The Ross Parishes: Ross-on-Wye, Walford & Brampton Abbotts
Inspiring faith, hope and love in each generation.
Join us in St Mary’s on Wednesday 30th April as we begin a new chapter in the life of The Ross Parishes with the installation service for our new Rector, The Revd. Prebendary Kelvin Price.
The service begins at 7pm. We’re expecting a full church, so come early. Please stay for refreshments after the service.
We’re looking forward to listening to the Hereford Police Choir as they return to St Mary’s tomorrow night. They will be joined by the Marches Military Wives’ Choir for what promises to be a thoroughly enjoyable evening. It’s not too late to buy a ticket (£10) – we have kept some back to sell on the door – or you can contact Ted to reserve a ticket by phoning 01989 564967.
Join us at 7pm in St Mary’s for Thursday’s (24th April) Book Talk – Nunc! by Quentin Letts.
Quentin is political sketch writer for the Daily Mail. A regular broadcaster on radio and television, he was formerly New York correspondent for The Times, gossip columnist for the Daily Telegraph, theatre critic for the Sunday Times and parliamentary sketch writer for The Times. He is the author of the Sunday Times bestseller 50 People Who Buggered Up Britain. His hobbies are gossip, hymn-singing and cricket. He lives in rural Herefordshire.
Quentin will talk about his novel, Nunc! – a modern twist on one of the greatest (yet underlooked) narratives in Christianity…
The ‘Nunc Dimittis’, set to music by composers from Tallis to Rachmaninov, is one of the great canticles of Christianity and is heard daily in Britain’s cathedrals. It is based on ten verses in St Luke’s Gospel. They relate the tale of Simeon, an old man who was told he would not die before he saw the Messiah. He waited and waited at the Temple in Jerusalem. At last he saw the infant Jesus. At that moment he cried, ‘Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word for mine eyes have seen thy salvation’. Simeon was at last able to surrender his life.
Who was Simeon? Why did he wait? And how did the month-old Jesus escape King Herod’s infamous massacre of the infants? The Bible does not say.
Quentin Letts’s quirky, affectionate Nunc! tries to put that right. It takes the reader to the occupied Jerusalem of Herod the Great, the puppet ruler whose Temple was a wonder of the ancient world. The action centres on Jerusalem’s Deuteronomy Square where Simeon’s old army friend Reuben runs a tea stall selling heavenly honey cakes and fig bread. We meet Bildad the beekeeper whose hive goes missing; grocer’s boy Benjamin, owner of a mule and cart that might act as a getaway vehicle; the drawlingly subversive Zillah, whose political salon lends her influence; and Simeon’s long-suffering landlady Noor. Deuteronomy Square’s plucky regulars must endure not only the bawling of a power-mad Roman centurion, Lucilius, but also the more snivelly authoritarianism of Kedar, the city’s clerk of works.
A joint event for Rossiter Books and The Friends of St Mary’s Ross on Wye. Tickets available on the door (£8). Or in advance https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/rossiterbooks/t-rpvvypj
With Christians around the world we mourn the death of His Holiness Pope Francis. We extend our sympathies to all in the Roman Catholic Church and especially to our friends at St Frances of Rome and St Joseph’s RC Primary School, here in Ross.
Jesus is Risen, Alleluya!
We wish you and your families a peaceful and blessed Easter.
Join us for a concert celebrating St George’s Day with Hereford Police Choir and their guests, Taunton Deane Male Voice Choir on Saturday 25th April at 7pm at St Mary’s Church, Ross. Proceeds to St Mary’s Church.
Tickets available from Ross Parishes Benefice Office (weekday mornings), by phoning Ted Willis on 01989 564967 or online, here.
Catch some great music at St Mary’s this afternoon (Saturday 12th April) at 5pm as our occasional choir, Round Byrd, sings evensong and we begin Holy Week. It will take just 45 minutes of your day and will be a perfect way to bridge your afternoon and evening.
The choir will be rehearsing from 2.15pm. If you can’t make the service you are most welcome to drop in for some of the rehearsal.
More about this and the choir at https://rossparishes.uk/round-byrd
Our next Paddle and Praise will be this coming Friday 11th April at 9.30am.
Another great service of Choral Evensong this evening at 6pm (Sunday 6th April) at St Mary’s.
As Lent begins to reach its climax in Passiontide, on “Passion Sunday” the music become more meditative using more ancient plainsong and music by two Tudor composers, Morley and Gibbons. Possibly a bit of 21st Century, James MacMillan (especially for today) too as an added bonus.
We hope to see you there.
St Mary’s offering of FREE lunchtime concerts is back and starts tomorrow (Wednesday 2nd April) with a performance by Forest Baroque.
Join us, perhaps with your lunch, whenever you like, the concert begins at 1. For this month only homemade soup and a bread roll will be up for grabs in church from 12. It’s all very informal.
We hope to see you soon, if not this month.
You might also like to come along to our series of FREE lunchtime talks – Conversations over Lunch, on the third Wednesdays of the month.
Come and celebrate Mothering Sunday (or Mother’s Day – which do you prefer?) tomorrow at St Mary’s. Plenty on offer!
Drop in to church for a choice of two delicious homemade soups and bread and butter, on Wednesday at any time between 12 noon and 1.30pm. No set charge, but donations welcome for the MU Overseas Fund.
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The next in our Lenten series of events focussing on our custody of the environment is a special service which will be sung by our Come & Sing choir on Sunday 16th March at 6.00pm.
Join us in St Mary’s for a special service with music by Rutter, Karl Jenkins and Haydn as we pray for peace and for our world.
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There’s another splendid service of CHORAL EVENSONG at St Mary’s at 6. This time all the music is by Welsh composers and some of the service will be in Welsh too.
Join us after for a glass of sherry.
We look forward to seeing you.
Saturday 8th March, 7.30pm at St Mary’s, Ross
Love letter to the Wye was written by local composer Fiona Taylor in response to concerns about the state of the Wye. The first half celebrates it’s history and importance to the area, and the second half is about the pollution and deterioration of the river. Local children, a community choir and musicians and wonderful soloists will be performing this moving and memorable work. Tickets £10, online or at the door.
Dear God,
We come before you today, humbled and heavy-hearted after three years of war, to pray for peace in Ukraine. We pray for the people caught in this terrible war, for those who have lost their homes, their loved ones, and their sense of safety. We pray for the courage of those fighting for their country, and for the wisdom of world leaders to find a path to peace.
We pray for peace, not just in Ukraine, but in the whole world. May conflict and hatred be replaced by understanding and love.
In your name, we pray. Amen.
St Mary’s will be dark tonight, we’re taking part in the Dark Skies Herefordshire project with CPRE Herefordshire (https://www.cpreherefordshire.org.uk/our-focus-and-campaigns/dark-skies-herefordshire/)
We are delighted to welcome the author Tom Bullough to St Mary’s on Saturday 3rd May.
Tom is going to discuss his book Sarn Helen, which won the best book of the year in Wales 2024, and show us some excerpts from his film Tarddle / Source about the River Wye. This film follows the River Wye from the Wales / England border to its source in the Cambrian Mountains recording the stories, hopes and concerns of the people living in the Wye Valley affected by the impact of climate change.
Tom’s writing focusses on Wales, churches, climate emergency and the relationship between people and the natural world shifting over time.
This is part of a series of events linked to our commitment to St Mary’s as an Eco Church.
The Ross Parishes: Ross-on-Wye, Walford & Brampton Abbotts 