Groups
Several groups meet regularly. You’re welcome to attend these whether or not you worship at Cotham.
Wellbeing Wednesdays
We all need places and spaces that help us look after our wellbeing. Wellbeing Wednesdays is a gathering of good things going on in our area, offered by local churches, to support wellbeing and mental health.
Calm, Create, Community: 12-2pm at Victoria Methodist Church. A chance to find some calm, take part in creative activities…art, poetry, textiles exploring various themes in supportive community. Mindfulness sessions each Wednesday 12.45-1.15pm also. No need to book just come along when you can. www.vic-methodist-bristol.org.uk
Gardening with Green Cotham: 2-4pm meeting at Cotham Parish Church carpark. Get closer to nature, meet others and help bio-diversity and wildlife in and around Cotham and High Kingsdown. Come and learn in a supportive environment about gardening and how we can support urban wildlife. See more info on Green Cotham lower down this page.
Study Hub – Open again from mid-Jan 2023: A warm, welcoming space to study or co-work if you work from home. Open Wednesday afternoons from 1-5pm, in St Paul’s Upper Room (access via door on Arlington Villas). Tea, toast, warmth and wi-fi, USB charging points and a welcoming atmosphere. Free. All Welcome.
Benefice Art Group
Meets fortnightly on Tuesday mornings. The group is led by practising artist Sara Metelerkamp with different creative projects and practical guidance. Tea, coffee and biscuits are provided and a small donation is requested for materials. You can come to as many or as few sessions as you wish, since each session has its own theme.
Benefice Book Group
The Benefice Book Group is open to any member of Cotham or St Paul’s Church. We meet on the second Thursday of each month from 8pm and usually finish before 10pm. It’s an informal evening hosted by one of the group. It’s a fairly fluid group – members come when they can, and everyone is welcome, even if they have not finished the book (or sometimes even started it!)
Books are chosen in December for the year ahead with the aim of having a varied menu of both fiction and non-fiction. Please contact the group for upcoming titles.
Contact: Rob Booth rbooth3110@gmail.com or 0777 999 1697
For info the rest of 2022’s books click here
| Date 2022 | Title/author/broad genre |
| Jan 14th | Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates |
| Feb 10th | Stammered Songbook: A Mother’s Book of Hours – Erwin Mortier |
| March 10th | Piranesi – Susanna Clarke: A unique and otherworldly fantastical parable … |
| April 14th | The Narrow Road to the Deep North – Richard Flanagan: An ex Japanese POW looks back on his life from old age – 2014 Booker winner |
| May 12th | The Leopard – Guiseppo Tomasi di Lampadusa: A ‘classic’ story of aristocratic decline in Sicily in 1860 during the struggle for Italian unification |
| June 9th | Hamnet – Maggie O’Farrell: Set in 1596 and inspired by the death of Shakespeare’s son from the plague |
| July 14th | The Woodlanders – Thomas Hardy: Classic Thomas Hardy in which the Dorset landscape in a persistent feature |
| Aug 11th | Pompeii – Robert Harris: A well researched fictionalised account of the last days of Pompeii |
| Sept 8th | The Humans – Matt Haig: An alien view of human life: ‘funny, compulsively readable, heartwarming’ |
| Oct 13th | Underland – Robert Macfarlane: A journey into the worlds beneath our feet |
| Nov 10th | Klara and the Sun – Kazuo Ishiguro: A dystopian future told from the perspective of Klara, an ‘Artificial Friend’ |
| Dec 8th | Planning for 2023 |
Time Out Teas
Time Out Teas is a monthly gathering on the first Thursday of the month for tea, cake and sandwiches, and for a chat with friends old and new. There is also a summer outing to the seaside or another place of interest.
Benefice Lent/Advent Groups
During Lent and Advent, and at other times there are ad hoc meetings and discussion groups. For example, in 2020 we explored the poetry of RS Thomas in the ‘Frequencies of God’ book during Advent, we also use lectio divina (sacred reading) of poetry and scripture, and visio divina (sacred looking) using art and images in these groups. They offer a rich, meditative, shared space for contemplation and deepening of faith together.
Food for Thought
This is a fortnightly group meeting on Monday evenings for those in their 20s and 30s. The group shares a veggie meal and a gently reflective discussion finishing with a time of silence.
Green Cotham
Green Cotham is a project run by Cotham Parish Church in partnership with High Kingsdown and other communities in Cotham, inviting people to get closer to nature, meet others and help biodiversity and wildlife in the local area.
Come and learn in a supportive environment about gardening and how we can support urban wildlife.
Sessions will be on Wednesday afternoons 2 – 4pm, meeting in the Cotham Parish Church carpark. The sessions are free, and all tools and gloves are provided, along with refreshments. To book a place, please fill out this form. For any questions, email greencotham@gmail.com
We are delighted to announce we’ve been selected as a Co-op Local Community Fund. So if you are a member of Co-op (£1 to join!) for every £1 you spend, we get 1p and you 2p back! Do think about nominating us as your charity of choice.
Small Groups
Small groups are an important way to nourish our connection with each other and together with God. Three new small groups in the last year, and a new evening Benefice group is starting in February 2023. To paraphrase Rob, a group facilitator, ‘These groups are a joyful, loving and safe space to explore faith and the challenges of life, as we all journey together in community.’If you’re interested in joining a group please get in touch with Pippa or David and they’ll help find the best fit group for you.
Whether you are well-established in the Christian faith, feeling called to a new expression of your faith, or teetering on the edge of any faith, we hope you will find resources, inspiration and good company here with us.
Cotham Parish Church is a registered charity in England & Wales (no. 1132307)