- South Street
- Montacute
- Somerset
- TA15 6XD
01935 822885
Montacute Baptist News
April 2024
It is with sadness we heard of the death of John Hargreaves, husband of our previous minister Dinah. Dinah is now in a care home in Crewkerne.
Following a family cremation, a commemoration service will be held in the Chapel at 4pm on Tuesday 30th April, any friends who remember John are invited to attend.
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This month we celebrated the Bicentenary of our Church in the current building, although there is recorded history of meetings of Baptist folk in the village since the 1650's.
Our celebrations surrounded the theme of "200" with:
200 daffodils planted in the front garden
200 minute coffee morning on Friday 12th April
200 minute afternoon cream tea on Saturday 13th April
200 minute celebration service and lunch, with the President Elect of the Baptist Union Rev Dr Steven Finamore on Sunday 14th April
There is a display showing the past, present and future of the Church throughout the weekend
Thanks to Chris and Roger for getting our front garden ready for our celebration events.
March 2024
Ruth Shoemark - Happily in her care home with the knitted blanket made from the Christmas tree squares.
February 2024
Our biggest news this month is the retirement of our lovely previous Church Secretary Ruth Shoemark after some 50 years dedicated service to the Church and the village.
As a Church we will give a retirement gift to Ruth and would welcome monetary gifts from friends who wish to join in. Please contact our treasurer.
At our last Church Meeting Chris Redman was appointed as the new secretary, her contact details are on the Welcome Page.
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The season of Lent is with us. We started on the 18th by asking the congregation to make a mark in the trays of black sand to symbolise their walk through Lent with Christ:
Heather also introduced the following "Lent Fasting" thoughts for all to consider:
January 2024
On 20th January 3 of our Deacons joined 50 more leaders from 12 of the Churches in the Wessex Cluster for a "Crunch + Lunch" meeting at Wellington. This provided a time to chat and realise our common purpose - Bible input was provided by Revd. Dr. Peter Morden from Bristol Baptist College.
Ministers from the cluster meet monthly to support and encourage each other.
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We had a guest speaker at this month's Deacon's meeting
December 2023
Many events planned for the month - please see the 'Christmas at MBC' page. This gives details of our Christmas Tree Festival and the Village Voices Christmas Concert.
Friends making decorations for Christmas
Stella with her hand knitted figures on her Christmas Tree for the Festival
An inviting knitted Christmas Tree in readiness for the Festival
November 2023
On 28th Heather and Rachael Findlay organised a Safe Families Advent Prayer Trail in the Church for our Fellowship Group. A time to reflect before this busy time.
On the 19th we were fortunate to have one of our Regional Ministers, Revd Carl Smethurst, lead our worship and share some of the work being done by Home Mission in the South West.
Carl at Montacute
We held a community lunch on the 18th with an excellent 21 attending. Thanks to Patti for preparing the meal. After lunch Nic Laycock presented very interesting pictures and information on the historic sites on Orkney.
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We were delighted to send off 22 Shoe Boxes this year containing gifts as part of the Samaritans Purse appeal. Well done everyone.
October 2023
At our recent Community Lunch Rachael Findlay gave a beautiful introduction to the charity "Safe Families" which is doing such good work in our area.
September
26th
Planting bulbs in readiness for next year's 200 celebration 
24th
Harvest celebration again this year collected food for the Lord's Larder which in August helped 25 families a day in and around Yeovil.
Despite our organ being repaired our music soared with help from Joyce and Roy on accordions, Margaret on the clavinova and the Village Voices added their sweet sound.
5th
A minibus full of our fellowship set off to Loughwood Meeting House on Tuesday. This hidden place is thought to be one of the oldest Baptist Churches in the country.
The Meeting House is near Axminster and is now in the care of the National Trust.
Sitting in the box pews we learnt of the history of this building and the persecution suffered by early non-conformists, then listened to Joyce playing a hymn on the harmonium.
We continued on our journey to West Bay in time for a lunch and an ice cream in the lovely sunny weather.
Other news: Our organ protection and refurbishment has started, the half-landing storage room has been redecorated after the water ingress and repairs to the schoolroom roof should start this week.
6th August
Chris & Roger have started work on the Church front garden as our bushes had 'passed their prime'.
Having cut down the bushes Roger has got down to some "extreme gardening" to get the stumps out.
More pictures to follow as work progresses.
5th August
Heather and Annie ran a 'quiet day' at "Oswalds" in Lopen today (ST. Oswalds Day).
St Oswald awaiting the guests.
A table decoration to focus on
8th July
We held the first of our 'Community Lunches' since the shut down for Covid and were able to enjoy each other's company and prove the capability of our new cooking range!
After the lunch we were able to learn a lot about the work of the 'Observer Corps' with an illustrated talk by Andy Briggs.
Clearly a lot of concentration during Andy's talk....
1st July
On this Saturday we had a garden party in Pastor Heather's garden with over 30 friends enjoying the good weather - a couple of pictures below as a reminder:
7th May
Following our Morning Service we shall wend our way to Montacute Recreation Ground to join in the 'Village Picnic' to celebrate the Coronation. We will partner with friends from St Catherine's to provide cream teas. Please join us and the village for an afternoon of fun.
