Welcome Everybody!
Everybody Welcome!

Deepening Faith
Seeking to Serve
Growing for God
Welcoming All
Praying Together

For a reflective Advent Calendar using ‘The Art of Advent’ by Jane Williams:

Click [HERE].

Please keep checking here to see our programme of services and events as they are confirmed.

Please do not assume that the programme will be identical to that published in The Bridge, which was prepared before the recent lockdown.

Subject to any change in Regulation – Plan for Services in December 2020

Masks or Face-coverings
must now be worn in church

This is a legal requirement from 8th August 2020.

The Church continues to be alive and active
our buildings are open for private prayer
but Public Worship is suspended

We are seeing a huge increase in the number of people falling sick with COVID-19. We must distance ourselves from one another and prevent the spread of infection in order to save lives.

Public worship is therefore being suspended, in this and all other places of worship.

Our worship of God and our care for each other continue but cannot be done in this building.

Our website contains details of how to join others online for prayer, worship, study, and community life.  See our website for several resources and join in with on-line worship.

The Rector and Churchwardens can be can also be contacted in an emergency by telephone or email.

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength … Love your neighbour as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.”

To protect the vulnerable amongst us, please do not leave your home except for essential trips.

Meonstoke Church is open from Saturday to Tuesday inclusive;
Droxford Church is open from Thursday to Tuesday inclusive;
Exton Church is open from Saturday to Thursday inclusive.

In this way, a church in the Benefice is available for private prayer or reflection on every day of the week, but cleaning and maintenance may also go ahead safely.

In accordance with Government Guidance
we are asked to let you know what is and what is not permitted
You can see this clicking the following [LINK] .

Please sanitise your hands on entering and leaving the church,
follow both current advice on physical distancing
and the one-way system in the churches where that is possible.  

Do not touch anything or go beyond the barriers set out.
Whenever  supervision is in place, please follow the instructions or guidance given.

Please wear a mask or other face-covering on entering any church building and do not remove it until you leave.  This is a legal requirement from 8th August 2020.

Please us the QR codes and the NHS Track and Trace App if you are able.

Click here for our safeguarding procedures

Click [HERE]for the latest Pew News

Click [HERE] for previous Pew News

The wearing of face-coverings/ masks is mandatory
in all places or worship.
Please cover your mouth and nose
before entering any church building
and to wear the covering on until you are clear of the building.
Please do not cross any barrier or touch any item unnecessarily
while you are in the building.
(See www.gov.uk) 

Across the world, Covid-19 has brought much sadness to many. 

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby wrote recently, ‘… we do what we can to halt the spread of this virus – but we can still feel powerless. Is there anything else we can do? Really do? Yes. Yes there is. We can pray. Prayer is my first response when I feel out of my depth, when I need help, when I am worried, when I am concerned for those I love… Prayer changes things.’

Every day we will pause and pray at 6pm for those impacted by the pandemic.
You can set an alarm, light a candle or use a light on your mobile phone as a prompt to pray.

Follow us the Church of England on social media for daily prayers, and you can find an easy to use, printable prayer booklet here, to help you as you pray over the next 4 weeks. You can also explore the Church of England’s website for further resources.

Click here to watch the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, inviting you to join #PrayerfortheNation. Please do share this with your friends and family.

Click [HERE] for daily prayers during pandemic and join the nation the weekly prayers also in the document.

WILLIAM COLLINS TRUST

Our local charity was set up to benefit the children and students from The Bridge parishes who could do with a bit of financial help with their education. Some further information is available [HERE] and an application form is available [HERE].

Please feel free to speak informally and in confidence to any of the trustees listed on the form or to the Fr Tony (The Rector).

The Order of Service for our Common Worship weekly services is available by clicking [HERE].
It follows the pattern of service used in church too.

Scroll down for our current and recent services

Meon Valley Foodbank

07956375447

Thank you all for your kind donations and continued support of the Food Bank.

Donations may taken to the food bank on Tuesday mornings or deposited in one of the local collection boxes.

www.meonvalleyfoodbank.co.uk

Twitter: @MeonValleyFB 

Meon Valley Babybank

This new group has been set up to help meet the needs of parents with babies.

Please see our pew sheet for details.

As we move through the Pandemic
and without forgetting the more  elderly and vulnerable
let’s stop to consider how the younger generations are.

They have been supporting us , now let us think about them.

The younger generation face an especially uncertain future: 
their education and training; safe employment, job security and even employability;
what to do when their new found community roles seem no longer to be needed;
additional emotional challenges and anxieties, including grief and a sense of where life would have led them had there not been a pandemic.

Please pray for them, and when we can and however we are able, let us offer practical and emotional support, e.g.: mentoring a job-seeker; coaching someone in a new and testing role; offering educational and emotional support at the education transition points – home to school – between schools at different stages  – school to university – education to employment.

There are many experienced and talented people in the area – how can you help the next generations to set off on life’s journey securely – helping them to succeed and helping them to give back to society as they go alongside you.

