We have a special service - our first in church - which will be Holy Communion on Sunday 16th August (9.45am as usual). This will be led by Rev'd Graham Duncan.

Please come in person if you feel able - we will have careful social distancing arrangements in place and strongly encourage everyone to wear face masks. We will also have clear plastic face visors available for people, as we are discovering they are less restrictive and there are real benefits of being able to see everyone's full faces. These will be £2 each and are 'visors for life' so can be disinfected and reused.

There is a maximum of 30 people (or 20 households) permitted to come and the stewards will help ensure that people sit 2 metres apart. This means you may be asked to sit in a particular seat and we ask that you follow the requests from the stewards.

The service will also include live organ music and a wonderful organ voluntary to close. For those who are not able to join us in person, we will also stream it live on Facebook so you will still be able to join in online.

St. Anne's Church is delighted to launch a major new initiative, to bring quality flour (all types - plain, self raising, strong, granary, wholemeal, rye, gluten free and yeast) to Baslow and the surrounding areas.

Working with St. Mary's Church, Sheffield, our flour sales will also help supply essential food parcels to families across Sheffield during the Covid-19 crisis.

So if you use flour, please support us! Simply click here to order your flour and yeast 

All prices are 'at cost' and we hope you may feel able to add a donation to your order. Your donation will both help fund food parcels for those in need and support the work of St. Anne's Church here in Baslow.

Then, collect your flour from our church rooms on Saturdays from 10.00am to 11.30am - where our socially distancing volunteers will hand you your order in the car park.

From the Rector

Dear friends

I come back from two weeks away refreshed, raring and ready to go! The only problem is that I’m not sure where. We, like most churches and most organisations, are trying to make sense of the shifting sand of living in a time of a pandemic. Things are very uncertain but in a sense we need constantly to realise that the only certainty that we can rely on is not “death and taxes” as Benjamin Franklin once famously quipped, but the love of God.  

In that wonderful passage from Romans 8 Paul reflects on this certainty ’For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all of creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord’.

However the uncertainty does create issues. I am still wrestling with how we come back together physically and how we continue as Gods people in mission in a time of pandemic. Please do pray, think and talk so that we can best discern the way forward.  What is sure is that it won’t be the same as how we did things pre COVID.

During August we will continue with our online worship, this Sunday at 9.45am and Evensong at 6.30pm on our website. There is also evening prayer at 7 pm on Wednesday. 
 

On Sunday 16th August there will be our first communion service in church for several months. We are working out how to do this as safely as we can. Yes we will be masked, no we can’t sing but yes we can come round the Lord’s table and remember again his glorious saving grace. We need to remind ourselves of this now more than ever.

The pop up market on Saturday goes from strength to strength with it becoming the highlight of the week for many folks. This week we even have live music.

God bless

Mike

The Church is Open....

Good news! After having to shut the premises completely in lockdown the Church is now open every day for private prayer and reflection. There are a few things to note that make it look a bit different; there is, for instance, hand sanitizer at the door which we ask visitors to use. There is also a one-way system in operation, in case visitors arrive at the same time.

We are also gathering for communal prayer in the Church every Wednesday at 7pm and everyone is welcome to come, subject of course to the rules in place on numbers and social distancing.

Parish Safeguarding 

The Church of England is called to share the good news of God’s salvation through Jesus Christ. The life of our communities and institutions is integral to how we address this task. The good news speaks of welcome for all, with a particular regard for those who are most vulnerable, into a community where the value and dignity of every human being is affirmed and those in positions of responsibility and authority are truly trustworthy. Being faithful to our call to share the gospel therefore compels us to take with the utmost seriousness the challenge of preventing abuse from happening and responding well where it has.’  HANDBOOK

PCR2

Protocols and practice guidance for the Church of England’s Past Cases Review 2, (PCR2) have been published and are on the National Church of England Website. 

Individual survivors who wish to make representations to the PCR2 process in the Derby Diocese or who need to come forward with information or make any disclosures regarding church related abuse are encouraged to make direct contact with the Safeguarding Team 01332 388678. 

However, recognising that this may not feel safe for those with experience of abuse from within the church, a dedicated national helpline - 0800 80 20 20 - operated independently from the church, by the NSPCC, was set up in September 2019 and remains available.

Survivors were not invited to contribute to the 2007-2009 PCR and the Church has wanted to ensure a different, trauma informed approach is taken by PCR2. Listening to survivor voices has helped to shape how this review will be conducted. 

We are now at the beginning of the PCR2 process, this is an independent review to look at all the safeguarding files, historic and current for both adults and children, including all Church officers. The review aims to ensure that wherever concerns have been raised that the cases have been handled appropriately.

The National Church has given a commitment to undertake a new Past Cases Review (PCR2) which will not only look at all types of harm, both to children and or adults, but will probe much deeper in records or concerns held in parishes, some of which may not have been reported to the DSA. Your vicar (or church warden if in Interregnum) will now have received a letter from +Libby outlining what is required to enable this significant piece of work to be completed. We need to submit the final report to the National Safeguarding team by the end of December 2020. We will be in touch directly with PSOs’ to give the detail of the next step, but it may be helpful if you identify where any parish records are held so that there is less work to do when we ask you for the details. The timescale for responding to PCR2 in the Diocese of Derby is by 31st March 2020.

Safeguarding Concerns

If you have any concerns over any safeguarding matter, please contact the Parish Safeguarding Officer, Richard Nicholson on 01246 583023 or Member of the Clergy, Revd Mike Gilbert on 07947092951 or the Diocesan Safeguarding Team on 01332 388678.