The Friends of St Mary’s Annual General meeting will be held on Sunday 14th August at 5.30pm.
The Friends of St. Mary’s is a charity which has a single purpose – to keep St Mary’s Church available to the Hawkesbury community.
What it does is to raise money to provide the sort of things that the PCC would not be able to fund.
Things such as a new West gate to the Church, a new noticeboard, trimming the yew hedges and mowing the grass around the Churchyard.
FOSM has also been a conduit of donations from benefactors such as the new central heating burner financed by John Appleby.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
You can help with these tasks in a number of ways if you want St Mary’s to continue to be a cultural centre of the Hawkesbury Community:
Become a member of the Friends – join online now
Become a committee member of the Friends – talk to me or Lisa Overton
Support our fundraising ventures – the next one is the Pimms Tent at the Hawkesbury Show
Help occasionally with clearing up the Churchyard – two hours a month?
Become a donor to the Friends – the next big project is the Eco Loo in the Churchyard.
The AGM is where we report on what we have done over the past year and what we are hoping to do in the future.
WHAT IS NEXT?
Hawkesbury Show: join us in our Pimm’s tent at the Hawkesbury Show on Saturday 27th August
Scarecrow Trail: come and see the FOSM Scarecrow at the Church during October (23rd-30th)
FOSM 9 Lessons & Carols Service on 18th December
AUGUST SERVICES
Sunday 7th August Holy Communion (9.30am) Sunday 14th August Evensong ((6pm) Sunday 21st August Morning Prayer (9.30am) Sunday 28th August Ecumenical Songs of Praise in the Show Tent at Hawkesbury Upton Recreation Ground (next to the Village Hall) (11am)
As the wonderful sunny weather starts, so we are back in the churchyard clearing out the weeds and nettles from the south side, where the trees were. Do come down and see the progress – it looks a lot better. If you have a few minutes to spare, do come down and help.
PLEASE SUPPORT OUR FIRST FUNDRAISER OF THE YEAR
Our next big fundraiser is on the horizon – the Bristol Male Voice Choir and the Hawkesbury Choir in concert on Saturday 14th May at 7.30pm. Our own village choir will also be singing, and their Musical Director Ben Humphries will give an organ recital.
Ticket price includes a glass of wine. Book your tickets online here or buy from Hawkesbury Stores, Colin Dixon or Lisa Overton.
One of the largest and best male voice choirs in the westHawkesbury’s own choir will also be singing some pieces at the concert
CHILDREN’S TALLEST SUNFLOWER COMPETITION
We are pleased to announce our new Children’s Tallest Sunflower contest. We have managed to source some “competition” sunflower seeds. These are the ones that will grow to eight feet tall and more. The seeds are £1 for three, with all proceeds going to the Friends of St Mary’s, but it’s really just a fun competition with a spectacular plant. Adults may buy the seeds for children and offer advice on growing plants. The seeds are available from Hawkesbury Stores, Hawkesbury School and Colin Dixon. The competition will be judged in the last week of August by sunflower expert John Appleby.
JUBILEE BREAKFAST WITH BELLS (Sunday 5th June)
We will have the church open over the Platinum Jubilee weekend and on the morning of Sunday 5th June, after the 9.30am Thanksgiving Service, we will be serving coffee, tea and croissants , with the bells ringing a quarter-peal at the same time.
Come and have breakfast with the sound of the bells overhead!
OPEN WEEKEND (23rd-24th July)
We are still planning our open weekend in July, which will include a ring of bells and Jazz on the Lawn. More details to follow shortly.
MAY SERVICES
Sunday 1st May Holy Communion (9.30am)
Sunday 15th May Morning Prayer (9.30am)
Sunday 22nd May Evensong (6pm)
Sunday 5th June Morning prayer (9.30am), followed by Breakfast with Bells
Online video services will continued to be streamed at 10am on the first and third Sundays and live-streamed from Hawkesbury on second and fourth Sundays at www/youtube.com/c/badmintonbenefice
As you saw in last month’s news, we are beginning to get the south side of the churchyard under some control. It is taking a while to wrest it from the clutches of the alder, laurel and nettles, but we are making good progress. Do come and join us! We are next having a churchyard clearing session on Saturday 9th April.
