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PROFILE OF ST GILES
EXHALL
St Giles'
Church, Exhall is a beautiful building, the oldest parts
of which date back over eight hundred years. It has
been at the heart of the local community throughout that
period. It has been the place where the main events of
life such as weddings, baptisms and funerals have been,
and continue to be, marked.
Today, in
addition to regular weekly worship, there is a strong
involvement in the local community through our links to
the local schools and the seven care homes in the
parish. We support the Mary Ann Evans Hospice through
regular coffee mornings whilst a recently formed Over
Fifties Club is also proving very popular. In addition
there are two active branches of the Mothers' Union at
St Giles. For younger people we now have a thriving
youth club that meets on a Friday evening whilst the
Sunday School meets on Sunday mornings as does our youth
group, KiCKS. The annual pantomime is always a popular
event strengthening our links to the community whilst
our church band has a wide age range and has won a
number of awards.
Set in award
winning grounds, the church is very popular for weddings
– for example in 2010 there are 20 planned. Our robed
choir and bell ringers support these and give a valuable
lead to our more formal weekly worship, whilst our All
Age Worship reaches out to those less familiar with
church tradition. Our monthly magazine is an invaluable
way of communicating all of this to the local community
and further afield.
St Giles has
benefited greatly from its overseas links to an
orphanage in Bangalore, India, to a developing girls
hostel in Azerbaijan, and in its support of both
Christian Aid and Tearfund.
Our new vicar
Andrew Gandon and his wife Margaret, with their
background as Mission Partners in Africa, plus their
extensive experience gained in parishes in this country
have much to offer St Giles. In particular, Andrew's
most recent role as Vicar of St Mary's Harefield, a busy
parish reaching out to its surrounding community through
the occasional offices and links to a range of people
and organisations, fits excellently with St Giles and
our desires to further develop our community outreach.
St Giles'
Exhall is delighted to welcome Andrew as our new Vicar
trusting that, under God, we can share an exciting
future of outreach into the community underpinned by
strong and lively worship, a deep sense of prayer and
the guidance of the Holy Spirit. |
