Where’s Clare?
From the Elders: It is likely to take a little time but we are gradually getting used to ‘sharing’ our minister with three other churches as part of the Valleys Pastorate and also with her wider responsibilities as URC Regional Minister for the Valleys and Vale region (incorporating three further churches – Llanfair, Penrhys, Edwardsville URC, Treharris and Bethesda’r Fro URC, Saint Athan).
We enjoyed having her with us for a longer time than is usual this summer as it was interrupted by holidays, a house move, a ministers’ summer school and a training weekend for new ministers!
We’ll have to wait a few weeks before Clare leads worship with us again, but we thought it would be good to share with you where she is in the interim. During October, November and Advent, Clare’s Sundays will be as follows:
04/10/2026 – Bethany URC, Ystrad Mynach
11/10/2026 – Bethany URC
18/10/2026 – Bethany URC
25/10/2026 – Van Rd URC, Caerphilly
01/11/2026 – Holiday
08/11/2026 – Pew Sunday[1]
15/11/2026 – St David’s Uniting, Trefforest
22/11/2026 – Hope and Market Square, Merthyr
29/11/2026 – Van Rd
06/12/2026 – Bethany URC
13/12/2026 – Hope and Market Square
20/12/2026 – Bethany URC
24/12/2026 – St David’s Uniting (Christmas Eve Service)
27/12/2026 – St David’s Uniting (Pastorate Service)
Please do remember her and the other churches in your prayers. But also remember that even when she is focused elsewhere, it doesn’t mean we can’t contact her. She is always our minister wherever she is and likes any opportunity to catch up and hear how things are.
[1] The Pastorate group decided earlier this year that Clare should have four Sundays a year participating in worship (as opposed to leading it) either in the Pastorate or elsewhere, these are called ‘pew’ Sundays
October Eco Tips
Greening your home this Autumn. Tackle climate change and reduce your heating bills by finding and reducing the draughts in your home. Find the gaps that let cold air in and warm air out (keyholes, letterboxes and gaps around windows, doors, loft hatches and floorboards for example). Do what you can to fix these gaps – there are lots of tutorials on how to do this online. It’s also a good time to prepare for winter by putting radiator reflector foil or baking foil behind the radiator. This will reflect heat back into your room.
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