A SPECIAL service of remembrance is being held in the Parish Church of All Saints on Sunday to remember those lost during the covid pandemic.

The community service, organised by Albery & Redstone Funeral Directors and taken by the Rev Stephen Cook, will give people a chance come together to light a candle in their memory in the company of others. Names of the departed will be read out during the service.

Rev Cook explained that the service’s act of remembrance chimes in with All Souls’ Day on November 2, the traditional time for recalling the faces of departed loved ones.

David Albery, owner of the funeral directors, said all are welcome. ‘You don’t need to be of a religious background to attend or have a faith at all; please use the opportunity for reflection and remembrance,’ he said.

Mr Albery added: ‘It is a community-based event. I just thought that it has been 18 months since the start of the pandemic and we are now able to have services, so we felt it would be good to hold a remembrance service for those who have suffered bereavements over the past 18 months.

‘They have had to endure restricted funeral arrangements and have not been able to hold the services they would have liked. This is open to all families to attend; not just those we have looked after or who have lost a loved one during the pandemic. It is a time for people to come together as a community in remembrance and celebration of loved ones gone before.’

Rev Cook said: ‘A lot of people over the past 18 months or so haven’t been able to hold the kind of funeral for their loved ones which they would have liked to have had because of covid restrictions, so we are giving people the opportunity to come together in church to celebrate the lives of people who have died, and not necessarily just in the past 18 months.

‘Names will be read out, there will be an opportunity to light candles, sing hymns and there will be tea and cake afterwards. It is a time to think and reflect. Sunday is All Saints’ Day, and our church is named after All Saints, and it is also the nearest Sunday to All Souls’ Day on November 2.’

The service will be held at the parish church at 4pm on Sunday. To give the church an idea of numbers, please email [email protected], phone 01837 55299 or call into Albery & Redstone Funeral Directors at 15 East Street. You can also give the name of anyone you would like to remember to be read out as part of the service