News Archive 2022

Here you will find the key articles we published in 2022 . . .

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas!

The festive season got off to a great start at St Mary’s with the launch of our Christmas Tree Festival on Saturday (December 10th) with carol singing at the back of church, mince pies and mulled wine, followed by a well attended annual Carol Service on Sunday, December 18th at 6pm.

On Christmas Eve, please bring the children along to our Crib and Christingle service at 4pm, and join us later on for First Communion of Christmas (Midnight Mass) at 11pm, which will be the final service of the year. On Christmas Day, there is a joint service of Holy Communion at St Hilary’s Church, Erbistock.
Everyone at St Mary’s wishes you a very Merry Christmas, and a peaceful and prosperous New Year.

End of an era as St Mary’s says goodbye to Reverend Peter

Director of Music, Paul Whittaker, (pictured on the right) thanks Priest-in-Charge, Revd Peter Mackriell, on behalf of us all for his four years of service to St Mary’s Church and the community of Overton, as worshippers look on.

There was a very good turn-out for a combined Advent Carol Service and farewell to Revd Peter Mackriell – with clergy and worshippers from churches across the Mission Area gathering in St Mary’s on the afternoon of Sunday, December 4th.

The service began with choristers from the Mission Area singing Creator of the Stars of Light in darkness and as the carol ended, the lights were switched back on to symbolise the journey from darkness into light.

The service comprised a series of lessons and Advent carols and an address from Revd Peter who chose the theme of vulnerability that we all feel in times of bereavement and change. He spoke of his sadness at leaving Overton after four years and the challenges of settling in to a new community. Revd Peter joked that he would probably be remembered as the Pandemic Priest!

Mindful of the fact that the All-Souls Service had not been able to go ahead this year, Revd Peter asked us all to remember the departed and read out the names of some people who have recently passed away. The service concluded with the lights being dimmed again and Revd Peter walking among the congregation lighting candles which had been distributed to worshippers beforehand.

At the end, worshippers stayed behind for refreshments as Director of Music Paul Whittaker paid tribute to Peter Mackriell on behalf of us all for everything he has done for the church and Overton community in his four years. Despite the setbacks of Covid, Peter kept the church open, when so many others had been forced to close, and continued with church services. And in the weeks of full lockdown in 2020, when services could not legally be held in church, he put in great time and effort to film services which could be watched on YouTube, Paul noted.

Paul concluded by presenting Revd Peter with vouchers to share with his wife Jo and also to put to good use in his new garden. Peter and Jo have now moved to Mid Wales, where Jo has taken up an exciting new challenge, becoming a priest in the Tanat-Vyrnwy Mission Area.

You can read the full text of Paul Whittaker’s tribute to Revd Peter by clicking here.

Christmas is coming . . .

***Poster design by Charlotte Copeman***

Preparations are well underway for Overton’s Christmas Tree Festival, for which community groups, businesses and organisations in the area are decorating their own festive tree and bringing it along to display in church.

The festival will be launched at 4pm on Saturday, December 10th, with carol singing in the churchyard and refreshments, led by the Jubilee Choir and Brass Quartet. A brass fanfare will start us off and there will be well-known carols for all to join in, as well as Christmas music played by the Quartet. Everyone is welcome!

As well as a forest of trees inside the church, we’re also going to display an Advent Tree outside, which we hope community groups and organisations will help us decorate with their own baubles.

***To start the baubles rolling, St Mary’s has tied Bauble #1 to the Advent Tree - hopefully the first of many!***

For more details on how to enter the Christmas Tree Festival, contact Val Stevenson on 07484 118484 or val.46stevenson@btinternet.com. Winners will be announced at the carol service on Sunday, December 18th at 6pm. And to help decorate the Advent Tree, get in touch with Charlotte Copeman on charlotte_copeman2002@yahoo.com for more details. On Christmas Eve, please bring the children along to our Crib and Christingle service at 4pm, and join us later on for First Communion of Christmas (Midnight Mass) at 11pm, which will be the final service of the year.

