We long to be a blessing to our village communities, celebrating with the joyful and caring for those in need.
One way we do this is through hospitality and food! We host simple get-togethers to help friendships grow and neighbourliness deepen. These often take the shape of coffee mornings, but we host lunches and other meals too in the hope of bringing people together, combating loneliness, and strengthening community.
Friendly Friday happens every first Friday of the month in Down Hatherley Village Hall, between 10am and 12pm.
We hold coffee mornings every month at Norton, Sandhurst, Staverton and The Leigh churches. See events calendar.
Film Club happens during the winter months at Sandhurst Church. See our What’s On diary.
We love serving the community in other ways too. For example, we are enthusiastic supporters of other local community initiatives, in particular:
- Gloucester Food Bank. We collect food for the Gloucester Food Bank from across the whole community. Please leave your donations at any of our churches or Nature in Art (for collection at 1pm) on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of each month.
- Gloucestershire Action for Refugees and Asylum Seekers. We support this vital organisation based in the City of Gloucester. www.garas.org.uk
- Gloucester City Mission continue their work in the city giving a lifeline to many people. To download their latest newsletter, click here.
HARVEST COLLECTION October 5th 2025
Our theme this year was: Thinking big, giving smalls!
Last year many of you were involved in our wonderful ‘Harvest of Tools’ as part of our giving thanks for our own harvest and the abundance that we enjoy. You might remember that we collected hundreds of tools to help people in Africa reap a better harvest for themselves. The charity ‘Tools with a Mission’ checked all our gifts over and made sure that all were in working order before they distributed them in communities where their impact would be transformational. As well as demonstrating our commitment to recycling and reuse and promoting environmental sustainability here at home, these tools equipped individuals elsewhere with the skills needed to completely transform their lives and communities. They also boosted people’s self-esteem and dignity, so important in all our lives.
So, this year, our harvest collection was both practical and dignity-enhancing. We made a collection of items to be donated to the charity ‘Smalls for All’. They collect underwear for people in Africa and the UK who can’t afford or can’t get any. Because dignity matters.
We were delighted and grateful that 708 individual items were donated! THANK YOU ALL!
Like Tools with a Mission, they only send the best. So they collect only brand new pants and new or gently worn bras. They support charitable organisations in both Africa and the UK who are able to transport and distribute the underwear they collect to those in need. Smalls for All recently celebrated their 15th anniversary and in that time 606 of their partner organisations have distributed 2,349,155 items of underwear in 28 countries!
Unlike last year, each of us are likely had to buy something new specifically for this collection. But, just think how that simple gesture could not only help someone in a really practical way, but do wonders for their confidence and ability to shine too!
NEW BENEFICE COMMUNITY VENTURE ……
Repair Cafe
Are you a carpenter, an IT wizz, an electronics expert, bicycle repairer, good with a sewing machine or an all round fixer of things?! If so, we’d love to hear from you.
Why?! Well, Norton Church are considering starting a monthly Benefice Repair Cafe. There is lots to organise before we can launch such an initiative, but the first thing we need to do is see if we can get a group of people together willing be a part of it, perhaps offering their skills once a month for 2 or 3 hours to help people in our communities. If we can, we’ll get everything in place to start the Repair Cafe in September. The idea is that people in our villages who have something that needs mending, can bring it along and, for a voluntary donation to the Benefice, our team will help them fix it! Depending on the skills our volunteers have, we hope that we might be able to help with everything from a torn pocket or a tattered seam, to fixing garden tools, a chair with a dodgy leg, a hoover that’s not living up to expectations, an electronic item that isn’t performing, or a treasured toy that needs attention.
We expect to start this project in early 2026. Already volunteers have come forward with a variety of skills, but we are hoping to increase the size of the team still further. If you would like to be involved, please call/text 07774 803177. Thank you!
From making new connections to helping us value and build each others’ skills, from saving waste to reducing our consumption of new stuff, this is a really positive thing to do, helping us value what we have. So, let’s repair for the planet, for people, for the joy of it and for the community!
Plus, check out our life events page and also what’s on