The English country churchyard provides a very special environment for
trees, birds, animals and insects. Often almost unchanged for centuries,
churchyards can provide a haven for species that can be threatened by
development or intensive agriculture elsewhere.
On Sunday, 21st July there will be a special event in St Mary’s
churchyard exploring and celebrating this special place in the heart of
Upton. It’s part of the Churn Benefice Science Festival and it will give
the opportunity to learn about the history and natural environment of
this unique place. It’s an event for all ages – adults can join the guided
tour of the churchyard and there will be special activities for children
to enjoy.
The event will start at 3:00pm and will conclude with tea and cakes.
And there’s no charge – do come and join us!
Paul Batho
St Mary’s Church – Past and Present
Would you like to learn more about the oldest building and institution in
Upton? If so, you’d be most welcome at an open event which will take place
on Sunday 16th June at 3pm in the church.
It will start with three short presentations on:
The history of the building and its features of interest.
The church in village life, past and present
Recent changes and future plans.
There’ll be an opportunity to explore the building and the churchyard, and
to ask questions. And to round it all off, there’ll be plenty of tea and cakes.
The whole event will last about an hour, and it’s free!
Though the presentations will primarily be aimed at adults, children will be
very welcome and there’ll be a quiz trail for them to follow. We look
forward to seeing you on 16th June!
St. Mary’s Church new facilities – Opening Ceremony
On 24th February, the BlewSing singers combined with some Upton readers
for a celebration to mark the completion of the new WC and kitchen
facilities in St. Mary’s church. The singers, under the direction
of Mark Stanley, were on top form and their six very varied
songs were much enjoyed by the sizeable audience. And who will
forget Malcolm Wright’s hilarious performance as Noah
trying to find excuses for delays in completing the Ark? (speaking
of which, we are assured that the new path around the church will be completed ‘any day soon’!).
Tea and cakes, served from the new kitchen, followed and
at the end of the afternoon we all felt the new facilities were well and truly launched!
We’re still planning some work inside the church to make the
space more flexible for a variety of uses.
In the meantime the facilities are available free of charge to Upton residents, subject to prior booking through Paul Batho (pjsbatho@btinternet.com) or Jessie West (jessie@blueshapes.com).
New Facilities at St. Mary’s
It’s good to be able to announce that the new catering and WC
facilities in the church are now operational and will be fully
complete by the end of the first week of February. Many thanks to
all the generous donors who have made this possible and to the
patience of near neighbours who have had to put up with a few
months of disruption while the works have been in progress.
We are planning a grand opening event on Saturday, 24th February,
with songs performed by the BlewSing choir, interspersed with some
entertaining readings and following by a plentiful supply of tea and
cake! This will all start at 3:00pm, the performance will last about
40 minutes and tea will be from about 3:45.
It’s all absolutely free and all are very welcome. We look forward to
seeing you at Upton’s latest venue!
St. Mary’s Vestry Project
Great news – after more than five years’ planning and saving, the project to
refurbish the church vestry is now going ahead! When complete, it will
provide a WC (for the first time in more than 900 years!) and new catering
facilities that will enable the church building to be used more widely as a
resource for everyone in the community.
Work is due to start at the end of July and it will take about 8 weeks. As it is
mostly within the existing building, noise and disturbance to neighbours
should be minimal but we will directly contact everyone who might be
affected in advance to let you know exactly what is happening and to
answer any questions.
The only thing that will affect Upton residents as a whole will be the
temporary closure of Church Street outside the church itself for a short
period towards the end of the project (so probably around the end of
September) to allow for a connection to be made to the main sewer. Full
details will be published later but access to all properties will not be
interrupted.
We are immensely grateful for all the generous contributions from Uptonians
and from others further afield, plus a number of significant grants, which
have made this project possible. We are planning an opening ceremony in
the autumn – look out for details in due course.
