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October News

The Friends of St Mary’s new Chairman, Colin Dixon, writes:

We had a very successful Pimms Tent at the Hawkesbury Show, equalling other years’ profits and boosting FoSM’s depleted coffers after the bells and refurbishments projects at the Church.

THANK YOU, SIR IAN

It is with some sadness that we report that Sir Ian Macfadyen has recently resigned as the Chairman of the Friends and the committee. However despite his resignation he managed to collect almost £1,000 in donations – he should perhaps leave more often!

On that note, Ian will not be leaving FoSM for good because we have just elected him a Vice-President of the Friends for his tremendous work in raising funds for the Church and acting as the Chairman for the past 15 years. Congratulations, Ian, it is well deserved.

From left to right: Sir Ian Macfadyen, the Rev Richard Thomson, Bishop Rachel of Gloucester & Churchwarden Linda Fairney

PIMMS TENT PAYS FOR CLIPPING OF CHURCH YEWS

Our most recent project has been the clipping of the yew hedges around the Church which is an expenditure that FoSM has traditionally taken on . The yews are now looking wonderful and they set off the Church perfectly.

It is fortuitous that the profits made on the Pimms Tent at the Show exactly matches the expenditure on the yew hedge clipping and has done for years. Buy a Pimms and clip a hedge!

In the spring we removed some old and dangerous pine trees that have overshadowed the Church, leaving a clear space and allowing a tremendous amount of additional light into the Church.

WANTED: NETTLE-PULLERS!

However the nettles – identifying a niche in the market – have now overtaken the space released by the trees and need to be removed. We need nettle-pulling volunteers with stout gloves and a stout heart – send me an email at coldix365@gmail.com and we will arrange a foray into the undergrowth.

FUTURE PROJECTS

We have identified a number of potential projects for the future which we could raise funds for and our help is needed even more after the Covid lockdowns and the Church’s depleted earnings. We will be covering them in more detail in later issues.

ST MARY’S NEEDS YOU MORE THAN EVER!

By signing up to the Friends of St Mary’s, you are making a statement that our beautiful Church is worth preserving and keeping it at the heart of the community. To find out more about joining FoSM, click here.

OCTOBER SERVICES

3rd October – 9.30am Holy Communion
10th October – 6pm Harvest Festival Evensong
17th October – 9.30am Morning Praise
24th October – 6pm Evensong

Join the Livestream Broadcast of the Dedication of the Bells

On Friday 10th September at 1.30pm, the Bishop of Gloucester will visit St Mary’s Hawkesbury for a historic service to dedicate our new ring of eight bells, the restored tower and refurbished vestry.

It will be an exuberant service full of music, with the bells rung both by the new Hawkesbury Bell Ringers and an invited guest band of expert ringers, and singing by the church choir and by the top class from Hawkesbury Primary School.

Wherever you are in the world, you are warmly invited to join us online for the service via this livestream link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qs2chovwn7c&feature=youtu.be

September 2021 News

Lisa Overton, Secretary of the Friends of St Mary’s, provides our latest news round-up:

AGM

The Friends of St Mary’s Hawkesbury held their Annual General Meeting on Sunday 25th July, happily in the church, followed by a beautiful choral evensong with the choir singing for the first time in the church for months. It was a very positive and cheering occasion as it marked not only a gradual return to normality, but also the completion of the excellent conservation work on the tower, the installation of the new bells and the re-ordering of the vestry, all to great acclaim and satisfaction.

At the meeting, our Chairman Sir Ian Macfadyen reported on the success of the tower and bells projects and recorded the Friends’ enormous thanks to all those who have contributed to them, and especially to John and Stephanie Appleby for their great generosity in giving the bells to St Mary’s and for funding their installation. The Friends had contributed the sum of £55,000 towards the conservation of the stonework of the tower. A full record of all those who contributed to both projects would be kept permanently in the church.

He paid tribute to the excellent work done by Matthew Higby for his work in engineering the bells, to Jessica Holland of Insalis, Architects, Richard Thompson and Keith Hoskins of Carrek Ltd of Bristol for the stonework conservation, new bell-ringing platform and fitting out of the vestry.

The Chairman recorded too, with sadness and remembrance, the death of Gordon Beresford who with Mary had been such a long-standing and generous support of the Friends. Sadly too, the Friends had not been able to hold any fund-raising events during the year owing to the restrictions imposed by Covid-19, but was hopeful that events could begin again in the autumn. He thanked Debbie Young for her excellent work updating and maintaining our website, which has been invaluable during the year of lockdowns.

Finally he thanked the Treasurer, Mike Bendry, for his unstinting work dealing with the financial complexities of the two major projects, and the rest of the Committee for their support. He announced his retirement as Chairman after three terms, and wished the Friends every success in future.

Generous thanks were extended to Sir Ian for all he has done for the Friends and St Mary’s over so many years.

The meeting approved the accounts for the year, re-elected the auditor, and then elected Colin Dixon as the new Chairman, and the rest of the committee as given below.

Vice-Chairman: William Fairney; Treasurer: Mike Bendry; Secretary: Lisa Overton; members Linda Fairney, Pauline Setterfield, Peter Setterfield, Debbie Young, Mary Davies, Mary Beresford, Neil Fozard, Hilary Rogers.

Many thanks to all those who helped in the Friends’ Pimm’s Tent at the Hawkesbury Show.

COMING EVENTS

There will be a medieval banquet in honour of St Wulfstan on Saturday 23rd October at the Beaufort Arms in aid of the Friends of St Mary’s. This marks the tenth anniversary of the dedication of a stained glass window to St Wulfstan at St Mary’s Church on 23rd October 2011 to celebrate his millennium.

Our annual FOSM Service of Nine Lessons and Carols will take place on Sunday 19th December.

MEMBERSHIP

We are very keen to recruit new members of the Friends of St Mary’s as we emerge from the constraints of the last 18 months. You do not have to belong to the Church of England or be a parishioner, just be someone who would like to support our beautiful parish church and preserve it for future generations to enjoy.

Subscriptions are:

Annual membership – £10 singe, £15 joint
Life membership; – £200 single, £250 joint

Subscriptions are due 1st August each year. If you are a UK taxpayer and would like to GiftAid your subscription, we can supply the relevant form, which can be signed and returned along with a cheque or online donation to our Treasurer, Mr Michael Bendry, 14 Hunters Mead, Hawkesbury Upton GL9 1BL.

SEPTEMBER SERVICES

We are delighted that we are now able to hold services in St Mary’s again. Please bring masks when you come to church and obey the social distancing rules. Our sidesmen will help to keep everything in order.

5th– 9.30am – Holy Communion
12th – 6pm – Evensong
19th – 9.30am – Morning Praise
26th – 6pm – Evensong

Online video services will continue to be streamed at 10am at www.youtube.com/c/badmintonbenefice