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The West Worcester Beacon Group of Churches have a new Instagram account! Follow us to discover the unfolding stories of our churches, members and communities...

Our churchyards are fascinating spaces, holy and secular, where our most personal and private moments are mingled with public and parochial concerns. Visiting at quiet times, bringing flowers, tending or being still, simply walking through: we are reminded of the hundreds of souls whose stories lead to our story. The famous, the brave, the young, the sad, the forgotten; all now united and Resting In Peace. And our churchyards serve us in other times too. There are the cha

Life at St Martin’s has been busier than usual since November. We have been pleased to welcome the congregation from Hallow while their heating system has been repaired and upgraded. It has been so wonderful to see the Church full on Sundays, with joyful music and singing. The Church in Hallow has now been reopened and we are back to our regular 2 services a month, details of which can be found elsewhere in the magazine. We are hoping that there will be some who have found th

It's hard to believe that it has been just over two weeks since we said farewell to our dearly loved vicar, Revd Kalantha Brewis! On Kalantha's last day, Hallow Church was packed full of people from across the benefice to enjoy - and shed a tear or two - at her last Holy Communion service with us. We then moved on to a bring and share lunch at Hallow Parish Hall, with fantastic entertainment from The Beacon Band (including some special songs celebrating Kalantha) and very mov

At a recent church meeting where we were discussing plans for now Kalantha has left and the process for finding a new vicar (more about that in the next issue!), someone (quite rightly!) suddenly said, “Excuse me, but what do all these initials mean?”. Most people in the room agreed with her! There had been an assumption (always dangerous, I know!) that people would be familiar with terms like PCC, ALM, PTO, SSM etc (see glossary below). We all felt so glad that the person ha

Last week, I was invited to lead a session with Year 11 RS students at The Chantry High School on the topic: ‘Is Church Still Relevant in the Community?’. We met at St Peter’s Church in Martley, just over the road from the school, and were joined by one of the Church Wardens (who is also a Foodbank volunteer) and Bishop Hugh! This is what Bishop Hugh had to say about the session: "This is the Year 11 RS class from The Chantry School, and they are FANTASTIC! We had a brilliant

We will be running Lent courses again this year, and we hope you will be able to join one! These courses will be using the ‘Lectio for Lent’ pattern, and the theme for 2026 is ‘Living Water’. Each session lasts for around an hour and is different to your traditional Bible study. Everyone will be given the opportunity to contribute if they want to, and to get involved in prayers, readings, meditation and contemplation. WEDNESDAYS @11:30am Held at The Beard's in Lower Broadheat

As you may know, I am leaving these parishes soon. My last Sunday will be 1st March, and I shall be moving to a new post in Oxfordshire. First and foremost, I want to say how grateful I am for the support I have been shown by the community here over the past 6 years. It’s been a huge privilege to live and work here. Thank you for all your encouragement and kindness. Goodbyes are often untidy. We leave things unsaid, we leave projects unfinished, we find that the business of

My dear friends, As your Vicar, and after much prayer, I feel compelled to write to you today. Like many of you, I have been horrified to watch the news coming out of Minneapolis in recent days. Long, long ago, in a previous millennium, my first degree was in history from Cambridge, and it certainly does seem to be that history has to carry on repeating itself, because we refuse to listen to its voice first, second or even third time around. Fascism doesn’t start with people

It was an exciting day for us on Monday, as Lower Broadheath School and Broadheath Church were presented with the Silver “Church School Partnership Award” by Bishop Hugh!🥈 Here are some pictures capturing a very special service, celebrating the special partnership we have between the school and church. Bishop Hugh joined in enthusiastically, answering questions and encouraging us all to share our love and trust in Jesus throughout our communities. He was particularly taken w

As most of you will have now heard, I will be moving from the churches here to a new post in Oxford diocese at the beginning of March. I’ve loved my six years here, and it will be a wrench to leave, but I know I’m leaving a brilliant team in place. I’m so grateful for all the love and support I’ve received from the church communities and the wider community here. Arrangements for appointment of a new vicar will begin to be made in due course - and Archdeacon Mark will oversee

On Saturday 15th November, following an inspired idea from Annie Morphy, we hosted about 100 of our volunteers - people who help out in all sorts of different ways across our four church communities. People who clean our church buildings, arrange the flowers, act as welcomers, cut the grass, serve refreshments, wind the clocks, lead prayers, serve at communion, support our children’s work, take on our home visits, run our safeguarding, sit on our PCCs, organise our fundraiser

I’ve been listening recently to a number of stories about adoption. Some of you may be adopted, or you may have adopted children yourselves. I have been struck by how, even where adoptions have been very happy, loving, and nurturing, it seems that often the adopted person, whether as a child or an adult, longs to know about their birth parents, and how powerful it can be for them even just to see a photo of someone who “looks like me”. That recognition that you have “the fami

Today we are celebrating the Feast of All Saints. It is one of our major Christian festivals, and it has been celebrated by Christians for over 1400 years. Three of the four churches in our benefice are dedicated to saints - Martin, Bartholomew, Philip and James. Our cathedral is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Oswald and Wulfstan. The lives of the saints are commemorated and celebrated not only because they set us a good example, but because they still surround and tra

Whether it’s Traitors, Bake Off or Strictly, have you noticed that most of our most popular TV entertainment is concerned with eliminating people?? Viewers watch agog to see if an overbaked meringue or a leaden foxtrot will spell the end for their favoured (or disliked) contestant. Or, if Traitors is your thing, bluff and double-bluff, throwing suspicion on your fellows and diverting attention in order to climb over the backs of other people is an essential skill. It strikes

I was away from the parishes for a couple of weeks in September, and because for the first week I was staying in a monastery on a conference, and for the second week I was on retreat, I spent hardly any time looking at the news. Normally, I keep an eye on the BBC and Sky and CNN websites, as well as trying to keep my ear to the ground locally. It’s important for us to be engaged with the reality of what is going on around us - but it struck me very forcibly on the occasions

The West Worcester Beacon Group of Churches is delighted to announce that, thanks to generous funding from Worcester Diocese, we have...

I don’t know about you, but I got MUCH TOO HOT in June and July. The scorching weather, the weeks without rain - it honestly made me a bit miserable. The list of casualties in my garden seemed to get longer by the day. Seedlings I had nurtured through the spring and tentatively planted out in late May were completely destroyed, and as for the grass… well the less said on that subject the better! We know that what we suffer with our gardens is just a microcosm of the stresses

The West Worcester Beacon Healthy & Sustainable Churches Team (HSCT) is seeking an experienced and flexible partner organisation to carry out effective community engagement work in new neighbourhoods in the benefice; and to lead a Comms Strategy Review for the benefice. Further information and a full tender specification can be obtained from Ian Craigan: ian@iancraigan.plus.com 07879033823 A Project Fee of £17,000 is available over a 2 year period. Deadline for emailed submis

I was asked to add this sermon to the blog - it starts with two quite long readings - I hope you’ll find it worth your time! We are looking at Exodus 16:1-16 and John 6:25-35. EXODUS 16 1 The whole congregation of the Israelites set out from Elim and came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt. 2 The whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and