From the Vicarage - September

YOU & BUNTING The question most often asked when people step inside St Oswald‘s Church is, “How old is it?” It seems a simple question, but the answer is more complex. As our website and literature says, we believe the earliest parts of our church may date back to late Anglo Saxon times (pre-1066), but we also know that it underwent a fairly major rebuild in the fifteenth century, Significant restoration in the nineteenth and still later additions and even a few mod-cons (oh, yes, we have a toilet & technology!) in more recent times! To have a story (however scant) taking us that far back into history is pretty amazing. But what is also amazing is to think about the myriad ways in which St Oswald’s church and community, generation after generation, has been interwoven with the stories and lives of the people of this neighbourhood.

We would like to try and capture something of the way in which the church (as a place and people) has played / still plays a part in the lives and stories of our villages and their residents in 2025. We would also like to know how residents might express their present thoughts on how the church might play a greater part in the lives of individuals, or the wider community, today. We want to do this because as much as we do our best to answer people’s questions here at St Oswald’s, we also believe that it is vitally important to continue to ask questions, and to listen to, and learn from, the answers shared.

That is where YOU come in! That too, is where our idea of BUNTING comes in – and who doesn’t love a splash of bunting?

(The back page of this month’s magazine (September 2025) provides a piece of bunting – it just needs cutting out and something writing in the circles on each side.)

On the one side we invite you to place into those circles a word or short phrase which reflects what you associate with St Oswald’s, or what it is you are thankful for in terms of our parish church. This will be incredibly different person to person – it may be to do with history and heritage, or to do with faith or community; it may be a specific memory, or a feeling; it may be related to the building or the churchyard, to the people or to an event. All of that is OK – it is your story, and we would love to hear it, even if it is just a word or two.

On the other side, we invite you to place into the circles a word or short phrase which reflects what you would like St Oswald’s to bring to the village / parish. This may be something very specific, or it may be a more general word or phrase reflecting the qualities you consider the parish church should bring to a community. Whichever it is, again, we would genuinely love to hear it. It is also OK if you only feel that you can / or would wish to contribute to one side of your bunting. Bunting can be dropped off or collected, anonymous or named…

If you are up for this – and I very much hope that a whole range of you will be – then please read the further details on the back pages and please, Come A-Bunting with Us!

Love & Prayers Carolyn

The Reverend Carolyn A James