St Mary's News THURSDAY NATTER – 27th AUGUST

When is this pandemic going to end? On the one hand the Prime Minister is saying the country should be approaching normalisation by Christmas and yet, on the other hand, voices in the Church of England fear it may be the end of 2021. The truth is that Covid 19 will be with the world for many years to come – but that doesn’t mean we have to lock ourselves in forever, though if you are on the clinically vulnerable list it may be advisable.

The answer is, of course, a vaccine. The best bet at present is the one being trialled by Oxford University and Astra Zeneca. Even so it is unlikely to be released until the end of the year and then how long before it reaches you and me? Another 3 months, 6 months? So it could be June next year before most of us are vaccinated. Are you prepared to hibernate till then? A medical practitioner has estimated the risk of catching Covid 19, assuming we practice social distancing, is 40,000 to 1. In fact FAR MORE people are dying of flu right now – but nobody ever bothers to worry about that.

Users of the graveyard will have seen the new tap cover against the East wall. This is the work of Paul Watkins in Oldbury and has been funded by Mrs Muriel Shurmer. Thank you Muriel and here is your picture:

Important Services: Our Associate Vicar, Steve Oram, is discussing with various members of the PCC, how best to hold and manage some of the upcoming big services. Remembrance Sunday for example. There is no possibility of holding this service inside the church because the numbers who normally attend would make social distancing impossible. The Christmas services are also under discussion. Steve is looking for blue sky thinking so if anyone has ideas, no matter how whacky, please talk to him.

Plant, Produce & Preserve Sale.  This event is taking place on Sunday 30th August in the churchyard starting at 11am. Expect to find a wide variety of everything God’s gardens throw at us at this time of year. One housewife, in particular, has been bustling away in the kitchen making chutney.

Speedwatch: the Parish Council is re-launching Speedwatch at the beginning of September. Already 17 local residents have expressed interest in joining and a meeting is being held tonight to ascertain which sites will be manned and how frequently. There will be a determined effort to stamp out dangerous speeding in the parish. Monitors will be attending various locations on 3 consecutive days. Any driver recorded seriously exceeding the  speed limit on 3 occasions will automatically have a policeman on their doorstep.