CURRENT PROJECTS
After the forced cessation of our fundraising for the past two years courtesy of Mr Covid, we are back in business! Fundraising for St Mary’s is our raison d’être, so it has been a difficult two years.
Despite being unable to fundraise over the past two years and paying out vast sums of money for the bells and to assist with the refurbishment of the church, we still have a healthy balance in the accounts, and have been doing our other job, which is to help with irregular outgoings for the church.
Many of you will have seen the sad condition of the west gate of the church and that that it was about time it is replaced. Probably the same can be applied to the noticeboard by the side of the west gate, which is also in a poor state. The Friends thought so too and have commissioned a new noticeboard and a new gate, so watch this space – actually, it’s probably better to watch the west side of the church!
The new LED energy-saving light bulbs have been installed in the church, and they seem to be very good replacements. The Friends contributed £1,000 towards the cost of the lighting and their installation. The new bulbs use less than 10% of the energy of the previous bulbs for the same amount of light, giving considerable savings in energy costs.
The new lights were installed in time for our Ukraine vigil on 1st April
NEW EVENTS FOR 2022
BRISTOL MALE VOICE CHOIR CONCERT (14th May)
Our first fundraising venture of 2022 is the concert by the Bristol Male Voice Choir on 14th May. Tickets are now on sale via Eventbrite here, from committee members, and from the Hawkesbury Stores.
This concert has been planned for the past three years, and it is good that we have now got it off the ground. In addition to the Bristol Male Voice Choir, we also have our own St Mary’s Choir in the programme, and the amazing Ben Humphries playing the church organ during the interval.
OPEN CHURCH WEEKEND (23rd-24th July)
We are currently planning an Open Church Weekend in July with the bells being available to ring and access to the bells themselves for the energetic. There will be other activities including music and picnics in the garden of Church Farm House.
James Joynson’s beautiful working model of a full-circle bell will be on display at our Open Weekend – James, Bell Master for the Wotton branch of the G&BDABR, is pictured above left presenting the model to Tower Captain and FOSM Chairman Colin Dixon
FOMS AT HAWKESBURY SHOW (27th August)
We will be running our ever-popular Pimms tent at the Hawkesbury Show on 27th August so make sure it is in your diary to come and visit us. We will be in our new position on the far side of the arena near to the Hawkesbury Stores and Hawkesbury Upton Literature Festival tents.
HAWKESBURY SCARECROW TRAIL (23rd-30th October)
The Friends will again be entering a scarecrow in the Hawkesbury Scarecrow Trail over the autumn half term. The theme has yet to be decided by the Pre-school, but the Friends will be actively participating.
Last autumn Bellinda the Bell Ringer was FOSM’s Scarecrow
NINE LESSONS & CAROLS (18th December)
The FOSM Christmas Service of Nine Lessons and Carols will be held on Sunday 18th December at 5pm. This is a wonderful service of readings and carols and is especially good for children. Following the service, mulled wine and mince pies will be served at Church Farm House, courtesy of Christopher and Lisa Overton.
APRIL SERVICES
Sunday 3rd April Holy Communion (9.30am)
Sunday 10th April Palm Sunday Ecumenical Service combined with Methodists, meeting at Farm Pool to walk to the Methodist Chapel (9.30am)
Sunday 17th April Easter Sunday – Morning Prayer (9.30am)
Sunday 24th April Evensong (6pm)
Online video services will continued to be streamed at 10am on the first and third Sundays and live-streamed from Hawkesbury on second and fourth Sundays at www/youtube.com/c/badmintonbenefice
Friends of St Mary's Hawkesbury 