Tag: bells

April 2023 News

Colin Dixon, Chair of the Friends of St Mary’s, writes:

Our Next Event

The first Friends fundraiser for 2023 will be on Saturday 22nd April and is the all-day Festival of Words.

This is thanks to the amazing kindness of Debbie Young who has organised the event to benefit the Friends of St Mary’s. Thank you Debbie. The full itinerary and the buying link for tickets is on the Hawkesbury Upton Literature Festival website here. It will be a full day from 10.30am to 5pm with a break for lunch. There will be an optional lunch of quiche, salad and fruit in the Malthouse for £10 per head, bookable only in advance. I shall be giving a talk on the language of bells at the event and there will be a demonstration of bell ringing.

Other Events for 2023

Other Friends’ events for this year will be:

  • An Open Tower Weekend, which was a great success last year – it will be held in the summer and the date will be announced next month.
  • The FOSM AGM will be held this year on Sunday 25th June followed by Evensong.
  • The renowned Friends of St Mary’s Pimm’s Tent which has become established in its new place on the far side of the show ground, on Show Day, Saturday 26th August.
  • We are anticipating a joint event with the Village Hall in the autumn, follow the success of the Gin Jolly last autumn.
  • The Friends of St Mary’s Nine Lessons and Carols will be held on Sunday 17th December.

We are hoping to run other events during the year and suggestions are welcome.

Our famous Pimm’s Tent at Hawkesbury Show on the last Saturday in August

Current Projects

The south side of the churchyard has been cleared by Tom Hodder’s crew and is looking very smart. We are currently debating whether to plant it with shrubs to break up the expanse or to leave it as grass. Any suggestions or help will be very much appreciated.

We have two tonnes of pea gravel ready to go on the paths as soon as the weather permits. We will need to kill off the weeds first to stop them growing up through the new gravel. All offers of help with the raking will be appreciated.

We will soon be restarting the monthly cycle of weeding and clearing up the churchyard and Peter Setterfield has been marshalling his troops to mow the grass during the summer.

The church will be open every day during the summer and we shall need to make sure that the churchyard is tidy as it is always the backdrop to visitors’ photographs. We don’t want the churchyard showing us up.

The discussions about the new eco-toilet for the churchyard are still ongoing. it is a PCC matter and the Friends have an interest but only because we are the fundraising arm of the church and may make a donation towards it in the future.

Please Join Us!

Finally, if there are like-minded people in the parish who are still not members of the Friends of St Mary’s, please join! Our sole purpose is to support St Mary’s Church to stay open and beautiful. You can join online here.

May 2022 News

Colin Dixon, Chairman of FOSM writes:

SPRING CLEANING CONTINUES

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.

photo of Bristol Male Voice Choir
One of the largest and best male voice choirs in the west
Hawkesbury’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

April 2022 News

Colin Dixon, Chairman of FOSM writes:

SPRING CLEANING CONTINUES

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.

The area we cleared from undergrowth to create a light and open space ready for greening

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.

photo of Bristol Male Voice Choir

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.

photo of FOSM Pimms tent at the village show

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