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The United Benefice Great Gidding with Little Gidding and Steeple Gidding is a part of the Ely Diocese, the parish lying in the north west corner of the Leightonstone Deanery. The living of the Benefice is currently suspended.

Of the three churches in the Benefice, St Andrew's Church, Steeple Gidding was declared redundant and closed in the early seventies. However the church remains consecrated, and is in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust.

St John's Church, Little Gidding is designated a Chapel of Ease, and continues to be used for occasional services ( see below). For details of the story of this historic church, visit the website at www.littlegiddingchurch.org.uk

The Church of St Michael and all Angels, Great Gidding consists of a nave, chancel, north and south aisles, west tower and spire with a south facing porch. A church has stood on this site for some eight hundred years.

Parish Mission Statement: To show and nurture the love of God by caring for those within our community and worldwide.

Priest-in-charge
		Canon Jonathan Young tel: (01480) 891695
Curate
		Revd Martin Kettle tel: (01480) 890284

Churchwardens
John DeVal, Churchside House, Great Gidding, Cambs PE28 5NX tel:  (01832)  293417
Lois Jordan, 7 Chapel End, Great Gidding, PE28 5NP tel:  (01832) 293178
Deputy Warden (Little Gidding Church)
Robin Hayden, 67 Main St, Great Gidding, Cambs PE28 5NU tel:  (01832) 293360

Any matters relating to home communions, baptisms, marriages or funerals should be referred to the Churchwardens, as well as any pastoral matters.

June 2010

UNITED BENEFICE OF THE GIDDINGS

Benefice Services (all services at Great Gidding Church, unless stated otherwise)

Tuesday 1st June	8am Mattins
Sunday 6th June	11am Holy Communion
Tuesday 8th June	8am Mattins
Tuesday 15th June	8am Mattins
Sunday 20th June	6pm Evensong
Tuesday 22nd June	8am Mattins
Sunday 27th June	8am Holy Communion
Tuesday 29th June	8am Mattins
Sunday 4th July	11am Holy Communion
	†If you would like to receive Holy Communion at home, please let churchwardens John De Val or Lois Jordan know – contact details above.

St Michael's Church, Great Gidding

First Sunday of the month – Holy Communion at 11am
Second Sunday of the month – No Service
Third Sunday of the month – Evensong at 3pm (October – March)
Third Sunday of the month – Evensong at 6pm (April – September)
Fourth Sunday of the month – Holy Communion at 8am
On Tuesday of every week, there is a short service of Morning Prayer at 8am.

St John's Church, Little Gidding

Fifth Sunday of the month – Evensong at 3pm (October-March)
Fifth Sunday of the month- Evensong at 6pm (April- September)
• Services follow the Prayer Book (1662) rite.

A WARM WELCOME AWAITS ANYONE WISHING TO JOIN US IN OUR WORSHIP.

This meeting was held in the church on Tuesday 13th April; Lois Jordan and John De Val were re-elected as churchwardens.
At the Annual General Meeting, the minutes of the 2009 AGM were accepted and signed. Reports on the church’s activities, services, fabric and bellringing were presented. The accounts revealed a deficit of just under £500 for the year.
If you would like copies of any of the aforementioned reports, then contact the PCC secretary, Claire Burton, tel: (01832) 293544.

The following were elected to serve on the Parochial Church Council:

David Shepherd, Gill Hayden, Tony Scott, Jane Edwards, Michael Keck, Bruce Jordan.
The churchwardens are ‘ex officio’ members, while Alex Chambers (headteacher of Great Gidding Primary School) is a ‘co-opted member’.

Meeting of the Parochial Church Council
A meeting of the PCC was held immediately after the AGM at Warren House (by kind invitation of Gill and Robin Hayden).

