It’s that time of year again when we welcome people to come together at our annual Lights of Love services to remember precious babies gone too soon.
Our Lights of Love services, and other seasonal events, take place across the country every year with readings, music, and candle lighting. They are FREE of charge and for ANYONE to join.
We know that many people find this a challenging time of year. Lights of Love is designed to provide peace and comfort to parents, siblings and anyone else affected by pregnancy or baby loss, helping them to prepare emotionally for other seasonal celebrations in which they are taking part.
Lights of Love Services locally…
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Sands Helpline: 0808 164 3332 / helpline@sands.org.uk The Sands National Helpline provides a safe, confidential place for anyone who has been affected by the death of a baby. Whether your baby died long ago or recently, we are here for you.
Christmas Walk on 22nd December Meeting 10.15am at The Maltings
Come walk with us! It’ll be about an hour and a half (a gentle 3.5km walk) or there is a shorter route for those that prefer it.
We are raising awareness of our little community building charity, celebrating Christmas, and getting out into the countryside and (importantly) talking.
The December issue of The Three Villages Magazine is nearly here!
For this issue, we have broken from our normal cover photography to showcase the winning entries from our Schools Christmas Art Competition. Congratulations to our winners!
After the success of our Christmas art competition last year, we once again asked the schools if they would like to take part in a ‘Christmas Star Competition’. The students who took part didn’t let us down!
Pick up a copy of the December Issue to find out who our winners are!
Do keep your eyes open for these special stars as we hope to use them, along with all the other stars that were entered into the competition, to decorate Stanstead Abbotts high street! Why not see how many you can spot?
Thank you to everyone who took part in the competition. You did yourselves and your schools proud!
Hertfordshire residents and visitors can now enjoy free bus travel thanks to the Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) funding, which has made 10,000 free bus tickets available.
The new Intalink Connect ticket offers unlimited all-day travel across 14 zones in the county, with flexible options for single-zone, two adjacent zones, or all-zone travel.
Tickets can be claimed through the Intalink App using the discount code CATCHBUS24. A maximum of one ticket per Intalink App account is available.
Don’t miss the last Equine Table Top Sale and Dog show of the year!
WHERE: Albury Village Hall, The Bourne, Albury WHEN: Sunday 24th November WHAT TIME: 11am to 1.30pm
EQUINE TABLE TOP SALE Entry £1 (cash only) Lots of different stalls offering some lovely items for sale, including some non-horsey things too (like Doggy Deli Co) Refreshments including homemade sausage rolls and cakes on sale too!
DOG SHOW Entry £2 per show per dog (cash only) Ribbons awards up to 5th place for all classes!
The Dog Show is kindly sponsored by The Hair Lab Herts based at The Maltings.
They are raising money for Friends of the Wild Rescue & Rehab in Bishops Stortford and Surrounding Villages. They help small, self-funded wildlife, ranging from orphan birds and small mammals to animals with injuries like broken wings or legs. Find out more about this amazing charity HERE.
I you haven’t already done so, please do complete our ‘Future Plans’ Survey!
The December issue (that is now with the printer) marks the conclusion of three full years of The Three Villages in print and online! We are taking this opportunity to reassess how we can best share, showcase and support our three villages in future publications.
We want to hear from you! Completing the survey takes only 5 minutes.
Have your say and shape the future of our publication.
Memory Support Hertfordshire is a newly launched community service providing local connection, support, information, and advice for everyone affected by dementia and Mild Cognitive Impairment.
Building on the strong foundations of Hertfordshire’s existing locally embedded community support services, the addition of a new information and development service will provide a welcome route for people to access support and guidance more quickly and easily.
A helpline, an email service and in-person drop-in hubs will ensure people are able to find out what they want to know, as well as support people to find and access the full range of community-based, health and social care support available in county.
Anyone interested in becoming more dementia friendly or aware will now have a point of contact to help guide them and support their development. The service will also work with partners and professionals to help them to signpost and refer more easily to available support, and over time, together we will ensure that the full scope of Hertfordshire-based resources are visible and available at www.memorysupportherts.org.uk.
Adding to the existing highly valued groups and direct support already available, there will be more opportunities to learn about living with dementia, additional specialist support for people living with Young Onset Dementia and more support for friends and family members who care for someone with dementia. All types of dementia and Mild Cognitive Impairment are supported, and a formal diagnosis is not necessary to be able to use the service.
Funded by Hertfordshire County Council and the NHS and delivered in partnership by Age UK Hertfordshire, Carers in Hertfordshire and Alzheimer’s Society, Memory Support Hertfordshire is committed to improving support available to people affected by dementia and is aligned to the Hertfordshire Dementia Strategy.
We want Hertfordshire to be a place where people affected by dementia have access to timely, skilled, and well-coordinated support from diagnosis to end of life, which helps achieve the outcomes that matter to them. According to figures from the NHS, there are more than 14,500 people living in Hertfordshire with a diagnosis of dementia and we know that this is only due to rise. Memory Support Hertfordshire aims to make it easier for people needing support around memory loss and dementia to find and access the full range of information and support available. The service has been co-produced by people who currently use existing dementia support services, so that the varied support on offer meets their needs. Councillor Tony Kingsbury, Executive Member for Adult Care, Health and Wellbeing at Hertfordshire County Council
Key information:
Helpline: 0300 131 3946 (open Monday to Friday 9am–4pm)
Do you like a good quiz? Do you like supporting incredible charities? If yes, then we have an evening of fun for you!
Join The 3 Churches Benefice for an epic evening of poverty-beating, community-building fun! Every penny raised will go to Tearfund, who work tirelessly to fight extreme poverty throughout the world.
WHEN: Saturday 16th November, 7pm at The Wilshere Hall, St Andrew’s Church
DETAILS: £5 per person, Teams of up to 8 people, Bring your own drinks & snacks
Get tickets in advance by emailing peter.melrose@ntlworld.com or purchase (in cash) on the door!
To learn more about Tearfund and the important work they do, you can watch this video HERE or visit their website: https://www.tearfund.org/
There has been a lot going on at St John the Baptist Church, Great Amwell, over the last few months. Here is a little about what it…
South African Braii
In August, in the lovely summer sunshine, we had a South African braai in the churchyard of St John the Baptist, organised kindly by parishioners Graeme and Paola McSorley. We enjoyed boerewors followed by melktert, washed down with fabulous South African wine.
Visitors come to St John the Baptist
St John’s church has been blessed this year with visitors from overseas. Recently, we have had visitors from America, who can trace their ancestry to Richard and Elizabeth Warren who were married in the church in 1610. Richard being one of the Pilgrim Fathers on Mayflower 10 years later.
Front: Tim Van Leer, Jodie Picoult, Rev’d Sarah Forrest and Eric Nye; Back: Martin Vaughan, Margaret Mellor and Sue VaughanSue and Tom Dietrich
In September, came Sue and Tom Dietrich from Arizona, followed on 3rd October by well-known authoress Jodie Picoult and her husband, Tim Warren Van Leer from New Hampshire. On the same day, Eric Nye, a visiting professor at Cambridge and related to the Warrens, joined us. It was great to welcome them to St John’s and show them round the church and the churchyard.
