St Mary the Virgin, Ardleigh, Essex

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1 St Mary the Virgin, Ardleigh, Essex PARISH OF ST MARY'S THE PARISH CHURCH St Mary s is a prominent part medieval building at the crossroads. Situated at the village centre it is open daily for prayer and as a place of peace and calm at the hub of village life. It is used weekly by Roman Catholics as well as Anglicans and is also used by local churches for joint services. The beautiful building is popular for weddings. Kitchen and toilet facilities are provided. 1

2 There is mention of a Church in Ardleigh in King Stephen s reign ( ), when Roger de Ramis, Lord of the Manor of Pigotts (lately Ardleigh Squash Club) gave the Church to the Abbey that was then in Colchester. There is evidence that Ardleigh Church has been built a number of times. The tower and south porch, the oldest parts of the Church, date from The body of the Church was rebuilt in A north aisle was again rebuilt in 1841 and finally the whole Church, apart from the tower and south porch, was rebuilt in 1882 through the efforts of Canon Thomas Walter Perry, Vicar of Ardleigh at that time. The architect for this work was William Butterfield, who was one of the most outstanding architects of the period. Greatly influenced by the Oxford Movement, he believed that churches were meant for prayer and sacramental worship, which no doubt accounts for the large sanctuary. This Church is the only example of his art in Essex. THE LADY CHAPEL Dedicated in 1958 in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St Margaret of Antioch and St Francis of Assisi, and in memory of Mrs Isabella Flynn, Robert Francis Flynn, her husband, who was at one time an assistant curate here, and Mary Ann, her sister. Mrs Flynn left a bequest for this Chapel, which contained two bronze statues by Ivor Roberts of St Mary the Virgin and St Francis. These statues were stolen but were recovered and are now in safe keeping. The altar is not modern and probably dates from the 17th century. It was in use as a high altar until The niche is a relic of an older church. There may have been a statue of St Margaret in it at one time. The lovely aumbry lamp was donated by parishioners in The wooden statue of Our Lady of Walsingham has been carved by Sara Wilkinson and was dedicated in ABOUT US The parish has for the past few years formed part of a joint Benefice with The Bromleys and is now looking forward to working in a new benefice with our close neighbour, Dedham. The Parochial Church Council has the responsibility of co-operating with the incumbent in promoting the ecclesiastical parish of St Mary s, and the wider mission of the church pastoral, evangelical, social and ecumenical. OUR WORSHIP Our main weekly service is a sung Parish Eucharist on the first and third Sundays of the month, alternating the 5 th Sunday with our neighbouring parish. On other Sundays there is an 8 o clock BCP communion. Our average attendance on Sundays in October 2015 was 14. 2

3 We celebrate Festivals where appropriate, eg. Ash Wednesday. At Easter we mark Holy Week with a Maundy Thursday Eucharist, a service on Good Friday and Holy Saturday as well as the Easter day service. Christmas services include carols, a Christingle service, a school carol concert, a crib service on Christmas eve, Midnight Mass which alternates across the benefice and a service on Christmas Day. We have a relatively high Anglican tradition with vestments worn, servers and incense used on feast and festivals. The Sacrament is reserved. The PCC has approved the marriage of divorcees in the church and we would seek to be generally more inclusive. Worship is conducted by both male and female clergy. OUR RESOURCES We have a supportive if small congregation, dedicated and reliable who would like to encourage more involvement in family services and to encourage young people to join in, for instance, to participate in Eucharistic services, as servers, readers, musicians. ORGAN We have a lovely organ and can provide music at weddings and funerals. The organ was built by Norman and Beard of Norwich in 1905, overhauled in 1931 and again in September In June 1964, Cedric Arnold of Thaxted further overhauled the instruments making some minor tonal modifications to the swell organ and installing a new blower. By 2004, the original pneumatic action was becoming increasingly unreliable, and it was decided to engage Bishop and Son, of Ipswich, to rebuild the organ. The action was electrified, a capture system installed and quite major tonal changes made. The opening recital took place on 2nd October 2004 and was given by Mr Peter Crompton, of The Royal Hospital School, Holbrook. We are keen to appoint an organist and choirmaster to re-establish our choir. 3

4 BELLRINGING Bellringing is an important activity at St Mary's and we have a flourishing team of bellringers providing regular Sunday morning service ringing throughout the year. The tenor bell is pre-reformation, and has been sounding out throughout the village for 600 years! They have also provided ringing for weddings, funerals and other services including the school crib service. When they are rung the bells can be heard all over the village. SOCIAL EVENTS We put on a Flower Festival every other year. This is a good fundraiser; it is a popular event in the neighbourhood and much enjoyed by all. A Friendship Group meets in church once a month with about twenty people enjoying coffee, cake and the company of friends. We do not yet have a Friends of St Mary's though this looks like a priority given the recommendations from our recent quinquennial inspection. CHURCH FACILITIES There are facilities in the church for making and serving drinks and light snacks; a toilet is available. There is a free carpark opposite the church which is used by anyone visiting the shops, the pub or the doctors' surgery. St Mary s is open every day and we encourage anyone to come in for private prayer; our Lady chapel is arranged for that purpose. 4

