Pew News

Sue is retiring and so the PCC of St Mary’s Church, Ottery St Mary is looking to appoint a new Parish Administrator. We are looking for a friendly, organised and efficient person to support the day-to-day administration of our busy parish, working alongside clergy, churchwardens and volunteers. The successful applicant will have excellent written and spoken English, good IT skills (including Word, Excel and WordPress), the ability to work independently, and supervise others. They will be patient, diplomatic, approachable and sympathetic to the Christian faith and the life of the Church. Hours: 17.5 hours per week (3.5 hours per day, Monday to Friday) Pay: £13.50 per hour. Start date: December 2026. The appointment will be subject to an enhanced DBS check. For further information or to apply, please contact Liz Tapper enclosing a CV and a covering letter explaining your interest in and suitability for the post.

‘Watching, Waiting, Praying’ at Lympstone Parish Church, EX8 5JU
Saturday 28th November 10AM–1PM
Advent is a season of Watching, Waiting and Praying as we prepare
to celebrate Jesus’s birth at Christmas. It is a season to take stock of
where we are in our walks through life, to look back at where we
have come from, and to look ahead to where God is calling us.
Come and join a time of stillness and quiet reflection in church this
Advent, with meditations, prayers and music on the hour, each hour.
Refreshments will be available throughout the morning
Suggested donation of £5 per person to cover costs
Contact Demelza or just turn up!
Everyone welcome.

The All Souls Service is being held on Sunday 1st November at 3pm, offering an opportunity to remember those dear to us who have died. If you would like the name of someone to be read out during the service, there is a list on the welcome desk. Please write clearly in capitals.

This Sunday is Bible Sunday, and there will be a short introduction to the work of the Bible Society at the start of the service, and after the service there’ll be a table of resources for further information.
We are also offering cheese scones and cake to go with coffee, or to take home. Cash donations will be welcomed towards the work of the Bible Society.

If you can’t make it to church for a Sunday service, remember you can always catch up with recent sermons, which are accessible from the website home page or Pew News page. There is also an on-line Zoom service you can join on the first and third Sundays of the month at 9.30am. These services are on our home page under upcoming  services and events with a link to click and join.

This charity works to restore and protect the freshwater environments of the Westcountry for the benefit of people, wildlife and local economies. This includes a current project to reduce flood risk to communities along the River Otter.
https://wrt.org.uk/

The church office will be closed from Monday 26th to Friday 30th October while Sue takes a holiday.

No specific requests/shortages this week but please do continue to donate non-perishable items in the blue box in the porch.

We have sent £138 to the Devon Historic Churches Trust from a cream tea masterminded by Mell and Olive (thank you both).
The collection for MMUK at the service at which Katie Drew spoke was £173.
The total collection at Harvest from our three churches was £535 which is being sent to Farming Community Network.
The Community Cafe continues to make a profit of £100 or so each month for church funds. Margaret Peters and her team work really hard with this and deserve your fullest support. Apart from that, it’s a great meeting and catch-up time.
And on the subject of church funds, we are having our usual stall at the East Gate for Tar Barrels. We need help! Please speak to Howard Clayton to discover what needs doing.

“Sparkle and Shine” Light Party for ages 3-11 at the United Reformed Church, 1 Jesu Street, on Saturday 31st October 4-6PM. Dancing, games, pumpkin craft, sparkler fun, plus hot dogs and hot chocolate. A child-friendly message will be shared about Jesus, the light of the world. Free entry. All children to be accompanied by an adult.

Advance notice that there will be no Mothers Union Thursday Communion service in November as the date coincides with Ottery’s tar barrels event. The next service will be on Thursday 3rd December.

Friday 13th November, 6.00PM to 7.30PM, starting and finishing at The Holt, Budleigh Salterton Cricket Club. The walk is being organised by the cricket club in partnership with Pebblebed Heaths Conservation Trust. Join them for this special evening walk at the beautiful Otter Estuary Nature Reserve, acknowledging the right of women and girls feel safe to enjoy the countryside – even after dark. No need to book, just turn up.

Julia Johnson
Brett Gill

May they rest in peace and rise in glory.

Julia’s funeral will be at Ottery St Mary church on Wednesday 28th October at 12PM.

You’ll have noticed some scaffolding on the roof at the west end of the church. This is to allow our stonemason access for some repairs and to complete some tasks identified in our last quinquennial inspection.

Well, hello and welcome to the first of the Wardens’ Corner reports which we hope you will find informative during this vacancy period.
We were absolutely delighted after Carys’ convincing sermon to have two new volunteers for the cleaning rota. One hour a month is all we ask and it makes such a difference to the impression we make.
Later this month your “Under one Roof” team will be meeting The Heritage Fund principals to start the development stage of the programme and we hold all those involved in our prayers for this most important project.
Next Sunday is Bible Sunday and Margaret Peters and helpers will be serving us our teas and coffees, with I am assured delicious cakes, which will be in aid of the Bible Society who distribute bibles all over the world in the language of that country, sometimes at great peril to themselves. So clearly a very worthy cause.
Your Churchwardens and PCC are currently preparing the Parish profile; please continue to pray for the discernment of what is needed for our new incumbent.
Charles Elliott, the former Director of Christian Aid, was invited to address the House of Bishops at General Synod. He spoke of all the work Christian Aid was doing throughout the world in sometimes terrible conditions. At the end, a Bishop asked a question, perhaps expecting to be charged with an heroic response “What can we do?”. “Pray” responded Elliott.