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News Items

January 10th 2007

 'One more step along the world I go' - The church was packed for Reverend Ann's Farewell Service. The congregation was in good voice having been prepared by Ann beforehand to sing some of the music which she had introduced over the years. Members were invited to put their names and a message on links of a paper chain to hang in her new vicarage. A presentation was made, this included a wheelbarrow! 

December 2nd

The fundraising event for Junior Choir bursaries to Royal School of Church Music events was very successful. The supper was most enjoyable and the entertainment imaginative and original. There was a pantomome - Snow White and theThree Dwarves (due to cut-backs), puppets performing the Hallelujah Chorus and a rendition of 'Mioaw' by Julie de'Ath Lancaster and Anne Boakes. Liz Tirard, Marilyn Kidney and Gina Wilkins were delighted that the event has added in excess of £500 to the funds.

Click Here for a selection of photos from the evening
October 15th

Reverend Ann Pollington announced that she has been appointed Priest-in-charge of St Ippolyts, Great Wymondley and Little Wymondley in the Diocese of St Albans subject to the usual legal requirements. The date of the licensing will be announced in due course. Ann is delighted with her news and there was a spontaneous round of applause after the announcement was made in each of the team's churches. Ann will be moving soon after Christmas.
September 21st

 The Reverend Sue Roberts was welcomed to Honiton by members of the clergy and congregation at her institution by the Reverend Bob Evens, Bishop of Crediton. Sue is the new Rector of Honiton having moved from Totnes.
September 3rd  -'Sing a new song to the Lord' - a service with music from around the world.

Revd Ann Pollington lead the Parish Eucharist on  with hymns she had chosen from around the world.
Various members of the congregation had been invited to join the choir at their friday evening practice to ensure that there were pockets of people who could lead others around the church. The service was a great success with Ann encouraging us to embrace change and opportunities to reflect on new experiences.

June 25th - Val retires as verger and sacristan
 

Val Wilkinson retires as verger and sacristan at St Paul’s at the end of June having served in this position for 14 years. She had done a similar job in a Hampshire church for 20 years before moving to Devon. At the end of her last sunday morning service in the job Rev’d Ann Pollington paid tribute to the way she had worked over the years and presented with some flowers and a gift from the congregation

June 25th - New banner for St Paul’s 

The newly refurbished banner of St Paul was blessed by Rev’d Ann Pollington at the beginning of the Parish Eucharist. She explained how Val Wilkinson, the retiring verger, had found the original banner from Victorian times in storage and removed the figure. Together with the banner making team it was remounted on a new backing. During the recent ‘Discovery Day’ visitors were each invited to put a stitch on to the banner.

June 25th - Organists 

A church organist is appointed by the incumbent. Until our new Team Rector is licensed in the Autumn the 9.30am services will be accompanied by different visiting organists. The organ is actually under wraps at present to protect it from dust. The ceiling in one of the side aisles is being prepared.



June 25th - 'Organist of the day'

David, a former organist at Weston-super-mare and chorister at Honiton, played the piano today.
May 28th
John Mingay Retires after nearly 20 years as Organist for St. Paul's. He was presented with a standard olive tree for his new patio. After the service there was an opportunity to talk to John and thank him for all his hard work, over coffee, wine and nibbles.


May 6th
Peter Ward and Alison Young visited the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Click here for more information

Choir Fundrasing Supper for Junior Choir

Visit to the Archbishop of Canterbury
On the 6th May we joined a group of young people from the Exeter Diocese together with around 60 others from the South West for a youth day with the Archbishop of Canterbury at Lambeth Palace.
 
The theme of the day was Faith in a Fast-Food World. In his first reflections, the Archbishop talked about how in today’s busy lifestyles people often leave little time for God, and that we are all too impatient. He explained that we should not try and reach God as quickly as possible, but instead should relax and open ourselves, so that God can find us. He then taught us ways of doing this, and then allowed us to wander around the palace and the garden for silent reflection. Unfortunately as we missed some of the introductory period due to rail works on the way up to London, we used the reflection time to meet the other students from Devon. The garden is very beautiful and peaceful, and although you are in the middle of London it feels more like being in the countryside, albeit with the London Eye visible just over the wall.
 
