The Archbishops of Canterbury and York are calling for Church of England churches to put public worship on hold and become a “different sort of church” in the coming months to face the challenge of coronavirus.

We will adopt this immediately in the Wykeham Benefice. This is obviously a sensible precaution, particularly for parishes such as ours with a large proportion of older or vulnerable people who are members of the congregations.

I hope that churchwardens will agree to the Archbishops’ suggestion that all churches should be kept open for as much of each day  as possible for private prayer. Our parishioners may need them.