* Please note that, with effect from Sunday, January 1st, all our Sunday services will begin at the earlier time of 9.30am.

The death of Her Majesty The Queen

IMPORTANT NOTICE:

Following the sad death of Her Majesty The Queen, we have decided to postpone our Gift Day, which will now take place on Saturday, October 1st and not on Saturday, September 17th, as previously planned. The church committee did not feel it was appropriate to hold an event raising funds for the church during a time of national mourning and on the eve of the state funeral.

Church members share in the sadness that we all feel following the Queen’s death. At midday on Friday, the day after, the half-muffled tenor bell was tolled at St Mary’s Church in mourning and as a mark of respect. A Book of Condolence, provided by the Community Council, has been set up in church for those who would like to sign it and pay tribute. The church is open every day during daylight hours.

At a special service on Sunday, September 11th, Revd Peter Mackriell led worship with prayers for Her Late Majesty and also for our new King, Charles III. And for the first time in more than 70 years, the choir and congregation sang the alternative version of the National Anthem: God Save The King. And it is to King Charles that we must all now offer our loyalty and support.

Prayers from the Church in Wales:

Gracious God, we give thanks for the life of your servant Queen Elizabeth
for her faith and her dedication to duty.
Bless our nation as we mourn her death and may her example continue to inspire us;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Everlasting God, we pray for our new King.
Giving thanks for his devoted service as Prince of Wales, we ask you bless his reign and the life of our nation.
Help us to work together so that truth and justice, harmony and fairness, flourish among us;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

To download these prayers in PDF format, including the Welsh versions, click here.

A full peal of bells, treasure hunt and picnic!

Next Saturday (August 27th) will be one to remember in Overton. We are seeing off the summer in style with an historic Full Peal of our church bells and a treasure hunt around the village.

Our team of six bell-ringers, led by Overton’s Tower Captain Clare Morris, will endeavour to ring the bells for an astonishing three hours starting at 10.30am. If they manage it - with regular changes of sequence along the way - the team will have achieved the first Full Peal heard in the village since March 6th, 1976.

On that occasion, the peal was rung by a group of visiting bell ringers but our team are all from the local area, with Clare from Overton itself.

The treasure hunt will begin at 12.30pm followed by a picnic in the churchyard. You’ll need to bring your own - but hot drinks and squash will be provided for free by the church. The route will be around the centre of the village and should take about an hour.

We hope to see as many of you as possible next Saturday for another fun day and also to be on hand to give our bell ringers a well-deserved round of applause should they achieve their goal. It will be only the second time in history that a Full Peal has been heard in Overton.

There is no charge but any donations to church funds will be much appreciated.

A fun day with a great turnout - despite the showers!

St Mary’s Church held a Fun Day in July to connect with the community and encourage more families to come into church.

We laid on a lively service in which children were encouraged to play musical instruments, along the theme of Make Some Noise. The youngsters clearly enjoyed themselves banging drums and shaking tambourines. And after the service, we all went out into the churchyard where free activities including a bouncy castle and games kindly donated by Giggles and Games were laid on.

The church also provided free refreshments, including cakes, tea and coffee and later on, a barbecue lunch with delicious burgers and sausages from our high street butcher’s. Despite intermittent showers which occasionally had us all scurrying back into church, around 100 people attended. Families could be seen sitting either outside or inside church, enjoying the food and drink and lively worship music including some inspirational songs by, among others, Graham Kendrick and Rend Collective. Charlotte organised arts and crafts and the “make some noise” musical instruments which went down a treat. Meanwhile, her partner Scott did a great job manning the barbecue which he had brought along for the day.

Rev Peter Mackriell hailed the day a great success, especially since the event managed to attract so many people who do not normally come to church. Despite the fact that we wanted to offer everything for free, a total of £89 was very kindly given in donations.

* All-age worship at St Mary’s, Overton, is always on the first Sunday in the month at 10am. The next one is Sunday, September 4th.

A ringing endorsement for Ffion’s artwork

A painting of a bell and stained-glass window by an Overton schoolgirl will soon be turned into polo tops – to be worn by our team of bell-ringers!

