Relaxation of COVID 19 controls

St Mary’s Church Northchurch is an all-inclusive church and we hold all members of our congregation, very close to our hearts. However, we do need to respect the concerns of the more elderly members, several of whom are nonagenarians, even though they have been doubly vaccinated. We are very mindful of our joint responsibilities to keep each other safe and have made the following decisions as to how we propose to try to make everyone welcome and feel safe at the same time.

Although no longer mandatory we would be most grateful if attendees to services would be kind enough to continue to wear masks inside the church.

We would prefer you to sign in on arrival for test and trace purposes as we feel that this is good practice.

There will continue to be hand sanitiser available for your use.

We will continue taking communion in one kind only, with only the celebrant taking the wine on our behalf.

We will continue to try to maintain social distancing as far as possible.

We will not revert to moving about the church to give “the Peace” but will continue to wave to each other with smiles.

The first three hymns will only be sung by the choir. The words for the final hymn will be printed on the pew sheets and we will go outside, take off our masks and sing to our hearts’ content. If it is raining we will remain inside the church and sing behind masks. If you do not wish to partake of the singing, you may depart prior to the last hymn, or remain inside the church when others go outside.

We very much hope to recommence coffee after church from September following a review of the situation by the PCC.