Anglo-Catholic Churches in Bath
Leaving the centre of Georgian Bath and crossing the river Avon by the world famous Pulteney Bridge, you are already in the Parish of St. Mary the Virgin, shortly to be joined on your left side by the Parish of St. John the Baptist. Together these form the United Benefice of Bathwick.
Dear brothers and sisters,
Please find attached the service sheet for the service at St John’s Church and 9.00am and St Mary’s church at 10.30am tomorrow morning and the noticesheet for this coming week. The service at St Mary’s will be live-streamed on the Bathwick Benefice News Facebook page for those unable to attend in person.
Other services tomorrow and over this week in the benefice are expected to be offered as follows:
- Sunday 4th: Choral Evensong at 6pm at St Mary’s (to be live streamed on Bathwick Benefice News Facebook page)
- Tuesday 6th: Mass at 9.30am at St John’s (to be live streamed on Bathwick Benefice News Facebook page)
- Wednesday 7th: traditional language Mass at 10.30am at St Mary’s
- Thursday 8th (Corpus Christi): Sung Mass at 7.30am at St John’s – Eucharistic Ministers are invited to recommit to this ministry; members of the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament should also attend if possible to do so. Service sheet for this service also attached
- Friday 9th: Mass at 9.30am at St Mary’s (to be live streamed on Bathwick Benefice News Facebook page)
- Saturday 10th: Mass at 9.30am at St John’s (to be live streamed on Bathwick Benefice News Facebook page)
- Sunday 11th June (1st Sunday after Trinity): Mass 9am at St John’s and 10.30am at St Mary’s, and Evensong & Benediction at 6pm at St John’s
Please note the following dates in your diaries:
- Corpus Christi (Thursday 8th June) – Sung Mass to be offered at 7.30pm at St John’s – Bishop Paul Oswestry will be visiting the benefice for the day and leading our worship at church that evening; Ministers of the Sacrament will be invited to renew their commitment to their ministry and all are welcome (encouraged!!!) to join us for our worship
- St Mary’s Summer Fete – Saturday 10th June 2pm-5pm in the church grounds – all welcome!
With my continued prayers and best wishes for you all
Fr Peter
Revd Peter Edwards
Rector of Bathwick
(h) 01225 460052
(mb) 07776 227555
Latest weekly noticesheet (click here)
To view the latest mass streamed by Fr Peter or on our Bathwick Benefice News Group page. (click the Facebook icon above) or on our YouTube channel – Bathwick parishes, view here
Safeguarding
Events
Lunchtime_Music_20231Organ Restoration on its way!
The organ in St Mary’s was built by Henry Willis and Sons in 1878 and enlarged by them in 1894.
The instrument comes from their best period (The Royal Albert Hall, St Paul’s Cathedral, Salisbury
Cathedral etc.) and is, therefore, a valuable and historic instrument. It is the only organ by this famous firm in the City of Bath and it is considered to be one of the most notable instruments in the Diocese of Bath and Wells.
Between installation and the present, the organ has been worked on by other companies – and not always sympathetically – so that several ranks of pipes do not sit well with the rest of the instrument and these need revoicing /replacing, including the Great Mixture and Fifteenth.
One of the major issues and concerns at the moment is the condition of the leatherwork of the bellows and drawstop machines as some of it is original – from 1878 – and is clearly near the end of its life.
The last major work on the organ was carried out over eighty years ago and it is now our turn to restore this historic instrument in order to hand it on to future generations.
Following a full inspection of the organ by an independent advisor, the contract for the restoration of the instrument has been awarded to Harrison and Harrison of Durham, who currently look after the instrument. Work on dismantling the organ is due to begin on April 17th2023 and, all being well, it should be back in time for the busy Christmas season.
Fundraising has been a long and arduous road and we cannot thank enough the many people who have donated to the Organ Restoration Fund over the past few decades and, of course, we are enormously grateful to our two major donors for their amazing generosity. Without them, this project just would not have been possible.
We eagerly look forward to April 17th when we shall be able to wish our much-loved Father Willis –
BON VOYAGE!
Interest has been shown in the Requiem which was said at Walsingham last year at the 100th Anniversary of Fr Dunn’s death. The requiem service and homily can be found on St John’s pages or click here for the service or homily
