It’s been wonderful to have our churches open again and to be able to come together for Holy Mass, Confession, and devotions, and a delight to catch up again more regularly with parishioners. What has facilitated this is the core group of people who have volunteered to manage re-opening which entails arranging and participating in opening and closing the churches, stewarding people at Mass, and sanitising the churches as necessary. Unfortunately, because of either new commitments or ill-health our group of volunteer assistants has shrunk somewhat, and so I’m appealing to you, as a parishioner, to think about assisting your fellow parishioners and me in continuing to keep things going in our churches. If you would kindly consider assisting we would all be very grateful and it would help to ease the burden on those people who seem to be helping all the time. To become a steward/cleaner requires a simple induction because of the nature of current circumstances (nothing too demanding at all) and registration as a volunteer for these purposes with the parish – all very simple and straightforward and not at all intrusive. Please consider joining our small team to make it a little bigger, to lighten the load, and to help your fellow parishioners. If you think you can help please contact me (Fr. Martin) on the parish landline: 01577 863329, or speak to one of the stewards at Mass, or speak to Bob Corrieri or Tina Hill who are responsible in St. James’ and St. Matthew’s respectively. God bless you, and thank you in advance for your support.