Caring for God’s acre is important. The area of one acre for burial was laid down by the Welsh king Hywel Dda, so by the 10thC ‘Gods Acre’ was being marked by wooden crosses in churchyard corners or enclosed within a sheltering hedge or wall. I think St Sampson’s churchyard must be about one acre. Churchyards are important for habitat as undisturbed, unpolluted places. I learnt recently that amazingly all the church yards in Britain collectively cover an area the size of Dartmoor, that’s a sizeable space and makes them important. As a result of this we have applied to take part in a citizen science soil sampling assessment to get a picture of the amount of carbon stored in churchyards. This involves taking 25 samples of soil, as well as a tree and shrub survey. We hope the community will want to get involved in this project if we are accepted. Alongside this we can do some further surveys for insect life, earth worm counts, and plant life. It’s all very exciting!
Our churchyard is a place of sanctuary and a connection with our ancestors and I was reminded of this when we laid Peter Ede to rest last month amongst the many generations of his family. It is an important connection with our past. It is where important life events happen. And a very happy event and blessing in October was the Diamond wedding of Geoff and Barbara Clemerson. Congratulations to them both.
Another new venture we are going to take part in is joining the Celtic churches network, which will be up and running in the spring. St Sampson’s Church will be included on the new Celtic places website with information and directions for people to visit.
We recently had a great outdoor service, giving thanks for our animals, at Pennywort Mill, thank you Chris and Hilary. The six dogs attending particularly enjoyed it, and no one misbehaved. Harvest festival raised £135 for the Cornish Air Ambulance from the sale of produce and boxes of food were donated to the food bank.
Some faculty permissions have been granted recently for much needed stonework and as ever fundraising continues. We hope to see more windows worked on in the autumn.
I have wooden pens and holder £25 made from the bell stocks and crocheted bats £2 for sale – they would make excellent Christmas presents.
Quiz night Saturday October 22nd In the Parish Hall Golberdon in aid of St Sampson’s restoration fund. Make up a team and join in the fun £2 per person and a raffle. Bring your own drink and nibbles.
For more details contact: stsampsonssouthhill@gmail.com