This service is held at 2.30 P.M. on the first Sunday of each month. It is a worship service for the residents of the new Sanctuary Care Home on the site of the doctors' surgeries at Wantage Cottage Hospital. The home is a modern building with very high standards. It is a secular home but both the law and Sanctuary Care recognize that man has a spiritual or religious aspect and they seek to cater for it. The manager Angela Rance and the activities co-ordinator Heather Haughton are Christians and are keen to have this service. Pastor Paul John led the first one in November 2008 and the service has carried on and there is a rota of the names of those who lead it. This devotional time lasts about twenty minutes including about two or three hymns, prayers at the beginning and end, a reading and a word of explanation & exhortation just over five minutes in length. There is opportunity for chatting with the residents & Heather, when she is there, may accompany you to visit other bed ridden ones to chat with them or pray if you wish. There is also need for musical talent, for people who will play the piano, keyboard and percussion instruments provided, or to bring along your own instrument and accompany the hymns. The Christmas Carol Service in December was very special as about forty residents, staff and visitors attended.

The number of residents gathering has varied from about four to a dozen. It must be said that most of the sixty odd residents are limited to their beds. There is a need of those who may get to know them and visit them. We have been conscious of the difficulty of keeping track of the hymn books we have borrowed. Heather has kindly given us a list of the numbers and first lines to remove the need to borrow a book to choose the hymns from. We are also planning a supplement of about a dozen extra hymns that residents request to be included. We are circulating the book 'Worshipping with Dementia' among those who take the service.

Our church has in this service a helpful ministry to older people. We intend to continue it with God's gracious help. Do come along.

Maurice Glover