Church Services resumed from Sunday 5 July 2020
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[Updated 7 August 2020]
We have been able to make suitable arrangements at St Peter ad Vincula to comply with the Government's and Church of England's Covid-19 restrictions and our first service under this new "norm" took place on Sunday 5th July. Recordings of our services can be found via our Home Page. Our future services can be found under "Upcoming Events". I hope that as many as feel able will join us.
From 8th August - the requirement to wear face coverings has been extended - face coverings are now required by law to be worn in a greater number of public indoor settings including places of worship, museums, galleries, cinemas and public libraries. There are valid exemptions for some individuals and groups to not wear a face covering in these settings. In particular, those who are leading services or events in a place of worship, and those who assist them (for instance by reading, preaching, or leading prayer) do not always need to wear a face covering, although one should be worn especially if physical distancing cannot be maintained (i.e. distributing consumables). This exemption does not apply to worshippers, who should wear face coverings consistent with the requirements for any other public space. For more information see the latest Church of England advice here: https://www.churchofengland.org/more/media-centre/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-churches
In addition, as a result of the guidance and advice that has been issued by both the Government and the Church of England, we have formulated means by which services can be held and set out below are some of the things that are different:
- There will be no service at 8am;
- Restrictions on numbers attending this sort of service have not been imposed; it has been left to individual churches to assess how many can be accommodated whilst undertaking 2 metre social distancing whenever possible;
- Entry will be by the north door only (the usual entrance);
- Everyone will be asked to sanitise their hands on entry and to provide contact details for track and tracing purposes;
- Only every other pew will be in use and you will be shown to a seat by those on duty. Those who live in the same household will of course be able to sit together but others will need to sit 2 metres apart;
- The service will take the form of a said communion service and all the information necessary will be displayed on the screen;
- Unfortunately singing is not permitted but music will be played at the beginning, during communion and at the end of the service;
- Communion will be taken standing and will be with bread only. For these purposes the congregation will be directed in a clockwise flow by those on duty;
- At the end of the service we shall be unable to serve the usual refreshments, and everyone will be asked to leave the building by the south door without unnecessary delay.
It has been wonderful to be able to worship together again since 5 July, albeit under an unfamiliar regime. However, we totally understand that not everyone will feel that they are able to attend at this stage. For this reason, we shall be making a recording of the services which, as before, will be made available on the website as soon as possible.
I hope this is self-explanatory, but if you have any queries please do not hesitate to get in touch with:
Clive 700339
Richard 700628
Jamie 752846, or
Henrietta 700262
who will all be able to help and look forward to welcoming you back to St Peter’s.
God bless you,
Clive