West Lindsey Churches Festival, Lincolnshire

Organ Trail Huge Success at #ChurchesFest15

We have a wonderful update from one of our organisers Heather Paul on the success of the Organ Trail this year (the trail is made possible by the Lincolnshire Organists Association):

The organ trails proved popular this year. People turned up ready to sit down to listen rather than just walk round and go. One of our organists said he had to be careful not to play the same music at different churches as the organ enthusiasts were following him around! We timed the two recitals (both very different) at Stow to attract diners in after lunch in the Cross Keys, and it seemed to work! Perhaps my poster in the pub helped!

There were good audiences on the second weekend and our organist at Grasby said the church was full as it seems to be every year!

Part of the fun was talking to people who love organs, and some interesting discussions can arise. Also meeting by chance other organists taking the opportunity to play organs in churches normally kept locked.

At East Barkwith an organist going around with his wife played for about half an hour, ending with a mother and three young children, and a dog on a lead, enjoying "How much is that doggie in the window" and other requests!

Good to see people enjoying their church visits for many different reasons and going home happy! It really was 2 good weekends!

Liz Harris at Owmby by Spital added that their event was also a success: "Eleven on Saturday seemed to go down very well. We had quite a turn out for the recital and the organist gave us some details about what he was playing and even played one of his own works. All in all, a very successful day."

Connect with our Festival on Facebook and Twitter

https://www.facebook.com/WestLindseyChurches

https://twitter.com/ChurchesFest

#ChurchesFest15 Our Virtual Visitors' Book

A collection of comments on the 2015 festival that have come to us digitally, from Facebook, Twitter and by email. Thank you everyone who has taken time to let us know their festival experiences.

If you have any comments to add, please email

churchesfestival.info@gmail.com

Connect with our Festival on Facebook and Twitter

https://www.facebook.com/WestLindseyChurches

https://twitter.com/ChurchesFest

First weekend #ChurchesFest15 a huge success!

Three year old Holly makes her choice at Nettleham Church in the first weekend

Lincolnshire is currently at the halfway point in one of the finest church festivals in Europe, as over 80 places of worship opening their doors as part of the West Lindsey’s Churches Festival, which is now in its 19th year.

Churches to the West of the district have already completed their festival weekend, churches to the East will be open next weekend (16th-17th May).

Feedback from the first weekend has been incredibly positive, with many visitor’s cramming in a huge number of churches in one go.

Perhaps the most impressive tour so far has been completed by Ben Elliott, using public transport from Sheffield! He commented on Facebook:

“Six churches visited today. Travelled from Sheffield this morning on the 8.44 train to Lincoln, got the 10.30 bus to Cherry Willingham to visit the church there, then walked to Greetwell. Returned to Lincoln for lunch and Eucharist at the Cathedral on the anniversary of its first consecration in 1092, then got the 13.35 bus to Gainsborough to visit St. Thomas of Canterbury RC, All Saints, and St. Paul Morton. Then got the 15.50 bus to Laughton, before returning to Gainsborough to head back to Sheffield.”

Photographer Paul Simpson talked of the classic festival dilemma with his Facebook comment

"I didn't manage as many as I'd hoped for, I think I got to ten in the first weekend. I spent too much time eating cake and buying books and plants from different stalls at various churches. Next week, less cake and more visits. Possibly, as I do like cake..."

And it’s also been a fantastic event so far for the people involved in caring for these churches. Ivan and Wendy Annibal were volunteers at Glentworth and Ivan takes up the story:

"This was the first time in recent years that we have been involved. We love our church and wanted to share its wonderful Christopher Wray tomb with visitors [Chief Justice of England during the reign of Elizabeth I and was the judge that passed sentence on Mary Queen of Scots in 1587]. Little did we know they would share some new insights about St Michael’s with us.

"Two Glaziers from the Cathedral works department identified the stained glass window at the foot or our Saxon tower as an early piece by Charles Kempe (it has his wheat sheaf signature in the corner) one of the finest Victorian stained glass makers of the 19th century. St Michael’s has one up on the Cathedral itself here which has no glass by Kempe and they were quite jealous! They are going to share a copy of his works catalogue with us which has some more information about the window in it.

