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Author: Richard Bartlam

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Charity Begins at Home

Sometimes charity begins at home

We are very privileged

We all live together in a very safe part of the country, with little COVID, little crime, in our small village of Stinchcombe. Stinchcombe has great community spirit. During lockdown, we knew that if we needed it, we could turn to our own community for help. In fact, around a third of all households came forward and volunteered to help others.

Our neighbour needs help

However, we have in our midst one neighbour who survives on charity. She lives at the centre of our village and is always there for us. Most of us do not visit her except for the odd visit once or twice a year. However, we would all miss her if she was forced to leave.

No Income with Bills to pay

During Lockdown, she had no income because no-one visited and still there is no real likelihood of any income from her usual sources for sometime. Unfortunately, like all of us, her house has bills to pay.

Is this the time to get together?

But if any provide not for his owne, & specially for those of his owne house, hee hath denied the faith, and is worse then an infidel.

1 Timothy 5:8, King James Bible, 1611:

So, at this time, I am asking the people of Stinchcombe; Is this the time that Charity should begin at home and that we AS A Community should now come forward to support our Church of St Cyrs? To keep a vicar, to keep its doors open for the future and to keep it from withering away.

There are approximately 150 houses in Stinchcombe and if every household gave £25 per year (£2 per month) that would be £3750. Enough to pay the current insurance bill.

£50 per year per house would go a long way to securing the long term future of the Church and Vicar in Stinchcombe.

The questions to ask

I guess the questions we should ask ourselves are:

  • Do you want to continue to live in a village with a church in the long term?
  • Do you think that a church adds value to your community?
  • What would the community of Stinchcombe be like without the Church at its centre?

How to give

  • You can read more about the funding of St Cyrs on the churches website
  • You can donate a single one-off amount at Give a Little (gift aid can be added during payment)
  • You can set up a Standing order or making a BACS payment to
    • Stinchcombe Parochial Church Council
    • NatWest Sort Code: 55-61-38   Account: 03709450
  • You can talk to the Vicar Fiona

Charity Choir Competition Conservation COVID-19 Dursley Rugby Club Dursley Rugby Football Club Elections Footpaths Friends of St Cyr friends of st cyrs Fun Fundraising Hidden Gardens History House Histories Information Local History Open 2 All Our Environment Parish Council Parish Council News Post Box Ride&Stride Ride and Stride RNLI Roads Road Safety Rugby Club Scams Speeding Speedwatch st Cyr St Cyrs Stinchcombe Playground Stinchcombe Social Stroud District Council Testing TGIF Tyndale Arts Village Hall Virtual Village What's on Wildflowers WWT

Coronavirus

COVID Comparisons

Comparing Countries to the UK

I have not written anything about COVID for some time so with the news about the US President I thought it would be a good time to compare the UK against other countries to see just how well the UK is actually doing. Most people can make their own minds up, but knowledge is power. To keep any comparison meaningful all figures are per 1M of the population and are taken straight from Worldometer

CountryCases / 1M
USA22,773
Spain17,340
France9,028
Ireland7,485
UK6,872
Italy5,293
Total Cases per 1M of Population

Immediately what this shows is that because of our population size we actually do compare favourably with other EU countries who are all struggling to contain the virus. The surprise to me was Ireland who I thought was doing so much better than the UK. The second table I want to show is just how much Testing is done.

CountryTests done / 1M
UK368,482
USA330,529
Spain272,116
Ireland243,989
Italy191,474
Total Tests done per 1M of Population

To me, this simple table shows that it’s not the total number of test done but who, when and why…i.e.the QUALITY of the testing. Getting the results back fast, contacting the correct person and the population acting upon the information.

Lastly below is the current Cases per million of population from Ourworld in Data.

On 1st September, the UK rate was 19.48 cases per million, just below the government’s quarantine rate for other countries of 20 per M. Today it stands at 92.4 On July 8th it was 8.65. Where has it all gone wrong?

My own personal conclusions and predictions

Are the UK Gov doing better than others? I’d say at most average. They lost the confidence and respect of the general public a long time ago and leadership and accountability is completely lacking together with a complete lack of joined up thinking. Hence the Poll of Polls shows their 23% lead is down to 1%. However here are my current predictions on 3rd Oct.

  • There will be no 2nd UK wide lockdown
  • This second wave is “peaking”
  • This second wave could have and should have been avoided.
  • The UK governments “Track and Trace” is the single best weapon to fight COVID infections, and it still does not work. Just watch this weeks Panorama. (see below)
  • We will still be talking about COVID this time next year

Charity Choir Competition Conservation COVID-19 Dursley Rugby Club Dursley Rugby Football Club Elections Footpaths Friends of St Cyr friends of st cyrs Fun Fundraising Hidden Gardens History House Histories Information Local History Open 2 All Our Environment Parish Council Parish Council News Post Box Ride&Stride Ride and Stride RNLI Roads Road Safety Rugby Club Scams Speeding Speedwatch st Cyr St Cyrs Stinchcombe Playground Stinchcombe Social Stroud District Council Testing TGIF Tyndale Arts Village Hall Virtual Village What's on Wildflowers WWT

Views Expressed in this article are my own personal views.

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