ST PETERS CHURCH

The present church building dates from the end of the thirteenth century. Monuments both inside and outside the church commemorate the Clevland family, who once lived at Tapeley Manor and the Christie family, to whom the house and estate passed by marriage. There are also monuments to the Berry Torrs, who lived in the littler village of Eastleigh. Some restoration work has been done, and more is envisaged in the near future when funds become available.

The present congregation is small and ‘elderly, though there is a much bigger body of people who come on special occasions and are willing to help in practical ways. The church and the pub are the two main focal points for this community.

St. Peters, Westleigh is part of the United Benefice comprising St. Peters, Westleigh, St. Johns, Instow and St. Peters Fremington.  

At such times, it is good to remember that the Church is not primarily a building or an ordained minister, but rather the people of God. People have worshipped here for hundreds of years and they do so still. Please pray that others in this generation will come to put their trust in Jesus Christ as Saviour, and bear witness for him in this rural community.

MAY 2026

3rd 09.30am

Holy Communion

10th 09.30am

Breakfast Service

17th 09.30am

Holy Communion

  There was once an interview with a man whose job it was to make the steel bear-bins used in the woods in Canada, bins that allow campers to hide their food from bears. With a scornful throwaway remark, the interviewer suggested to the humble fabricator that making these bins looked quite an easy job. To which the fabricator, with a pointed glint in his eye, dryly replied “you'd think so, but in my experience, there is a significant overlap between the cleverest of bears and the stupidest of humans!”. Having spent many years working in Emergency Departments caring for people who'd made some rather interesting (and regrettable) behavioural decisions in the name of comedy - or inquisitiveness - I'm inclined to agree.  

   I’m not quite sure why, but as humans, we have a habit of making silly decisions, decisions that in the cold light of day, or with hindsight, we look back on and ask ourselves 'what on earth was I thinking?'. 'I'll just give that nail one more tap', 'I'm sure I can get the car through that gap', or 'Oh go on – just one more…' - three examples from my own rather too extensive archive.

    Of course, there aren't just small, everyday mistakes. When we look at the wider world we see the same pattern played out on a much larger scale. I suspect numerous politicians are adding to their own experience-libraries as we see military intervention absent of any long-term strategy, a sudden realisation that our defence budget is woefully inadequate, and that not being reliant on North Sea fossil fuels is fine… until it isn't. Earlier this year I had the privilege of travelling around the WW1 sites in northern France and Belgium, an incredibly moving experience. Standing in front of the Thiepval Memorial, and in amongst the graves at the Tyne Cott cemetery, really did bring into focus our capacity as humans to make decisions that we still struggle to comprehend even now.

    As a church we recently journeyed through the penitential season of Lent, reflecting on our shortcomings, the things that separate us from God, and considered what our response should be. We are now in the season of Easter, remembering what Jesus did on the cross, taking on all these shortcomings and giving us, in true 'Mission Impossible - should we choose to accept it' style, the offer of eternal life with him.  You see it's one thing making mistakes – we all do that in life. The real mistake though is in not recognising and accepting we make them.

    A widely held criticism of the church that prevents some from engaging with it at all, is the accusation that it's full of hypocrites - something that is often true. The thing is though, the church is here for precisely that reason. It's here to help those who get things wrong, who make mistakes large and small, but who want to be better and recognise Jesus is the key to that journey. So, this May perhaps take a moment to reflect - not just on the mistakes we make, but what we can do about them. Maybe align yourself with the bear-bin fabricator, who was wise enough to recognise problem and the solution.

CHURCH NEWS

                                  SEPT  23

May was always an expensive month for me, with 7 birthdays, sadly now only 3, but it's still difficult to think ahead for presents and cards. I thought that this year, I'd give something really meaningful, petrol vouchers – what do you think? It's practical, useful, and certainly not cheap!! What a mess the world is in – the book of Revelations says that at the 'end' (of the world), there will be wars, and rumours of wars, and whilst we have such egocentric world leaders, nowhere looks safe anymore.

On a more uplifting note, Easter came and went with some lovely services, beautifully decorated Churches, and a really upbeat message from all our leaders in the Fremington group of Churches. One noticeably quieter than usual was the Rev Brenda, who lost her voice prior to conducting Holy Communion at Westleigh on Easter Sunday – she magnanimously allowed our tame Curate to take centre stage until the important part of the communion, then gloriously croaked her way through to the final blessing. Her husband, also in attendance, commented that Sunday afternoon would be more than peaceful !! There was 35 adults and 7 children there to celebrate the Lord's 'rising', and of course many old hymn favourites. Our Family Services on the second Sunday of the month, complete with breakfast are growing in popularity, and yesterday's service (12th) (bacon baps) was probably the best attended yet, with a lot of involvement for not only the children, but the adults as well. You really are missing out if you haven't been to one yet – we'd love to see you.

Congratulations are due to Mark Ansell on his inauguration as High Sherriff of Devon, on the 11th April. Apparently in preparation for the event, for which he had to wear his full costume, he'd taken to wearing his black tights around Pillhead, and Sarah, his wife, wants to know if she'll ever get them back unladdered.

On that visual note, it's Roger and out!