PCC officers were elected as follows:
Chairman: Canon Jonathan Young
Vice Chairman: David Shepherd
Secretary: Claire Burton
Treasurer: John De Val
Electoral Roll Officer: Lois Jordan
Child Protection Officer: Mary Read
Canon Jonathan Young indicated that, in line with his practice with other PCCs in his care, he did not wish to chair PCC meetings, although he would attempt to attend as many meetings as possible. Accordingly David Shepherd took the chair for the meeting.

Matters discussed included:-
(a) Gidding website updated with church information and service details
(b) Canon Jonathan Young has become a Great Gidding School governor
(c) Discussions have taken place consolidating ties with the school. It is hoped that this will lead to more activities/services involving the children. School services are planned for Thursday 27th May and Thursday 22nd July (end-of-term service). Everyone is welcome to come along to these services - for further information, please contact the school, tel: 293466.
(d) Fundraising events for 2010 include a quiz evening on Saturday 15th May (see From the churchwardens for more details), a social evening at John De Val’s Churchside House on Saturday 7th August, and a fun evening at Crown Cottage (by kind invitation of Sue and David Shepherd) in November, date to be decided.
(e) The Diocesan Advisory Committee visits St Michael’s Church on the afternoon of Tuesday 18th May to discuss the provision of the children’s room under the west tower and the new public address system. Both these projects are associated with the Bertha Green Bequest.
(f) The five-yearly fabric inspection of Little Gidding Church takes place this year. The PCC will then consider the best way forward for implementing any work needed to be carried out. The PCC was alerted to the requirement for significant restoration work on three of the church’s historically important windows.
(g) It was agreed to discuss and formulate a definitive policy for charitable giving, at the next meeting in July.
(h) Harvest Festival will be celebrated on the evening of Saturday 18th September.
(i) A co-ordinator is needed for the Christian Aid Collection 2011.

May/June 2010

Quiz night a great success

There were eight very rowdy teams at the quiz evening and fish and chip supper on Saturday 15th May. Judging by the amount of noise, we all enjoyed ourselves enormously! Three prizes were awarded, to the ‘Forever Late’, the ‘Easton Plus’ and the ‘Windyscottwoods’ teams. These were based on a formula invented by John De Val which was beyond the understanding of most of us, but it all worked, as they say, in the end. Many thanks to everyone who came along, to Michael Keck for arranging the food (which was excellent) to Jane Edwards for organising the raffle, to everyone who helped to set up the tables – and then replace everything afterwards – and to David and Sue Shepherd for running the bar. A total of £450 was raised to go towards church funds.

There’s not much else to report as it is still early in the month as we write. We would, however, like to express our very grateful thanks to those who keep our churchyard in such good heart, despite the fact that one of them has been away for a while, yet the work has continued. Thank you!

Finally, we hope that the musical events to be held in the church (see Events page) will go well, and bring a sense of satisfaction that really good music is available here in our small village.

May 2010

We remembered Good Friday with a devotional service at Steeple Gidding, led by Jonathan Young and attended by about a dozen people. Afterwards we were treated to hot cross buns by Tony and Judith Hodgson, which were heated by Jane Briggs. Many thanks to all of them.

On Easter Sunday we celebrated Holy Communion at St Michael’s. Canon Bill Girard kindly took the service, and there were 26 people present, including five children. It was wonderful to have them all in church and everyone behaved well - even the adults!

Buzzers at the ready
Our quiz and fish and chips night is on Saturday 15th May, so polish up your wits, make up a team of six people and come along to enjoy yourselves! Tickets, available from the village shop, cost £5 for the quiz and an additional £4.50 if you would like fish and chips.

		Church clean-up day A big thank you to all those who turned up for church clean-up day on Saturday 10th April. Joan Chiswell, Monica Wood, and Patrick and Sue Jarvis tackled the paths and made a splendid job of it, while the rest of us – Michael and Anthea Keck and ourselves - worked inside the church trying to make the present vestry suitable for conversion into a children’s corner, and the space behind the organ known as the ‘glory hole’ into a more useful and less cluttered storage area. How far we have succeeded is yet to be determined, but we all felt pretty tired afterwards!

