Parish Church

Regular monthly services 1st Sunday, 10am - Morning Service 2nd Sunday, 10am - Holy Communion (Common Worship Order 1) 3rd Sunday, 10am - Informal Worship 4th Sunday, 10am - Holy Communion (Common Worship Order 2)

266. This is the day...

51.   Faithful Shepherd, feed me...

71.   Give me joy in my heart...

83.   God is working his purpose out...

 

 

The following were elected as PCC members at the Annual Parochial Church Meeting in March:

Tony Briggs, Judy Clarke, Giles Emerson (Churchwarden/Deanery Synod Representative), Maurice Milsted (Treasurer), Phil Moore (Churchwarden), Christine Perkins (Electoral Roll Officer), Alex Sharpe (Secretary), Vivian Slack, Sandra Spence (Gift Aid Officer/Deanery Synod Representative), Pat Stocks, Angela Trenchard.

It might seem to be a sleepy church in a quiet rural village but there is plenty going on a St Mary's in Hopesay. The number of regular worshippers has risen and there is a definite sense of energy and enthusiasm.

The PCC have a pack full of projects for this year, some of them quite major but all of them serving to enhance the warmth, welcome and attraction of the church environment.

The biggest project is the complete overhaul of the church heating by next winter so that the days of turning blue while stoically sitting on your hands during a service will be over. The PCC is busy evaluating the benefits of different approaches and fuel types and is keen to install a new system during August.

Before this we are likely to see the unveiling of a new stained glass window in the chancel designed by the glass artist, Simon Howard, and commissioned by the Allen family from the Old Farmhouse. The new glass will commemorate the lives of Thomas Beddoes, member of the Lunar Society and founder of the Pneumatic Institute of Bristol; and his son, Thomas Lovell Beddoes, gothic dramatist and poet.

Also this year, a new oak vestry door and doorway into the vestry will be designed and installed to replace the current installation making it more robust, secure and attractive.  

The PCC is also planning either a partial or complete rewiring of the church to ensure the highest safety standards.

While this gives members of the PCC plenty to do, another sub-committee is actively investigating the possibility of enabling full-circle bellringing to take place in the tower.  This would be a major project and is not one for 2012.  Nevertheless, it's a scheme that demonstrates the sense of vision and purpose at St Mary's - your church, where there is always a welcome.