When we started our online services we were all locked in our houses in a more or less permanent basis. We were only able to come out for necessities. No children went to school. Church services did not take place. You could not get a haircut, visit the dentist, or go out for a walk more than once a day. And you had to stay close to home while you exercised.

Even though we are a long way from normal at present, things have changed. There are still no fans at football and you cannot visit the theatre, but things are easier. It feels like the right time to move to a regular 9am live service of worship in church every week. From Sunday August 9 there will be a weekly service of Holy Communion.

A weekly service will give us space to spread the numbers attending church, allowing us to hold four services a month rather than two. It will make life easier for Raymond, as the whole business of recording services and sermons can be very time consuming. And we hope it will give people confidence to come to worship.

For those without internet this has been a long and difficult period. However we hope that you will feel increasingly confident in joining us at 9am, knowing that all safety measures have been put in place. We need to take our mental and spiritual health as seriously as our physical health. Being locked in without company is not good for anyone. Life feels very different when we can come together.

We are taking into account the possibility of a second lockdown this winter. Churches may have to close again in the cold weather. We hope that will not be the case and we want to hold services in church while we have the opportunity. The Wednesday services have now come to an end.

I want to say a big Thank You to Paul for his work in bringing them to us. Back in March it was Paul who originally got our online services off the ground. It was his idea to record them onto a mobile phone, and to use Box to bring everyone’s contribution together in one place. Andy Hall conscientiously put the text on screen so we could all join in.