Archdeacon’s Visitation

VISITATION SERVICES IN THE ARCHDEACONRY OF EXETER 2014

 

This year, the Visitations for the Archdeaconry of Exeter are being held as follows:

 

Thursday, May 1st         7.30pm       Sidmouth, St Giles and St Nicholas

Wednesday, May 7th     7.30pm       Heavitree, St Michael and All Angels

Monday, May 12th         7.30pm       Tiverton, St Peter

Thursday, May 15th       7.30pm       Crediton, Holy Cross

 

In addition to Clergy and Churchwardens, who should attend a Visitation, the Lay Chairs of the Deanery Synods, Readers, Sidespersons, and any members of Church Communities are warmly invited to be present.The plan for these Visitations is for worship, fellowship and affirmation, as well as the necessary legal requirements.

Credit Union Meeting

logo plough and share

  • Paula Anscomb,
  • Manager of Plough and Share Credit Union
  • will be giving a presentation on
  • Tuesday 8th April at 7.30
  • in the Sunday School Building, Colyton
  • All welcome!

Why Credit Unions?

 

Credit Unions make loans at reasonable rates, and provide an ethical alternative to payday loan companies and loan sharks. They are “an idea whose time has come”, when people are facing many challenges in managing their money and making it stretch. They are a practical way to enable people to escape the “rising tide” of debt, which is one of the chief reasons for needing food banks. They can provide quick relief for an urgent problem – but also build long-term resilience and the habit of saving.

Credit unions have a mutual structure, and anyone can start saving with as little as £2, or invest substantial amounts with an annual dividend and legal guarantees.

We can help ourselves and our neighbours by using and promoting their services. Credit unions are local organisations – Plough and Share is specifically for Devon only. It provides a practical means to build up the resources of the local community.

“I fully support the work and aspirations of our Credit Unions in Devon.”  Bishop Nick, Bishop of Crediton

Celebrating Creation

stock-photo-17022754-brightly-colorful-fireworks-in-the-night-skyIn the beginning God created the universe and the world … Majestic and wonderful, it reflects God’s holiness and greatness.  We are created lovingly to enjoy it – to marvel at its beauty and share with all the creatures that dwell on it.  The whole creation reveals the glory of the Creator.

Lent starts today, we are encouraged to Carbon Fast!!

check out more and register at  www.thecarbonfast.org

Today, Ash Wednesday to begin the Carbon Fast :  Remove one light bulb and live without it during lent as a reminder of what you are doing!

FAIRTRADE FORTNIGHT – starts 24th February

Fairtrade-logo-small-edit-150x150Fairtrade is about better prices, decent working conditions, local sustainability, and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers in the developing world. 

Exeter Diocese is working towards becoming a fairtrade Diocese.  Has your Church signed up yet?  Are you working towards this aim?  It means providing fairtrade refreshments (tea, coffee, sugar) at all your Church events, and moving towards serving other fairtrade goods too. Also, importantly, to buy local as well, ie local milk – as we cannot grow our own tea here in Devon!

Below is an article taken from the Fairtrade Foundation:

BBC2’s ‘The Tea Trail’, featuring adventurer and journalist Simon Reeve  headed to Kenya and then on to the undulating hills of Mabale, Uganda, to uncover some of the people and their stories behind the nation’s best loved cuppa.Tea is the most popular drink in the world after water, with 70,000 cups drunk per second and is an industry which involves 50 million people globally in many of the world’s least developed countries.

Selling tea should be helping the people who grow it to improve their lives but the industry that supplies our favourite drink is affected by endemic poverty, low wages and increasingly climate change.Part of the problem is that we are not paying enough for our tea bags.  Visit your local supermarket and you might be delighted to buy a heavily discounted bargain-priced box of tea bags. However, there is a human cost behind this low price and the reality is that low retail prices do not leave sufficient value in the supply chain for everyone to have their fair share. This means that producers and workers remain in poverty.

We believe that more of the industry should be striving to buy tea under Fairtrade terms. All own-label tea in Sainsbury’s, Co-op, Waitrose and Marks & Spencer is Fairtrade certified.  In addition,  leading Fairtrade brands Clipper, Cafedirect and Traidcraft also sell tea with the Fairtrade label. However Fairtrade tea represents less than 10% of the UK market.

