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Welcome to the website of the Shrine Church of Saint Melangell. Here you will find information about our services, events and facilities. Please use the menus at the top and bottom of the page to navigate to the page you need, or click the news links for up to date information.

Mae ein gwefan Gymraeg i’w gweld yma .

November Services at the Shrine Church of St Melangell

With All Saints’ Day on 1st November following All Souls’ Day on 31st October, Bonfire Night commemorating the Gunpowder Plot on 5th and Remembrance Sunday on 10th November with Armistice Day on 11th, November is the month of Remembrance. As well as gathering at war memorials across the United Kingdom and around the world, many veterans, current members of the Armed Forces and civilians will gather at the Cenotaph in Whitehall, London, where those who gave their lives for freedom will be remembered. This has now become a significant place of Remembrance but was originally only intended to be temporary following the chaos of the First World War and proved to be so momentous that a permanent memorial was then commissioned.

The word Cenotaph is Greek, meaning ‘empty tomb’. It simply wasn’t possible for the bodies of so many fallen personnel to be repatriated and most were buried where they died. The agony of so many families in having no grave to visit was eased by the empty tomb and the grave of the Unknown Warrior in Westminster Abbey where an unnamed member of the British Imperial Armed Forces who died on the Western Front in World War One is buried. This became a focal point for those who had no grave to visit whilst the Cenotaph refers to The Glorious Dead but carries no names, enabling everyone to find a representation of the absence of their loved ones. The permanent memorial was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and made of Portland stone, being unveiled by King George V on Armistice Day 1922 and becoming a public place of mourning and Remembrance. Eventually, the development of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission enabled many graves to be located and visited but there are still many missing although monuments such as the Menin Gate at Ypres record their names.

At the heart of the Christian faith is the violent death on Good Friday of a beloved son at a young age and his empty tomb being discovered by distraught mourners on Easter Day. Death could not claim him and a new way of life and hope became possible for those who proclaimed his resurrection and enabled love to prevail. Pray God that, in the face of the terrible warfare prevalent in so many places in our world today and no matter how unlikely it may seem currently, fresh hope will emerge and an Armistice will eventually prevail once more.

With my prayers: pob bendith,

Christine, Priest Guardian.

The following services will be held in November, with a shared lunch on Thursdays and tea with cake at the Centre on Sundays:

Sunday 3rd November, 3pm: Service of Reflection.

Thursday 7th, noon: Holy Eucharist and service of healing.

Sunday, 10th Nov, 10.45am at Llangynog Memorial Hall: Service of Remembrance.

3pm: Laying of poppies on the war graves at St Melangell’s.

Thursday 14th, noon: Holy Eucharist.

Sunday 17th November, 3pm: Service of reflection for Safeguarding Sunday.

Thursday 21st November, noon: Holy Eucharist and service of healing.

Sunday 24th November, 3pm: Holy Eucharist for Christ the King.

Monday 25th, 10.30am at the Centre: Julian Group.

Thursday 28th, noon: Holy Eucharist.

For further information or to book Shepherd’s Hut and the Centre, please ring 01691 860408 or contact admin@stmelangell.org

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