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Our long serving friend, deacon and treasurer Ted Shoemark died on 29th November.
His attendance and service to God in this place lasted more than 80 years.
We held a service to celebrate Ted's life here on 13th December attended by many friends from the Church and village.
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We are getting ready for Christmas - our Nativity scene is now in place in that lovely setting at the bottom of the steps. Thanks to Chris and Roger.
On the 9th and 10th we combined Coffee Mornings with a display of our people's Nativity Sets in the Church. We were glad to see friends and visitors pop in.
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Our poppy cascade to honour Remembrance Day this year is flowing from the front of the Church.
Please stop and have a look or you are welcome to add your own poppy or names to the cascade.
The Church will be open for quiet reflection at 11am on Friday 11th November, combine this with a coffee or tea.
We joined with St Catherine's for a Remembrance Service at 10:45 on Sunday 13th November.
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We open the Meeting Place every Friday morning from 11am till 1pm (volunteer staff needed please). Do pop in for some refreshment and a chat.
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We held a very successful TWAM tool collection on Saturday 17th September and were able to deliver 2 very full cars of tools
Tools With A Mission collects, refurbishes and delivers the tools to developing countries.
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Our long awaited "Meeting Place" has been completed and equipped.
The formal opening was on Saturday 28th May with scones and cream and combined with the annual Plant sale. We thank those organisations which gave us grants, our builder Darren Callow and friends who generously gave us gifts.
The room is available for hire by charities, clubs and organisations, with a servery and disabled friendly toilet.
We were delighted to support the marriage of Allie and Tony Green in our Church during April
We wish them every happiness for their future together.
Spring 2022
We are now back to morning services every Sunday - check on 'Our Services' tab for details.
There are plenty of other activities also planned:-
Knit n Natter has now returned each Tuesday afternoon at 2:30 up till 15th March.
A 4 week series of Lent Reflections will be run from 22nd March till 12th April.
Our plans for Easter are taking shape with:- A Tenebrae meal and service at 1pm on Maundy Thursday, a 10:30 Good Friday reflection and a 10:30 Easter Sunday celebration.
The next ecumenical Messy Church is on Saturday 9th April.
We decided to hold services during February in the warmer schoolroom.
This seemed to be appreciated by the congregation. We shall return to the Church when the Coffee area work is completed in the next couple of weeks.
December 2021
The Advent season already!
Heather has led 2 Advent services and read at St. Catherine's as we joined then for their carol service.
Members from St. Catherine's then joined us for our well attended carol service - even though masked the singing was still powerful.
The Coffee Area development at the rear of the Church is proceeding, with the frame for the glazed screen installed and the servery units assembled.
November 2021
It has been a busy month with 2 Sunday services plus joining with St. Catherine's for Harvest services, Remembrance and the induction of their new rector, the Revd. Nick Clarke.
We also held 2 social events:-
"Stir up the pud" where people joined us to prepare Christmas puddings and see a short Christmas video.
For the final "Knit n Natter" session of the year we had a Christmas tea with a quiz and carols.
For Advent our lit Christmas tree is outside again this year together with a new Nativity Scene on the balcony steps.
The development of our "Coffee Area" is underway with the rear pews removed, the stud walls built and first fix electrics in. We look forward to that coming to life next year.
October 2021
On 16th October we held our first ecumenical 'Messy Church' since the lockdown. Some 24 children and parents had craft fun, a harvest themed gathering in the church and a jacket potato lunch. Enjoyed by all
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On 19th October we held a special event for Church Members and friends from the village and Yeovil. Two dozen of us boarded a coach to Wells Cathedral to see the 5 metre diameter moon installation suspended in the nave. This was followed by a conducted tour of the building which provided many new insights and information to ponder.
September 2021
Our popular Knit n Natter group restarted in September, meeting on Tuesday afternoons (with more natter than knitting) and will continue until 16th November. On 23rd of November we are holding another 'Stir up the Pud' event - an afternoon of advent fun and the making of Christmas puddings.
3 Harvest celebrations
This year we celebrated our own morning thanksgiving service on the 19th, an ecumenical Harvest 'Songs of Praise' on 26th, followed by a harvest service at St Catherine's on 3rd of October. All well attended and happy thanksgiving services.August 2021
On Sunday 1st August we held a cream tea for friends and people from the village. Over 40 people enjoyed the tea and social time. We were able to sing for the first time so finished with a half hour 'Songs of Praise'.
May 2021
On 2nd May we celebrated the retirement of Ted Shoemark after 50 years of wonderful service as deacon & treasurer for our Church and community.
We were happy to welcome Leanne & Connor for their wedding on 21st May.
Grandma Sally was a deacon of our Church some years ago
We held a plant sale on Saturday 22nd May in the front garden. This was well supported both by friends donating vegetable and flower plants and many people attending to buy plants and have a drink and a cake. A good sum of money was raised towards our Coffee Area development.
