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The
churches in and around Great
Bedwyn are part of
the Savernake Team Ministry: a grouping of 11 village
parishes
in beautiful countryside in North East Wiltshire. We are part of the
Deanery of Pewsey in the Diocese of Salisbury, England. Here is a link
to www.savernaketeam.org.uk
The Bedwyn
churches are: St Mary's in
Great
Bedwyn, St Michael's in Little Bedwyn, St Katharine's in
Savernake Forest and St Nicholas' in East Grafton.
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Church
Services for October 2011
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St
Mary's |
St
Michael's |
St
Katharine's |
St
Nicholas' |
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Great
Bedwyn |
Little
Bedwyn |
Savernake
Forest |
East
Grafton |
Sunday
December 4th
2nd Sunday of Advent
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11.00 am
Matins |
9.30 am
Parish Communion |
6.00 pm
Evensong |
11:00am
Patronal Service
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Sunday
December 11th
3rd Sunday of Advent
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6.00pm
Carols
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11.00 am
Matins |
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Wednesday
December 14th
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12 Noon
Parish Communion
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Sunday
December 18th
4th Sunday of Advent
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9.30 am
Family Service |
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6:00pm
Carols |
11.00 am
Carols |
Monday
December 19th |
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6:30pm
Carols
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Saturday
December 24th
4th Sunday of Advent |
4.00pm
Christingle
11:30pm
Midnight Communion
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Sunday
December 25th
Christmas Day
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9:30am
Parish Communion |
9:30am
Parish Communion
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11:00 am
Parish Communion |
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Savernake Team
Letter - December 2011
Dear Everybody
As you read this letter we will be into the season
of Advent. The season in the Christian church when we prepare and
wait expectantly to celebrate the coming of Jesus into the world
at Christmas!
I wonder how good you are you at waiting?
Are you one of those people whose blood pressure rises when you
are in a long and endless line at the check-out counter!
Or in the restaurant, 'sorry you will have to wait 40 mins for a
table'. Or waiting for ages at the end of the phone, supposedly
pacified by soothing music
When you think about it, we spend a huge chunk of our lives waiting.
Waiting to hear if you got the job. Waiting for that important phone
call. Waiting for your teenager to come home with the car.
For me whilst I was waiting to see whether it was right for me to
go forward for ordination, that was when the waiting was very hard,
but I had to be patient as many wise people told me, and wait for
God's timing - which actually was absolutely right in all respects!
There is also a more insidious kind of waiting. A waiting that almost
escapes our attention in spite of the fact that it affects our way
and meaning to life. Always waiting for the next stage in our lives
when we can do this or that or the other; from childhood, through
teenage, through newly married, through to children, through to
mid life etc etc
How many people do we know who live like that always wanting the
next stage, which may be supposedly, so much better, time-wise,
financially, but actually they are missing the point altogether.
As we once again begin our Advent journey let us focus on the waiting!
Most of us will do a lot of waiting during this season. - at the
crowded stores, the post office, in traffic, and our children and
grandchildren go into "I can't wait" mode!
We can all so easily be caught up in the outward "mad dash"
of the world around us that we are distracted from the real thing.
Are we celebrating the culture, when in fact, we should be celebrating
the incarnation?
The familiar phrase from the prophet Isaiah points to another kind
of waiting. a healthy waiting that leads to meaning. "…Those
who wait upon the LORD will renew their strength…" (Is.
40:31)
Every time you find yourself waiting during this Advent season-
allow this prayer to come into your heart: "Lord, as I find
myself waiting once again, may I wait upon you for the real gift
of meaning in my life!"
With every blessing for Christmas and the New Year
Linda Dytham
ladytham@btinternet.com 01672 811025
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St
Mary's, Great Bedwyn
The
present church of St Mary's was started in 1092 and took about 200
years to build. Beneath the church are the massive remains of a Saxon
church begun
in 905. The south transept houses the 14th Century tombs
of Sir Adam de Stokke and his son, Sir John. In the chancel is
a
memorial to Edward Seymour, father of King Henry VIII's wife Jane, and
later Lord Protector to the young Edward VI. The bells are one of the
heaviest "rings" in Wiltshire - the tenor bell weighs over a tonne. |
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St
Michael's, Little Bedwyn
St
Michael's church was originally
a chapel-of-ease for Great Bedwyn,
and served the community which had moved down into the valley from the
iron-age fort at Chisbury (which has its own near-ruined chapel, St
Martin's). The small community straddles the railway and canal. Of
particular interest in the church are the differently shaped arches on
either side of the nave, and the collection of hand-stitched kneelers.
The rear of the church, which also doubles as the village hall, has a
map of the parish made for the millennium, with paintings of every
building and all the wildlife found in the parish.
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St
Katharine's, Savernake
Forest
This
"Victorian gem" of a church
serves a scattered community in
Savernake Forest. It was built in 1861 by the Marchioness
of Ailesbury in memory of her mother, to serve the family estate and
their household in Tottenham House. The church was severely damaged in
an accidental explosion at the end of the Second World War, and was
restored to use in 1952 by sealing in the arches of the north aisle,
which is now a pleasant meeting room.
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