Community
Bubble Church
Bubble Church is at Thorverton! For under 7s and their families. Arrive 9:15 for breakfast, or join us at 9:30 for the main event. Have a look at our video!: https://youtu.be/fb2qegOqgk4.
“I love this video of Bubble Church at St Thomas of Canterbury Thorverton! Well done to all the team there for putting on what looks like a really fun Bubble Church. For those of you who don’t know we are partnering with a Diocese for the first time – Exeter Diocese, to train a whole load of Exeter churches at the same time in March.” Phillip from Bubble Church HQ.
Bubble Church is a Sunday church service, especially for babies, toddlers and young families. If you have children older than 7 years old, do bring them too; we have lots of things they might like to join in with from greeting/guiding everyone to puppeteering/being a Team Assistant. Bubble Church is a puppet-packed, Jesus-centred, coffee-and-pastry-fuelled, 30 minute kids and families adventure that happens each month, on the third Sunday.
Here’s the deal: you turn up 15 mins before it starts for a pastry and coffee, then you’ll be guided to a ‘bubble’, and you and your little ones will share in 30 minutes of song, story, puppets and prayer.
Where: Thorverton Church, The Bury, Thorverton, EX5 5NU
What time: Arrive around 9:15 am for coffee and pastries.
The service runs from 9:30 to 10am
When: Normally every third Sunday of the month
In 2026 …
Sundays: 15th Feb, 15th March (Mothering Sunday), 19th April, 17th May, 21st June, 19th July, No service in August (but a social time tbc), 20th Sept, 18th Oct, 21st Nov, 20th Dec (and another one 23rd/24th Dec tbc)
Sign up for your family bubble by emailing bubblechurch@netherexe.org to let us know you’re coming.
Please tell us the number of adults, number of children, your names and a contact phone number.
Tractor Jamboree & Country Fair
Thank you to all those who came to the Tractor Jamboree in August 2025 and to all the volunteers who made the day such a success. We are pleased to announce that we raised just over £7,000. Money raised has been split between the charity FCN (The Farming Community Network) to be used in Devon and they will be presented with a cheque for £3,500 at our Mission Community service on 30 November 2025 at Thorverton Church. The remaining funds have been split equally between each of our seven parishes. See, also, the photo gallery. For more details of our day please see our write up: Tractor Jamboree Write Up – the netherexe parishes
Tour write up: Tractor Jamboree Write Up – the netherexe parishes
Other Family Activities
The Netherexe Mission Community churches hold various exciting and interesting one-off and festival-themed activities for children and young people. All children and young people are welcome with any parents, carers or family friends who may like to join in.
Regular family-friendly events are shown in the calendar.
The Bridge Community Centre – Stoke Canon
The Bridge Community Centre is a development of our local church with all the facilities of a modern community centre. It features an excellent audio-visual system, two meeting areas and a large in-the-round worship area.
Located 5 miles north-east of Exeter, the re-ordered interior of our parish church offers an innovative opportunity for people to make use of a peaceful village-centred space in which to meet.
Full details of the facilities at the centre, hire charges etc are included in a tri-fold leaflet which you can obtain by clicking here.
Schools
About 25% of all state primary schools in England are Church of England schools and about 20% of all primary pupils attend these schools. You can find out more at the Church of England website.
There are four primary schools in the Netherexe parishes. Clicking the name of the school below will take you to the school’s website (opens in a new window).
Brampford Speke Church of England primary school
Newton St Cyres primary school
Family history & parish records
We receive many enquiries from people researching the history of their families in this area. We do not hold copies of old parish records from the churches in the Netherexe Mission Community, and in all cases we refer the people to the Devon Heritage Centre where those old parish records are now held.
So, if you are seeking information about your ancestors, please use the links on this page to contact other organisations which should be able to help you further your research. Good luck!
The Devon Heritage Centre exists to collect and preserve the historical records of Devon and to make them available to all who wish to study them. The three record offices which share this task are in Exeter, Barnstaple and Plymouth.
Find out more about the Centre, obtain directions and book your visit.
The Centre operates a professional Research and Copying Service to do research on your behalf in the records they hold.