Author: MarkSanderson

Do you know a child who likes to sing, who perhaps enjoys a bit of drama? Then please encourage them to come along on Saturday 27th September at 2pm, to St Mary’s Church in Ross-on-Wye, where we’re running a Taster Day for children aged 7 or older who might like to join our vibrant Youth Choir.

More information at https://rossparishes.uk/youth-choir

Do you know a child who likes to sing, who perhaps enjoys a bit of drama? Then please encourage them to come along on Saturday 27th September at 2pm, to St Mary’s Church in Ross-on-Wye, where we’re running a Taster Day for children aged 7 or older who might like to join our vibrant Youth Choir.

More information at https://rossparishes.uk/youth-choir

This weekend is your last chance to come and enjoy the wonderful experience that is h.Art @ St Mary’s. 16 artists all under one glorious roof with great food available all weekend. A great space to unwind. Come along and see us.

While you’re in town don’t miss the other venues in Ross. Full details at https://h-art.org.uk

There are a few more workshops this weekend –

• Mary Deaville – Resin dip flowers – Saturday 13th at 2pm
• Vanessa Rhead – making water colour card – Sunday 14th at 2pm

Full details of workshops and booking at https://rossparishes.uk/h-art

We’re open 10am – 5pm on Saturday and 11am-5pm on Sunday.

Nina Oakman is running a glass designing workshop at 2.00pm.

Full details and booking is at https://rossparishes.uk/h-art

The food is attracting many compliments at h.Art @ St Mary’s. The splendid work of our 16 artists makes St Mary’s a great place to be this week. Why not join us for lunch?

Nina Oakman is running a glass designing workshop at 2.00pm.

Full details and booking is at https://rossparishes.uk/h-art

h.Art is in full swing at St Mary’s, in Ross. Delicious homemade refreshments are on sale throughout the week. Why not pop in for coffee, lunch or tea?

Today (Wednesday 10th) at 10.30am you can take part in an Organic Sculpting workshop with Wendy Healey or at 2.30, design water colour cards and bookmarks with Vanessa Rhead.

Full details and booking is at https://rossparishes.uk/h-art

Do you know a child who likes to sing, who perhaps enjoys a bit of drama? Then please encourage them to come along on Saturday 27th September at 2pm, to St Mary’s Church in Ross-on-Wye, where we’re running a Taster Day for children aged 7 or older who might like to join our vibrant Youth Choir.

More information at https://rossparishes.uk/youth-choir

h.Art is in full swing at St Mary’s, in Ross. Delicious homemade refreshments are on sale throughout the week. Why not pop in for coffee, lunch or tea?

Today (Tuesday 9th) at 10.30am you can design a small stained glass panel with glassmaker Nina Oakman. or at 2.30, with Vanessa Rhead you can create beautiful cards and bookmarks.

Full details and booking is at https://rossparishes.uk/h-art

h.Art is in full swing at St Mary’s, in Ross. Delicious homemade refreshments are on sale throughout the week. Why not pop in for lunch?

Today (Monday 8th) at 10.30am and 2.00pm Karen Tacey will be giving a demonstration of pottery throwing (on the potter’s wheel – not around the church!) There’s no need to book for this demonstration, just come along to church and grab a cup of coffee (with free refills if you wish) and a delicious piece of cake.

Join us on Sunday 7th September 6.00pm for a celebratory service for our patronal festival. The choir’s back, special music, cake and fizz! 

h.Art & St Mary’s is well and truly open. After a vibrant preview evening on Friday the annual exhibition and art sale is now open every day from 10am to 5pm Saturday 6th to Sunday 14th September.

Homemade refreshments are ongoing throughout the week. Come and see us.

On Sunday 7th September 6.00pm – Join us for a celebratory service for our patronal festival. The choir’s back, special music, cake and fizz! 

Following a visit from steeplejacks and a structural engineer in August 2025, we know that we have three failed pinnacles. These are the one closest to the Phoenix Theatre and the one on either side of it.

The top five or six stones on each pinnacle are loose, though the rod is holding them in place. We are still at a very early stage in diagnosing the problem, until we know that we can’t provide or cost a solution, or apply for funding to carry it out. This problem has occured before; we need to ensure that it is fixed properly this time, and for the long term. We have a team in place (architect, structural engineer and steeplejacks). They are work hard for us.

The short film below shows the scale of the problem.

There are also structural problems with the very top of the spire, which will also need to be dismantled and rebuilt.

For safety reasons we ask you to avoid this area of the churchyard, and the path by the tower has now been completely closed. We ask everyone to try to get into the habit of using the path around the east end of the church instead.

Please note also that there is now no parking in the churchyard.

We regret that, for the time being, we are unable to provide level access into the church. We are working at possible solutions to resolve this.

We will post more here as we have it.

Thank you for your understanding.

Here’s something new to St Mary’s for the Autumn.

Join us on Saturday 18th October for a fun evening with The Dancing Mister. Step back in time as Tim Walker brings to life the vibrant dances of Medieval Europe.

Tickets are just £10 (£2 for children) in advance (£12 on the night) A bargain!

For our next FREE Conversation over Lunch, on Wednesday 20th August at 1pm, we welcome the acclaimed author Sarah Dunant. Sarah will be in conversation with our very own Rustie Baker. The discussion will centre around her latest book “The Marchesa” – A bold novel history of ‘the first lady of the Renaissance’

Copies of the book will be available to purchase at the talk, signed by Sarah. We look forward to seeing you there. As always, please feel free to bring along your lunch.

‘An utterly fascinating portrayal of a formidable and brilliant woman wielding power in the complex turmoil of the political landscape of Renaissance Italy – a woman who is irrepressible even in death.’
Jennifer Saint, Sunday Times bestselling author of Ariadne and Hera

Tomorrow (Saturday 5th July) at St Mary’s there’s Coffee and homemade cakes from 10.30 am – this time organised by St Mary’s Choir and Youth Choir.

Out in the churchyard the Churchyard Angels will be strimming and raking from 9.30 (and supplied with coffee and homemade cakes). Please come along and help if you have the time. Bring tools with you if at all possible. You’ll be most welcome in either place.

This month’s FREE lunchtime concert at St Mary’s (Wednesday 2nd July @ 1pm) will be given by music students from John Kyrle High School. We are greatly looking forward to welcoming them.

As always, feel free to bring your lunch, your laptop … Food outlets in High Street will be happy to provide you with food.

Why not bring along a friend, to support the students of Ross.

If you’re free at 5pm today (Saturday 7th June), drop into St Mary’s for 45 minutes of sumptuous Tudor music by Orlando Gibbons, who died 400 years ago this week. It’s all wrapped up in a service of Choral Evensong and sung by St Mary’s occasional choir, Round Byrd, that specialises in music of this period.

If you can’t manage that, how about Sunday 8th at 6pm when the regular church choir will be singing our usual service of Choral Evensong (2nd and 4th Sundays of the month) with more modern music for Pentecost. More on all this at https://rossparishes.uk/evensong

We look forward to seeing you!

We are greatly looking forward to seeing Northwick Baroque, once more, at St Mary’s. They will be performing on Wednesday 4th June at 1pm for the next in our series of FREE lunchtime concerts.

As always, please feel free to bring your lunch – the many wonderful food outlets on High Street will be happy to provide you with something delightful.