We are pleased to announce that we will be returning to regular public worship from Sunday 2nd August. We have asked for followers of our website and facebook pages to advise us of their preference for the form of worship and there is no clear preference. We have decided that during August we will alternate between Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer and continue to provide the service of Holy Communion on-line as we have done throughout the pandemic. The first and third Sunday in each month will be Morning Prayer whilst the second and fourth will be Evening Prayer. Where there is a fifth Sunday it will be Morning Prayer. The first Sunday of the next month will resume the cycle with Morning Prayer. This will be kept under review and may change in subsequent months if the majority of people request it. The accompanying calendar shows the dates and times of the services for August. We look forward to seeing you at one of our services in the near future.

It should be noted that the Church of England, acting on Government advice, strongly advise that everyone wears a face covering in church and that no singing is allowed at present. Hand sanitisers are provided on entry into the church and you are required to clean your hands with them on entering and leaving the church. If you need to adjust your face covering during the service, we request that you carry hand sanitiser to clean your hands after doing so. We will be recording those who attend the service for the purpose of the NHS ‘Track and Trace’ service and request that you provide us with a contact telephone number. Can we ask you to please maintain social distance, preferably of two meters when walking up to church and especially when going through the church entrance, unless you live at the same address. Service sheets will be printed off for you to collect on the way in – you are requested to take them home with you and not leave them in the building. We shall be cleaning the church thoroughly after each service. This will allow us to open the church each Wednesday for private prayer/reflection. A collection plate or box will be provided at the font for any offertories as we are unable to distribute a collection plate at this time due to the regulations. We are actively encouraging people to donate their offertory by electronic means or by cheque to Roy, so that we do not have to handle cash if possible.

 On the 2nd July, the government announced that churches could re-open for services but with a number of restrictions in place. We are discussing how we might open St Chad’s and we are waiting for the Church of England and Lichfield Diocese to clarify what is allowed. We are hoping that we can open St Chad’s in the last week of July or first week of August. With the current restrictions in place, this is what we are proposing:

We are not allowed singing whatsoever, so whatever form of service we hold it will have to be spoken only. The common cup is prohibited so communion would have to be in one kind only. We understand that some people are, quite naturally,  anxious to even participate in that.  One thing that needs to be taken into consideration is that we have a congregation that are in the vulnerable bracket and therefore deep cleaning the church, following a public opening, puts people at an unnecessary risk. That is the reason we have kept the church closed for 72 hours between open days. It follows that if we hold a regular Sunday service either someone will have to deep clean the church to allow our current opening schedule or the church would have to be open on every Sunday and Thursday only. This may not be convenient for everybody.

We are considering holding Morning Prayer (spoken) on Sunday morning. There would be no singing and sadly, no refreshments. However, if the weather is fair, people could meet (socially distanced of course) outside and chat. 

To help us with our deliberations, it would be helpful to know who would attend Morning Prayer and who would prefer a Communion service, if we held one, and whether you would be prepared to receive communion in one kind only. Whatever service we decide to hold, we will need to decide on an appropriate time and again, we would welcome feedback regarding that. 

Whatever decision is made, we intend, for the foreseeable future, to continue with the online virtual service for those who are unable or unwilling to attend in person.