Strange Stones appearing in Pembrokeshire Churchyard

However there is nothing supernatural about this, as they’ve been painted by members of the congregation, and they invite you to add to their efforts. “One of the unexpected blessings of having to close our church buildings due to the pandemic has been the opportunity to reach more people through our online services”, writes Caroline, Treasurer at St Mary’s Church Begelly. Although Begelly Church has now reopened, services continue to be posted on its Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Begelly-and-Ludchurch-Churches-458583070997788 every other week. She went on to say “We recognise that the Church is a really special building in our community and look forward to it being open more widely than it is at present. It has stood witness to many wars, plagues and pandemics, however for it to remain able to serve the community into the future it needs money.” This year the congregation at Begelly should pay £27,676 as its contribution towards mission and ministry in the Diocese, in addition to its day to day running costs. While the Church is very grateful that this year the sum has been reduced by the Diocese in recognition of the fact that fundraising is difficult, with an ageing congregation it is still unable to pay its share. “We are trying to raise funds so that we can, as things continue to open up, once again run our Messy Church and Knit and Natter group, as well as other initiatives that are planned”

If you would like to support the Church, you can donate by:

• Accessing St Mary’s online giving page https://www.justgiving.com/stmaryschurchbegelly
• Text BEGELLYCHURCH followed by the amount you'd like to give to 7008

Colourful stones painted by the congregation - please feel free to add your stone to the collection outside of the Church as a sign of your support.

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On 5th March St Mary's Church Begelly held their annual fish and chip supper and bingo which was well attended and enjoyed. Thanks to all who supported this event in any way. Due to the final stages of the Church hall refurbishment, the event was held in the community hall. The Church hall has now had a complete makeover thanks to grant funding, most recently from Welsh Government's Community Facilities Fund, which we are very grateful for. It will soon be ready to hire out, so if any group is interested in hiring the hall please contact us.

On 10th and 11th November St Mary's Church Begelly held a Festival of Remembrance in commemoration of those who served during both the First and Second World Wars. Artefacts including medals and photographs of men and women who served were kindly loaned by several people and there were displays of poppies and a magnificent horse carved by local woodcarver Mr Neil Machin. A donation was also made by Folly Farm.

On Saturday afternoon we were fortunate to have local historian David Llewellyn attend as our guest speaker. David gave a well researched and poignient talk telling the fascinating story of the Pembrokeshire soldiers who served at Gallipoli. Hearing about their experiences in their own words helped put our own commemorations into context. We were very grateful to David for delivering such an excellent and well received talk. The weekend concluded with a service of hymns and poems to mark the centenary of the end of the war. Solo's were sung by Mrs Eva Rich and Mrs Margaret Richards and the service ended with the ringing of the Church bell, alongside hundreds of others across the country 'Ringing out for Peace'.

The event raised money for the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal as wall as Church funds.

 

CRAFT EXHIBITION AND TEDDY PARACHUTE DROP AT BEGELLY

A wonderful array of craft items by talented local people was recently on display at a very successful craft exhibition held at St Mary's Church Begelly. The items ranged from an exquisite bear crafted from wood to a beautifully hadmade christening gown and anything else you could think of in the way of arts and crafts in between. A big thank you to all who very kindly loaned all the lovely items for display. The weekend finished with our annual teddy tower parachute jump. Although the weather wasn't the best quite a a lot of bears braved the wind and rain, thank goodness there were no casualties apart from one bear that got stuck in the guttering but was saved and safely returned to its owner no worse for his ordeal. A big thank you to all who supported the weekend and help to raise much needed funds for the church.