July Church News
July Church News
Greetings to you all from the congregation at St. Mary’s Church.
A decade ago under the guidance of our then Rector, Revd. Jon Ormrod we set out a bold plan to extend the church building with an extension on the north side of the nave, to include toilet facilities, a kitchen, storage spaces, a meeting room and a large hall to replace the ageing Church Hall, all to be accessed by an opening from the church in the north wall. At that time many churches were encouraged to make their buildings more “fit for purpose” in providing on site toilets and to offer hospitality. Little did we realise the number of hoops we would have to jump through to get the necessary planning permissions.
Our vision then was to rehouse the flourishing “Pebbles” children’s group away from the church hall to avoid crossing the road in all weathers, to the new and exciting prospect of having them all on one site and we decided to call the project THE ST. MARY’S CHURCH CENTRE.
From the outset we had to convince the Diocesan Advisory Committee (DAC) that the need was there. Then we wanted to breech the wall of the church to allow access to the new building. Site meetings were held with the DAC, Cadw The Victorian Society and Local Authority. Our church architect produced plans, visual drawings of how the new work would look, the bills were mounting, and progress was slow. We held a public meeting in the Community Centre to test the response of the village to our plans, which was positive, if that was what he church wanted then it was their business, although there was some reservation of disposing of the church hall, formerly known as The Reading Room” gifted to the church and community by an earlier generation of the Jenner family.
The first application for planning was turned down by the DAC, Cadw and Local authority as too large and too bulky. The years pass bye, another meeting with the DAC finally allowed us to breech the wall, so a fresh outline application was made to the local authority, another site meeting was arranged and the decision many months later was “NO” our plans were still too large and would affect the historical nature of the site situated in the Wenvoe Conservation Area.
A recent meeting of the Church Council considered this rejection and great saddened to see our plans and hopes for the future use of the church so greatly diminished. However, the church council decided to proceed with a much-reduced extension. again, on the north side to provide toilet facilities and a small kitchen on the site of the present boiler house. The church hall to be retained and refurbished to make it more fit for purpose. We need your help, tell us what you would like to see to improve what we have at present. Any ideas and help to give the hall a new look will be welcome. We invite you to write down your suggestions and ideas, place them in the secure post boxes in the church porch and church hall and make our church hall more welcoming and friendly
CHRISTIAN AID APPEAL OF 2015 The final result of this year’s appeal came to £3775.26 (including Gift Aid) which is an astounding amount raised in these difficult financial times, so THANK YOU to all who contributed, THANK YOU to those who organised the various money raising events, to those who collated the figures together and did the banking. A truly wonderful response to the needs of those who are not as well off as we are. Well done.
We are now in the season of TRINITY, a turning point in the church calendar. The liturgical colour is Green for the altar frontal and priest’s vestments. Our morning services are well attended and being streamed live on Facebook are watched by many including the residents of the Glenburnie Care Home. Join in at http://www.ipcamlive.com/stmarys church
A recent afternoon concert by SIAN’S singers with a singalong of WW11 songs was greatly enjoyed and will be returning in the autumn for an encore afternoon concert. More details later.
The Church Clock has been having a rest in recent weeks, and time has stood still while we decide what action is needed to get it going. Will it TICK will it TOCK will the hours be struck. The clock was donated in memory of Capt. R.F.L. Jenner in 1880 and has kept time in the village since that time so long ago. Those living near have you missed the chimes? Would you like to see them restored? We need to investigate whether the clock mechanism can be converted to an electric winding system,like us all our volunteer clock winder is getting older and climbing the ladder might not be an option. So we thank Martin Williams and Co for their sterling efforts week by week in winding the clock up.
It’s almost holiday time, school will break for the Summer holiday soon, why not send us a postcard from somewhere you have visited. Address it to St. Mary’s Church, Old Port Road, Wenvoe CF56AL Have a safe journey and return home refreshed
God Bless and see you in church or watch on line.
Parry