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Collect

A collect is a short prayer used in liturgy, for example towards the beginning of the Eucharist. It often reflects the themes of the particular season of the Church’s year. Its name comes from the idea that it ‘collects’ together the lessons of the service readings.

Home Newsfeed Caring for Llanddewi Velfrey

Caring for Llanddewi Velfrey

St Davids news Posted: 5 August 2021

Churchwarden Janine Perkins reports from St David's Church

Following an email link to the Love your Burial Ground week, we invited everyone who visits our Church, or is part of the village news email group, to a special event at St David’s Church on Sunday 13 June.

Following our normal service at 11.00 we planned for an outdoor picnic, with the chance to enjoy the beautiful churchyard and the peaceful surroundings overlooking the valley. Anyone who has ever visited our church will know how lucky we are to have such a beautiful, peaceful place.

We explained that this is linked to Caring for God’s Acre, a Lottery Funded project, that works nationally to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for and enjoy over 20,000 burial grounds in England and Wales. Their information booklet says that these places can be ‘ home to plants , animals and insects now rare in our wider countryside and they also encapsulate the history of communities…they are full of stories’. The aim is to collect information about the wildlife and plants in as many churchyards as possible as part of a national biodiversity survey. We left several copies of their booklet in the church and some simple survey forms to record whatever we see in the churchyard. The original idea was to carry out the activity over the week commencing 5 June, but the weather was not very inviting so we aimed to make up for that over the weekend which promised to be warm and sunny so the perfect time for a walk and a wander.

So it proved with the whole congregation and some friends enjoying a lovely socially distanced picnic and a wander around this beautiful place with many survey forms being completed.

Local historian, Geraint Davies kindly offered to give short talk about the ruins of the old school in the corner of the churchyard, he also provided some other historical details of great interest about the induction of a new vicar to the Church and a Cottage Garden Show.

Some of the regular congregation were not able to attend on the day of the picnic because of COVID regulations but were able to complete survey forms some weeks later and the information from all the surveys was submitted to the Caring for God’s Acre website. We hope to carry out further events in the Churchyard in the future.