Ffion Evans won a competition staged by St Mary’s Church-in-Wales School to find a design which the ringers could use as a logo to emblazon on polo shirts. These will be worn for key bell-ringing events like weddings or other special occasions.

For the full story, click here.

A great community occasion - and fitting tribute to our Queen

St Mary’s Church was proud to be involved in Overton-on-Dee’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations to mark Her Majesty’s 70 years of dedicated service to our country. The church took part in the parade down the Avenue on Thursday night to the lighting of the beacon in the fields and led the singing of the Jubilee Song and National Anthems as hundreds of people from the village and surrounding areas joined in.

***Villagers enjoyed the summer sunshine sitting out at tables and chairs generously lent and put out by volunteers who assembled early on Friday morning to set everything up.***

On Friday morning, the church hosted numerous stalls around the churchyard decorated in Union flags and bunting in honour of the occasion and provided a refreshments stall organised by Church Warden Jo Kember and staffed by volunteers. The hot and cold drinks and donated, home-made cakes and biscuits went down well and raised around £400 towards church funds. St Mary’s Director of Music Paul Whittaker played a series of organ recitals throughout the morning for people to listen to as they enjoyed the Jubilee atmosphere on a warm and sunny day.

***Overton was buzzing on Friday morning with hundreds of people strolling around the stalls as the community came together to mark an historic and momentous occasion.***

On Sunday morning, Revd Peter Mackriell led a special Songs of Praise service to celebrate the Queen’s long reign and offer prayers for her continued good health. Despite the wet weather, there was a very good turnout for the service in which numerous people from the village took turns to give readings.

Looking back on the four-day Jubilee weekend, Revd Peter Mackriell said it had been a huge success.

“It was great to see Overton buzzing at the Street Market on Friday and we were delighted to welcome lots of people into the churchyard and into the church itself,” said Revd Peter. “Thanks to all those who came and had refreshments at the church stall – the cakes were amazing!

“For us at St Mary’s the Jubilee celebrations reached their climax with our Songs of Praise service. A good congregation could be heard singing some of the Queen’s favourite hymns – and were particularly vocal when singing ‘Guide me O thou great Redeemer’. I was personally delighted to have community representatives reading at the service, with vocal leadership from the choir under the direction of Paul Whittaker. It was a great community occasion and a fitting Overton tribute to Her Majesty the Queen at this historic time.”

***L-R: Annette Broughton, Pauline Goring, Peter Furniss, Clare Morris, Steve Broughton***

The bells rang out from St Mary’s for a whole hour on Sunday afternoon in honour of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

Overton Bell Ringers completed a successful Quarter Peal starting at 12.30pm.

It was the first time that Tower Captain Clare Morris had taken on the role of conductor – calling 33 ‘bobs’ in exactly the right place.

It was Samantha’s first ringing ‘inside’ – ringing the method – and Pauline’s first-ever quarter peal, having only started bell-ringing last summer. Clare hailed the performance as “quite an achievement”.

The team’s efforts have been rewarded with an official certificate from the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers and Ringing World Bellboard, recording their participation in Celebratory Bell Ringing for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. And on Tuesday, June 14th, at 5.30pm there will be another chance to hear them ring a Quarter Peal - to mark 40 years since the end of the Falklands War.

Overton Bell Ringers are always pleased to hear from others keen to try their hand at bell-ringing. You can find out more on their page here and also take a look at their Jubilee certificate on the News & Events page.

Join the debate: Have your say on the future of our church

***Church of St Mary The Virgin, Overton-on-Dee***

We invited everyone in the community who cares about St Mary’s Church to come along on Saturday morning (April 30th) to discuss how we take our church forward in the years ahead. How do we ensure that the building best suits our needs? What changes need to be made and what do YOU want from your parish church? If you missed the meeting, it’s not too late to have your say.

Ask yourself this: Is God’s house your house? And if it was, wouldn’t you want to have a say on improvements and modernisations that are proposed? That was the purpose of our St Mary’s Vision Day.

