Our Church Family Events
Families and children are especially welcome at St. Mary's. We have close links with Great and Little Shelford CofE (A) Primary School, which is next door to the church. Every Sunday for the first part of the 10.00 service the children have their own activities in the Community Room, stories, games and crafts related to the Bible readings of the day and always enjoy telling us all what they have been doing. Once every month the 10.00 service is given specifically for the children, See the calendar for dates
Hospice Funding Crisis a letter from Bishop Dagmar
If you have been receiving my missives for a while, you will recall I have written about the Assisted Dying Bill. An important call in this debate was and remains the improvement of the provision and funding of hospice care. It is terrible news that many hospices are now experiencing a funding crisis. Hospices in our region include Arthur Rank, Milton, Sue Ryder Thorpe Hall and Garden Hall. It appears Arthur Rank and Garden Hall are especially significantly affected, with Garden Hall seeing a £750,000 funding gap and Arthur Rank forecasting having to close 9 of their 21 Inpatient Unit beds if cuts go ahead. This is clearly deeply concerning and also very worrying for those who already know that they or their loved one will likely require and wish for a place in a hospice for the last phase of their lives in order to receive the best and most appropriate care supporting them and those who love them.
Arthur Rank Hospice has produced an easy guide on how to write to your MP which of course does not have to be only about Arthur Rank: Write to your MP - Arthur Rank Hospice Charity
There is also a petition by one of our MPs, Pippa Heylings, who has led a campaign on behalf of local LibDems to support Arthur Rank Hospice. You can find it here: Save palliative care beds at Arthur Rank Hospices - Pippa Heylings MP
See the BBC news story featuring Rick and Sue Nelms from our Diocese (Lordsbridge Team where Sue is an LLM).
It goes without saying that all hospices also welcome donations!