Saint Paul's Church, Landkey

To Autumn

With autumn approaching I thought that I would quote John Keats' seasonal poem. It is especially relevant this  autumn as 2019 (on 19th September) marks 200 years since he wrote his poem after being inspired by a Sunday afternoon walk which he took from his lodgings in Winchester past the cathedral to nearby water meadows on the outskirts of the city.

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness!
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run;
To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep,
Drowsed with the fumes of poppies, while thy hook
Spares the next swath and all its twinèd flowers;
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
Steady thy laden head across a brook;
Or by a cider-press, with patient look;
Thou watchest the last oozings, hour by hours.

Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,
While barrèd clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
The redbreast whistles from a garden-croft,
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

Changes to Services

Since 1st September 2019, we have made some changes to our services. The main change is to the start time which is now at the slightly later time of 10:45am rather than the previous start time of 10:30am.

We will also be holding a service of Morning Prayer on the third Sunday in the month rather than a service of Holy Communion by Extension.

These changes are being made, in part, to allow Revd Shaun to be able to recover from his recent period of poor health. They aim to enable the members of the clergy who have responsibility for leading services in our Four Ways Mission Community, to be present as often as is possible in these churches, all of which are several miles from each other.

These changes will apply for a period of 4 months during which we will listen to the views of congregation members in order to assess whether the 10:45am start time makes any difference to the ease with which they can attend services.

There will be no change to the midweek Holy Communion service which will continue to start at 9:30am.

Whilst we have had to make changes to our Sunday services, churchgoers can be reassured that there is no change to the warm welcome on offer at St Paul's!

Harvest Service

On Sunday 22nd September, we will be holding our Harvest Service and we hope that it will be led by the Achdeacon of Barnstaple, the Ven. Dr Mark Butchers. There will be a Bring-and-Share lunch afterwards. 

All will be welcome to come along to join us as we give thanks for the this year's harvest.

Looking further ahead, our Remembrance service will be held on Sunday 10th November at 10am in the village hall.