Trinity Newsletter

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Dear Friend

Since we called our Annual General Meeting for October 18th, postponed from March 29th, questions have been raised about the wisdom of holding a meeting when the spread of coronavirus is on the increase. Deacons have therefore postponed the meeting further until it is safer to meet. In the mean time we will write to you in the next couple of weeks giving you a financial report, the review I customarily give at these meetings, and information from our Junior Church and committees such as the Mission Committee.

We still plan to hold actual Sunday services in church. Sunday’s service, at 10 am and 11 am in church, live-streamed at 10 am for you to participate in at home, then on our church website from lunchtime onwards for you to share in whenever you want. I hope you will join us for worship either at home or in church.

For your reassurance, I remind you of the precautions we have taken in our effort to keep the church free of Covid-19. These have recently been reviewed by the group overseeing our reopening procedures and remain unchanged.

A comprehensive risk assessment has been carried out on behalf of the Deacons and can be found on our website.
To allow for appropriate physical distancing, every third pew will be in use and this means that we have reduced capacity.
The entrance will be through the south east outside door, into the coffee area.
Hand sanitisers will be used on entry.
We will be pleased to welcome you, but not with a handshake.
There will be designated routes around the church.
The exit will be through the south west and the vestry doors. Special arrangements will be made for any wheelchair users.
There will be a comprehensive single-use paper order of service for each person, which you will be asked to take away with you.
There will be no singing, but there will be organ music with Stephen at the console.
There will be no crèche or Junior Church but children of all ages are actively encouraged to attend and will be welcome at any of the services.
A toilet will be available.
There will be no coffees and teas following the services.
Between each service, the toilet and touch points such as door handles, stair rails and pew backs will be cleaned.
You are invited to place your offering in a common receptacle at the back of the church either as you enter or as you leave.

Finally, I remind you that

face coverings are now required when attending places of worship. I, however, will be barefaced when conducting the service so that I am not muffled.
we will record your attendance for test and trace purposes
you should not attend church if you are showing any of the symptoms associated with the virus.

Yours,

Revd Dr David Dickinson

Worship on Sunday 11 October

Church services this Sunday will be held at 10am and at 11am. Seating is limited on account of Coronavirus restrictions, but in the preceding weeks no-one has been turned away for lack of space. Please remember to bring a face covering, which is now mandatory for congregations in churches in England. Our services will be led by our minister, Revd Dr David Dickinson.

The Scripture lesson will be Matthew 27: 27-37.

Deacons on duty are Jacqueline John and David Jones.

The organist is Stephen Haylett, B Mus, ARCM, ARCO.

Worship at home on Sunday 11 October

Please see this page of the church website and join in worship at 10.00am led by our minister online.

Christian Study - At this page on the church website you will find links to both the Junior and Adult webpages from Roots on the Web, a resource used by some departments in Junior Church.

Coffee and Chat

As we come out of lockdown, our church services will remain unable to include an opportunity for chat over coffee. So the Coffee and Chat group, which has been meeting via Zoom after the recorded service each Sunday, is continuing on Zoom on Tuesday evenings at 7.30pm.

If you would like to join some familiar faces you would be welcome. Please contact John and Deborah Wroe 020 8642 9064 or john.p.wroe@gmail.com.

Dial a service! If you know anyone who would like to be able to listen to our recorded services, but who doesn't have internet access, we now have a solution for them too - please let them know! Simply phone 020 3319 1332 at any time and listen to hear a recording of the most recent service at Trinity. The cost is that of a local call, which for many people will be free.

Call after 1.00pm on Sunday by which time that morning's service should be available.

Cancellation of church meeting on 18 October

In view of the continuing increase in Covid-19 cases, the deacons have decided not to hold the delayed Annual Church Meeting on 18 October as previously announced.

The deacons who were co-opted in April will continue to serve on this basis.

The Minister’s review of the year will be placed on the Church website, together with the reports which would normally be presented to a church meeting and will be available on paper if required. Members are warmly invited to respond with questions or comments, which will be used by the deacons in planning our continuing response to the pandemic.

Any questions or comments can be sent to the Minister, any of the deacons, or in writing or by phone to the Church Meeting Secretary, David Jones, at dej7ld@gmail.com or 020 8643 5438

October Ecotip

This month concentrates on travel:

Cycle, walk or consider using public transport (in line with current government guidance) for a journey you would usually make by car.
If you have to drive somewhere, plan ahead to combine tasks. See if you can do all your car-based jobs once a week.
Change your driving patterns to be more fuel-efficient. Shift into the higher gears as quickly as possible, don’t brake hard, keep tyres correctly inflated and keep your car well serviced. Drive lightly!
Look at www.seat61.com to discover how you can travel overland to places you thought were only accessible by plane.

The communications team is aware that the repetition throughout each month of the same set of Ecotips can induce some form of "compassion fatigue" within the readership. So maybe a new 5-part mini-series on BBC World Service (radio) under the general programme "The Compass" and with a series title of "Climate Wars" will put a different focus on how climate change is a significant cause of local conflicts and loss of life; news which does not often hit the headlines. Each episode lasts 30 minutes, and may be found on the BBC Sounds website. Episode 1 was broadcast yesterday (Wednesday 7th October at 9.05am, to be repeated on Sunday at 11.30am) and the remaining programmes will be broadcast on successive Wednesdays and Sundays over the next 4 weeks.

Follow this link to the Media Centre of the BBC for the introduction to the series and here to listen to programme on playback.

Supporting Refugees and Asylum Seekers Gathering

Image inserted showing a family surveying the burnt-out wreckage of their refugee camp

The Methodist Church website is advertising a Zoom meting scheduled for Thursday 15th October - "Supporting Refugees and Asylum Seekers Gathering". This is on the "Methodist Blog" page which has links to a number of events taking place around the country.

To join the meeting you will need to send an email to one of the organisers who will reply with the relevant meeting number and password - see the link above.

The photograph shows the Moira refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos, following the catastrophic fire there a month ago - with acknowledgment to Reuters and the BBC News website which reported the event.

The United Reformed Church launched a new area of its website - "Legacies of Slavery" - earlier this week under the general banner of Black History Month. There is a great deal of information and resources there - but the following quotation from the website may give you a flavour of what to expect.

"Initially, these resources are provided for Black History Month 2020, but the collection will continue thereafter and will be updated periodically. They include the following:

A reading list with brief paragraphs indicating why the books should be read
A selection of suitable YouTube videos designed for reflection & group discussions
A selection of seminal movies
Informative papers and stand-alone documents
Bible studies, with leaders notes and questions, covering History, White Privilege Apology & Restorative Justice and Anti-racist living

We expect to be able to add resources to this repository throughout the year(s)."

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