The Village Store

what had happened to Saul on the Damascus road and what he had been doing since then. So he acted as a go-between and brought Saul and the apostles together. As a result, Saul was accepted into the inner circle of believers and worked with them in Jerusalem.

In particular, he went to the Greek-speaking synagogues preaching the Message of Jesus and debating with them. In all probability, these were the same synagogues that Stephen had preached in before his arrest. And the people reacted against Saul just as they had against Stephen, plotting to kill him.

When the believers heard about this they acted swiftly and took Saul to the port of Caesarea on the Mediterranean coast. There they put him on a ship bound for Tarsus, the city in modern day Turkey where he was born.

This was the prelude to what was to be one of the most amazing adventures in history in which Saul took the Message of Jesus to most of the known world. And even before he got going, he survived two plots to kill him!

Next month: The Adventure begins

A new year dawns and we are still striving to deliver the village store. And I assure you that that is exactly what we are doing. We set out to deliver a pub and a shop, Phase one - the pub, Phase Two - the shop.

Phase One has been more than effectively delivered, despite the best efforts of Covid. As Paula and Andy have evolved their business, a delightful village pub serving excellent food has emerged. And we are heavily immersed in Phase Two. Despite my inherent impatience, these things do just take time. We are intent on delivering the best possible outcome for the village.

Having mentioned the pub, they really do need as much support as is possible during these crippling Covid restrictions. Bouncing around between changing restrictions is a very costly business for them. By the time you read this, we will probably be in a strengthened lockdown after the Christmas relaxations. Consequently, Paula and Andy cannot afford to maintain a full pub service until those restrictions are lifted.

However, they will continue with the excellent takeaway service until such time as they can get back up and running the pub they so desperately want to provide.

In the meantime there is something you could do to help that will cost you absolutely nothing. MCES needs small sums of money to keep the various strands of what we are currently doing going and you could provide that without paying a penny! We are registered with EasyFundraising. All you have to do whenever you shop online, is enter Micheldever Community Enterprise Society on the EasyFundraising website. The first time you use this platform and the supplier you wish to access (there are some 4,600–including Amazon!), you will then be linked directly to that supplier’s website. Your shop and MCES gets a small percentage of your purchase value as a donation from the supplier - and it costs you nothing! Please go to www.easyfundraising.org.uk and start some revenue generation for us. If you are unsure of how to do this, contact Charles on charlesholden1@hotmail.co.uk.