Church

Church services

Sunday, August 8 10.30am Fifehead Neville Holy Communion 10.30am Mappowder Morning Praise 6.30pm Hazelbury Bryan Evening Prayer 9.30am St Peter’s Shaftesbury Parish Communion 9.30am Motcombe Parish Communion 11.15am West Orchard Morning Worship 11.15am Melbury Abbas Matins 6pm St James’ Shaftesbury Pilgrim Service Sunday, August 15 9.30am St Peter’s Shaftesbury Parish Communion 9.30am St James’ Shaftesbury Parish Communion 11.15am Compton Abbas Parish Communion 11.15am Enmore Green Parish Communion 6pm Motcombe Evening Worship 10.30am Hazelbury Bryan Family Worship 10.30am Belchalwell Holy Communion 6.30pm Ibberton Evening Prayer Blandford Methodist Church You are warmly invited to our Sunday services at 10.45am. We are anxious to offer help to those in need. Please leave your message on our answer phone 01258 577 030 and we will return your call within 24 hours. Our Lunch Club for the over 55s will start on Friday 30th from noon then every Tuesday and Friday. £4 per person. Please make you reservation and contact detail on 01258 277 030 and we will confirm your seat. Everyone is welcome to our coffee morning for tea, coffee and few cakes on Thursdays 10am till Nnoon. St Mary's, Stalbridge Our regular services are as follows: 1st Sunday - Holy Communion at 10am 2nd Sunday - Evensong at 4pm 3rd Sunday - Morning Worship at 10 am 4th Thursday - Holy Communion at 10 am Please note: there will not be the usual Evensong service in August. Everyone is most welcome to attend any service in the church. facebook.com/ StalbridgeChurch

Hallelujah! £664,000 grant completes roof repair fundraising

By Nicci Brown

A grant award of £664,400 to the Blandford Parish Church Big Church Project by the National Lottery Heritage Fund means there are now enough funds in place for the repair of the leaking roof of the building. The building work will commence in October 2021 and is due to be completed in May 2022. Whilst scaffolding is in place for the complete roof overhaul, work will also be carried out to repair high-level stonework, to restore and repair the damaged plaster inside the church and insulate the building. All the repair and restoration works will be documented through a community photography project, which will be displayed both in the church and online for those interested in what’s happening but cannot unfortunately be allowed to climb the scaffolding. The money will also allow for the development of even greater community engagement with the building. Sara Loch, chairman of the Big Church Project, the group overseeing the project, said: “Without this grant we would not have been able to proceed with the repairs, or the forging of even stronger links with our local community. It will be wonderful to make the church building water-tight, after so many years and make the space, both inside the church and outside in the churchyard, a vibrant community resource.” Stuart McLeod, Director England - London & South at The National Lottery Heritage Fund, described it as an ambitious project to restore the important building so it can be enjoyed for many years to come. He said: “Thanks to money raised by National Lottery players, this two-year project will deliver an exciting volunteering programme to record and explore the stories of those who have been connected with the church through the centuries as well as engage a wider range of people with this historic building.” Alongside the repair work there will be research, exhibitions and events, developing and expanding over the years, to make the church building a place which contributes to a thriving local community. An exciting project is researching, recording and exploring, with the help of volunteers, the lives of those who have been connected with the church will include Hannah, ‘a Black Woman Servant of Mrs Holder’, who was baptised in the church in 1770, and George Vince, a Blandfordian who died by falling over an ice cliff while on one of Scott’s Antarctic Expeditions. It will also investigate the relationship between the church and various communities including travellers, and the making of Georgian costumes. The resulting information will be shared with the church and town communities, and visitors to the area, in exhibitions, events and workshops, not just in the church building but also in Blandford Town Museum and Blandford Fashion Museum. With the support of Dorset Wildlife Trust and Caring for God’s Acre, the biodiversity in the churchyard, one of the main green spaces in the centre of town, will be monitored, and there will be improvements for wildlife. The various pieces of graffiti to be found throughout the building will be recorded and, where necessary, protected during the project. A ‘Tag-A-Tile’ scheme has been launched to give everyone the chance to leave their mark on the church building by recording their name or a suitable message on the underside of new roof tiles.