BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//achurchnearyou.com//eventfeed//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH X-WR-TIMEZONE:UTC BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Important message from Garry Dawson-Jones Rector of Warboys Church and the 4Parishes DTSTART:20230916T230000Z DTEND:20230924T000000Z DTSTAMP:20261012T020534Z UID:9588562023-09-16 23:00:00+00:00achurchnearyou CATEGORIES: DESCRIPTION:Churches evolve or die.\n\nAll over the country you can find C hurch buildings turned into art centres\, music venues\, carpet warehouses …the list goes on.\nThe Parish Church of St Mary Magdalene has stood in its present location since shortly after the Norman Conquest and you can s ee the long list of Rectors on the side of the organ as you walk into the building on your right. The Parish Church continues to be open most days as a place of reflection\, prayer and rest for all. If you haven’t been in recently\, you are most welcome\, the walls seem to reflect the ages an d the memories of the thousands of Worshippers over the years\, visitors o ften say how much of a sense of peace they get when they walk through the door.\n\nOur vision is to ensure St Mary Magdalene Church does not die. Ou r vision is that the church continues to be a beautiful gateway into the d elightful village of Warboys. Our decisions and actions today enable us to build a legacy which will benefit generations to come. Part of this vison began in earnest over 15 years ago when the pews were removed\, the organ was relocated to open up the front of the building\, movable and comforta ble chairs were\npurchased\, carpets laid\, and central heating installed. It transformed the way the building is used\, from Christian rock concert s\, 10 years of JUMP (remember that) where 100\nlocal primary children cam e from Warboys Primary School to have summer fun and learn about the Chris tian story. JUMP would never have happened if the space inside the Church\ nbuilding was as immovable as it had been\, carpets made sitting on the fl oor possible and comfortable.\n\nIn recent years the Brownies &\; Rainb ows have made use of the building every Wednesday night\, on a Monday morn ing the space is once again transformed into a welcoming time for the unde r 5s and their parents or carers for “Together”\, we regularly get 20- 30 children who bring their adults with them.\n\nLeading up to Covid we ho sted “Solo” lunches once a month for those on their own in the village \, we hope to restart those at some point. The raised platform that was i nstalled during the first phase of reordering has allowed concerts to be h eld at all times of the year\, summer meals\, dancing\, Alpha Groups - wat ch out for the next one in the New Year - the list goes on.\n\nBut have yo u noticed how busy Church Road is? How difficult it is to park?\n\nAs the building gets more use through the week\, not to mention Sundays\, wedding s and funerals\, Church Road gets more and more clogged up with cars and t rying to cross the road with young children and elderly folk is a real haz ard. And we don’t want it to be.\n\nTo build a legacy for future generat ions means we need to ensure the church is accessible for all in order for this lovely Church to flourish and to be relevant to the Village for toda y and for generations to come. That means we have to address the issue of car parking.\nWork has been on-going for a few years\, jumping through var ious hoops to justify and gain permission to make a parking area just to t he South of the Church building. If anyone has ever tried to get work done in or around a grade 1 listed building in a conservation area and indeed a building with old disused burial plots surrounding it\, well\, you can i magine! So far\, we have spent over £20k on architects\, surveys\, trench es and the like and still the old and the young struggle to cross the road .\nWith the full support of Warboys Parish Council though\, we have the go ahead and a contractor identified. Parking will be on honeycomb footings filled with hardcore\, a new pathway to link to the building and gated acc ess that is widened to allow you to see what’s coming along Church Road as you enter/exit the new car parking spaces.\n\nIt is a real expression o f love and care to all who use the building now and generations to come th at we just make getting into this lovely place easier and less fraught wit h danger.\n\nThe total cost will be a little over £100k of which we have £45k already earmarked. This leaves roughly £60k to raise to complete th e project. We are exploring grants available locally but like in 2007 we w ill also hold a community “giving day” in the Autumn where we trust to raise the final amount needed to fund the\nproject.\n\nLocal folk and bus inesses were so very generous then as we moved through the first phase of reordering and our prayer and hope is that the community will once again p ull together and help us this time.\n\nBuilding a legacy for future genera tions means we will be able to continue to love and serve the community of Warboys which we are privileged to be part of and which we love and value so much.\n\nWe will be holding a week of prayer from Sunday 17 th Septemb er to Sunday 24 th September and our giving days will be on Saturday 30 th September and Sunday 1 st October. If you would like more details on how you can support this the contact details are below.\n\nEvery blessing\nGar ry\n\nRev Garry Dawson-Jones rector@4parishes.org 07976 382681\nRev Mauree n Dean maureendean1@btinternet.com 01487 822391 GEO:-0.086645;52.40125 LOCATION:Warboys Parish Church URL:https://www.achurchnearyou.com/church/13917/service-and-events/events/ 958856/ END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR