Caynham Village, Shropshire
St. Mary's Church -
St. Mary's Church -
BREAKING NEWS
Churchyard Event Tuesday 13th July 10.30 to 1pm - DON'T MISS THIS !!
Click HERE for poster with full details
Unfortunately, due to the extension of lockdown, we have decided to cancel the Strawberry Teas.
All being well we shall try and arrange a replacement event in August.
St Mary's Caynham has a new vision and a new direction.
Recognising the needs of our congregation and available resources, we are going to focus on celebrating special services and the great traditional festivals of the church as well as Baptisms, Weddings and Funerals. R
Rather than regular weekly or monthly services, these services will be our way of celebrating Christ in the parish of St Mary's, Caynham.
Regular weekly communion services are available at Ashford Carbonell at 9.30 a.m.
The church is open during daylight hours for prayer and visits. You may even want to select something for our book stall!
March 2020
Churchwarden Stephen Ashford writes:-
17th March saw our working party organised by Caring for God's Acre carry out a tidy-up of Caynham churchyard. Very much a last hurrah in view of the impending emergency. Social distancing was observed at all times which limited the amount that the "Caynamites" present could get to meet the other volunteers, but understandable in the circumstances. Refreshments - untouched by anything other than gloved hands - were provided and, in this respect, Caynham scored a first, earning the following comment: - "We have never been offered Sherry on a task day before, maybe in future when we're not all 'distancing' we'll pass the bottle round!" The bottle remained unopened!
Everyone enjoyed the day and are amazed at how species diverse the grassland is at Caynham churchyard. Volunteers did a comprehensive stick pick and made habitat brash piles with the sticks. Ivy was removed from the yew trees and one or two others close to the road to aid tree inspections in future. The hedge was trimmed back on the inside of the churchyard and some goat willows that were getting established in the laurel were removed. The path was swept and ivy removed from the lychgate and the preaching Cross tided up.
If we allow some areas of grassland to grow, Caring for God's Acre volunteers are willing to return and scythe them off in late summer which could prove a very interesting and worthy conservation project.
Many thanks to all the volunteers who came to help us manage what is a very large churchyard. In particular thanks to Alex from Caring for God's Acre for making the whole thing happen.
July 2018
Service of celebration for the 1st Birthday of the Ashfords Benefice.
What a wonderfully uplifting service we had in glorious sunshine on the Village Hall playing field to celebrate the first year of the establishment of the Ashford Benefice. There was a great turn out with the congregation dressed in summer clothes, sunhats and sunglasses.
Lynn led a fantastic service which flowed with joy. There were well read lessons and prayers and some amazing activities thrown in. The sermon was a magical masterpiece and showed how God's love can grow and grow as was demonstrated by the cutting up of a large sheet of paper leaving a multitude of corners (work that one out!!).
We planted up a "train carriage" for each parish, and by the time this is read the train will have been spotted for the Open Gardens Day. Happy hymns of praise were sung and then everyone was given coffee and tea followed by a luxurious picnic lunch.
The Birthday cake was a sight to behold made up of 6 generous fruit cakes and all beautifully iced. What a creation, it tasted really delicious too. A superb service, thank you Lynn for leading it and to so many others who worked hard to bring it about, and of course, to all who came.
Come and join in the next church event, you are always, always welcome.January 2018
We are pleased to announce the Licensing of Rev.d Lynn Money as the first Rector of the Ashford Benefices, as of January this year. Rector Lynn's Messages are to be found on the Church page drop-down tab (see above) or by clicking HERE.
News of the 2017 Christmas Tree Festival comes from Mrs Jill Bufton ....
"On behalf of Caynham PCC I would like to express thanks to all those who helped with decorating the beautiful Christmas Trees in the Church, the flowers for the windows, font and porch, providing refreshments, prizes for the tombola and raffle, making Christmas wreaths and items for the craft stall, manning the stalls, transporting and erecting the trees, making Christingles and contributing in any way over the weekend.Your help was greatly appreciated.
The festival continued with a concert by the Little Hereford Voices, and ended with the Christingle Service on Sunday afternoon.
I am pleased to say that £1,800 was raised: this will go to help pay for the running costs of our beautiful Church. Once again, thanks to all who came and gave their support.
We are planning our 7th Festival on Saturday 1st and Sunday 2nd December 2018. The theme is: "Christmas Poems"
January 2017
We welcome the continued attendance of the Revd. Richard Mutter, from Cleobury Mortimer, who since 1st September 2016 has taken over the pastoral care of our parish during the temporary absence of our vicar Revd. Kelvin Price. (Kelvin has been asked to locate to St Laurence church in Ludlow, to examine the progress following the Bishop's Visitation). Richard features in one of the photos below, taken in September when the Bishop of Hereford officiated at a Group service at St Mary's church. We thank Richard for his support and guidance during his time with us.
