Chagford is a beautiful and welcoming place to live! But its location on the edge of Dartmoor’s High Moorland, some 10 miles from Okehampton and 21 miles from Exeter with no significant bus service, can create social isolation, particularly for young children and their carers, and teenagers after they return from school or college.
Children and young people are always welcome at all church services, and particularly at our regular Family Service of the second Sunday of every month at 9.30am. We also run a contemporary Worship Band service on the first Sunday of every month from 6-7pm that appeals to the teenage age group.
The following Christmas services have an emphasis on the younger element of our community:
| 14th December, 4pm | Christingle |
| 18th December, 2pm | School Christmas Service |
| 24th December, 6pm | Carols in the Square |
| 25th December, 9.30am | Christmas Family Service |
We provide other opportunities for young people to meet with their peer group to help to reduce social isolation.
For the under-fives, Little Angels meets every Friday morning, in term time from 9.30 to 11am. The group is run by two volunteers per session and children with parent(s)/carer are welcome for songs, dance, bible stories, toys and games, with refreshments for all.
For children in school years 5 & 6 attending Chagford Primary School church volunteers run an after-school JAM club [Jesus-and-Me] on Wednesdays between 3.30 and 4.30pm. It provides for a relaxed and fun opportunity to use games and craft activity to illustrate a theme or bible story leading to through the group spontaneous discussion to enable the exploration of a moral/theological question.
For the secondary school ages, the church was party to the creation and provides continued funding of the Chagford Youth Project. It employs a trained youth worker, Ellie. She and a number of volunteers provide a variety of group activities during term time:
| Tuesdays, 4.30-6pm | Youth Club for school years 7&8, in Endecott House |
| Wednesdays, 6.45-7.45pm | Drama Club for school years 7&8, in Church |
| Wednesdays, 7.45-9pm | Drama Club for school years 9+, in Church |
| Thursdays, 5-7pm | Youth café for school years 9+, in the Old Forge Café |
They also organise numerous one-off events throughout the year, details of which can be found at the Chagford Youth website or email Ellie at .
We also offer children in school years 6+ the opportunity to join in with our Bellringing Team. We have two training bells that make bellringing available to all, and look and feel like real bells. They even make a bell ringing sound. Our tower captain has excellent training skills and as a retired teacher puts everyone at ease. Bellringing teaches teamwork, coordination and listening skills, and is well known to build confidence and focus, teach the handling of nerves, and provide a sense of community and accomplishment. If you are interested email Jon at .
