Just a reminder that All Saints church is a collection point for donations to our local food bank. There is a box in the south porch where you can place your donations when you come to church or if you are passing during the week. The Food Bank welcomes donations of food items with at least three months’ of “best-before-date,” so do check your items before dropping them off. They would be pleased to receive tins and packets of food, including pet food and toiletries. Thank you for your donations. Please see their website: www.westburyareanetwork.org for more details.
Each of our Parishes holds an Annual Parishioners Meeting and Annual Parochial Church Meeting. These meetings are an important part of our parish life. The Annual Parishioners Meeting is open to anyone who lives in Westbury or Dilton Marsh parishes and elects our churchwardens. The Annual Parochial Church Meeting is open to all but only members on the electoral roll can vote. At the latter meeting the Rector and Parochial Church Council (PCC) present the annual accounts for the previous year and report on activities that took place. We elect members of the Parochial Church Council and this year we will also be electing our representatives for the Deanery Synod. The electoral roll is our formal list of church members. Anyone who attends services in our churches is encouraged to register. Only members of the electoral roll can be a member of our Parochial Church Councils and Deanery Synod. Our PCC members help to lead and manage our churches and support the Rector and Churchwardens. Churchwardens for WestburyThis year Ruth Hann will be stepping down as churchwarden of Westbury after 6 years. This is the maximum time that a churchwarden can hold the role. If you feel called to this essential role in our church life and want to know more about it please speak to Ruth or Rebecca about what it involves. Deanery SynodWe are part of Heytesbury Deanery which stretches as far as Mere. Representatives of each parish meet together and its members elect representatives to the Diocesan Synod. It is an important way to keep in touch with other parishes in the area and work together. Westbury and Dilton Marsh can each elect 2 representatives. If you would like to find out more please speak to your Churchwardens Ruth Hann, Sonja Harris and Tess Brocksopp or Revd Rebecca Harris. Dilton Marsh will hold their annual meetings on Sunday 10 May and Westbury will hold their annual meetings on Sunday 17 May. Nomination forms for the role of Churchwarden, PCC and Deanery Synod member can be found on this page.
This year's popular Christmas Tree Festival was the best yet! The Festival was officially opened by Mrs Lindsay Clough, Head Teacher of Westbury CofE Junior School on Friday 3 December. We welcomed over 1,500 people into All Saints' Church to view the 48 decorated Christmas Trees over the weekend. The event raised over £3,000 for church funds. The most popular tree was the 1st Westbury Scouts and the runner up the Friday Fun Youth Club. Thank you to all those who voted! We'd like to thank all those who helped meet and greet, serve refreshments and support the event - we couldn't have done it without you!We look forward to seeing you next year!
We were delighted to welcome Bishop Andrew, Bishop of Ramsbury, to All Saints church on Sunday 30th November for a special service of Baptism and Confirmation. One candidate was baptised and five were confirmed: (in order from left to right: Frank Lee, Florence Lee, Bishop Andrew, Helen Thomas, Sarah Wiseman and Michelle Coleman).It was wonderful to have such a full church with over 100 people including children, families and friends of the candidates, and our friends from across the WH Team. Each of our four churches were represented. It was also good to welcome some new people to this service, and we hope that any visitors or newcomers would like to get involved and find out more about faith in Christ. Three of the candidates spoke of their calling to be baptised and confirmed and shared something of their journey to faith. It was very encouraging to hear their stories of how God has been at work in their lives, each in a different and unique way. During the service, they were able to share in Holy Communion with us for the first time.After the service, about 60 people, including the candidates and their guests, gathered in the parish hall to enjoy a shared lunch together. It was a very memorable and special occasion.We continue to pray for our candidates, that they may grow in their faith and find their places within our church communities in the White Horse Team.If this has stirred any questions of faith and belief in you, or if you have not been baptised or confirmed and would be interested in finding out more, please contact me in the New Year. I would love to hear from you!Revd RebeccaYou can watch the service on our YouTube Channel White Horse Team Ministry Westbury - YouTube
