THE HAVEN BEACON
for week beginning
Sunday 4th October 2026
Haven Benefice Church Contacts:
Priest-in-Charge of the Benefice (Day off: Tuesday)
St Peter's, St John the Baptist & St Helen's Church Safeguarding
Revd Karen Wilson on 07591 240640
Email: revdkarenwilson(at)outlook(dot)com
St Helen's and St Catherine's, St Helens
Sue Whitewck on 01983 568761
St Mary’s Brading
Nigel Elton Walters on 07926 995180 (Church Warden)
Safeguarding - Catherine Davis on 07940 826034
St John’s Yaverland
Andrew Watt on 07488 391691 (Church Warden)
Do check out and like our Facebook page: Haven Churches IOW for all our most up to date news
or find us on A Church Near You
St Catherine's
St Helen's
St John's
St Mary's
St Peter's
To add items to this News Sheet please contact Rev Karen
Welcome to The Haven Beacon! Shining Light and Hope Across Our Benefice Parishes
Having been with you now for almost two years, I felt it was the right time for our familiar Pew News sheet to step into a fresh, more dynamic shape. Welcome to the very first edition of The Haven Beacon.
My hope is for The Haven Beacon to be a vibrant, contextual news and information sheet, overflowing with the good, positive, and encouraging stories from across our churches.
You will notice a key change in this new format: we will continue to include all our upcoming services, key notices, and Bible references, but the full text of the readings will no longer be printed on the sheet. Previously, the full scripture texts took up almost an entire page of A4.
By listing the references instead, we free up valuable space to share much more of what God is doing across our benefice.
Bringing Your Bible to Church: I hope you will feel warmly encouraged to bring along your own Bible to services if you like to follow the readings on the page. Alternatively, you are most welcome simply to sit back, listen, and reflect as the scriptures are read aloud.
I assume most parishioners will have a Bible at home to look up the readings in their own time, too. I hope you have a translation that you truly enjoy and find nourishment in. The version I personally use and preach from is the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV). To guide our shared prayer, each Sunday’s Collect will remain a central fixture on this sheet.
Why the New Format? Many of you will know that our local What’s On Magazine now limits article submissions to 500 words (or 250–300 words if we include a photograph). While What’s On is a fantastic window into our community, 500 words is rarely enough space to share the full width and depth of everything happening in our four parishes! The Haven Beacon gives us the room we need to tell our stories, catch up on local news, and celebrate our shared life together.
Farewell & Blessing for Revd Bevaly: We send our warmest love and prayers with Bevaly as she steps into her four-month placement in Ryde. We pray that she immerses herself fully into the pavement ministry, learning and growing in her gifts, and that her time with Heath and the team in Ryde is happy, fruitful, and blessed.
Looking ahead….
Brading Coffee Morning: 10th October from 10am in the church hall. Joined by The Friends of The Animals. Homemade cakes, tea, coffee and a good catch up!
St Helen’s Coffee Morning: Saturday 10th October from 10am. St Helens Community Centre. Home made cakes, raffle and book stall.
Mother’s Union Service of Holy Communion: Thursday 8th October at 10am in St Peter’s Church.
Calling all fury, feathered and scaly friends! A celebration of our animal companions on Sunday 11th October at St Helen’s Church at 3pm. Dogs on leads please and other furry creatures in pet carriers. If you intend to bring a large animal they will be blessed at the church door. A service for all of the family. Revd Karen is trying to love all things arachnid, please warn her if you are bringing Tony the Tarantula!
‘Just As I Am’ service: Sunday October 25th in the church hall of St Mary’s church in Brading. Join us for 'Just As I Am'—a short, gentle, cafe-style gathering filled with familiar hymns, simple prayers, and short scripture readings. Specially designed for those who find attending standard services difficult due to frailty, illness, or cognitive loss, this friendly space offers a relaxed environment where everyone is welcome exactly as they are. Refreshments will be served—we would love you to join us.
Collect for Sunday 4th October
God, our judge and Saviour, teach us to be open to your truth and to trust in your love, that we may live each day with confidence in the salvation which is given through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen
Post Communion Prayer
We praise and thank you, O Christ, for this sacred feast: for here we receive you, here the memory of your passion is renewed, her our minds are filled with grace, and here a pledge of future glory is given, when we shall feast at that table where you reign with all of your saints forever. Amen
Readings: This Sunday is a special service for Harvest and John’s retirement and our reading will be The Gospel as in John 6:26–35a.
Sunday 11th October: Brading: SOW at 9.30am. Yaverland: Sung Eucharist at 11am. St Helen’s: Sung Eucharist at 9.30am.
Please do use our website, which is updated regularly, to follow all of the news and articles from around the benefice.
Thank you for being part of this new chapter. May The Haven Beacon be a light that keeps us connected, inspired, and rooted in God’s love!
