St Mary’s Choir has just returned from singing six services in Chester Cathedral. It was an excellent weekend.

There are plenty of posts on the choir Facebook page.

If you’d like to hear what we sounded like you can do so here.

We’re having a Ploughman’s Harvest Supper this year at St Mary’s which will happen on Saturday 23rd September at 7.00 pm in St Mary’s Hall. Tickets are now available from Margaret Mason priced at £7.50, There will be a choice of cheese or ham.

St Mary’s Ross is undertaking a major reordering of the interior of the building. About half of the existing pine pews (installed in 1862) are to be removed. Several members of the community have expressed interest in one so here are the arrangements for purchasing. All money raised from the sale of the pews will be used in the building project. All the complete pews have been reserved in less than a week – an amazing response!

The pews that remain are all missing an end, and all around 2.5 – 3 metres in length . However, it’s likely that many people will be shortening them anyway so if two pews, with matching ends, will work for you they are available for £100 for the pair. If you have some other plan which only requires one end then £75 for a single incomplete pew. The Ross charity, Enviroability, is available to do any work on shortening, creating corner seats, re-fixing ends etc if required (see below).

If you’d like to come into church to take a look please do; the church is open each day from about 09:00 – 16:00. Pews are all clearly numbered and you can reserve them by writing your details on the label on the pew. Alternatively, please contact John or Mark (details below) to reserve pews.

Pews are sold on a buyer collects basis and collection can happen shortly after the work begins on Monday 4^th September. We will let you know.

If a complete pew is really what you need, and you can wait, then phase two of this project will be happening – we hope in 12 – 24 months time – and there will be a very similar quantity of pews available then. Please contact us and we’ll keep you informed.

CONTACTS

Church contacts (for purchasing):

Mark Sanderson – 01989 565386 –  (up to 21^st August)

John Setchfield – 01989 564535      (from 24^th August)

Enviroability can be contacted by email or on 01989 763388 should you want them to do any work on your behalf, Paula Evans is the contact. They will quote you for that work.

We are delighted to report that a grant of £213, 500 from the Heritage Lottery Fund has been secured. Furthermore, that the grant has been match funded by grants from the Hereford Historic Churches Trust and the Allchurches Trust.

Thanks to National Lottery players, we are now able to turn our vision into a reality.

In the meantime services are thriving twice a month at the village hall and at Brampton Abbotts School.

St Mary’s choir is off to Chester at the beginning of September to sing the weekend’s services. If you fancy a weekend in Chester you would be most welcome to come along as part of our supporters club! Our accommodation with be in a nearby University hall of residence (Sumner House) double rooms are £60 per night. Please let Mark know if you’d like to be included in the group booking.

Marvin, our new priest in Brampton Abbotts will be licensed in Brampton Abbotts Village Hall on Monday 3rd July at 7.30 pm. Do come and welcome Marvin as he begins his ministry with us. It would be helpful (but not absolutely necessary ) if you can let the Office know if you intend to come.

Various organisations in Ross-on-Wye worked together to put on a day of celebrations for the 380th birthday of their most famous “all round good egg” John Kyrle.

As a part of this event Brampton Abbotts, Bridstow and Walford Primary Schools came to St Mary’s Church for a workshop day where the task was to create 5 films about the great man that would then be on display for visitors to the Sunday event. You can view these at https://mrkyrle.wordpress.com or by visiting St Mary’s Church and scanning the QR codes that will remain in the building for some while.

The children were assisted by a number of adults from St Mary’s congregation (who had their own workshop afternoon prior to develop their film making skills) and by local historian Jon Hurley who’s book “In Search of John Kyrle: The Man of Ross” was invaluable for the historical background to the project.

As part of the Happy Birthday Mr Kyrle event, local primary school children will be taking part in a project led by Mark Sanderson to make five short films about John Kyrle. The children will be doing the work in and around St Mary’s on Monday 15th May from 9-30 am – 2-45 pm and the films will be available to visitors online and at the event on May 21st.

We need some adult volunteers to help. Would you like to help with this project? If so please contact either Mark or myself – there will be a training workshop for volunteers on 9th May from 1 pm – 4 pm. Do please get in touch if you can help. Freda.
(Tel 562366)

ROSS-on-Wye will be celebrating the 380th anniversary of a philanthropist who sought to improve the town.

The Man of Ross, John Kyrle, is well remembered throughout the market town with a pub named after him and of course, the secondary school.

He was born on May 22, 1637 and from his early 20s he worked to improve the lives of people in the town.

To celebrate his birth date, Ross-on-Wye Tourism Association (RTA) has organised a family friendly event in and around the parish church, in conjunction with St Mary’s Church, the Ross Civic Society and Made in Ross.

Chairman of the RTA, Caroline Utting, said: “We know his birthday was actually May 22 but that’s a Monday when most people will be at work so the Sunday before seemed the best choice for the event. Ross has a rich and fascinating history that is worth exploring and celebrating.”

The event takes place between 1pm and 4.30pm. Teas will be served in St Mary’s Church Hall. There will be guided walks, John Kyrle Trails, displays in the church, stalls, activities and a special 17th century style Evensong Service at 4.30pm.

This will give people a flavour of what John Kyrle would have experienced when he attended services at St Mary’s.

Many of the organisers will be in costume on the day and everyone is invited to dress up in 17th century style clothes.

There are plans for some live period music and it is anticipated John Kyrle himself will make an appearance courtesy of Brian Jackson. John Kyrle Knot Garden will also be open.

Mrs Utting added: “We are still at the planning stage and hope it will be an interesting and varied event for anyone keen to find out more about local history or just having an enjoyable afternoon out in Ross.”

Taken from the Hereford Times

BBC Hereford and Worcester has been to Walford to record a piece about Paddle and Praise. You can hear the item at about 08:20 on Sunday morning (12th February) or catch up with it for a few days after on the iPlayer.

The Friends of St Mary’s is organising this event on 24th & 25th June. Please put date in your diaries as we are likely to need lots of help. We need about 6 more gardens to make it a real success. If any of your friends & neighbours (or you) might have a suitable garden to open please put them on touch with Peter Reynolds 07741 741709. You can read about the last event in 2015 on the Friends’ website.

We heard on 27th January that the Chancellor has granted us the faculty to begin work on phase one of the reordering. This is great news and brings to a close the planning stage of this phase of work. We will now be approaching building contractors for quotes and once we’ve decided who will carry out the work we can begin.

We had hoped to be at this point by Easter so we are well ahead of schedule. You can learn all about the reordering plans for St Mary’s at http://www.reordering.wordpress.com

This took place on Thursday 5th January when we welcomed ‘Mary and Joseph’ (and their diary!) back after their journey around the parish. Soup, cheese and wine was provided. We are able to send £87 to Christian Aid for their Christmas appeal to help refugees fleeing from conflict.

Have you seen the new website for the reordering scheme at St Mary’s yet? The latest news and updates are there for the reordering which it is hoped will be happening by the middle of 2017.

Go to http://www.reordering.wordpress.com to see the latest.

If you’re feeling in need of a little winter cheer you’ll find some pictures of this year’s St Mary’s Flower Festival here