Thank you to everyone who joined our Zoom update meeting in March. We were delighted with the turnout and for everyones commitment to the life and work of St Columba’s @ Chanctonbury. After such a tough 12 months, seeing so many old friends of our journey and new faces taking an interest was encouraging to us all.
June Community Day – Becoming a Friend or Follower
June Community Day – Exploring becoming friends and followers.
At the Zoom meeting in March, we outlined how we see the Community spiritual development with people becoming ‘Followers’ and ‘Friends’. As a New Monastic Community we are moving towards a formal Commitment Day later this year when those who wish too, can take another step on this journey.
The morning will be an open Community Day as usual with usual farm work, followed by a bring-your-own picnic lunch. In the afternoon those who are interested will be invited to stay on for a workshop on our Seven Spiritual Principles. The day will end with a Community Feast – to which all are invited. It will be wrapped around with Morning / Midday / Night Prayers. If you are thinking of coming please RSVP to info@st-columba.com letting us know you will be with us, particularly if you need to stay overnight, so we can see how we might facilitate that. A reminder and opportunity to let us know if you are coming will be circulated about 3 weeks before the event. If you are interested in continuing to explore involvement with the Community please ‘Save the Date’ for 26th June for our Community Exploration Day at St Columba’s Barn.
Supporting the life and work of St Columba’s.
As we ease out of lock down and life begins to return to some semblance of normality, we are asking for individuals to consider supporting the life of the community farm financially. Our plans for the ecological restoration of the land are well under way with the following activities planned for the course of the summer and autumn.
Additionally we have begun work on our heritage lottery application for the restoration and repurposing of St Columba’s Farm. In order to maximise the opportunity of success we have agreed to take on a specialist who has a long successful track record in heritage lottery applications, who has agreed to work with us on the technical details of such a complex submission, with the view to securing a successful outcome by Autumn 2021. This work will cost the Society £9,000. Any donation towards this is most welcome and needed at this time.
We are also asking if you would consider giving a regular monthly amount to the Society to help us achieve some of the great work below.
- Chanctonbury Forest Garden (ongoing)
- Pond Restoration (August/September)
- Community Garden (ongoing)
- Wildflower Meadow (September)
- Creating Conservation Grazing fields for our sheep (September/October)
- Heritage Lottery Grant (May through to September)
For more information on how you can donate to the work please click here and look at our Donations webpage.
We hope you can sense the excitement we are all feeling as we begin to see all the promises of God begin to take shape among us. We look forward to seeing you soon on the community farm and pray that God will bless us all as we follow the lead of Holy Spirit in encountering Christ in community and creation.
If you have any queries, please email us at info@st-columba.com
On behalf of the Trustees
Caroline Armitage & Bev Thomas (Co-Chairs)
