Thank you to everyone who attended and supported this wonderful concert. To hear the Carducci perform once more in St. Mary's Church was already a gift, the value of which increased considerably with the addition of Roderick Williams’ beautiful voice. St. Marys was one of only eight venues across the UK to perform this interpretation of Schubert’s “die schöne Müllerin” and our wonderful acoustics and the intimacy of the setting made it truly magnificent. Roderick Williams expertly involved the audience in the story of the lovestruck young miller and swept us along by involving us intimately in every twist and turn of the folly of young love. The entire event made £6,695.50 and will contribute just shy of £3,500 after costs once all monies have been collected.
Saturday 17th May - Soup lunch and Organ Concert was agreat successThe Soup lunch raised £512 thanks to the lovely St Mary’s community, and we are grateful to everyone who helped us work on the lunch and come along to enjoy. Good things happening when we work together, thank you once again.Organ Concert: Keith Hearnshaw The Organ Concert, given by Keith Hearnshaw on the afternoon of Saturday 17th May, raised a gross figure of £1007. We had 72 in the audience and the £582 profit will go directly to the roof fund. This amount will enable the purchase of 9 square metres of top-quality lead for the church tower roof of which 25 square metres required! If you look on the North side of the church you will see that work has begun, at the time of writing, on the scaffolding.
Safeguarding at St Mary’s As the Church & Safeguarding have recently been highlighted by events resulting in the resignation of Justin Welby, I thought it appropriate, as St Mary’s Parish Safeguarding Officer, to address this subject, and any concerns, here in the Newsletter. I’m sure we have all been shocked and saddened to hear or read of past events involving John Smyth, and our thoughts and prayers go out to all victims who have suffered abuse within the Church. But firstly, I want to reassure readers that the C of E now has in place a rigorous process to prevent any abuse taking place, and that our own Gloucester Diocese has a highly qualified and competent staff to deal with any past and present abuse cases. Secondly, we must work to prevent abuse from happening. And a large part of abuse prevention involves training those within the church to recognise abuse and to know what steps to take, should it be encountered. This requires everyone with roles within the church to undertake appropriate safeguarding training. You may feel that your role within St Mary’s does not warrant safeguarding training (e.g. flower arranging, steward, choir member, bell ringer etc), but by not acknowledging the need for training, we are opening the door to abuse within the church. So keeping the Church safe is in the hands of all of us. For most people it involves spending 90 minutes doing an on-line course. Hopefully that is not too much to ask. Please see following details of courses & how to access them. If you have any problems let me know. Janet Edwards, Parish Safeguarding Officer meandhim2uk@yahoo.co.uk
St. Mary's came alive to the sounds of string instruments on Saturday 14th September to a nearly sold out event, skilfully and energetically delivered by four exceptional and world-class musicians. "Astonishing", "the best music I have ever heard played at St. Mary's" " I was transfixed" were some of the comments overheard at the end of the concert. The quartet performed three pieces by Haydn, Mozart and Schubert - all favourite examples. The Haydn was all sunshine, the Mozart more introspective and the Schubert (Death and the Maiden) dramatic. The Carducci performed all three with their trademark joy and subtlety. They held the audience in dramatic suspense until the very end and once released the audience gave rapturous applause, some with standing ovation. We are truly grateful to the Carducci Quartet for playing in aid of St. Marys. To date we estimate that this concert alone has contributed over £4000 to the church and this is likely to be added to through some generous donation and contribution from refreshments and programme sales. This concert would not have been possible without the time, direction and skill of the small organising committee and the army of volunteers on the night. Thank you to all involved and we are seeking able volunteers to help plan the next one for anyone with a passion for event organisation.
