The Benefice of St. Bartholomew

Rogation Sunday - 22nd May 2022

Details

Written by Tony Gowers

Please join us on Sunday 22nd May 2022 to walk the Sedgehill Loop (approximately 3 miles) meeting at Sweetwell Farm, Sedgehill, SP7 9JB for a 9.00 am start. The walk is both buggy and dog friendly.

The 10.30 am Rogation service will be held following the walk in a barn at Sweetwell Farm, by kind permission of the Drake family. Please feel free to just join us for the service at 10.30 am if the walk is not for you.

Straw bales will be available for seating, but please do bring along your own chair if preferred!

Children are very welcome, and refreshments will be available.

Click here for a map showing the location of Sweetwell Farm.

4 Villages Spring Fete - 22nd May 2022

Details

Written by Tony Gowers

Donhead St Mary, Charlton, Ludwell and the Coombes

Sunday 22nd May 2022

at the Remembrance Field, Charlton, SP7 0PL

The Fete opens at 1.00 pm

Stalls, Hot Food & Afternoon Teas

'Mr Chips' Fish 'n Chips - Nina's 'Grove Arms' BBQ
Afternoon Teas & Ice Cream

Shaftesbury Town Silver Band

Favourite traditional stalls including:

Bottle Stall - Bric-a-Brac - Plants
Clothes - Cakes & Produce  - White Elephant

Classic Car Display

Dog Agility

Children's Games & Bouncy Castle

Steam Car Rides

and much more....

Raffle and Prize Draw at 4.00 pm

Click here to see the location of the Fete and to obtain directions on how to find it.

Raising money to support specific needs in the community.

From The Rector - May 2022

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Written by The Rev'd Kate McFarlane

Beating the Bounds

As some of you will have seen, the area in Semley which backs on to the Rectory and the school has recently been cleared, with a long-term plan being formulated to develop it as a nature-enhancing wildflower area.

While the clearance work was needed, it was something of a shock to see large bushes being apparently sucked from our boundary by an enormous piece of machinery. Incidentally, care was taken to save several oak saplings which lurked among the scrub.

With this natural boundary somewhat depleted, the rectory suddenly seemed very open and exposed, our subsequent storm-victim fallen tree at the gate adding to a sense of loss. So my husband and sons have been busy since then, planting a little glade of silver birches by the road, replacing storm-felled hedging trees with willow, holly and beech, and adding a few fruit trees to the part of the garden still termed an orchard but without much left to show for it. Our boundaries will, in time, be bountifully restored and, hopefully, the rectory garden enhanced for decades to come.

This month sees our church celebration of boundaries. On Sunday 22nd May, I am looking forward to my first celebration of Rogation when we will beat the bounds in Sedgehill, starting from Sweetwell Farm at 9.00am, with our traditional barn service at 10.30. The beating the bounds' procession is the church's time to ask God's blessing on the land, to encourage fellowship between neighbours, reconciling differences, and also for generous giving. The name Rogation itself comes from the Latin 'to ask' recalling Jesus' words: 'Whatsoever ye shall ask for in my name, he will give it to you'.

I find particularly moving the invitation to Confession that we will use at our Rogation service, because it seems to chime all too relevantly with our current environmental crisis:

Let us ask God to have mercy on our tired land,
And to prosper the work of our soiled hands.
Let us ask God to forgive our delusion of self-sufficiency
So that we may praise him for his provision and goodness.

Do please join us on Sunday 22nd so we can pray this prayer together.

Prayer Cycle and Prayer of the Month - May 2022

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Written by The Rev'd June Lane

We continue to pray as usual so please do keep your requests and news coming. Contact any of us: The Rev’d June (tel: 01747 828427), Julia (tel: 01747 829166), Theresa (tel: 01747 829188) or the Rev’d Kevin (tel: 01747 828551). There are many of us in need of that extra help and comfort that comes from knowing someone is praying for us.

Prayer of the Month

At this terrible time of the war in Ukraine, this is a Prayer for peace in our troubled world by Frances Paget

Almighty God, from whom all thoughts of truth and peace proceed;
kindle, we pray, in the hearts of all men, the true love of peace;
and guide with your pure and peaceable wisdom,
all those who have power in the nations of the earth;
that in peace and tranquillity your kingdom may grow,
till the whole earth is filled with the knowledge of your love.
We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.