Alveston is a semi-rural community in which St Helen’s Church has an important role to play. There are many community events organised by the church that provide opportunities for connecting with the community we serve.
These include the church fetes, Christmas lunches and Easter teas for the elderly, Remembrance Day and “Not Forgotten” services, children’s workshops, folk concerts, quiz nights, treasure hunts, pudding nights and charity coffee mornings.
The PCC comprises 18 members, and over 60 volunteers carry out many duties and tasks for our church. St Helen’s is blessed by a group of accomplished musicians who support our services with a mix of musical styles. The worship group has also staged community performances of several of Roger Jones’ musicals. The monthly family service includes age-related activities and children are involved in the service as valued members of the team.
There are strong links with local schools which we would love to develop and build upon. Volunteers have recently joined with members of the local Methodist Church to take “Open the Book” sessions into school. This has been a very successful venture which has been praised by parents and is extremely well supported by the headteacher and staff. We also lead termly ‘Prayer Space’ sessions at special times such as Christmas and Easter.
Every Tuesday afternoon the church is open and people are invited to drop in for a chat, to light a candle, say a prayer or just meditate in our peaceful surroundings. Informal prayer meetings are held fortnightly on Wednesday afternoons. These are open to all but at present attended by only a few. We are currently considering ways to develop and deepen our life of prayer together.