Extra summer services
On 30th May, the fifth Sunday in the month, there will be a service of Evensong at Little Gidding at 6pm.
On Sunday 20th June there will be Evensong at Easton Church, where the preacher will be the Bishop of Huntingdon.

April 2010

As we mentioned last month, we have been appealing for help towards running the floodlights at the church. So far, about £400 has been raised, and we are very grateful indeed. There is still time to contribute to this cause, so if you can spare £10 for the fund, please contact Jane Edwards, tel: 293555. Many thanks to Jane for all her hard work in this fundraising effort.

Spring and summer services
From Tuesday 6th April until the end of October, the weekly service of Mattins at 8am will revert to being held in St Michael’s Church; while from April until the end of September, Evensong will revert to its old time of 6pm. The next Home Communion services will be held on Tuesday 30th March and Tuesday 27th April. Please contact one of the Churchwardens (see contact details at the front of Parish News) if you would like to take part in these services.

Make a note...
The Annual General Meeting of the church will be held in St Michael’s Church on Tuesday 13th April, starting at 7pm, followed by a PCC meeting.
And finally, are hoping to have a quiz and fish ‘n’ chips evening in May, please watch this spot for more details!

MUSIC AT ST MICHAEL’S CHURCH
This year there will be three events during June and July, offering music of a wide spectrum and interest.

An unusual mix?
Starting on Friday 4th June, we welcome the accordian and ’cello duo of Rafal Luc and Jessica Hayes. This may seem an unusual pairing to some, but the following observation was made by the internationally renowned ’cellist Mstislav Rostropovich in 1985: “Personally, I regard the immense repertoire for the duo of cello–piano as extremely artificial. The cello produces reverberating tones while the tone of the piano is a ‘hammering’ one, which means that it levels off immediately after the striking of the chord with the hammer. In short, these two instruments have totally different sounds and it is almost unnatural to couple them together...in Russia, I was on tour with an accordionist and I am honestly convinced that the sound of the accordion can be tuned to the cello much better than that of the piano. Here, many great achievements could be made and numerous experiments could be carried out in order to explore all the possibilities of the cello.”

About the performers
Rafal Luc, now in his final year at the Royal Academy of Music, has been winning prestigious prizes for his accordian playing across Europe. Rafal made his London debut in the Purcell Room, Southbank Centre in January 2009 as a Park Lane Group Young Artist, in which he performed the world premiere of Squeezy by Giles Swayne. In its review, The Times labelled him as a highly mature artist who performs with deep engagement, showing off all the potential of his instrument (Neil Fisher).
Jessica Hayes started learning the cello at the age of four and is currently on the professional development course at the Royal Northern College of music, playing in the Halle Orchestra to receive her International Artists Diploma. Last year she received her first class Masters degree at the Royal Academy of Music studying with Josephine Knight, having received a first class degree for her undergraduate programme. She was awarded the Rhode Butt award and the May Mulke cello prize in her final year at the Royal Academy of Music. During her time at the Academy (during which she won several prestigious prizes), she also studied for a term in Paris at the Conservatoire Superior International. She also won the Chandos Young Musician of the Year in 2005.

All that jazz
A fortnight later, on Friday 18th June, we are delighted to welcome back the Peter Shepherd Trio for some more ‘jazz in the nave’. The trio delighted a small audience during the harvest festival weekend last year, and said how much they enjoyed playing to such attentive listeners! Let us hope they can play to a large and attentive audience in June. Their programme will, as last time, include some items from the Great American Songbook.

Singing double act
Finally, on Friday 2nd July, we borrow the words of Monty Python - “now for something completely different” - as we welcome another duo, ‘Ball & Socket’ (aka David Kemp and Gerald Ward). Both performers have a lifetime’s involvement in a wide variety of singing and music; since coming together as the Ball & Socket joint act in Abergavenny nearly 30 years ago, they have been entertaining appreciative audiences across the nation. Their programme will include some well-known and some less well-known Flanders and Swann songs as well as other items of the same genre. The audience can look forward to a varied and humorous musical evening, even with some opportunities to join in.

