Category: Monthly News Report

December 2020 News

Lisa Overton, Secretary of the Friends of St Mary’s, provides our news round-up for December 2020:

AGM

The 2020 AGM of the Friends of St Mary’s took place by Zoom on Sundy 29th November at 4.30pm. We had hoped to be able to hold the meeting in the church, but Lockdown 2 frustrated our efforts. A report of the meeting will be circulated to all Friends as soon as possible.

End-of-Year Message from the Chairman

Ian Macfadyen, Chairman of the Friends of St Mary’s, writes:

By the time the December Parish News is delivered, we hope that much of the work to the vestry will have been completed. With the new bell-ringing chamber accessed via the old tower staircase, elegant oak vestry storage cupboards, much improved lighting and a beautiful glass screen soon to be installed in the Nave. All parts of the project envisaged and funded by much help from FOSM fundraising along with numerous grants and donations.

Our construction company, Carrek Ltd, whose excellent stonemasons have worked in all types of wind and weather upon the scaffolding, has been raking out decayed mortar, replacing worn away stone drip mouldings and applying fresh lime mortar to opened joints and cracks between the stones. The work is truly impressive, and it will be a wonderful day when the cladding and scaffold come down and we see the tower in all its glory early in the new year.

At the same time the new bells, which without Mr John Appleby’s immense generosity we could never have funded, should have arrived in this country from Milan by the end of December and will be prepared for tuning and hanging by Matthew Higby Ltd, our bells engineering company.

None of this great work would have been possible without the energetic support of the Friends over the last eight years, and many others in the parish and beyond, so I would like to extend heartfelt thanks to all of you.

May I also extend Christmas greetings in the hope that we can all be with family and loved ones.

Ian Macfadyen

December Services

At the time of writing, we have no knowledge of changes to services for December, which are listed below, but there may well be alterations as government restrictions change, so please keep an eye on the Badminton Benefice website for up-to-date information, especially for our Christmas services.

Inevitably some of our best-loved Christmas activities will be cancelled or limited this year, but there will be no lack of goodwill from all on the PCC towards parishioners, regular worshippers and visitors. Let us hope that the new year will bring a return to regular worship.

St Mary’s will be open for visitors on Christmas Eve between 4 and 5pm. There will be simple Christmas decorations and families will be especially welcome. Let us hope to be able to return to regular Christmas worship in 2021.

  • 6th (9.30am) Morning Prayer (Holy Communion)
  • 9th (9.30am) Matins
  • 13th (5pm) Carol Service
  • 16th (9.30am) Matins
  • 20th (10am) Morning Praise
  • 23rd (9.30am) Matins
  • 24th (4-5pm) Happy hour to visit the crib
  • 25th (9.30am) Christmas Morning Holy Communion

November 2020

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

2020 AGM

The 2020 AGM of the Friends of St Mary’s will take place on Sunday 22nd November at 4.30 pm in St Mary’s, followed by Evensong at 5 pm. Current restrictions allow us to gather in the church as long as we can be socially distanced, which we believe will be manageable, but if any members are unable or feel uncomfortable about attending in person please let us know and we will try to arrange a virtual connection to the meeting. It would be very helpful if you could let me know if you plan to attend.

Please wear face masks, sanitise on entry to the church, provide your contact details and take a seat where indicated by our ushers.

Friends’ Christmas Service

At the time of going to press, we are still unclear about holding a service for the Friends at Christmas time, and we are very grateful for your understanding about this.

Progress on the Tower Works

As the work on the church tower progresses, the funds raised by the Friends over the last 8 years are being put to a wonderful purpose. We hope to have some photographs taken from the scaffolding very soon, which will show the way in which the stone string-courses and drip mouldings have been cleaned prior to the replacement of decayed stone and new mortar pointing.

This Month’s Services

1st Nov – 9.30am – Holy Communion
2nd Nov – 6pm – Remembering Our Lost Loved Ones
11th Nov – 7pm – Festival of Remembrance
15 Nov – 9.30am – Morning Prayer
18 Nov – 9.30am – Morning Prayer
22 Nov – 5pm – Evenson
25 Nov – 9.30am – Morning Prayer
29 Nov – 5pm – Advent Sunday Service

October 2020

Lisa Overton, FOSM Secretary, provides this monthly round-up of news.

It is very cheering to be able to attend services in our lovely church again, and we send sincerest thanks to Vicar Richard, Organist Ben and our Churchwardens for keeping our services going so well. We hope that before too long we may be able to sing once more. Sometimes we may have groaned at trying to heat, clean and maintain our very large parish church, but just as the moment it means that social distancing is no problem.

Tower Restoration Under Way

Many of you will now have seen the “wrapped” tower, visible for miles, which provides essential protection for the stonemasons who will be working their way down the tower walls in the coming weeks. Carrek, our conservation builders, are being tremendously helpful in letting us continue with worship and access to the churchyard and cemetery and we send them many thanks.

church tower from a distance
St Mary’s beneath its temporary veil

(Debbie Young chose the wrapped tower as the theme for her column in this month’s Parish News, which you can read online via her blog here.)

News of the Yews

The churchyard yews have been trimmed and look really magnificent. Many visitors to the valley and the church comment on the size and character of our yews and we should be justly proud of them, even if we don’t have quite as many as Painswick. 

There are many old country tales about yew and its uses, as well as its dangers. Old Jim Harford once told me that rubbing down a horse’s coat with fresh yew just before an agricultural show produced a gleaming coat. Do you have other folklore and tales about yew?

Can You Help?

We need to clear and clean the church gullies in the coming weeks. If anyone has some spare time to help with this on a fine day, it would be a great help. Please contact me if you can offer a hand.

Diary Date: Parochial Church Meeting

The APCM (Annual Parochial Church Meeting) will take place on Sunday 25th October following the service of Evensong. As the clocks go back that day, the service will start at 5pm with the meeting at 5.30pm. 

This Month’s Services

4th October – 9.30am – Holy Communion
7th October – 9.30am – Morning Prayer
11th October – 6pm – Evensong
14th October – 9.30am – Evening Prayer
18th October – 9.30am – Morning Praise
21st October – 9.30am – Morning Prayer
25th October – 5pm – Evensong
28th October – 9.30am – Morning Prayer
2nd November – 6pm – Remembering Our Loved Ones
4th November – 9.30am – Morning Prayer