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You are here » Home» Churchwork» Hereford Deaneries» Ledbury Deanery» News

News

Good news from the Synod meeting of 24 November 2011 - There will be a Service conducted by the Bishops of Hereford, Gloucester and Tewkesbury in St Michaels, Ledbury on 1 December to mark the merger of WEMTC with Ripon College, Cuddleston. Stoke Edith will hold its Carol Service on 11 December at 3.30 pm, followed by mulled wine and seasonal refreshments.

Good News from the meeting of 29 September 2011: Mr F Seabright reported on the good progress with training bell-ringers. New arrangements had been introduced and these had led to greater success and enthusiasm. Three were likely to go to Cradley, 1 to Ledbury and 1 to Bosbury.
Putley had introduced a parish communion in the Village Hall after badminton thus encouraging younger members. Yarkhill was to have a Flower Festival and the Bishop of Hereford was to attend the musical event In Praise of Harvest. Bosbury was to have Supper and Sillier Songs.
At Hereford Cathedral, there were to be Fireworks, Ordinations, and a Celebration of the completion of the restoration work.

5 new bellringers and a new training system

The Ledbury District of the Hereford Diocesan Guild of Bellringers which comprises Bosbury, Coddington, Colwall, Cradley, Eastnor, Ledbury, Mathon and Stretton Grandison towers has 5 new bellringers (as at September 2011).

The district has combined its resources and devised a new approach to training new ringers. A group of new learners are all trained at the same time initially over an intensive period of 5 evenings, using a pool of teachers from the 8 towers. Tied bells are used so that neighbours are not disturbed but the bells are connected to computers to generate the real sound of bells for the learners. We have devised a new process of training which is more systematic and productive.

The new recruits are all part of a group learning together, with the resultant support and comradeship, using a step by step process.

After 4 months of regular practising and visits to all the towers in our district, they are ready to join their local tower for Sunday ringing and practice nights.

Congratulations to them all!

Following the success of this last course we are looking to start another group using the 3 teaching centres at Bosbury, Cradley and Colwall, and we already have a waiting list. There are still some places if you are interested. Contact Frank Seabright -01531 640252 frank@seabrightsolutions.co.uk or Colin Ward 01684 891428 tythings@googlemail.com . If you're not sure what is involved give us a ring and come and have a look.
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Good News from the Standing Committee meeting of 6 July 2011: Cradley, Mathon & Storridge's Mystery Play had been a great success. Their Stepping Stones service had also proved a popular initiative. Ledbury's Pentecost Away Day had been very successful as had the linked service.

Good News from the Synod meeting of 24 March 2011: In Bosbury a young woman had started a youth choir, and there was great enthusiasm for that. On 9 April Wellington Heath was staging a Murder and Mystery event. Cradley, Mathon & Storridge were organizing a three village festival on 24-26th June and there would be a Mystery Play in Cradley Church. Cradley were also starting a monthly lay-led service for young people from Easter Day. Stretton Grandison were having an exhibition of wedding and baptism costume on 21-22 May, and there would be a birthday celebration in Ayleton Barn on 29 April for those born on that day. Canon Frome would be holding a ceilidh in mid June.

Good news from the standing committee meeting of 2 March 2011: The Rural Dean reported on the impressive and inspirational talk given by one of the trapped Chilean miners. At Stoke Edith the physical state of the Church had been greatly improved and the small but enthusiastic congregation had transformed the impact of the building. In Wellington Heath the Friends of the Church were to put on an Easter exhibition. Colwall had had an urgent need for a new printer and generous donations amounting to £5000 had been forthcoming, likewise a generous offer to replace their computer. At Easter, Cradley was to launch a monthly service for young people.

Report by Tony Copp from the Broadband meeting in the Great Hall, Bishop's Palace, of Fri 21 January 2011. The presentation was supported by allpay. Their main business at Hereford is as a National Payment Specialist, and they also provide a wireless broadband network intended for subscribers in Herefordshire (and elsewhere) who are too far from BT exchanges to get a decent service. Hereford Diocese is supporting allpay because the use of Church towers to relay the signal represents a potential source of income for each PCC. Or as Bishop Anthony said, it supports communities and communication. The business is judged viable by allpay because there are many hamlets that are distant from telephone exchanges and town cable networks. allpay also have a policy for supporting local charities.

The pilot scheme for Kingstone, up and running in 2009, includes a model Broadband Licence agreement for PCCs, and an understanding of the fixtures and fittings (i.e. the Faculty) required. The map shows existing coverage in blue to the south-west of Hereford, with the red sites coming on-line soon. Further sites to the north-west including the Canon's Frome area, are expected later in 2011. Church-top equipment is remotely managed and (painted) unobtrusive; home subscriber equipment is a brick sized antenna (30x9x9cm) for chimney mounting with your Freeview TV aerial, and an Ethernet cable (up to 35Mpbs max, normally up to 4Mbps) for your computer or home network.

People interested in the service should register their interest with allpay broadband. Frequently Asked Questions, FAQs, include the following answers:
1) allpay are not an internet service provider (ISP), they will connect you to the internet but do not provide email etc. services. Use hotmail, gmail, or any of the other browser web based messaging solutions!
2) The service supports VoIP/Skype telephone calls.
3) You can still have your own private WiFi network, the radio frequencies are quite different.
4) IP security is provided by proprietary over the air Motorola scrambling and protocols.
5) allpay broadband will be of interest to people who only get a low speed service from existing land lines, for instance because they are a long way from their exchanges.
6) allpay broadband will be economic for people not using the BT land line for voice telephone calls, such as those using VoIP/Skype or mobiles exclusively. They can cease the BT line rental!