Fairtrade empowers workers by ensuring workers’ rights improvements, including permanent contracts, regulated working hours and overtime, maternity, holiday and sick pay. Small farmers are also able to gain access to markets and accumulate capital for reinvestment.

However, the key benefit is the Fairtrade Premium. In 2012 over $6m in Fairtrade Premium was paid directly to workers on Fairtrade certified estates and those in smallholder organisations to be used for community benefit including schools, healthcare and community resources as decided by the communities themselves. The problem is that due to low market sales only 6% of Fairtrade certified tea is sold under Fairtrade terms. This means many tea estates and small farmers receive a tiny amount of Fairtrade Premium to improve the lives of workers and their families.

Fairtrade has long been championing and advocating for industry-wide change in the tea sector, primarily for more tea to be sold under the terms of Fairtrade.

A recent Fairtrade Foundation study in Malawi shows what is possible when tea estates are able to secure a higher proportion of sales on Fairtrade terms. In Malawi, workers have had significant benefits, including subsidised maize and fertiliser to improve food security, health and education programmes, and solar panels for homes.
Ultimately we all need to work harder. The different players in the tea industry need to form stronger partnerships and bring workers’ and producers’ voices to the fore. And as tea drinkers we must also realise that every single one of those cuppas represents a powerful choice for change, if we choose it.

www.fairtrade.org.uk

Flower Festival

iphone pics 075

St Andrews Church,  Colyton is to stage a flower festival from 19th – 22nd June 2014.

The title of the festival will be “Bridal Flowers & Fashion”. As the name implies there will be a wedding theme, with flower displays, bridal dresses and accessorises with particular reference to the bridal styles of the last 50 years. Honiton Museum has kindly agreed to loan some Honiton lace wedding veils as part of the exhibition.

The festival will be open from 10am Thursday 19th – Saturday 21st and from 10.30am on Sunday 22nd. Refreshments will be provided throughout the day in the church grounds. In addition concerts will take place at 7.30pm Wednesday – Saturday by Andrew Millington (Exeter Cathedral Director of Music), Nick Brown (St Andrews Director of Music) and the choir of St Andrews. During the daytime there will also be shorter impromptu recitals. More details of these musical events will follow later. The festival will conclude with a service of thanksgiving on Sunday 22nd at 6.30pm.

St Andrew’s Community Cafe

148 Community Café is held every Tuesday morning, 9.30-11.30am in St Andrew’s Church, Colyton.

A great place to pop in for a mug of fresh fairtrade  coffee or tea and a slice of delicious

home made cake!  Everyone is made welcome and there is a toy box for the little ones! What a great way to start the day!

Faithtrack Theology Course (at Uplyme)

faithtrack

Uplyme are launching an evening Faithtrack course.  Faithtrack is a course in systematic theology and is produced by St. Paul’s Theological College (associated with Holy Trinity Brompton and Alpha).  The course starts on 25th April and runs in two half-terms.  It is aimed at people that have completed an Alpha Course or who want to go deeper into theology and ask questions.  The evenings involve watching a lecture on video and then discussing the topics in a small group.  To sign up contact Gavin via the Uplyme church office on 01297 444499.

Fairtrade

  • The Diocese is encouraging us all to become Fairtrade Churches with a view to becoming a Fairtrade Diocese.
  • To do this you will need to commit to three things:
  • We will use Fairtrade tea, coffee, sugar when we serve refreshments, after services and for all church events. (Churches that do not usually serve refreshments after their services are still eligible as long as you serve Fairtrade whenever refreshments are served.)
  • We will move forward on using Fairtrade biscuits and fruit as they become more available and look for local milk and produce from our Devon farmers whenever possible.
  • We will feature and explain Fairtrade principles throughout the year but particularly during Fairtrade Fortnight (annually in Feb/March).

If you can commit to these three simple steps – and many churches are already doing these – then please register as a Fairtrade Church with the Diocese and the Fairtrade Foundation.