December 2016
Jill Bufton writes:St Mary's Church PCC held their annual Christmas Tree Festival over the weekend of 26th/27th November. As in previous years the church was beautifully decorated with 16 Christmas trees, this year on the theme of Words Ending In "...try " (tree). This produced a wide range of interpretations: "Geom-e-tree","Poul-tree","Fores-tree", "Explorat-ree," "Po-e-tree" and so forth. The trees were arranged against the inner walls of the Tower, Nave and Chancel. When lit up, the effect was superb. The church looked beautiful with the bright array of lights and intricate decorations on each tree. A wide variety of items were on sale on the Christmas stall, including home-made produce, glass ornaments and knitted toys. A raffle, tombola, and a novel treasure hunt (guess the number of the house where Teddy lived) were very popular, as were the endless cups of coffee, tea, mince pies and Christmas cake that were served over the two days. On the Saturday evening an excellent concert with the Hereford Rail Male Voice Choir proved very enjoyable and put the 50+ audience in a Christmas mood. The church windows were decorated with greenery and candles, and the overall effect provided an atmospheric setting for the Christingle which ended the Festival on the Sunday afternoon, with over 60 people in church for the service conducted by Revd. Richard Mutter. On behalf of Caynham PCC I would like to thank all those (too many to name here but each very much appreciated) who helped in the many ways needed to make this weekend a huge success. We hope to carry that enthusiasm into next year! I should also like to thank everyone who attended, whether to see the trees and enjoy our beautifully dressed church, to enjoy our refreshments, win a prize, buy our produce, or to come along to the concert and Christingle service. We thank you for all the great compliments we received - but most of all we loved having you! We are already discussing ideas for the theme of trees to be dressed for our Festival next year - so watch this space for next year's dates!
November 2016
We are pleased to announce that during November work on the car park has been undertaken by the working party, and a large area through the Lych Gate towards the lime tree has been made firm and is now suitable for parking. The PCC would like to thank Mr Ray Bufton, Mr Frank Alviti, Mr Robert Andrews, Mr Roger Jones and Mr John Smallman for giving their time, equipment and expertise to make this possible. These photos give some idea of the scale of the work.
October 2016 -
On Sunday 19th October we were privileged to receive Bishop Richard Frith, the Lord Bishop of Hereford, at our morning service. Our church was pleasantly full of worshippers from the Ashfords Group of churches, as this was the only service in the group that morning. We were also delighted to see Revd. Richard Mutter, from Cleobury Mortimer, who is standing in for Revd. Kelvin Price for three months as is reported below. Bishop Richard gave a short and amusing address before Commissioning Revd. Mutter and handing him the relevant documentation. The church rang with music as the congregation gave voice to the hymns chosen by our organist, Mrs Marina Clent. The service was followed by tea, coffee, squash, cake and biscuits served by Mrs Jill Bufton and her helpers. Bishop Richard, Revd Kelvin, Revd Richard and others were happy to pose for photographs after the service, some of which are shown below.
September 2016 -
Fundraising - Annual Shoot - Sunday 4th September 2016
Thanks to the tremendous amount of preparation for this event by Ray Bufton and his team, the Annual Shoot took place as in previous years at "The Beech, Haynall Lane, Brimfield, by kind permission of Mr John Stinton. It was as usual a great success and an impressive number of shooters, friends and family turned up on a warm and bright day. Thanks to all those who took part in whatever capacity, so generously supporting this important fund-raising event. At the end of the day, there was a profit of £870+ to share between the church and village hall.
August 2016 -
As of September 1st there will be a change in pastoral charge covering the Ashford Group. This is due to the attachment of Revd Price to St Laurence in Ludlow, full time for 3 months. Revd Kelvin will be examining the extent of ongoing progress there , following the Bishop's Visitation. In his absence Revd Kelvin´s pastoral charge will be passed to Revd Richard Mutter, (from Cleobury Mortimer) who will attend for 5 days a week for the Ashford Group. We, as your parochial church council, have promised to welcome Revd Richard and suitably support and assist him in his new pastoral duties.
The Right Reverend Richard Frith, Lord Bishop of Hereford, will be officiating at St Mary´s Caynham at 10.00 a.m. on 25th September, at the commissioning of Revd Richard Mutter.
Fundraising - Strawberry Teas The Strawberry Teas at the Church raised an impressive £512 - an amazing sum and a reflection on the generosity of our parishioners and visitors. The produce stall and raffle attracted much attention, as did the novel ´buried treasure hunt´ - which was a delight for the younger ones (and for a few not so young)! Thanks to everyone involved in organising and supporting this annual event - hopefully to be repeated next year.
July 2016 - Churchyard working party -
On 16th July our worthy team of volunteers assembled once again at the church to tackle the long grass and clear encroaching growth from the south pathway, north and chancel greens, yew tress and preaching cross. Our number included Team Vicar Kelvin (and son), Denise Potter, Stephen Ashford, David Holbech, Jane and Peter Van Duijvenvoorde, and yours truly. After a strenuous morning (fortified by tea, coffee, and chocolate biscuits) we had cleared a huge amount of overgrowth and the result was very pleasing. On the previous day, volunteers Lester Bennett and Ray Bufton had been hard at work and strimmed and mown large areas of the grass and the chancel green, which was very overgrown and really hard work to clear. Our grateful thanks to everyone who took part. There is still some way to go before the churchyard is completely free from overgrowth, and if anyone has any free time to offer to help us with this ongoing and rewarding task, they will be made very welcome.
