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Resumption of Public Worship St. Giles is now open for public worship with regular services, see Services Page A booking system has been set-up to manage the numbers able to attend each service, as well as meet the Government's track & trace requirements. Please click   https.stgilesfarnborough.setmore.com/  and select the service you wish to attend. I hope you will appreciate that with limited numbers able to attend each service this will be done on a 'first come, first served basis'.  Please only contact the Parish Office as a last resort if you do not have internet access and, therefore, cannot use the on-line booking system.  Click Here for a step-by-step guide to booking on-line. See also  Covid Safe Services In the event of more people wanting to attend the Holy Communion services than we can accommodate on a particular Sunday then we will ask people to make their Communion on the following Sunday..  Please bear with us as we continue along this new learning curve.  If we are to maintain our Church as a safe place for the resumption of public worship, communication will be crucial.  So do expect regular notices and updates from the Parish Office and remember you must book in for services as detailed above. Comments The following comments are to be read in conjunction with the guidelines: * Holy Communion will be in one kind, bread only. * The wafers will be consecrated in a sealed container so no words are spoken over exposed elements. * People will be asked to remain in their pews and come out into the aisle after previous communicants have returned to their seats. * Holy Communion can be brought to people in the pew. * There will be is no laying on of hands for healing. *  Unfortunately we will not be able to have the use of our wonderful servers and chalice assistants. * There is no permission for the singing of hymns.  Organ and piano music will be available · * People are welcome to bring their own prayer books if they have one. * The peace is not allowed to be shared. * Please place your offering in bowl on entering the Church. Thank you. *  You are invited to light a candle, please bring your own matches or lighter.  Single matched will also be available. * People are welcome to attend the service without receiving Communion if they would prefer. * At the Open Air service Communion will be administrated in a line so that social distancing can be maintained.  * Sadly, we will not be able to have our wonderful choir or our bells rung and we look forward very much to the return of these important aspects of our Church’s life. * Sidespeople/Verger/Churchwardens will be on hand to guide and assist people in safe conduct. * Refreshments will not be served.   Can I emphasise that this is something of an experimental opening to help us understand the practicalities and challenges involved in the re-opening of St .Giles. If this all goes well then I, along with our Churchwardens and PCC, anticipate the resumption of a more regular service pattern in September.   Can I also emphasise that the safety of all of us is of paramount importance.   I look forward very much to seeing you again.   Matthew

Public Worship: Public worship can resume once the lockdown ends on Wednesday 2nd December.  Please remember that a booking system has been set-up to manage the numbers able to attend each of the Sunday and Thursday morning services, as well as meet the Governme See panel to the left.   Advent Advent is a much overlooked time in the Church's year as it is overshadowed by preparations for Christmas.  I hope each week to offer some prayer resources which I hope will help you to observe Advent as a useful time of spiritual preparation for the birth of Christ.  I know that some people have an Advent Calendar, or Advent candle, that helps to mark the days of Advent as an anticipation of Christ's birth.  Alongside this why not commit yourself  to some extra prayer time of Bible study.  There are some excellent Advent resources on the website www.ignatianspirituality.com including a video commentary on Advent inspired sacred art. Advent Carol Service I am pleased to say that we were able to record this year’s Advent Carol service, and it is available now via Youtube, just follow the YouTube link on the front page. .    I am, once again, very grateful to all those who have helped with this service including its recording and composition Toy Service This year we will not be able to hold our annual Toy Service which is a time when people donate toys and gifts to struggling families across the Borough via the work of Welcare.  This year you are welcome to make a one-off donation to Welcare via their website, https://welcare.org/centres/bromley/ or Click Here to go the PRUH Paediatric Department donations page at Amazon. Parish Magazine Update At the time of writing we have just entered another period of lockdown. Church services and activities are subject to the Government’s guidance for places of public worship therefore changes can occur at a moment’s notice. The magazine has to be completed in time for the print and post facility therefore we would like to recommend that our readers keep up to date with all the latest news via the weekly bulletins and the website. In the meantime we will endeavour to produce a magazine with interesting articles and news of the parish and all contributions are welcome. It is our intention to produce a pre Covid printed version of the magazine in January 2021. If you would like to receive the January 2021 magazine either by email pdf or in print please ensure your subscription is paid before Friday 11 th December. Please see page 10 for the details of how to pay. Please send all articles, notices and photographs for inclusion in the January magazine by Sunday 6th December to farnboroughparishmag@gmail.com   As we approach the end of what has been an incredibly difficult year for us all, we would like to thank all our contributors for their hard work sending in such a variety of material and for our loyal readers. In the meantime we wish you a healthy and happy Christmas. Eddie and Helen Roberts For further details, and a link to the new subscription form please Click Here Parish AGM Thank you to everyone at St. Nicholas who set up so carefully for our AGM, it ended up as one of the shortest AGM's ever (35 minutes to be precise!).  I was delighted that we have a full complement of Churchwardens and Deputy Wardens to serve our Church for another year.  Thank you to the outgoing Warden Sue Simpson and welcome, (once again!) to Claire Couldridge the duly elected Parish Warden for St. Nicholas.  Philip Lovelock was also elected to serve another year as parish Warden for St Giles. Jo Cook and Helen Roberts were elected at the AGM to serve on the St. Giles PCC.

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Charity in Focus:

Film Evenings

See Charity in Focus for details

Events Calendar:.

Important Note:

All Social Events are cancelled until further notice.

Carol Fryer
01689 855468 / 07951 725069
carolafryer@icloud.com

Toilet Consultation

Over the past 6 months the St.Giles Churchyard and Fabric Committee have investigated extensively and exhaustively the viability of various solutions that the PCC have identified for the locating of toilets at St.Giles, the provision of meeting facilities and the future of the Centre.

They have now produced a report that can be found in the AGM papers for 2020, available on the Downloads Page.   A key finding in terms of a toilet being located at the Church is that there is no mains sewage south of the centre in Church Road and very low water pressure available at St.Giles. Any provision of toilets in or near St.Giles would have to involve an emptiable septic tank’ in the lower car park near the road and Garden of Remembrance.

Added to this the Covid pandemic has underlined the importance for spacious meeting rooms and the need for parish churches to develop ways of maximising their income streams to face what will undoubtedly be a more unpredictable and difficult future.

Having carefully read and considered the Churchyard and Fabric Teams report, the PCC, at its meeting on 21st September 2020, voted unanimously to focus on the re-development or rebuilding of the St.Giles Centre as the best way forward. The Centre would then be the location for the Church’s toilets, which would be accessible from the outside, even if the hall was in use.

As the Rector I am now of the firm conviction that this is the right way forward and I will focus my energies in advancing this. I appreciate that this will come as a great disappointment to many of you, but I believe that after almost a decade of debating, exploration and discussion the time has come for us to make a clear decision and take action.

No one could ever accuse successive PCCs of not having thoroughly looked at every option or discounting the various shades of opinion andinitiative.

I am grateful to the Friends and many others who have helped me and a number of PCCs to think this matter through.

Matthew Hughes, October 2020