The window confirmed as a Kemp at Glentworth, photograph by Julian Guffogg

"Then a former work colleague Brian Porter and his wife Christine turned up. They now spend a lot of their time identifying and recording medieval graffiti. They found a wonderful simple cross on the archway to the Wray chapel in the Church. Perhaps the first time anyone has seen it for several hundred years as it needed a special torch to help pick it out in its full detail. You can see it clearly with the naked eye once you know it is there though.

Medieval graffiti confirmed at Glentworth, photo by Brian Porter

(Click this link to can read about the group's work surveying the medieval / ancient graffiti found in Lincolnshire churches. We will report on all their findings during the festival soon)

"Wendy and I were also really impressed by the support given by our fellow villages we had a rota of nine helpers and were surrounded by enough cake and floral displays to fill a smaller church several times over. We had over 100 visitors and raised over £80 in donations for the Church.

"All in all we had a wonderful couple of days and we feel the Church in return shared at least two compelling secrets with us!"

One of the visitors at Glentworth, Julian Guffogg, explains his delight at recognising the Kempe window:

"Myself and Jenny Hannan-Briggs are interested in photographing stained glass windows, we have been for about 18 months now. We have learnt a lot in that short time, and travelled over a wide area to see different windows. We were familiar with Glentworth from the Wray monument.

"We wanted to visit the church to see the stained glass and take photos, and as soon as I walked in I saw the west window, which I recognised as by Charles Eamer Kempe, a noted stained glass artist. His style is unmistakable! The window dates from the 1870s and depicts St Raphael, St Michael with the dragon, and St Gabriel. It is in memory of Charles Flint, a past Vicar.

"The churches festival gave us an opportunity to visit no less than 12 churches across the region - some we were familiar with, but most we wanted to see inside and look at the stained glass."

Next weekend (16-17th May) sees over forty churches open on the East side of the district. Each one is rich in history and It’s all free entry. As well as the rich heritage and beautiful buildings, visitors can enjoy lunches musical recitals, home-made cake, exhibitions and brik-a-brak stalls.

The full list is: Apley, Bardney, Brookenby, Buslingthorpe, Cabourne, Caistor St Peter & St Paul, Caistor Methodist Church, Claxby, Clixby, East Barkwith, Faldingworth, Friesthorpe, Gautby, Grasby, Holton cum Beckering, Holton le Moor, Kingerby, Kirkby cum Osgodby, Langton by Wragby , Legsby, Market Rasen St Thomas, Market Rasen Methodist, Middle Rasen, Nettleton, Normanby le Wold, North Kelsey All Hallows, North Kelsey Methodist, Rand, Riby, Searby cum Owmby, Saxby, Snarford, Snelland, South Kelsey, Southrey, Stainfield, Tealby, Thoresway, Usselby, Walesby All Saints, Walesby St Mary, Wickenby and Wragby.

Free organ recitals are also key to the festival, and this year they are taking place at Faldingworth, All Saints 11am-11.30am, Market Rasen, St Thomas 12.30pm-1pm, Caistor, Methodist 2pm-2.30pm, Grasby, All Saints 3pm to 3.30pm.

For early birds, there are Big Breakfasts in the aisle at Riby St Edmunds on Sunday morning, from 8.30am-11.30am.

Lunches will be served at Bardney, St Lawrence, Caistor, St Peter and Paul, Friesthorpe, St Peter, Legsby, St Thomas, Market Rasen Methodist (Sat only), North Kelsey Methodist, Stainfield, St Andrew and Tealby, All Saints.

Please take your camera and upload your photos using #ChurchesFest15 on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook.

Connect with our Festival on Facebook and Twitter

https://www.facebook.com/WestLindseyChurches

https://twitter.com/ChurchesFest

Don't forget to upload your photos using
#ChurchesFest15 on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook.

