Surlingham

Family service at 10am on Sunday 23rd January .
Celtic Prayer at 10am on Tuesdays, 11th & 25th January

Please note Hellington is on a different exchange and is being covered in a separate scheme.Cory’s Close, Kirby Road is also on a different Exchange

This is a Government Voucher Scheme. Each property has a voucher for £1,500 and we collect the vouchers to fund the whole scheme. We need just over 50% of the properties to sign up for the build out of the whole scheme.

We are in a rural area and most of the area will have fibre cable on the posts to replace the current copper wires.

Broadband can come to your property in 3 ways:

ADSL. Copper wire from the exchange through the cabinet to your property. Slow, max 17 mbs.

FTTC. Fibre from the exchange to the cabinet and then copper from the cabinet to your property. Fast, maximum of 80 mbs download speed, the further you are from the cabinet the slower the speed.

FTTP. Fibre from the exchange, all the way through the cabinet to your property. Fastest and most stable up to 900 mbs.

The vast majority of properties in the 3 villages are FTTC and the speed you receive is determined by the distance you are from the cabinet.

If you have a BT phone line you can check your exchange by using this link

If you want to check your current service, Openreach have an online broadband checker here.

We have all the addresses and costings. The scheme is with the Government for approval to proceed. Hopefully I will be back very early in the New Year with more information about enrolling and details of the build out.

Have a Happy New Year and I will be back in touch early in 2022

Vic

We do hope everyone has had a lovely Christmas full of love and joy in these challenging times.

As last year, we are preparing a very special take away meal for New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day (plus our popular Portuguese wines available on this day too). Should you wish anything, please give us a ring or ping us an email.

Don’t forget this week we are closed on Wednesday.

Dear All,

Today we’re looking forward to beginning our Christmas events and worship. In place of the Christmas Eve Crib Service, we’re hosting an Open Nativity in Rockland Church between 4pm and 7pm this evening. We would like to invite you to visit the Church then to see the Crib and the Christmas Trees for the recent festival. It will be heated, lit and welcoming with festive music and seasonal treats. Please wear a mask inside church for this and all our Christmas indoor events.

There will be Midnight Mass with candlelight and carols in Rockland Church at 11.30pm. You are all very welcome.

For those who are wishing to remain at home a YouTube Midnight Communion filmed in the Barn will be made available at 11pm, using this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7-B35_vFWg

On Christmas Day, there will be 10am Family Services at Surlingham and Claxton, and 11am Holy Communion at Kirby Bedon.

For anyone who’s alone on Christmas Day, the Church of England invites you to join up online for carols and a chat. Enjoy your favourite carols, chat with online friends and hear a message from Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, at 3.30pm at cofe.io/YouTube.

Boxing Day falls on a Sunday this year, and we’re worshiping together on Zoom at our 11am Presents and Praise. We’ll be singing some favourite carols, sharing prayers and a reflection, and you can share something about your Christmas gifts if you wish to!
Please follow this link to join us then
Join Zoom Meetinghttps://us02web.zoom.us/j/87304140572?pwd=WmdkQUMwL2s0cVRnYWFGemErN2t1UT09
Meeting ID: 873 0414 0572Passcode: 168554

The following Sunday (Jan 2nd) we’re welcoming in the New Year at Claxton at the 9.30am Epiphany Family Service.

Wishing you a good and peaceful Christmas and New Year,
Nick and Helen

The BT box has been sold to the highest bidder and £500 will be donated to the fund to repair the tower of St Mary’s church.

The Parish Council would like to thank all of those who took part.



Just to say the fish van will be here as normal this week on Thursday 23rd Dec 10am -3:30pm to get all your delicious fresh local fish, but will then be closed Thurs 30th Dec and Thurs 6th Jan, then back again as normal on Thurs 13th Jan.

The Farm Shop will be open as usual every single week day and weekend and even bank holidays as usual from 8am-9pm as usual.

From everyone at Yare Valley may we wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 🙂

Dear All,

Here’s this year’s Carol Service video, recorded in the Barn with carols performed by the Occasional Garden Singers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VmolnIvhl8
Our deepest thanks go to the Singers for their wonderful musical offering, and also to Helen for producing excellent video worship resources throughout the year. Thank you too, for watching!

We face challenging times ahead, but at Christmas we are called to think of those whose plight is far worse than our own. Afghanistan is facing a humanitarian catastrophe. Failed harvests mean that 8 million Afghans are facing starvation, and the hospitals are fast running out of supplies. We’re supporting the Disasters Emergency Committee Appeal and the first £10 million that is donated will be matched by the UK government.
Please consider making a donation by following this link
https://www.dec.org.uk/appeal/afghanistan-crisis-appeal

Thank you.
With our best wishes for Christmas,
Nick and Helen

“We intend to continue with all our planned carol services as we have had no advice to the contrary. However, we also want to assure all of you that we entirely understand if you do not feel confident to attend a face to face event, either because of your own vulnerability or because of your wish to prioritize meetings with family at this time.”

Should you attend one of our Christmas services, please note we will be adhering to the following guidelines:

• Use of hand sanitiser on entry.
• Face masks mandatory except for those people with exemptions.
• Face masks to be worn when singing.
• Covid ‘passports’ not required.
• Lateral flow tests encouraged before attending.
• Refreshments will NOT be served after the services.
• Doors and windows will be left open to improve ventilation

Dear Friends,.

We are all saddened and concerned following the news of rising cases and potential impact of the new Covid variant, Omicron. This version of the virus is highly transmissible and although vaccination seems to offer a good level of protection against serious disease it is expected that the substantial number of likely infection may pose a threat to the NHS and care services. Quite understandably, many of you may well be feeling anxious or cautious so I wanted to update you regarding the situation in Church and in particular, forthcoming services and events.

We intend to continue with all our planned carol services as we have had no advice to the contrary. However, we also want to assure all of you that we entirely understand if you do not feel confident to attend a face to face event, either because of your own vulnerability or because of your wish to prioritize meetings with family at this time.

If you do intend coming to a carol service tomorrow or a service on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, please can we invite you to wear a mask throughout. Sadly this does include singing carols and we also recommend that you take a lateral flow before attending. This is in line with the Bishop’s guidance for the Diocese of Norwich.

We have also taken the decision not to offer refreshments following carol services as this would involve the removal of masks and therefore increase the risk of infection.

If you choose not to attend a service, please be aware that a Rockland Benefice Carol Service will be available on You Tube by the end of Monday and also that a Midnight Communion Service video will be published by midnight on Christmas Eve.

This is very disappointing and I am sure we have all really hoped that we would not be subject to these restrictions and considerations once again. It is a difficult time. We acknowledge that and wish to offer our prayers, concern and practical help to all who may find themselves alone or isolating at this time.

If you need anything or would value company or a phone conversation, please let us know. Together, as a community, we will ensure that a message of peace, hope and love is made known in our midst.

With my very best wishes to you,
Helen