This Christmas, Taunton Minster is proud to support Open Door Taunton in their Sack of Smiles appeal — helping to bring warmth, comfort, and hope to those sleeping rough in our community.

Open Door Taunton is a vital support centre for rough sleepers in our town, offering essential care and a place of safety throughout the year. Each Christmas, they invite local people and organisations to help by donating practical gifts and winter supplies for their clients.

🗓 Donations accepted: November 10 – December 18
🕘 Times: 9:30am – 1:00pm, Monday to Friday
📍 Location: 1A Mount Street, Taunton, TA1 3QB
📧 Email: [email protected]

Suggested Gift Items

• Wind-up torches, handwarmers, thermos flasks
• Sleeping bags, roll mats, hats, gloves, and waterproofs
• Rucksacks, thermals, long johns, and hoodies
• Charging leads, power banks, and wet wipes
• E45 cream, breakfast bars, chocolate, and sweets
• Small men’s boxers, XS women’s pants, jogging bottoms
• Bottled water, small juice cartons, and packets of tissues

You can also donate directly via Open Door Taunton’s Amazon Wishlist – visit their website.

Welcoming our New Curate

It is with great joy that we welcome Caryl Plewes to Taunton Minster as she prepares to be ordained on 28th June. Following this significant step into her ministry, we are delighted to announce that Caryl will deliver her first sermon at the Minster on Sunday 13th July, when she will be formally welcomed into our church community.

Caryl joins us at an exciting time of growth and renewal, and we look forward to walking alongside her as she begins this chapter of her vocation. Her presence among us is a blessing, and we are excited to support her as part of our contribute to the future leadership of the wider Anglican church.

Please do join us in prayer and fellowship as we celebrate her ordination and the gifts she brings to the life of Taunton Minster and the wider community.

Welcome, Caryl — we’re so glad you’re here.

Caryl’s Introduction

1. Tell us about yourself –
   • Your family:
     I have two young adult children, both at university.  Mike Eaton, my husband, is a semi-retired engineer and as a keen amateur musician spends much of his non-working time making music with the various bands he belongs to.  We have been married for 23 years.
   • What part of the country you are from?
     My family moved frequently in my childhood, which meant I went to three primary schools and three secondary schools.  We eventually settled in a small village south of Birmingham when I was 13.  I went to school in Edgbaston and then Bromsgrove for my A-levels, so this is where I say I am from.
   • What you like to do in your spare time?
     I enjoy singing and have been part of many choirs and church music groups.  Since having my family I have discovered the joy of tending a garden.  I also enjoy cooking and making things; I have made my own clothes in the past and have just made a rug out of old socks for my youngest daughter to take to university.
2. What did you do before you began your ordination training?
   • My career has been varied, beginning with academic research about fossils before switching career to be a project manager in the NHS.  I moved to Somerset to get married, and while my children were small, became the Parish Administrator for our church, St James in Yeovil.  After this my career took a different turn and I worked as a Family Link Worker for local charity ‘Yeovil 4 Family’.  When my first daughter started school I became a school governor and this led years later to my most recent job with school governance.  It was being made redundant from this job that began my journey towards ordination, exploring an idea that had been in the background since my twenties.
3. Can you outline a little of your faith journey?
   • It was through a teenage school friend that I first found out that Jesus wanted me to choose to follow him and this led me to be confirmed.  However, it was when I went to university that I really began to explore my faith and learn what being part of church meant.  Those university years gave me a love of the Bible, worship and talking about things of faith.  After leaving my university church I moved for jobs and belonged to some very different churches: I spent three years in a small Vineyard church in Redditch, an Independent Methodist church in Warrington and a large Church of England church in Muswell Hill in London.  They all taught me about what church is and even though music styles and liturgy can be very different, I could find a home with others who love Jesus.  After my marriage and our move to Yeovil we settled in St James where we have worshipped since, and this has been the church I have belonged to the longest.  There are blessings and challenges to staying, but this has been the church where I have been encouraged to grow and explore what ministry God is calling me into.  This began with being a Lay Worship Assistant, then a Reader and now being called to Ordination and moving away to follow that call.  My faith has grown and changed over the years, but still rests on my call from Jesus to follow him, trust him and that he will be with me and bless me through whatever arises.
4. And finally if you could tell us one unusual thing about yourself what would it be?
   • My friends and family know that occasionally, when we are out, I will suddenly stop and point out fossils in polished stone floors, walls, or pick up a belemnite or gryphaea fossil oyster in the gravel we are standing on (which I did recently in my mum’s garden).  My good friends admire the find with me, others have been known to march on, away from the embarrassment.

NEW Telephone Number: 01823 213388

The Taunton Minster broadband, WiFi and telephone systems have just been upgraded and we now have a new telephone number. This new number will enable you to reach the various parts of the church organisation.

