On Sunday, we are delighted to be welcoming Bishop Ian Brackley and his wife Penny to Shalfleet for a special service in the church. For reasons that I don’t suppose anyone can remember, a small strip of our churchyard, running behind the Village Hall, was not consecrated when the ‘new’ burial ground was consecrated, and Bishop Ian is very kindly coming to rectify the situation. There will be a short ceremony after church on Sunday, and following that everyone is warmly welcome to join us for a light lunch in the Hall, for which we are extremely grateful to Michael and Maureen Beavis. Do spread the word, and if you haven’t seen a churchyard become a churchyard, this is not to be missed!

Meanwhile, many thanks to everyone who helped to make our Mothering Sunday service such a success last Sunday. Rev Linda was certainly kept on her toes, with a large baptism party and a choir from the village school ensuring the church was full to the rafters, and JoJo somehow managed to cater for 102 bunches of daffodils, all handed out during the service.

Once again our thanks are due to Avril Grant for donating the daffodils, and to Jojo and team for bunching them up so beautifully.

On the windows front, you will be glad to hear that we are almost ready with the first window to be repaired, and the photos below show how intricate this work is. The amazing team from Southern Lights and Wight Stonemasonry are doing us proud, and it is only sad that dear Christopher Butterworth could not be with us when the windows are back.

This Friday (5th April) we welcome Shalfleet School to the church for their Easter service at 2pm, and don’t forget Forest Church on Saturday 6th and the Spider Ride on Saturday 13th. Busy times!