It was a chance to learn more about The 3 Ms: our Maintenance, Modernisation & Mission Programme. We have already identified improvements needed to our heating and we think the building also needs modern facilities – a toilet and small kitchen. But we are keen to engage with the wider community on this. What other changes would you like to see, to make your church more inviting, modern feeling or just more useful for community activities? Are there things you don’t want to see changed? Email us your thoughts at overton@maelormissionarea.uk

Revd Peter Mackriell
Priest-in-Charge

Hear the story

Members of the churches in Overton, Erbistock and the Maelor Mission Area joined together last year to tell the story of the Passion according to St Mark. Watch this powerful narrative here. Introduced, with prayers, by the Revd Peter Mackriell.

Singing in a time of sorrow - listen and let others know

The Shchedryk children’s choir in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, recorded two beautiful and poignant pieces of music just before war broke out. They sent them to Saul Zaks, a top orchestral conductor living in Denmark. Moved by what he heard, he in turn asked Choir of the Earth to help spread their music throughout the world.

Please follow the link to Choir of the Earth’s webpage, listen to the two tracks and pass on to others:
https://choiroftheearth.com/shchedryk-childrens-choir-kyiv

***The Shchedryk children’s choir, Kyiv***

How you can help Ukrainian refugees

North Wales Community hubs are being set up with the support of the dioceses of St Asaph and Bangor linking to two specialist organisations: Link International and the European Freedom Network.

The aim of the Community hubs is to provide support to the Ukrainian refugees and those who are hosting them.

On Wednesday, March 30th, from 7.30pm to 8.30pm, Link International will hold a special online session to provide more detailed information.

We have a full page giving advice and information. Click here or on the ribbon to visit the page.

Make a Difference: Get Involved

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Make a Difference: Get Involved ---

Coffee morning raises £711 for Ukraine

***Sophie Davies and Niamh Williams are pictured ready to serve up delicious cakes to visitors***

A coffee morning with cake and biscuits held at St Mary’s Church on Saturday (March 12th) has now raised £711.63 towards the Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal. Nearly 100 people came along in bright spring sunshine to enjoy refreshments provided by volunteers in exchange for a donation to this worthy cause. £643.13 was raised on the day, with a further £56.50 at Sunday’s Communion service and £12 donated subsequently.

It was a great community effort with numerous donations of cakes and biscuits - especial thanks to Mr Morris’s class at St Mary’s School who designed some wonderful posters and pictures for the event. These have been displayed on the pillars inside the church and also on the railings outside along with balloons in Ukraine’s national colours of yellow and blue.

The cakes, which included coffee cake, Victoria sponge, lemon drizzle (one with yellow and blue icing), flapjacks, bara brith, apple pies and home-made shortbread went down a treat. There were a few pieces left over which were served up at Sunday’s 11am service along with tea and coffee.

A green collection bucket is available at the back of church for further donations. All money raised will be sent direct to the Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal run by the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC). By donating to the Appeal, you'll help DEC charities provide food, water, shelter and healthcare to refugees and displaced families. Click here to go to their website to learn more about the situation facing the Ukrainian people and the efforts being made to help them. You can also donate directly via the site.

Our church is joining others across the UK as we come together to support the people of Ukraine through prayer.

On Tuesday 1st March at 6pm we offered prayers to the chaplaincy in Kyiv and the churches and invited you to light a candle for Ukraine. In a well-attended evening service led by the choir, we gathered at church on Ash Wednesday to pray for the people of Ukraine in their hour of need.

***A prayer for Ukraine, issued by the Church in Wales***

News & Events

Insights from inside a prison!

On Sunday, January 30th, guest preacher Revd Michael Winwood joined us at St Mary’s for our Communion service. He talked about his role as chaplain to HMP Berwyn with a chance to chat with him about his challenging mission over refreshments. This was a joint service with St Hilary’s of Erbistock. For more details about forthcoming services and the latest guidance on Covid precautions, see our Worship page.

Be vigilant - suspected metal thieves are on the prowl

After the compassion and generosity of so many people who came to church for our charity coffee morning, an example of the darker side of human nature has now surfaced.

