The following item has been submitted to the Council from the All Saints Parochial Church Council.
Dear Villagers
With all the building and changes that are taking place in our village at the present time we, as members of the Parochial Church Council, feel that we need to raise awareness about the situation that your parish church is in.
We know that the church is important to many people at certain times in their lives especially for baptisms, weddings and funerals but our current congregation is very small giving rise to reduced weekly collections and fewer able bodies to do the necessary vital fundraising needed in order to maintain the fabric of the building and the churchyard. Contrary to popular belief we do not receive money from the diocese for this purpose.
Recently we have become very concerned about plans to reorganise the Ampthill and Shefford Deanery of which we are part.
These plans involve splitting our existing benefice with Shillington and joining our parish with Arlesey, Henlow, Langford and Astwick. The implications of this change are deeply worrying in terms of the future of your church, how would a parish priest manage five churches?
Your rector, Rev Richard Winslade has resigned his post as from the 8th January 2023 and we fear that our church could be in danger of closing.
We are not sure that all newcomers to the village, of which there are many, know where the church is geographically. It is situated right on the edge of the village up Hillside Rd, past the Lower School and on towards Meppershall. There is a service every Sunday with opportunity for coffee and a chat afterwards and a warm welcome for anyone who would like to join us. Our services have been somewhat governed by the pandemic of late but we are pretty much back to normal now and would be delighted to see people returning and those coming for the first time. We are aware that some of you join us on a Sunday morning via Facebook and we welcome your participation.
You may be interested to know that we have a memorial book in church listing the names of those who have passed away. There have been no entries for over ten years as we were unable to find a calligrapher. That has now been rectified and we are sure that there must be people in the village who would wish their loved ones’ names recorded in this special book. The pages of the book are turned over weekly to coincide with the date of death.
We are desperate to save your church from possible closure and therefore would welcome any offer of help with fundraising or just come along and join us at 11am on a Sunday morning.