ON Sunday October 12, St Mary’s Church, Hemyock, welcomed their Church Mission Society (CMS) mission partner Dr Nicci Maxwell.

The church has been supporting Dr Maxwell for several years – initially at Potter’s Village in Kisoro, Uganda, but Dr Maxwell came to update the congregation on her more recent work in South Sudan.

South Sudan is one of the world’s poorest nations with among the highest rates of maternal and newborn deaths.

Dr Maxwell is a paediatrician and she has been working in Juba, the capital, for close to 16 months.

She divides her time between the neonatal unit at the Al Sabbah Children’s Hospital, in Juba, and a refugee camp just outside the city, as well as a number of other clinics and projects aimed at improving the health of children.

In the neonatal unit, Dr Maxwell has been working with a small team of nurses and doctors to improve conditions on the ward, especially with respect to cleanliness, hand hygiene and training in good basic newborn care.

These simple measures have seen a remarkable reduction in the mortality rate among babies on the ward, from around 15 per cent to below five per cent in 12 months.

Dr Maxwell shared that there is a great deal more work to be done to continue to improve hospital care for newborns in Juba.

In the refugee camp Dr Maxwell’s work involves more general paediatric care for refugee children from Ethiopia, Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, and other countries.

The most commonly seen problems are malaria, gastroenteritis, and chest infections. but a wide variety of problems are brought for her specialist paediatric attention.

Dr Maxwell expressed her gratitude to the congregation of St Mary’s for their continuing financial and prayer support which enables her work.

THE Wellington Bible Society Action Group (WBSAG) invited the local churches to choose hymns for a Songs of Praise Service at the Methodist Church, Waterloo Road on 19 October 2025.

Representatives of nine churches brought their choices of hymns which were sung enthusiastically, six to the organ accompaniment of Geoff North. WBSAG leader, John Salter, welcomed about 50 people to the event.

After prayer we sang ‘Blessed assurance’ (chosen by Life Central) and ‘In Christ alone’ (Millway Evangelical Church) and John updated the congregation on this year’s project, Bibles for Prisons. Following the inspiring address in August by former prisoner, John Lord, our target of £1,000 had been exceeded and is now around £2,000.

The Bibles cost £10 each and the demand is so great that we will continue to raise as much as we can. We went on to sing ‘There’s a wideness in God’s mercy’ (chosen by St John Fisher RC church with Paddy Finnegan on piano) and ‘O love that will not let me go’ (Living Light) after which David Brown read John 8:31-36.

The Rev Nick Lakin, the local Methodist minister accompanied ‘Give me oil in my Lamp’ (The Well) and ‘How great Thou Art’ (URC) on guitar then gave a short address based on the reading to highlight the freedom that Christ gives to those who follow him, relevant to all as well as prisoners. Then after two more songs, ‘Be Thou my Vision’ (Baptist Church) and ‘Tell out my soul’ (St John’s) the Rev Martin Perry led a carefully crafted prayer that drew us into the prisoners’ world and lifted them, us and the Bible project to God.

A dedication hymn, ‘O Jesus I have promised’ (Methodist) was followed by a final blessing by the Revd W John Young after which the congregation enjoyed refreshments, conversations and networking in the church hall. Ongoing donations mean that more than 200 Bibles can be supplied to prison chaplains.

THE president of Samford Arundel Women’s Institute, Susan Bellringer, welcomed members to the October meeting expressing how lovely it was to see everyone.

The speaker this month was Kerry Molfesis from The Secret Island in Wiveliscombe. Kerry demonstrated to us how her Victorian sock machine worked and told us a brief history of socks. The Greeks, Romans and Egyptians all had a type of sock with the oldest being from 300 AD and there is a knitted sock from 400 AD in the Victoria and Albert museum. Puttees (a woollen bandage) were made by Fox,s in Wellington and used during the First World War. The first sock machine was invented in 1589 making flat socks with seams. An English man Matthew Townsend invented a latch machine in 1849 which produced socks as we know them today. The saying ,bless your cotton socks, originated in Calcutta where all school children were given cotton socks that had to be blessed before receiving them and during the plague people were buried in cotton socks. It would take on average 3 weeks to knit a pair of socks with the 4 needle method but Kerry can knit a pair in an hour and as they are knitted in the round no sewing up is required. Kerry uses mainly natural fibres when making her socks including angora wool which has a natural antiseptic in it. Members were intrigued on how well the machine worked and the lovely finished product. Kerry finished her talk by telling us about the origins of the 'Wivey Tartan' that she also makes.

Susan and Heather recently attended the Women's Institute 110 birthday banner parade in Wells. Thirty WI's congregated at Wells Cathedral where the Town Crier read out a proclamation welcoming everyone before parading to St Cuthbert’s Church where a short service was held followed by refreshments. It was a special event and we were proud to represent our WI and display our banner.

During the business part of our meeting members were given the dates for the various groups and were asked to knit poppies for the wreath we will be laying at the Rembrance Service in Sampford Arundel on November 9.

Any item beginning with the letter 'O' was required for our competition this month and the winning entry was a bunch of oats, with an owl coming second and joint third was an ostrich egg and opal earrings

Social time consisted of anagrams of flowers for members to unscramble .

If anyone would like to come to see what Sampford Arundel WI is all about you will be made very welcome and we meet at The Beambridge Inn on November 9 at 7.30pm or contact Heather on 01823 666439.

THE Wellington Basins Volunteer Group (WBVG) met on October 17.

The meeting was chaired by Lesley Andrews in the absence of the chair, Jeny Vickery.

Much discussion took place about the “intimidatory presence of flags” which had been erected in one of the ponds at the Basins. Given that the area is a nature reserve, it was considered inapproprite for the flags to be there.

Hearty congratulations were given to Steve Saunders for his recent community award from Wellington Town Council.

WBVG were pleased to be awarded two awards in the recent RHS “In your neighbourhood awards” of 2025. Along with other community groups, this helped Wellington achieve a Gold Award.

THE monthly meeting of the Wellington u3a took place in the Rugby Club on Monday, October 13, where we were treated to a presentation by a guide from Sheppy’s cider, with The Tale of Wassail to the Glass by Mike Highfield.

He began his cider interest back in 1983 when he joined the Taunton Dean Morris Group and began to make his own cider some 20 years ago.

Between 1894 and 1973 they lost a whopping 90 per cent of the orchards in this country, as well as so much of the wild life it must have sheltered.

Mike is a very entertaining speaker, as well as a Morris man, he came with an accordion and several very funny songs about apples.

The audience were in the palm of his hand and talking to many of them afterwards, quite a number of the 75/80 people present had come specifically to listen to this presentation.

Our next monthly meeting in the Rugby Club, Corams Lane takes place on Monday, November 10, at 10.15am.

As the air turns crisp and the gardens take on their autumn colours, Nynehead Court is preparing to once again welcome families and visitors for one of its most beloved seasonal traditions.

The Halloween Trail 2025 will run from Monday, October 27, to Friday, October 31, offering a safe, family-friendly way to enjoy the fun of Halloween in the heart of the Somerset countryside.

Open daily from 11am to 4pm, the trail winds through 13 acres of gardens and parkland, where pumpkins, cobwebs, and ghostly surprises are hidden among the flowerbeds, trees and pathways. With themed decorations and interactive clues, the trail is designed to delight children of all ages while giving grown-ups a chance to explore the grounds and soak in the festive atmosphere.