Letter from Jackie Brett-Doyle:
Dear Everyone,
I do hope you are well. I am delighted to say that we will be opening our churches from Easter weekend. Please find here (or see below) a booking form for the period April – May for the Derwent Ings Benefice churches for you to complete.
Due to Covid 19 regulations our churches can be open for public worship provided each church adheres to the 2 metre rule - which is why booking is essential.
The contact details that you provide will be used for track and trace purposes.
To fill in the form simply tick which church/service you would like to attend and how many are attending in your household. Then either email it to me at revjackiedb@gmail.com or post it to The Rectory, 3 Church Lane, Wheldrake, YO196AW by Saturday 20th of March. Seats will be allocated on a ‘first come first
served’ basis so please get your form back to me as soon as possible.
We do know that it is difficult to know exactly what you will be doing in 2 months’ time, so please do not think that if you ‘tick’ a service you have to attend this is not ‘set in stone’ it is to give us an indication of numbers in order that we stay Covid 19 secure and to keep everyone as safe as possible. However, if you do want to attend you do need to book to enable us to adhere to the seat allocation in each church. Remember you are welcome to attend any of the churches in the benefice.
Once you have returned your booking form please then assume your place is booked. I will only contact you if a church reaches the number of seats allowed.
At services the usual rules of wearing masks and using hand gel still apply. Sadly, congregational singing is still not allowed but we can have music.
The pattern of services on the booking form is an interim measure to allow us to open safely in a Covid 19 secure manner. Although we can open not everyone will feel ready or are able to return to church just yet, which is why the 11am service from Wheldrake will be ‘livestreamed’ so that everyone can join in the service and we can remain connected through our worship together both online and in church.
If necessary, I will send out another booking form for June but at the moment I am waiting to see what the government advice and Church of England guidance will be in the next couple of months. We are of course hopeful that by July/August we will beginning to return to opening our churches fully – which is certainly something to
pray for.
I look forward to welcoming you back into church whenever that may be, in the meantime take care and stay safe.
With Blessings
Rev Jackie