnel to get to know the principles of Christianity and deal with difficulties in applying it in their special environment of potential violence compared to the Christian message of love for all. (Return to top)

Because of that, all volunteers have to be currently serving or ex-service personnel so they can relate to the situation and be trusted by the people they meet, and as a result they're well received in what they do. They have about 20 volunteers, 16 full-time and 4 part-time from four-star General to Lance-Corporal but in this role, they're all equal which can have some touching effects when a General prays over a 'lower rank'. (Return to top)