Morning and Evening Prayer

Prayers in the Pandemic

Please click here for a daily cycle of prayer for our local communities, key workers and some areas of national and international life.

Gracious God,
we thank you for all healthcare professionals,
carers and biomedical scientists.
Give skill and sympathy, strength and resilience
to those throughout the world
who are caring for the sick,
especially in these times of Pandemic.
Impart doctors and scientists with wisdom as they seek to provide cures
for deadly diseases, and not least Covid-19.
Strengthen with your Spirit
all who provide us with medical care,
and health promotion
that through their work
many will be preserved from disease or restored to health;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Click here for our safeguarding procedures

Click here for daily reflections, prayers and daily Morning and Evening Prayer, as well as other resources to use at home in the Pandemic.

Other links too can be found on that page if you scroll down

A Reflection

Click below for a reflection in times of loneliness from Pray-as-You-Go. [This link takes you away from our website].

We must all follow the instructions given by the Government united in a national effort to limit the transmission of the coronavirus.

Digital resources for worship will continue to be made available on this website.

Daily prayers will be said for the community, which will include the cycle of prayer for the whole community and all key workers.

The Eucharist with intercessions will be celebrated on behalf of all on each Sunday and major Feast Day as far as possible and recordings uploaded to this website.

How is your neighbour?
How are the younger generation?

The younger generation face an especially uncertain future: 
their education and training; employment, job security and even employability;
what to do when their new found community roles seem no longer to be needed;
additional emotional challenges and anxieties, including grief and a sense of where life would have led them had there not been a pandemic.

Please pray for them, and when we can and however we are able, let us offer practical and emotional support. 
Mentoring a job-seeker; coaching someone in a new and testing role; offering educational and emotional support at the education transition points – home to school – between schools at different stages  – school to university – education to employment.

There are many experienced and talented people in the area – how can you help the next generations to set off on life’s journey securely – helping them to succeed and helping them to give back to society as they go alongside you.

Please do not assume all is well around you.

Please  continue to watch out for single people, and the elderly who are isolated from their families.
Do they have enough food, medicines such as pain-killers, fluids?
Please ask and help if you can or 
let the Rector know who may be able find someone to help.

Potential help in Corhampton, Exton and Meonstoke
can be found in the LINK here.
Support in the face of the Coronavirus in Droxford can be found HERE.

MANY THANKS FROM THE WHOLE COMMUNITY TO ALL THOSE WHO ARE VOLUNTEERING TO HELP OTHERS. 

THANK YOU AND BLESS YOU ALL!

Whilst not being complacent or reckless,
let’s all try to resist fear and selfishness.

‘Honour your mother and father’ – let us all look out for the elderly.
‘Love your neighbour as yourself – let us think of others as well as ourselves.

If you have health concerns and for the latest health advice, please visit the NHS website.

Please pray for
all those who are ill, those who are isolated, those who work in the health & social care sectors, those who are researching Covid19, those who bring and co-ordinate relief, all those whose ‘Life Events’ such as weddings, christenings and even funerals have been disrupted, and those who make policy.

Click here for a composite guide for Morning, Day Time and Night Prayer

Click here for a Simple Daily Prayer Guide

Click here and join the Church of England in Daily Prayer

Congratulations to both Janet Melson and John Symes for each receiving a Mayor of Winchester’s Community Award and our thanks to them both for all they do for the community.

Congratulations and prayers for all those recently baptised and especially Hector and his family.

Congratulations to those recently married, including:
James and Kate (28Aug20);
Tom & Catherine (14 Dec19);
Mike & Nicola (21 Dec19);
Michael & Emma (28 Dec19);
Oliver and Faatima (07Mar20)
and to those engaged to be married later in 2020

Rest in Peace

Toby Dove RIP

Ann Gittins RIP

John Foot RIP

Josephine Carey RIP

Alan Jones RIP

Equality

(click here for our policy)

The Parishes of The Meon Bridge Benefice (Corhampton and St Andrew, Meonstoke, St Mary and All Saints, Droxford, and St Peter and St Paul, Exton)  are committed to promoting the understanding of the principles and practices of equality – treating each person as an individual, according to their needs, with an awareness of our diverse society and appreciating the value of difference. The Benefice recognises Access as an important part of its work .

GDPR

Please click here for our PRIVACY NOTICE
Please click here for our CONSENT FORM
Please click here for our guidance for PCCs

Fees

For our Table of Fees please click here

For our Policy of fees and Charges please click here

Well Done and Thank You

Thank you to all those who contributed to, helped organise or attended our recent events:

1. To Angela and the team for the excellent On-Line Virtual Fete.
2. To James Matthissen on his letter of appreciation from our local MP.
3. To all those volunteering to help us open our churches safely for private prayer.
4. The NHS and all the wonderful key workers who are keeping us well and supplied.
5. Janet Melson and John Symes for their Lord Mayor of Winchester Community awards – so well deserved.
6. The re-opening of Wilfrid’s Café
7. The provision and installation of new lighting, especially the chandelier, in Meonstoke Church.