At midday we all split up into different groups, each being in a separate room inside the palace. We met several other young Christians from different dioceses in the south west. Peter’s group debated about everything under the sun, including the Da Vinci Code, freedom of speech and whether we should help people in Africa rather than those closer to home. We then proceeded back down to the garden for photos with the Archbishop, followed by lunch in one of the halls.
 
After lunch we congregated in the crypt, where the various groups talked about what they had done in the morning. One group had written a song and another had drawn a picture of the Archbishop with sun glasses on surrounded by quotes from the morning. The Archbishop then answered questions and expanded on what we had discussed, giving us his opinions and talking about his own experiences.
 
The afternoon ended in an absorbing feedback session where the Archbishop answered our questions on several controversial topics, such as the ordination of woman, homosexuality and the Da Vinci Code (put forward by my group). The underlying principle behind many of his responses was about keeping the church together, and that all the different people in the church should learn from and appreciate each other.
 
After saying goodbye we returned with the group from the Exeter diocese rather than making our own way back. We stopped of at Burger King to finish off the fast food theme, and had a very unconventional journey back, including handing out biscuits to everyone in sight, and trying to carry out a Mexican wave all along the train
 
The thing that impressed us most about the Archbishop was that he was very approachable and open minded. His talks were very insightful and inspiring, and he was able to give a thoughtful reply to every question, including Peter’s about how to decide how limited resources of the NHS should be spent.
 
We thoroughly enjoyed the day and made many new friends and we are all planning to get together again in the summer.
 
 
Alison Young and Peter Ward


Palm Sunday
On Palm Sunday, the day when Jesus Christ rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, a special service is held at St. Michael's at the top of Church Hill Honiton. At the beginning of the service a hymn is sung inside the church. Afterwards everyone congregates outside the church and the children are given palm trees to wave. A procession then commences following a donkey from the donkey sanctuary in Salcome Regis. The procession walks towards St. Paul's Church in the High Street. Policemen are on-hand to control the traffic as Canon Jane, the junior and senior choir, the choir master/organist, the whole congregation and a donkey cross the road. The whole process takes about half an hour.

After this everyone enters St. Paul's, with the exception of the donkey which returns to the sanctuary. The service then continues as normal.

The fomer Bishop of Crediton's three visits to Honiton

Over a period of 3 weeks, the fomer Bishop of Crediton visited St. Paul's Honiton for three separate services: the confirmation service, the ordination of four Priests and the licensing of Alan Sheath.


Confirmation

On the 15th of June 2003, candidates that had been prepared from the parishes of Colyton and Honiton met together in St. Paul's Honiton to be confirmed. The fomer Bishop of Crediton attended the service to confirm the candidates. One girl was baptised first by the fomer Bishop before joining the other candidates for conformation. The congregations from both churches joined together, and so did both choirs.

Ordination of four Priests

On Saturday the 28th of June the fomer Bishop visited again to perform the ordination of four priests, from Honiton, Tiverton, Uplyme, and Ottery St Mary. The person we were most pleased to be seeing ordained was Ann Pollington from St Paul's. The fomer Bishop presented the candidates each with a Bible, a chalice and a stowl as marks of their new authority. The following day was Ann's first Eucharist, and a party afterwards to celebrate the event.


Licensing of Alan Sheath

The fomer Bishops final visit to the church was on Monday the 7th of July, for the licensing of the new vicar of Awliscombe (part of Honiton Team Ministry). The previous vicar had left last Christmas to become a naval chaplain. The new vicar Alan was greeted by representatives from the local community including school children, a doctor to highlight his work in Honiton Hospital and members of various parish organisations.

The new Bishop of Crediton visits Honiton

The new Bishop of Crediton, Bob Evens, visited for the service of Licencing and Blessing on 23rd January 2005.