A group of people has recently been spotted climbing on the roof of a church in the Wrexham area, presumably with the intention of seeing what metal they could steal. Fortunately a neighbour disturbed them and they quickly left before any damage was done.

Diocesan churches inspector Michael Plane points out that these gangs often work in a particular area and then move on. He is warning all churches in the area to be vigilant – particularly if they are close to or on a major arterial route and have a quantity of lead or copper on the roof.

The location of St Mary’s obviously makes it vulnerable to these gangs and as a church we would ask the community to be on the look out on our behalf. If you ever see a crime in the course of being committed, you should ring the police straightaway on 999.

Of course, these gangs aren’t just targeting churches. Many other buildings in the area could be under threat and we all need to be on our guard against them.

Michael Plane says: “It is wise to ensure that external lighting is working, make sure roof alarms and cameras operational, identify if stored materials (such as bins) can be used to provide easy access onto the roof (though it is often the case that the gangs come very well equipped), trim back overgrown hedges and bushes to ensure that sight-lines are maintained, and inform neighbours that no building works are planned and if vans appear on site then request that the Police be called and, if it is safe to do so, details noted.”

A festive success story

Despite the ever-present threat of Covid, all our services over the Christmas and New Year period went ahead and drew good attendances. Our festive celebrations started with Carols by Candlelight on the afternoon of Sunday, December 19th - traditional carols and Bible readings led by the choir in an atmospheric, candle-lit St Mary’s. Over 80 people braved the cold and fog to join us for the perfect start to Christmas. And there was a good turnout on Christmas Eve for our Christingle and Crib Service and Midnight Mass. On Christmas Morning, a joint service was held at St Hilary’s Church, Erbistock, and it was back to St Mary’s the following day for a Boxing Day service as, this year, December 26th fell on a Sunday.

Gift Day

We held a Gift Day in church in October to give the community a chance to find out more about St Mary’s and if possible, make a donation. As mentioned before, the church was running an annual deficit of £6,000. The response was magnificent. Our Gift Day raised £4,695 which will go a long way towards getting us back on track financially. It means we can press ahead with plans to carry out much-needed repairs to the building and improvement work which will make St Mary’s more accessible and your visits more enjoyable. Thank you all so much for your support.

The day was about more than fundraising - it gave people an opportunity to explore the church, take part in a history tour and try their hand at bell-ringing - with refreshments laid on by a team of hard-working volunteers. A great success all round.

Of course, the need to raise money to keep the building in good condition and maintain Christian worship at St Mary’s is ongoing. We would greatly appreciate further support. If you give via Gift Aid and are a taxpayer, we can claim the tax back, which will make your contribution go further. Revd Peter Mackriell sent out a letter to all residents in the Overton area prior to the Gift Day outlining our financial position with an accompanying form to make a charity Gift Aid donation. You can read the letter here, or download a printer-friendly version here.

We will keep you all updated on the improvements taking place via this website and our quarterly Newsletter which we now deliver to all residents in the Overton area. Thank you again.

Bell Ringing - find out all about it!

We have a keen team of dedicated bell-ringers at St Mary’s who have recently performed two rarely-heard Quarter Peals at the church. They hope to perform a Full Peal next year which will take more than three hours and involves thousands of changes.

The ringing of bells plays an important part in the life of a church yet many of us just don’t know that much about it. In a new section on our website, St Mary’s Tower Captain Clare Morris helps shed some light on the art of bell-ringing which for her and the others is a satisfying and rewarding activity.

You’ll find the new Bell Ringing section here - including details of how to get involved, if you feel inspired to have a go yourself.

Commemorating Remembrance 2021

***The poppy display inside St Mary’s Church, Overton***

St Mary’s hosted a magnificent display of poppies tumbling across the altar and down onto the floor throughout Remembrance. With the church open every day, visitors were able to view the display until November 20th, and make donations to the British Legion Poppy Appeal.

The church hosted a service of commemoration and remembrance following the Two-Minute Silence and laying of wreaths at the Cenotaph on Sunday, November 14th.