Paul Batho and Jessie West – Churchwardens
Christmas Carols and Readings at St Mary’s
The annual Christmas event for the Friends of St Mary’s will take place in the
church on Saturday, 17th December at 4:00pm.
To set the atmosphere as dusk falls, the church path will be lined with
lanterns and once inside, we’ll enjoy traditional carols interspersed with
readings on a Christmassy theme. At the end, there’ll be mulled wine and an
almost limitless supply of mince pies!
There’s no charge and all are welcome. Do invite your friends and
neighbours to join us!
We look forward very much to seeing you on 17th
.
Paul Batho
Upton Christmas Play Reading
Upton Christmas Play Reading will take place in the Village Hall on Saturday 26th November, 18:00-20:00
The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding: a Hercule Poirot Mystery
In the week before Christmas, world-famous Belgian detective Hercule
Poirot is summoned to Whitehall for an urgent request to assist with a
challenging mystery. A priceless ruby has been stolen from an Egyptian
Prince in scandalous circumstances and a reluctant Poirot is enlisted to help.
Join the Upton Christmas Readers for murder, mayhem and Christmas
pudding as Hercule Poirot’s little grey cells are pitted against a dastardly
criminal mastermind over a traditional English country Christmas holiday.
After a two-year hiatus, the Upton Christmas Readers are back with a lively
adaptation of a festive story by the Queen of Crime and Wallingford local,
Agatha Christie.
Tickets £6 (£5 concessions) available on the door or in advance from Karibu,
High Street, or Finches, Stream Road. Refreshments are included. Raffle
tickets will be available on the night.
All profits will go to the St Mary’s Church Building Fund.
Christian Aid Week
An update on the money raised this year. With some late envelopes and
further plant sales, the final total was £650 – the highest ever.
Our helpers have agreed the Tea Party will be repeated next year.
Elisabeth and Malcolm Wright
St. Mary’s Vestry Improvements Appeal – Update November 2021
The appeal to raise funds for improvements to St Mary’s church in Upton was launched in July 2019. The works include extension of the vestry to provide a disabled access WC and refurbishment of the existing vestry to include catering facilities.
So far, funds raised via a combination of generous donations, grants and other sources totals over £38,000. We are very grateful to all those who have contributed to this cause.
The original cost of the proposals was estimated at £55,000 over two years ago. Inevitably, this cost has crept up and the most recent estimate, earlier this year, was £68,500.
We applied to the National Churches Trust for a grant of £20,000 but we learnt recently that this has not been successful. If the grant had been made, we were hopeful that the remaining gap of about £10,000 could be made up from a further, final appeal and smaller grants.
We have since applied for a grant from to the Joseph Rank Trust, an organisation whose aims and charitable policies appear to be compatible with the objectives of our project and we expect a response early next year. At that point, we will be able to assess what further fundraising is required.
The aim of the St Mary’s project is simple – to improve the facilities of the church so that it remains a cornerstone of the community for another thousand years. Fundraising takes time and patience but, with persistence, it can succeed. We have been encouraged by the example of All Saints, North Moreton, where over £150,000 was raised from a village of similar size to Upton for larger-scale, works which have proved a great benefit to the whole local community.
We hope for an encouraging outcome from the latest grant application and we’ll provide a further update as soon as there’s more news.
Paul Batho
Free Film Ticket
Churn Churches Action Group
With the approach of COP26, climate change is attracting
large amounts of media and public attention. As one part
of our local response we are organising a free showing of a
very powerful documentary film which has already won
many awards throughout the world.
The showing will take place in the Vale Room – Blewbury Village Hall
on Wednesday 13th October at 7.15pm
It tells the story of Kisilu, a Kenyan farmer who starts to
use his camera to capture the impact of climate change on
his family and village. A violent storm brings him into
contact with a Norwegian filmmaker, and soon he becomes
a community leader and activist on the global stage.
To reserve your free seat please email valerie.ahs@gmail.com