When you phone, there’s a simple menu system from which you choose who you want to talk to. The most popular will be the office for which you simply dial 01823 213388 and press Option 1. Through the menu, you can also reach:

• The Vestry (Option 2)
• Magdalene’s Coffee Shop (Option 3)
• The Gifts & Books Shop (Option 4)
• The Vicarage (Option 5)

If you know who you want to be in touch with, then you don’t have to listen to the whole menu—just press the Option number you want straight away to get connected.

Please note the new number, update your own phone’s directory and begin using the new number straight away. (Any old numbers you might have a note of will continue to work for now, but in due course they’ll cease.)

All this means we have a telephone system fit for the future (when copper lines end), the broadband in the office is now much faster and the church WiFi has more coverage.

WiFi

The WiFi coverage within the church has been improved and it now has a new network name. So, if your phone or tablet previously connected to ‘Magdalene’s Coffee Shop’, you’ll find that this will no longer appear as an available network.

Instead, you’ll see ‘Taunton Minster Guest’ as a network option. You can sign into this using the password that you have used previously. If you can’t remember the password, then just ask when you’re next in church. Once you have connected to the new network your device should remember it for the future.

(You’ll see other network options available within the Minster, but there’s only public access network which is the ‘Taunton Minster Guest’ option.)

Please note that WiFi is provided based on a fair usage policy and the Minster’s public WiFi is intentionally bandwith limited. You’re welcome to use the WiFi for normal things like website surfing, emails and all the general stuff that we all do. The free WiFi isn’t meant for big downloads, running games, video chats and the like. You can use your own data for those things!

Here’s a QR code for Taunton Minster Guest which you can use when you are within WiFi range to help make your initial connection:

And finally! The church WiFi mentioned already only has a range within the body of the church. So, if you are in the Upper Room, then you’ll need to use the network ‘Magdalene Centre’ (and this connection has not changed, so if you have used it previously, then it’s still the same).

We are delighted to announce that Miles Quick, Taunton Minster’s very own Director of Music, has been awarded the title ‘Associate of the RSCM’.

Miles’ boundless musical energy and professionalism, skilled music directing, accomplished and expressive organ playing and performances, infectious enthusiasm, and profound Christian faith are a rich blessing of God to everyone at Taunton Minster, in the wider Somerset musical world, and way beyond. The Vicar, Churchwardens, PCC, Ministry team and whole congregation are so very pleased that Miles’ dedicated work has been recognised with an ARSCM award.

Each year the RSCM Council confers Honorary Awards on those who have made outstanding contributions to church music.

Associates of the RSCM (ARSCM) – Awarded for achievements in church music and/or liturgy of nationally recognized significance, or for important musical and/or liturgical work within the RSCM that has had an impact across several Area Teams.

The article in the Church Music Quarterly of June 2024 reads: ‘Miles Quick was, until recently, Head of Congregational and Instrumental Music for the RSCM. He has combined a role as Director of Music at Taunton Minster for 12 years with leading and facilitating RSCM events in the Somerset area. He has a positive ‘can do’ attitude, encouraging the musical gifts of others to flourish, including many young musicians in the Taunton area.’

You can see the RSCM Honorary Awards criteria here.

Miles Quick, ARSCM

Miles was born in Taunton and studied music at Durham University and the Royal Academy of Music. He then worked in London at Merchant Taylors’ School and Westminster Abbey, and then for sixteen years in Norfolk at Norwich School. Returning to his Somerset roots, he was Director of Music at Queen’s College, Taunton from 2007 to 2014. Following this, he became Head of Congregational and Instrumental Music at the Royal School of Church Music. In this role he ran workshops and events all over the UK and further afield for six years, and now continues as an RSCM tutor and consultant.

Wells Cathedral announces changes to its admission guidelines

If you enjoy visiting our Cathedral in Wells, then from 22 April you’ll find a change in the admission arrangements. At the moment it is by donation, but from 22 April adult tourism visitors will be asked to contribute to the upkeep with a set admission charge. There will be no charge for people who wish to come into the Cathedral to pray, attend a service or light a candle.

However! If you are on the Electoral Roll of Taunton Minster and live within the Diocese of Bath and Wells, you can apply for a free Wells Cathedral Parish Pass.

You can get the Wells Cathedral Parish Pass application form by clicking here. When you have completed your form, it will need to be signed by one of the churchwardens or the Vicar. You can then take your fully completed form to the Welcome Desk in Wells Cathedral between 9.00am and 4.30pm (11.00am to 3.00pm Sundays) in order to collect your pass.

More on Cathedral admission charges and arrangements by clicking here.

Talking Cafes provide a local place you can pop into, for advice and support from your local Village Agent on anything that is worrying you, or if you just want a friendly chat.

Here at the Minster, the Cafe happens in the friendly atmosphere of the coffee shop. The Cafe is in a dedicated area where you can talk quietly and confidentially.