Times and tickets...
All the concerts/entertainments start at 7.45pm. Tickets are £7 and available at the church door on the night. For further information, tel: 293357.
Please put the dates in your diary, as well as telling your friends – and then bringing them with you!

March 2010

Driving into the village on a weekend evening, the sight of the floodlit St. Michael’s is always a cheering sight. We are again planning to floodlight St. Michael’s Church at weekends (Friday to Sunday) for the rest of 2010 and we invite you to help sponsor the floodlighting of the Church, perhaps to mark a birthday or anniversary. The suggested amount is £10 per weekend. If you would like to participate, please contact Jane Edwards at 12 Main Street with your contribution and with an indication of the weekend(s) you would like to sponsor. Please make any cheques payable to: PCC of Great Gidding.

Lent lunches

By the time you read this we shall be in Lent and will have started our Lent study groups. These take place at Churchside House, Main Street at 8am on Tuesday mornings following the normal Mattins service. You are very welcome to come along on any of the remaining mornings. Toast and coffee/tea will be available – unless you have given them up for Lent! Canon Jonathan Young has arranged a series of frugal Lent lunches (preceded by a service of Holy Communion) for his group of parishes and our parish will be holding its contribution on Friday 12th March. The service of Holy Communion will take place at St John’s Church, Little Gidding at 12 noon, followed by the lunch at 7 Chapel End, Great Gidding. All details will be displayed in the shop and on the church noticeboard. If anyone needs a lift to Little Gidding for the service, please contact Lois Jordan, tel: (01832) 293178.

Church library for all to use

A reminder that at the back of the Church we have a ‘library’ of books and videos – both fact and fiction on a wide range of subjects – any of which you are very welcome to borrow. There is no booking out system (except trust). So do come along and help yourself..

February 2010

On Sunday 29th November a special service was held at St Andrew’s Church Steeple Gidding. We always try to arrange a service there on or around 30th November for their patron saint. This year, the Archdeacon suggested that it would be good to use that date to welcome our new Priest-in-charge, Canon Jonathan Young, and his Curate, Revd Martin Kettle. It was a lovely service and afterwards we all drove to Ferrar House where restoring cups of tea or coffee and cakes and biscuits were available.

Communion services

We do offer Jonathan and Martin a very warm welcome and look forward to a long and happy association. They hope to be able to continue with the present pattern of services, but to return to holding the 8am Holy Communion on a Sunday instead of Tuesday as it has been recently. The first 8am service of Holy Communion will be on Sunday 28th February.

Home Communion services will take place on Tuesday 16th February – Shrove Tuesday. If anyone would like to receive Communion at home, please contact either John or Lois.

Braving the cold for Christmas

St Michael’s looked absolutely beautiful for the Christmas services and we are very grateful indeed for the energy, enthusiasm and expertise of Jane Alvey, Jane Edwards, Sue Jarvis and Julie Trolove in decorating the church.

The Carol Service on 19 December was well attended, given the extreme weather conditions. A big thank you goes to Mary Read, who gritted the church steps, thus enabling people to arrive safely despite the freezing conditions.

It was a lovely service, singing the old familiar carols, and hearing the old familiar readings, with one or two different ones interspersed. Thank you to Michael for arranging the service and to John for leading it in the unavoidable absence of our priest-in-charge, whose car refused to function properly, and for the mulled wine afterwards. Thank you, too, to Marilyn for the delicious mince pies.

Just over 39 brave souls were in church for the midnight service on Christmas Eve. Again the weather was cold and snowy, and we owe a great debt of gratitude to Tony Levene who turned out from Brington to lead this service.

The collections from the Christmas services came to nearly £250; the money was split between two cancer charities, MacMillan Cancer Support and Marie Curie Cancer Care.