News

Thanks be to God for the Harvest

Our Holy Communion Service to celebrate Harvest took place on Sunday 9th October, led by Rev'd Liz Morris and in a church filled with glorious Autumn flowers, kindly donated and arranged by Dorothy Browne. Throughout the service we were reminded of the importance of the gifts of nature and of our responsibility to respect and use them well, beginning with a special Prayer of Penitence:

God our Father,we are sorry for the times when we have used your gifts carelessly, and acted ungratefully. Hear our prayer.

We sang the traditional and well-loved Harvest hymns and were delighted to welcome Rev'd Louise Courtney as our Preacher. As an Anthem, the Choir gave us Maurice Greene’s beautiful setting of Psalm 65, “Thou visitest the earth, and blessest it and blessest it, and crownest the year, the year with thy goodness”.The Harvest gifts, displayed on a table as we entered the church, were passed on to the local foodbank, Secours Populair Francais.

Wonderful summer concerts at Monteton

On Friday and Saturday 15^th/16^th July, we were treated to two wonderful concerts given by The Becket Consort, a professional chamber choir from the UK, led by our choir leader's elder son George Inscoe, currently an assistant organist at Norwich Cathedral. These talented young singers of The Becket Consort, (who are already making waves in the music world, both in the UK and abroad, one soprano having to dash back to take part in the BBC proms!), gave of their time and expertise freely, in order to raise funds for our Chaplaincy and its charities and we are supremely grateful to them. Both concerts were well attended by both French and English, over 70 people on Friday and over 80 on Saturday. Many thanks to all those involved in the events.

Warm welcome to David Flood for Evensong at Monteton

Joyful Easter worship at Monteton

On Easter Day, our Chaplain Tony led a most glorious celebration with a service abounding in incense, (Roger in the role of Thurifer), many “Hallelujahs”, including Handel's great Chorus sung by the Choir, and also, a wonderful and very moving solo rendition by Peps Inscoe, our Choir Leader, of the aria “I know that my Redeemer liveth”. Many thanks to all those involved in the organisation of our Lent and Easter services, clergy, musicians, organists and singers. Especial thanks to Dorothy Browne who provided the flowers for Easter and made the exquisite arrangement behind the altar. It was good to see a full church at Easter, with many familiar faces back with us and to meet newcomers and holiday visitors, including little Emily who behaved so beautifully throughout! We can now meet for a drink and a chat after a service, thanks to Penny on duty once again, serving us coffee and delicious cakes. Hallelujah indeed!

Palm Sunday procession at Monteton

We were blessed to be able to gather outside the church for a procession on Palm Sunday.

Mothering Sunday at Monteton

What joy to gather for worship on Mothering Sunday at Monteton. We held a Collection for our local charity 'Secours Populaire Français'....beautiful Lavender bags me by Norma were handed out to all the ladies. We were delighted to enjoy refreshments which were served after a 2 year break.

Blessed to gather for Christmas Carols this year!

Church Banner

A particular thank you to Norma Eckett for the magnificent textile church banner she has produced from ‘bricks’ contributed by members of the Lot et Garonne congregations, and which hangs in rotation in each of the churches.

Events

July 15th and 16th - The Becket Consort performs at Monteton

A sumptuous Summer Musical Weekend on the evening of Friday 15th July and the evening of Saturday 16th July, when the Monteton congregation will be hosting the Becket Consort, a professional chamber choir from the UK, for two exciting programmes. This group performed here previously in 2019 to great acclaim. On Friday 15th at 19.00, (7.00pm), there will be a programme of favourite arias and ensembles from well-loved operas and on Saturday 16th at 17.00,(5.00pm), there will be a programme of choral miscellany from some of the greatest composers of the genre. These events replace the planned repeat visit of the Consort in 2020 which was cancelled due to the confinement.

On line booking is now closed, but the box office will be open for ticket purchases at Monteton Church for both Friday and Saturday concerts from 6.00pm for the Friday Concert and 4.00pm for the Saturday Concert.

For more information, please contact: Adrian Inscoe on 05 53 79 14 83 or +447771 957741

This is a fund-raising event for Chaplaincy supported charities so please do come and bring your friends!

Monthly Saturday morning Drop-in Coffee and Cakes

The monthly ‘drop-in’ Coffee and Cakes mornings have resumed; please contact Norma for the next date. From 10.00 am until 12:00 noon, at Norma and Leslie’s home Le Bousquet, 47120 Auriac sur Dropt, situated on the D668 between Allemans du Dropt and Duras.

Entry will be 5 euros, well worth it for the mouth-watering goodies that members of our Monteton congregation are renowned for producing! Join us perhaps between shopping or other Saturday tasks, to meet with friends – or to introduce new ones - and to have a chat! Proceeds from the event will go to Chaplaincy supported charities. If you plan to attend, for catering purposes just let Norma know on 05 53 93 53 86 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The New Road Group: meets the last Monday of each month

The New Road Group is a self-help group for bereaved people. It meets on the last Monday of each month from 15h30 – 17h30. If you know of anyone who might be interested, please contact Rev'd Liz Morris on 05 53 23 40 51 for further information.

Explore Silence group meets on Wednesday mornings

The Exploring Silence Group meets on Wednesday mornings at 10h00. Contact Rev'd Liz Morris, as above, for further details.

