The Rev Dorothy Noakes presided at parish communion on the third Sunday in Lent, assisted by Canon David Miller and Betty Booker, lay reader.

The Rev Jane Bradbury began her sermon by admitting that research has proved that, after 30 minutes, most people have forgotten what it was about, but she nevertheless persevered with a very interesting examination of Jesus’ meeting and discussion with a Samaritan woman, of dubious reputation, at Jacob’s Well. Essentially, an outcast met the divine and, as a result, went on to found a community of faith in her town, offering a lesson to us all about judging without full possession of the facts.

Rebecca Greenough read the lesson and Michael Thomas led the prayers. The choir, accompanied by Richard Berry and directed by Chris Bradbury, sang a beautiful anthem by Herbert Howells, “Like the hart desireth the waterbrooks” a setting of Psalm 42.