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

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

Passers-by will have noticed that the churchyard has appeared in need of a trim at some times during this summer. This was the result of an experimental policy to allow the growth of grasses and wild flowers to encourage the insect population, as is being done elsewhere in the village.
At its meeting in June, the PCC reviewed the position in the light of comments received from villagers. It was decided that the parts of the churchyard fronting Church Street and the lane which runs down to the fields on the south side would be regularly cut as before, while the area to the rear (north) of the church, and on the east side, should be allowed to grow during the summer and cut back later in the year. The areas of longer grass will have paths cut through them to allow access for people to enjoy what we hope will become an area containing a variety of attractive meadow flowers growing in the grass.
The cemetery (the separate area surrounded by railings to the east of the church) will be regularly cut throughout the season as this is in active use and graves are regularly visited. As ever, we are grateful to Roy Locke for his great work in keeping these areas cut and tidy.
The currently unused cemetery extension to the rear of the existing cemetery is owned by the Parish Council which has its own plans for managing this area as a wildflower meadow.
We hope these policies meet with the approval of Upton residents but as ever, we would welcome comments and feedback.
Paul Batho

You will appreciate that services for this Christmas will not be as normal but we aim to retain some awe and wonder.

The Nativity Play on December 24th at 4.30pm will take place outside in the grounds of the church, where provision will be in place to safe distance family ‘Bubbles’

The story will be presented in a different way through Gabriel, the wise men and shepherds, and the church porch will be turned into the stable.

Warm drinks and light refreshment will be served throughout as we will not be allowed to socialize at the end.

Christmas Morning 9.00am, it is not yet known how many we will be allowed to have inside the building. We have in the past been able to welcome many visitors and we would still hope to do so.

It would help to know in advance the numbers to expect so we would appreciate your getting in touch to book into the service as soon as you are able. Thank you

Jessie 850206, Paul 851251, Clare 850486

Make a memory of a loved one and hang it on the tree in the Church porch from December 13th to the 24th using the card provided.

If you would like to make a donation to Church funds please leave your gift in the box in the church which will be open all day on Sundays and Wednesdays.

For more information please contact Clare on 850486

The Ride and Stride event will go ahead on Saturday 12th September, under Government guidelines. Individuals are invited to get sponsorship for cycling, walking, or horse riding around as many churches as possible. Half of the monies collected go to a church of your choice and half to the OHCT which provides grants for the upkeep of church buildings. St Mary’s church will be open all day.
For further information and to download a sponsor form please go to rideandstride@ohct.org.uk. or contact Clare Lightfoot 01235 850486.