2019 Memories

Festive Christmas Carol service at Monteton (2019)

Our Ecumenical Service of Lessons and Carols took place on the evening of Tuesday 10 th December to a congregation of French and English who filled the church to overflowing! The Roman Catholic Priest, Abbé Taillade, who led the service along with our Chaplain, Tony, gave a very emotive and heartfelt introduction urging us all to work together in these troubled times, an especially apt sentiment during the lead-up to the British General Election! Hazel led us into “Away in a Manger” with a beautiful soprano solo and it was, as ever, a great privilege to hear some of the well-known Readings spoken in the French language, as it was to hear lovely French Carols such as “Noel Nouvelet”, and “Il est né le Divin Enfant” amongst the English ones. After the service, traditional mince pies and mulled wine were served, a great opportunity to talk with visitors, both English and French. Thank you to all those who made this wonderful annual event possible, clergy, readers, choir, to organist Adrian (who flew out to France especially to play for us), to those who prepared the church and to those who prepared the refreshments, particularly Penny and Roger who made and served the delicious mulled wine!

Blessed Harvest celebration at Monteton

On Sunday 29th September, Rev'd Liz Morris led us in a wonderful service of Holy Communion in celebration of Harvest. The church was a feast of colour, decked with autumnal flowers, fruit and foliage and many gifts of non-perishable goods were displayed in front of the altar, later to be taken to the local branch of “Secours Populaire de France”. We enjoyed singing harvest hymns and the choir gave us John Rutter’s joyful “Look at the World”, a great favourite at Monteton.

Delightful concert

The Monteton Concert on Saturday 21st September, “The Other Side of the Choir”, was a delightful event where members of the choir were able to display their other musical – and dramatic – talents, alongside favourite choir repertoire pieces! So, we began with three familiar Spirituals sung by the full choir, then a beautiful Largo from a Sonata by Loeillet on treble recorder, oboe and piano, played by Marjorie, Jane and Angela. Then two solo pieces, one by our wonderful bass Graham, “I’ll walk beside you”, (an absolute tear-jerker), and the lovely, melancholy “Send in the Clowns”, from Gill Strachan, then a hilarious performance by Philippa and Brian of Harry Belafonte’s “There’s a hole in my bucket”.

On from the sublime to… well..! Neil Diamond’s “I’m a believer”, (remember the version by The Monkees?), this performed by the group from the choir who were asked to sing it recently at a rather posh wedding, complete with tambourine accompaniment and lots of “oohs”! We went on to a groovy “My Funny Valentine” from Philippa, “H.L Wilson” sung by our own tenor George and baritone Adrian, “Les Feuilles Mortes” from Jane with Michael on guitar – Michael then giving us some virtuoso solo guitar pieces and one with Jane on her oboe! We had the French theme again with Trenet’s “La Mer”, on treble and bass recorders, guitar and piano, Marjorie’s version of McCartney’s “Yesterday”, Belinda with Mancini’s “Moon River” on piano, then an amazing performance in costume of “The Doll’s Song” from Offenbach’s “Tales of Hoffman” by soprano Peps, Philippa turning the key as the mad inventor, and with a suitable German accent!

After all the fun, the full choir sung the two beautiful modern versions of “The Lord is my Shepherd”, Goodall and then Rutter,(with Jane on oboe), and we ended with heartfelt congregational singing of the Crimond. A truly memorable evening! Many, many thanks to all our performers, both choir and soloists, and particularly to our accompanists, Angela and Belinda on keyboard and Adrian on the organ, and to those who travelled here especially for the concert! But, where would we be without Marjorie, our Choir Leader? As Philippa puts it so aptly, “the beating heart of all we do!” Proceeds from the post-concert collection amounted to over 500€, to be divided between Chaplaincy funds and ChapAid.

What special summer services!

On Sunday 30th June, Rev'd Liz Morris led us in a Service of Thanksgiving for our Animal Companions (and their owners!), a delightful occasion where we praised God and all his creation in hymns and readings from the beautiful Psalm 104, and from T.S Eliott’s “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats: The Ad-dressing of cats”. The congregation behaved magnificently throughout but it has to be said that given the heat of the day, a good deal of canine snoring could be heard!

On Sunday 14th July, Liz offered us another interesting and different form of worship with an Experimental Celtic Eucharist, a taste of the kind of Communion Service used by the Early Church and which is today continued by the Community at Iona, marked by the directness and simplicity of its Christian message. This was very much set by the tone of the Welcome and Introduction: “Jesus says: Behold I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in”. Thank you to Liz, and to Tina who assisted, for a very moving experience and a lovely way to celebrate both Liz’s and Tina’s birthdays!

Fellowship Lunches

Here is a photograph of one of the Fellowship Lunches.

All are welcome!

Church Banner

A particular thank you to Norma Eckett for the magnificent textile church banner she has produced from ‘bricks’ contributed by members of the Lot et Garonne congregations, and which hangs in rotation in each of the churches.

Click here for the "Monteton Previous News" page

Notices

Recruiting new members for the choir

Monteton Church Choir is hoping to recruit new members. Soprano, Alto, Tenor or Bass, all are welcome to join us. Monteton has had a choir for over 40 years and has built up a tradition of choral singing in the services. If you enjoy singing, then come along, we would be very happy to see you! For more details, please contact the choir director on: 05 53 79 14 83 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Monteton Prayer Chain

Dave Lee is Prayer Chain Co-ordinator for Monteton church, and may be contacted on 05 53 48 42 85 or email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Flowers in Church

The church in Monteton is a listed building and is regarded as the finest Romanesque church in the area. It is a great privilege for us to be able to use such a beautiful building, indeed we are warmly welcomed to do so by local Roman Catholic clergy, the Maire and the Commune.  

Please help us to make it look even more beautiful for our services by providing flowers for a particular Sunday, perhaps in memory of a loved one or for a celebration. A rota for this can be found on the church Notice Board at the end of every service.