Directory

You can search the diocesan database for parishes and mission communities and to find out contact details for clergy, readers and parish officers, where they have given their permission to be included.

Church Details for St. Helen

Mission Community: Torridge Coastal
Benefice: Abbotsham
Deanery: Hartland
Archdeaconry: Barnstaple

Clergy in the Mission Community

The Rev Derek Arnold
Team Rector

The Rectory, Fore Street, Northam, Bideford, EX39 1AW
Tel: 01237 721723
Email The Rev Derek Arnold

The Rev Roger Elks
Team Vicar

7 Shepherds Meadow, Abbotsham, Bideford, EX39 5BP
Email The Rev Roger Elks

Church details

St. Helen (Parish Church)
Abbotsham
EX39 5AP

Parish officers

Churchwardens

Ms ShirleyAnn Edmondson
Tel: 01237 470447
Email Ms ShirleyAnn Edmondson

Mr Martin Wilson
Tel: 01237 420946
Email Mr Martin Wilson

PCC Secretary

None listed

PCC Treasurer

Mr John Butler
Tel: 01237 472265
Email Mr John Butler

Readers

None listed

“Rainbow of hope” as Devon’s churches offer wide spectrum of Easter worship

The Bishop of Exeter has drawn on the image of the rainbow as a symbol of hope in his Easter message as Christians across Devon prepare to celebrate Easter weekend at home rather than in church buildings. All churches are currently closed as part of the Government’s coronavirus restrictions but church services, meetings and social gatherings are continuing online through platforms like Zoom, Facebook, Youtube, Stableyard and via phone. Bishop Robert has recorded an Easter…

New community “coronavirus” cab is blessed

A new community “coronavirus” cab to transport people to routine hospital appointments during the pandemic has been officially blessed by the Right Reverend Mark Rylands, an assistant Bishop in the Diocese of Exeter. The former black taxi was bought second-hand by the League of Friends of Ashburton and Buckfastleigh Hospital as a means of transporting elderly and vulnerable patients whilst maintaining social distancing. Taxis have a glass partition which separates the passenger from the driver…

Easter mystery play going ahead despite coronavirus restrictions

A Devon vicar is planning to go ahead with a group performance of a traditional Easter passion play despite the coronavirus restrictions, by turning it into an audio play instead. Father Daniel French, vicar of Salcombe and Marlborough, said: “Six years ago a number of us in Salcombe performed a medieval mystery play on Good Friday around the town in the style of pop-up theatre. “In the light of coronavirus a lot of people have…

Bishop blesses new foodbank warehouse

The Bishop of Exeter has blessed Exeter Foodbank’s new storage facility during a short ceremony. The warehouse has just been completed and the blessing took place on 21 March, before stricter social distancing guidelines came into force. Exeter Foodbank is providing emergency food supplies to around 280 people per week and distributes about three tonnes of food. Many of its regular volunteers are over 70 and are now self-isolating. “Even giving a tin of peas…

Trainee priest stranded in Solomon Islands

A young trainee priest is trying to get home to the UK after becoming stranded in the Solomon Islands when flights were cancelled because of the coronavirus outbreak. Sam Rylands, 30, whose parents are both priests in the Diocese of Exeter, is believed to be the only Briton stuck there. He had been on a visit to the Melanesian Brotherhood, an Anglican Christian community in Tabalia with an official link to the Church of England…