CALLING ALL LITTLE PEOPLE ........bring your carers for some Wednesday fun!
A safe environment for little ones to play and learn to socialise, a chance for parents and care-givers to relax with coffee and cake. If you have moved to Congleton or have started a family recently, you will be especially welcome. Come and find out what goes on and find new friends.
Due to circumstances beyond our control, we regret we have to increase the entry charge to cover the costs of keeping Toddler Group running. We hope you will understand and support the group going forward. THANK YOU

A quiet, reflective break in a busy week, gathering informally in the chancel. You can be sure of a friendly welcome if you care to join us.

A service for the children of Astbury school, parents and carers are welcome to attend. Every week during term-time.

Term time only, not during school holidays

A new seven session course for anyone wanting to find out more. Whether you are just beginning your journey of faith, you want to refresh yourself or just have questions, Christianity Explored gives you the time and space to think about the big questions of life and to explore the life of the man at the heart of the Christian faith.

For further details of the course and how to enrol, please check out the Christianity Explored tab on the main menu or click the download below.

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There will be a additional Away Day daytime session on Saturday 15th April at Smallwood Village Hall, 10am to 2.30pm

1st and 3rd Sundays of the month are Morning Prayer.
2nd and 4th Sundays of the month are Holy Communion.
If there is a 5th Sunday of the month, it can be either or neither. Check the Calendar tab to see which it will be!

Worship with a difference - we start off from Glebe Farm at 11am with a donkey and our palm branches to process to church where we will have a dramatisation of the passion reading.

St Mary's celebrates the return of singing in church with a new pattern for 6.30pm Evening Services.
1st Sunday of the month is a service of Compline.
2nd Sunday of the month is a Sung Eucharist (Choral Holy Communion)
3rd Sunday of the month is a service of Compline.
4th Sunday of the month is Sung Evensong.
There is no evening service when there is a 5th Sunday in the month.

Stations of the Cross at 7.30pm followed by Compline at 9pm
Traditional liturgy for the days leading up to the Crucifixion, a quiet reflective time to prepare ourselves for the joy of Easter.
Come to either or stay for both.

Maundy Thursday marks the Last Supper. We will have communion in church to remember this, and then will strip the hangings from the high altar. Remembering that Jesus asked his friends to stay awake and pray with him in the Garden of Gethsemane, we will then keep a silent Prayer Watch.

To reflect upon the three hours that Christ was on the cross, we start at 12 noon with a devotional service of choral music and readings from the passion narrative and then from 2 - 3 pm, we wait at the foot of the cross in private prayer and meditation. The light will be extinguished and the church will remain in darkness until sunset on Holy Saturday.
Feel free to come for any part of or all the three hours.

An Easter service to welcome the light
The sun goes down at 8pm. At that moment having lit a fire outside church we light the Easter Candle and process it into church, with joyful readings and praise.

Holy Communion for all the family at 11am

A special daytime session for those people following the Thursday evening course.

Join us for a guided walk with the owner Brian Vowles around the grounds of the Old Hall on Saturday 15 April 2023 at 2:30pm.
Tickets are £20 including tea and cake and all proceeds go to St Mary’s Church.
Tickets are limited and must be pre-booked: please contact [email protected] to book yours.

COME AND SING.... 0R COME AND LISTEN
https://www.thenantwichsingers.org/future-events/

The Nantwich Singers invite you to join them in a one-day workshop focussing on two renowned English choral works, each for double choir - Jonathan Dove's The Passing of the Year (2022) and William Harris's Faire is the Heaven (1925).

Led by Ian Crawford, Musical Director of the Nantwich Singers, and accompanied by Jon Barton, the workshop sessions at 10.00, 11.30 and 14.00, will prepare us for a concert performance of the two pieces at 16.00. In between, there will be opportunities to socialise and enjoy refreshments together with other choristers including members of the Nantwich Singers.

The event takes place in the beautiful 12th century parish church of St Mary, Astbury, near Congleton. During the day we will have access to the car park and toilet facilities of the Egerton Arms opposite the church, and the church will be available at lunchtime for anyone who wishes to take their packed lunches there. Alternatively, lunch may be booked at the Egerton Arms – https://www.egertonarmsastbury.com/ , or any of the hostelries in nearby Congleton.

Tickets for the day include music hire, booking fee, car parking, coffee, tea and cake!
Singers’ tickets are priced at:
£18 for singers / Group of 5 – 6th place free
£9 for students
Under-18s free