5 MESSY CHURCH We support Messy Church which is run jointly with St George's, Great Bromley was a busy year. Messy Church set up a display at the Great Bromley Flower Festival with a detailed display based on Noah's Ark. This was also taken to the Church tent at the Tendring Show last summer. Messy Christingle was held in Ardleigh church and attracted twenty children. Other sessions held during the year were: The Easter Journey, Umbrella of Love, Bible Seasides and The Great Escape. We are pleased to have a good organising committee and an enthusiastic team of helpers. ST MARY S CHURCH OF ENGLAND PRIMARY SCHOOL We have a strong connection to the Voluntary Controlled primary school which has 113 pupils. The Head is keen to develop the links with the church, encouraging children and their families to participate in worship. Our priest has taken weekly assembly and offered pastoral care to children, staff and families. Assembly is sometimes taken now by the Revd Simon Heron from Lawford. We have a church foundation governor. It is a feeder school for Manningtree High School. OTHER CHURCHES We have good relations with other churches in the area. There is a Methodist church nearby. There is a large Roman Catholic congregation who regularly worship in St Mary and are supportive of our activities. They help with cleaning and fundraising too. OUTREACH There is limited mission presence or outreach on a day-to-day basis. We have no Parish office in Ardleigh and have not had a resident parish priest since We very much want to start up house churches again, bible study, the Walsingham pilgrimage, Advent and Lenten groups and to re-establish our Sunday school. 5

6 THE PERSON WE ARE SEEKING The priest we are seeking is warm-hearted and approachable, confident with all ages who will: Engage with parishioners and help us to enlarge our vision Enable and develop the gifts of all Help us to review our building for worship and community use, exploring the possibility of further reordering Strengthen and develop links with our voluntary controlled primary school Develop family worship accessible for all ages and increase the participation of young people in worship Re-launch our house churches and bible study groups Help us to review our church music and hymn books, recruit and appoint a new organist and explore the possibility of relaunching our church choir. A MESSAGE FROM BISHOP STEPHEN OF CHELMSFORD In the Chelmsford Diocese we believe that God is calling his church to be a transforming presence. Our vision is that the church - that is the people of God here in Essex and East London - should be a transforming presence in every one of our parishes. These are our priorities - To inhabit the world distinctively To evangelise effectively To hold ourselves accountable to one another and to God for the stewardship of the gospel To re imagine the way we minister so that each ordained minister and each individual Christian discovers their part in God's ministry and so that each church flourishes. To this end we are looking for priests who are excited by this vision of becoming a church which is itself transformed, and which is becoming a more visible and effective presence in the huge diversity of communities that make up this most exciting and energetic part of England. There are many challenges ahead of us. We are a diocese generously subsidised by the national church. We need to become financially self-sufficient. Leadership often seems distant. We are creating patterns of leadership that are closer to the parishes. And we are looking to develop missionary leadership at all levels of church life. Nearly half our clergy will retire in the next ten years. We need to find out how to minister with fewer stipendiary clergy and with a re-imagining of how stipendiary ministry works. We need to reorganise the way parishes relate to each other and we are calling mission and ministry units. Some of our congregations still think ministry is what Vicars do. We have a vision of ministry where the whole people of God are involved in the whole of God's ministry. We are also experimenting with new forms of authorised lay ministry. Levels of church going are below the national average. We need to get evangelism into the agenda and into the lifeblood of every church. In 2016 we are inviting every benefice to put on a weekend of mission and outreach, and we are training people in every church for this ministry. One of our aspirations is that every benefice should have a trained lay evangelism enabler. 6

7 Despite planning for a future with fewer stipendiary clergy, we remain as committed as ever to the local church. And what is the local church, but that community of men and women gathered around Christ, and living and sharing the gospel in the networks and neighbourhoods of their lives? But we need priests to lead and to serve. We know we need to change. We can only be a transforming presence when we have allowed God to transform us. Therefore at the heart of all we do is a longing for intimacy with God and a renewed life of prayer. First and foremost a priest is a minister of the word and sacrament. All ministry flows from this. But a priest shares the ministry of the bishop, therefore presbyteral ministry will increasingly be a ministry of oversight, guiding, nurturing and directing the mission of God's church in the communities we serve. It is an exciting time to be part of God's missionary movement for the world, and the Diocese of Chelmsford is an exciting place to serve. We have a clear vision and we are looking to appoint clergy who will share this with us. In every parish we long to see each person and each community grow in faithfulness and ministry so that together we may serve in the world and Christ may be made known. ABOUT ARDLEIGH Ardleigh is a village 4 miles north-east of Colchester and 3 miles from Manningtree. The Norwich-London railway line passes through the village. The village is on the A137 road from Colchester to Ipswich in Suffolk, the A12 to London is nearby and accesses the A14 to Cambridge. The coastal resorts of Clacton, Frinton and Walton are 30 minutes drive away. Stansted airport is 40 minutes. Population is 2000 plus. Ardleigh is primarily agricultural but there s an obvious village centre in the vicinity of St Mary s church and the A137/B1029 crossroads, together with a free carpark. Part of the population commutes but Ardleigh retains its character as a working farmland village. Local businesses include farming, market gardening, engineering, technology, the timber trades and leisure-sailing at the reservoir, caravan parks, a car boot sale. The village supports a doctors surgery, a post office, two pubs, a newsagent and village shop, petrol station, and fish and chip shop. There is a Methodist church. Amenities include allotments, recreation ground used by the cricket club, the Millennium green and play area, and a village hall. 7

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