It was a delight to attend the Lammas Parish Communion at St Peter's on Sunday. The service was led by the Revd Maggie Metcalfe and introduced by Agricultural Chaplain Rhoddy Voremberg.

Rhoddy explained that Lammas comes from the Old English "hlaf messe", meaning "loaf mass/feast". From ancient times, villagers would bake a loaf of bread with the first of the harvest grain and bring it to Church to be blessed by the priest. Lammas day is 1 August, and is one of the traditional quarter days of the farming year. In most years, it marks the beginning of harvest, although in 2026 the harvest started a few weeks ago. Our harvest festivals at the end of September and beginning of October celebrate the end of harvest, when "all is safely gathered in".

The Lammas loaf was baked by one of our regular communicants at St Peter's, and was blessed and handed back to the congregation as part of the Communion bread and wine. Throughout the service, we gave thanks for the abundance of harvest. Maggie asked us all to pray for the continuance of that abundance, particularly for our Church and village.

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