April 2016 - heating restored to the north aisle & organ loft
During the last year the PCC has been busy staunching the leaks in the long stretch of central heating pipes in the organ loft and north aisle of the church. The leaks were due to failing seals in many of the numerous joints. This caused serious flooding and eventually led to that area of the system being disconnected. The remedy was to re-adjust each individual joint until the seals re-seated themselves properly, a laborious task which took PCC members several months during the winter. In April the water supply to the north aisle pipes was re-connected, and thankfully now, after many chilly services during cold winters, we are able to enjoy a warm church once again.
May 2016 - Work on the church roof is completed
In 2013, during the last 5-year survey of the church, attention was drawn to the number of badly colour-matched, slipping and broken tiles on various sections of the church roof, and on the Lych Gate war memorial. The Parochial Church Council (PCC) is responsible for addressing survey issues as soon as possible, preferably before the next survey, (subject always to available finance). We are now pleased to confirm that beginning in 2015 and concluding in April this year, all of the affected areas have been addressed and any offending materials have been replaced by suitably weathered tiles. Also, gutters and down-spouts have been cleared. The roofing work revealed that in some places old mortar had failed, potentially allowing water to seep into the masonry joints, so some re-mortaring was necessary, notably in the tower buttress over the front porch.
The church roof is once again weatherproof and of fully acceptable cosmetic appearance. The PCC would like to thank Mr. Paul Jones, Premier Building Services, of Caynham, for carrying out this work.
Churchyard Working Party - September 2015.
A full working party met at the church on Thursday 10th September, for grass-cutting and trimming overgrown bushes and shrubs. Equipped with a tractor-drawn grass cutter, one of the team cut the lawn area on the south green, then a similar area on the north green. At the same time a group of laurels on the west green were trimmed back to prevent them overgrowing two of the nearby graves. A huge amount of strimming took place on the north green, and the areas around the church and chancel green were also strimmed. An errant holly was reduced, as were two yew bushes near the south porch. The result was a much improved look for the whole churchyard, although there is still a small amount of work to do. Our grateful thanks to all who volunteered for this task, who are too modest to want recognition! If you can wield a pair of shears, a strimmer or a lawnmower, why not join us next time?
TECHNOLOGY ADVANCE - Churchyard data Now Online - August 2015.
A complete survey of the churchyard was undertaken by the PCC in 2013, when all the names of those buried here were listed and a scale plan was produced showing the renamed areas of the churchyard and the locations of all known graves. Since the last survey in 1985, the grave plots have been re-numbered, but the old and new numbers are shown side by side in the new index. Click HERE to see the new list of names and plot numbers. Each grave was photographed and photos can be accessed via each Monumental Inscription (click HERE). Copies can be obtained for a small fee if you contact us.
RESTORED STEPS PROVIDE SAFE ACCESS TO ST MARY’S CHURCH AND FOOTPATH TO CAYNHAM CAMP
April 2013 - Our stone steps from the lay-by up to the church form the start of the public footpath that runs through the churchyard and up to Caynham Camp. Encouraged by Caynham’s Vicar, Mr Compton, the steps were designed and built by Josephine Kennedy’s father, John L Price, and her husband, Michael Kennedy ( Camp Farm) in the 1960s with some of the necessary materials being funded by Kathleen Whiteman of Whitton House. In recent years Mrs Kennedy has, generously, taken care of their regular maintenance. However, recent increased usage and unkind weather conditions have meant that the step edges themselves were beginning to crumble and become unstable. With the help of a grant from The Ludlow and Clee Hill Joint Committee, which includes representation from Caynham Parish Council, we have now been able to remedy this and rebuild the steps. Thanks to everyone concerned for their support.
CAYNHAM FAMILY HISTORY ARCHIVE & CAYNHAM LOCAL HISTORY ARCHIVE
So far we have compiled a series of files in the north aisle containing the following:
CAYNHAM GENEALOGY
Indexed Transcript of Registers 1558-
Marriages 1905-
Marriages 1905-
Marriages 1905-
Baptisms 1989-
CAYNHAM SCHOOL
Extracts from Caynham School log (1939-
CAYNHAM VILLAGE HISTORY
The Caynham Village History – a work in progress
Thanks to Rosalind Caird for taking on the leadership of the project from Sue Fleetwood. There is a first draft of the history in the folder which, as mentioned, is very much a work in progress.
CAYNHAM CHURCH
A Brief Guide to Caynham Parish Church and Churchyard
A Brief History of St Mary’s Church, Caynham by J Harley
Caynham Churchyard: List of Known Graves and their Location
Biographical Accounts of Thomas Baines (Vicar of Caynham 1792-
Miscellaneous Notes from the Churchwarden 1907-
Listing Particulars for Caynham Church and Churchyard
An unused design for the re-
Caynham Yew Crown Reduction by David Alviti
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