Saint Paul's Church, Landkey
In Brief
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More ImagesWelcome to the website for St Paul's Church, the Church of England church for the parish of Landkey.
The tranquil village of Landkey is situated just three miles from the busy market town of Barnstaple in North Devon. With a growing population in excess of 2000, a strong sense of community exists within the village and, of this, the church is an important part. As well as offering regular Christian worship, the church provides valuable links to other areas of the community such as the local Primary School and the Mothers' Union.
St Paul's is a friendly church in which the Christian message is heard regularly by a congregation of around 25 worshippers. All are welcome to attend our services.
Coronavirus and beyond
Lockdown again
With Covid-19 cases rising rapidly, it was probably no surprise that the Government decided to impose a national lockdown for the second time this year. It means that we will, once again, have to suspend the holding of services in church. We are, though, allowed to open the church for private prayer and will aim to do so even though the weather is not as favourable as it was during the first lockdown.
Opening times for private prayer:
- Sundays between 10:30am and 11:30am
- Wednesdays between 2pm and 4pm - by arrangement. Please ring Hazel Price on 01271 831259 or Margaret Perryman on 01271 831534 if you would like to visit the church.
Our service in church on 1st November was led by Revd Shaun O'Rourke, who opened with a prayer for the departed in recognition that this was All Saints' Day. In his sermon, he reminded us that, although the church building will be shut again for a few weeks, the church as represented by the members of the congregation continues to be open. Above all, Shaun told us to heed the most-often mentioned instruction in the Bible, which is not to be afraid. We should keep hold of our faith and pray for each other and for anyone whom we feel might need our prayers.
Online services
Revd Shaun continues to livestream and record services which can be accessed via Facebook. The link is given in the document "St Paul's Coronavirus Procedures" which is available below.
Christmas services
Arrangements for services at Christmas are very tentative at present and are subject to whether rules to prevent the spread of Covid-19 will allow them to proceed when the time comes.
However, we hope to hold a Carol Service outside the church on the afternoon of Sunday 20th December 2020 at around 4pm. Anyone attending will need to practice social distancing and the outdoor setting should make this possible. People should be able to assemble in the churchyard and, if numbers require, on the causeway or on the pavements in Manor Road.
We have also planned a service of Holy Communion for 10pm on Christmas Eve. The Communion will be as bread only, to reduce the risk of passing on infection and participants will need to wear a face covering while in the church.
Unfortunately, we will not be able to hold a Christingle service this year. However we would encourage anyone who would like to experience this popular family-orientated service to join in with the Church of England's online Christingle service on Sunday 13th December 2020 at 9:00am. The link to it can be accessed below.
We will monitor the government's guidelines and will advise here whether these events will be able to go ahead.
Trying to look to the future
It may sound overly optimistic to consider a post-Covid-19 era at a time when a new lockdown has been announced to control rapidly rising rates of infection.
However, we have to believe that there will come a time when our lives will not be as affected by this pandemic. The impact upon St Paul's has been severe, as it has been with other churches but we are trying to look ahead.
The Parochial Church Council believes that St Paul's has a significant role to play within the parish in the future and is currently discussing and consulting with others on how it might best meet the spiritual and pastoral needs of its parishioners once the pandemic has been controlled.
We would welcome views on this matter. Anyone who would like to do so may contact us via the "Contact Us" page.
Updated 22nd November 2020
News
Remembrance
St Paul's, together with Landkey Parish Council, conducted a short Act of Remembrance at the village war memorial on Sunday 8th November at 10:45am. Rules to prevent the spread of Covid-19 meant that we could not hold a service in the village hall as we would normally have done.
A group of six village representatives led the Act, including the laying of wreaths and the holding of two minutes' silence at 11am. Around 40 village residents observed the proceedings, as they were allowed to do, and took care to comply with social distancing requirements.
Wreaths were laid by Richard Halliday on behalf of Landkey Parish Council and by Mike Foster for St Paul's Church. Chris James led the Act while Charles Waldron called out the names of those soldiers listed on the memorial as having given their lives in time of war. Peter Elder and John Hayes respectively read the odes, "For the Fallen" and "The Kohima Epitaph".
We thank village residents for coming to observe the Act in a way which complied with rules preventing the spread of infection and also the drivers who waited patiently with their engines off during the ceremony.