Welcome to our churches

Hello everyone.  Although the Government has lifted social restrictions, I’m sure you will be aware that many wish to remain cautious, and our two bishops are encouraging us in that direction, even though it is now a local decision about the details.

I must stress that the high rates of infection have to be taken seriously and the last thing we want is for our churches to be places where people are infected.  This will not please everyone I know, although my impression is that the majority wish to tread slowly with the lifting of the measures we now observe in our churches.  

I need to bear in mind not only congregations, but the well-being of those leading the services as well.  Naturally, if the national unlocking progresses well, we will need to re-visit this, in the hope of relaxing some or all of the following.

My recommendations to our congregations are:

• Sanitiser continues to be used as now.
• Face coverings continue to be recommended to be worn at church services.
• Communion is received as currently is the case.
• Social distancing is observed.  I appreciate that there will be people who wish to dispense with this, but many are not ready to do so yet. 
• Hymn singing recommences, with the proviso that we sing masked, except for those who have difficulty singing masked (this can depend a bit on the type of mask being worn).  Those who need to sing unmasked go to the back of the church to sing, observing distancing.  We will sing only two hymns for the time being

No-one would be more delighted than I would be to ditch all these restrictions, but I believe it would be reckless to do so yet.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.  Let me take this opportunity to thank again all the people making it possible to maintain our worship in church in these challenging times.

Abington Pigotts, Guilden Morden, Litlington and Steeple Morden churches are open during the day, from approx. 10am to 4pm for individuals to enter for prayer.  

The Shingay Group of Parishes consists of St. Michael and All Angels, Abington Pigotts; St. Catherine’s, Litlington; St. Mary the Virgin, Guilden Morden; St. Peter and St.Paul, Steeple Morden; St. Giles, Tadlow; and All Saints’, Wendy and Shingay. We are situated in the South West corner of Cambridgeshire and are part of the Diocese of Ely of The Church of England.

All six parishes of the Group have their own organizations, Parochial Church Councils and so forth, but we operate as a Team of Parishes wherever we can, and good friendships have been built across the villages through our meetings together, and our regular monthly worship together in one of the six churches. In normal circumstances we try to have a service in each of the six churches on three Sundays of the month, and come together for worship on the remaining Sunday.

Full details of services are printed in Prospect magazine, which is normally delivered each month to homes in the parishes. Prospect is also available on-line by clicking here

Canon Shamus Williams MA
The Vicarage, 18, High Street, Guilden Morden, Royston, Herts.  SG8 0JP.  01763 853067

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