Rob and Chris Axford are retiring after 10 years as vicar and assistant minister of the Tyndale Benefice, which is made up of the parishes of St Mary’s, Wotton; St Martin’s, North Nibley; and St Kenelm’s, Alderley, with Tresham Church. You may have read the recent interview with them in the current (August) edition of the Wotton Times. There will be a whole-benefice farewell service to say good bye to them on Sunday, 2 September at 4 pm at St Mary’s, Wotton. Everyone in the benefice is invited to the service and to refreshments being given afterwards by the Wotton community.

Sue Whitfield, our churchwarden, will be presenting a farewell gift from Tresham at the Alderley service on Sunday, 19 August. We shall be getting a John Lewis gift token with cash donations, (they will be moving into their house in Chipping Sodbury, with a convenient Waitrose) and some Tresham-reared plants for their garden.

If anyone would like to contribute to the gift, please let Sue, Richard Goodenough or David Bradbury have your donation by Wednesday, 15 August; any cheques should be made out to Tresham Church. Alternatively, you can make a bank transfer to Tresham Church, 30-98-29, 02962208 with a reference Axford Donation. And if anyone has a plant they have reared or had in their garden (eg cuttings, side-shoots, naturalised bulbs etc) which they would like to donate, please let Sue have it – labelled with the plant’s name and yours too if you like – by then, so she can plan how to present the plants in a suitable container.

The Axfords have each been very supportive of our village and church, including encouraging the beginnings of plans to make the church a centre for more purely sociable gatherings as well as for church services. Chris in particular has presided over a number of weddings, baptisms and funerals for us, with grace and care. We shall miss them both and are grateful to them for all their work here.

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