Little Gaddesden Parish Church
St Peter and St Paul’s –
Church of England
We are lucky enough to be the custodians of a beautiful, ancient church, tucked away in the Hertfordshire countryside, in an idyllic setting – the quintessential English Village Parish Church.
HRH Prince Philip – Civic Services in the Diocese
There are two invitation-only Civic services in the diocese in the presence of Lords-Lieutenant to remember in prayer the Duke of Edinburgh and the Royal Family. Both services will be streamed and available for viewing afterwards.
- 5:00 pm, Friday 16th April, St Paul’s Church, Bedford (The Lord Lieutenant of Bedfordshire’s YouTube channel)
- 4:00 pm, Sunday 18th April (St Albans Cathedral’s YouTube Channel)
Online condolence books continue to be available:
• Church of England
• Hertfordshire
Under the present law on Covid-19, physical condolence books in church are not permitted.
All the above external links open in new tabs.
Church Services Update – April 2021
With some congregational worship now resumed we will gradually introduce more services in each of the churches over the coming weeks as conditions allow.
Restrictions, with which you will be familiar, remain:
- Social distancing from those not in your household or care bubble, must be maintained.
- Face masks must be worn at all times in church.
- Please use the hand cleanser at the door.
- We will not be able to join in with the singing of the hymns.
- Holy Communion will be distributed in a safe manner in one kind only.
- After the service you must disperse and not stay in church to have a catch up. (I’m sorry!)
During April, morning services in all three churches will continue and, from the beginning of May, the intention is to bring back our full programme of worship, including midweek services and evening worship on Sundays. Nettleden will have one Evening worship on the 18th April at 6pm as a first trial evening service.
Podcasts have stopped for the time being but may be offered in the coming months to study a particular theme or issue.
Rest assured, all our decisions will be in compliance with current Church and Government guidelines.
I look forward to seeing you very soon.
Please keep an eye on our website for the most up to date information
The Revd. John Russell, Vicar
1 April 2021
Messy Church
New for Children: Palm Sunday Activities. Available on the Youth and Children’s page.
War Remembrance Pages Now Complete
We invite you to visit our newly competed War Remembrance pages, which record and commemorate the lives of all those named on Little Gaddesden’s Rolls of Honour and War Memorials. The locations in the churchyard of the the six war graves and the four family graves naming those who died in service overseas are included in the individual pages.
Scam Alerts!
Please beware of a couple of scams that are currently circulating locally by email.
NHS Vaccine Scam – there are some emails doing the rounds that are apparently offering you a coronavirus/COVID-19 vaccination appointment. They look convincingly as if they come from the NHS. Only when you read on that you find that you’re being asked for your bank or credit card details, your passwords or personal details for ‘verification’ or some other spurious reason. Ignore the email – someone is trying to get hold of your financial or personal details for fraudulent purposes. The NHS says:
The COVID-19 vaccine is free of charge on the NHS.
The NHS will never ask for:
- your bank account or card details
- your pin or banking password
- copies of personal documents to prove your identity such as your passport, driving licence, bills or pay slips
If you think you have been a victim of fraud or identify theft, report it to Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040.
Click here to see how the NHS say you will be contacted for your coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination.
Emails Apparently from The Vicar – other scam emails in circulation look as if they come from the Vicar. Typically they will ask you to get in touch with him urgently by email, but not by phone, ultimately for the purpose of getting you to send money or gift tokens – which the Vicar would not ask you to do. And often, but not always, they will be from a gmail.com address – which the Vicar does not have. If you are in any doubt whether an email is from the Vicar, please check with him either by:
- Phoning him (despite what it may say in the email); or
- Sending him a fresh email (i.e. not by replying to the dodgy one) at an address that you know to be genuine.
Incidentally, we think that many of these emails come from the same source, and with each one that arrives we are getting more information that should help put a stop to them. So if you do receive one, please forward it to scam-report@littlegaddesdenchurch.org.uk to help us in that effort.
Read on for our usual front page content, including our mailing list sign-up form…
The church of St Peter and St Paul, Little Gaddesden, has stood here for centuries and, just as it has always done, represents a beacon of hope and light in a world which isn’t always as we would like.
The congregation and community are thriving and full of life, so whether you’re a visitor or a new resident, you will always be welcome to our services. Our style of worship combines, we hope, the formal (delivered in a relaxed and friendly way) with opportunities for teaching and reflection.
Our principal Sunday service is Sung Holy Communion at 9:00 am most weeks – although on the second Sunday of the month we have a Family Service, sometimes with communion, which offers a simplified form of worship and is aimed more especially at families and younger people. The Family Service takes the place of our recently introduced, informal ‘Café Church’ service during the coronavirus outbreak.
Children are very welcome: on Sundays other than the second of the month, a Sunday School is run during the morning service, and on the second Sunday there is a separate teaching activity for younger children during part of the service.
At least three times a month there is Sung Evensong (Book of Common Prayer) at 6:00pm, and occasionally there are alternative evening services. Please see the Services page for details.
The church is open daily for private prayer and to light candles, should you so wish, and on most Thursday mornings there is quiet service of Holy Communion at 10:00 am.
On most Tuesdays from 10.30 till noon, coffee and delicious cake are offered together with lively conversation.
The Churchyard is very important to our community. It is a place of respite for walkers and visitors to the church, who discover it to be very peaceful and tranquil. Not only is it a beautiful setting for just sitting and admiring the view, but it also provides the perfect place for people to come to remember their loved ones who are buried here, or whose ashes are interred here. For details about funerals, please first look here.
We welcome all those who would like to receive the sacrament of Holy Baptism, (Christening), and many couples are married here or have their marriage blessed. If you would like to know more about Holy Baptism (discussed briefly here), please contact the Vicar. For more details on weddings, in the first instance please go to the Weddings page.
Ministry at Little Gaddesden is shared with the adjoining parishes of Great Gaddesden and Nettleden.
The Revd. John Russell
Vicar
Little Gaddesden Church
Church Road
Little Gaddesden
Hertfordshire
HP4 1NZ
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Photo credits: Barbara Sheard, Lyn Hyde, Andrew Sheard
Tuesday Morning Coffee and Cake is back!