The NEW Stephen Langton Trail includes Six Festival Churches

Pick up the Spring/Summer issue of Good Taste Magazine for a feature on the new Stephen Langton Trail that passes through or near six festival churches where you can stop for refreshments or even lunch (at Fiskerton). Click on the names to open each churches' pages of this site:

Langton open 16/17th May
Wragby (nearby) open 16/17th May
Apley open 16/17th May
Fiskerton 9/10th May including Lunches!
Greetwell open 9/10th May
Cherry Willingham (nearby) open 9/10th May

Click this link to read more at the Visit Lincoln website

Click this link to view and download the PDF of the trail

The trail is a 16.5 mile walking trail from the birthplace of Archbishop Stephen Langton, key in the sealing of Magna Carta, to the historic city of Lincoln.

The Stephen Langton Trail starts at the Lincolnshire village of Langton-by-Wragby, birthplace of Archbishop Stephen Langton, and takes a meandering and picturesque 16.5 mile walk to historic Lincoln and Lincoln Castle, home to an original copy of the 1215 Magna Carta.

The trail is split into three sections to allow for all abilities and so the walk can be split up over a space of time:

Section One leads from Langton-by-Wragby to Apley through the Lincolnshire Limewood Nature Reserve (4 miles)
Section Two from Thistle Storr Wood near Apley to Fiskerton along the Viking Way (6¼ miles)
Section Three follows the River Witham Valley from Fiskerton on a delightful riverside walk to Lincoln's Cathedral Quarter (6¼ miles).

The tiny Apley marks the middle of the trail

Get Involved and Spread the Word!

Click here to LIKE us on Facebook or click here to FOLLOW us on Twitter and help spread the word about the festival.

Get the latest news about the festival on email - subscribe to our newsletter - it's free and easy to do, and easy to cancel if you change your mind. Click here to Subscribe to The Churches Festival Blog by Email.

Gallery: Annual Conference 2015

Over 100 people representing the festival churches joined us in the prestigious surroundings of Hemswell Court

Firstly a thank you presentation to Irmgard Parrott, tireless volunteer with our festival for many years, well done Irmgard!

Then an hour's talk by Mr Vic Hughes on the Magna Carta - highly entertaining and very informative!

Then it was over to marketing and PR ladies Angela Montague and Linda Patrick who updated everyone on last year's successes and talked about aims for 2015 and even 2016! A PDF of their slides can be viewed at this link: Marketing & PR Presentation

Then an inspirational talk by Archdeacon Tim Barker on church tourism and the importance of involving the wider community in your churches, including people who would not usually step into a church!

And the event was very nicely finished off with a delightful lunch in the beautiful Georgian dining room

Get Involved and Spread the Word!

Tealby • All Saints

Tealby All Saints, photo by Gary Brothwell, source

Have a go at ringing our church bells. Our theme is ‘The Bells’. Explore our floral arrangements and everything on display. Explore how we have grown to rely on bells and their everyday uses in our lives. Enjoy a fresh homemade lunch in this Grade I listed building, surrounded by an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Postcode: LN8 3XW, click here to find on Google Maps

Open: 20-21st May, Saturday 10am - 4pm • Sunday 12noon - 4pm

Get Involved and Spread the Word!

Visit us on ExploreChurches:

https://www.explorechurches.org/church/all-saints-tealby

Click these links to find us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

Get the latest news about the festival on email - subscribe to our newsletter - it's free and easy to do, and easy to cancel if you change your mind. Click here to Subscribe to The Churches Festival Blog by Email.

South Kelsey • St Mary

South Kelsey St Mary, photo by David Wright, source

St Mary’s church was originally built around 1228 and rebuilt in 1795 leaving the original tower in place. There are brass effigies of Sir Richard Hansard and his wife Joan from the 15th century. Exhibitions of local history.

Postcode: LN7 6PH, click here to find on Google Maps

Open: 11-12th May, Saturday 10.30am - 5pm • Sunday 10.30am - 5pm

Get Involved and Spread the Word!

Click here to LIKE us on Facebook or click here to FOLLOW us on Twitter and help spread the word about the festival.