April 2021
During Lent we again used our front garden and positioned a cross with knitted hearts and an Easter message for people to take to their homes.
Some 120 went to good homes homes around the village.
As Covid controls eased we were able to hold Easter services, although with spacing, masks and no communal singing! Good Friday was a service of readings from Matthew, music and solo singing by Shirley.
Easter Sunday reflected the thoughtful Saturday leading to the open tomb of the Sunday, illustrated by a tomb at our 5 Ashes burial ground.
Both Easter services ended by singing classic Easter hymns around the cross in the front garden.
November / December 2020 Due to the updated Government rules we had to stop all activities again during the November lockdown, but rules permitting we plan to hold services in the December lead-up to Christmas (check out the 'Our Services' page).
Sunday afternoon Carol Service
On December 13th we held an afternoon candle lit Carol Service. We were able to listen to carols and readings and light the 3rd Advent candle
At just the right moment the rain stopped and we were able to go outside and sing our last carol together.(suitably distanced of course)
Advent
With the help of many knitters we added some 110 knitted angels and a Christmas blessing to our Tree. Over 100 were gladly taken to homes in the community.
During December another 70 were added and they all went!
Thanks to Chris and Roger for that mission.
Remembrance
Although we could not gather we recognised the period and reminded the village through our display of poppies
Our friends and the Knit and Natter group provided poppies to make this display
Coronavirus impact - September....
We feel it is right to start to awaken the Church in a careful and limited way, so......
- The Church will be open for prayer at 2:30 on some Tuesdays for an hour
- We will join St Catherine's at 3pm on Sunday 6th September for an open air Harvest Service and 8th November for a Remembrance Service
- Sunday services at MBC will be on 2nd Sunday of the month in September and October with additional services during Advent
During these events we have to comply with the current advice from the government, so things will be a little different.
For final details of our gatherings please see the 'Services' page.
Sharing treasures of our faith - a hymn, a text, a picture starts on 29th Sepetmber for those who have booked.
Letters during closure
During the Coronavirus lockdown Pastor Heather has written periodic letters and reflections for the congregation and other friends. These have been added to the website and can be accessed via the homepage menu. The letters will continue periodically throughout times of closure.
July 2020
As we were unable to meet or welcome guests into the Church we decided to make the Baptist Church front garden into a GARDEN OF HOPE and invite people delivering to the pre-school or just passing by to PAUSE in our Quiet Garden. We brightened the garden with coloured BUTTERFLIES each with a message of HOPE for people to read and take away to brighten their window or garden in the village.
We have now taken down the remaining butterflies, but from comments this was well received and many were taken to homes.
THE GARDEN IS STILL THERE WITH A SEAT !
Tuesday Fellowship: Sorry, this still temporarily cancelled
See separate page for details of our Lent Bible Studies – Hearts on Fire
Community lunch: Sorry, this is still temporarily cancelled
Thursday 19th March. - 1:00 pm - Speaker: Luke Rees, YBC Intern
During Lent:
Why not look at baptistunionretreatgroup.blogspot
for weekly Lent Reflections (one by Pastor Heather)
February 2020
A quick look back – Our first ever ‘Stir-up-a-Pud’, where 20 people gathered to hear the significance of the Christmas pudding, and to mix one up! Friendship and fun, lovely refreshments, some carols, and all went home with a delicious Christmas pud to cook and eat! We hope to do it again next year!
Thanks everyone who came to Candlelight Carols, the Sunday before Christmas. Over 50 people gathered, and we raised the roof with brilliant carol-singing as we heard again the beautiful scriptures of the birth of Jesus Christ. We were specially blessed by Montacute Village Voices Choir who joined us – having come straight from Montacute House Wassailling – and added lovely descants.
Montacute Village Voices Choir, who meet at the church, held their concert earlier in December, it was brilliant.
Now we wish everyone a Happy New Year, and hope you will join us for our morning worship Services at 10.30 on a Sunday or at any of our Tuesday Fellowship or Community events.
Tuesday Fellowship: 2.30 p.m.
Knit ‘n Natter: 2.30 from 28th Jan and every Tuesday in February
Ecumenical Lent Bible Study 2.30 p.m. each Tuesday in March.
Community Lunch: Thursday 20th February
Don’t be alone in the village – please join us for 1 o’clock lunch. £5 each. Speaker: Rev David Perkins, CAP Money Management. Ring Church Secretary Ruth Shoemark to book on 823095 or the church answerphone 822885.
Messy Church: Saturday 29th February – the ‘leap day’. Come and have fun with us - Children with parents/carers invited 10.30 – 1, to enjoy various activities, a Bible story and lots of MESSY DRUMMING! Followed by lunch. Drumming led by Organic Rhythm.
Website: We are so grateful to Yeovil Baptist Church (especially Nigel Williams) for organising this website for us. This will help visitors find us, and let people know ‘Whose we are’ and what we are doing. We hope it will encourage people to join in, find friendship, worship amongst us, glimpse the love of God. Still work in progress – we are slow learners! – but please let us know what you think.