Friends of the
Church of St Mary Magdalene Huntshaw
A hidden gem in rural North Devon
Thank you to Simon Jessop for the photograph
#We Are Here For Culture Supported by the Culture Recovery Fund
About us
The Friends of the Church of St Mary Magdalene Huntshaw was established on 16th February 2018. Our aims are to raise funds for the maintenance and preservation of the church and to encourage enjoyment and appreciation of it by the people of Huntshaw and the wider community.
Worship
Our church is valued by the community for local events and festivals. See below our planned services for the coming months.
More information on other local services:
Coming up
The Huntshaw Christmas party
Saturday 10th December
Join the Christmas fun with games, quizzes, music
A glass of mulled wine on arrival
Festive finger fare
Mince pies
Bring your own drinks
Christmas jumpers essential
Doors open at 6.30pm £8 per adult, £3 per child
To reserve your tickets: Email huntshawparishhall@outlook.com
or call Audrey on 0795202 8013
Celebrate Christmas with us
Sunday 11th December at 11.00 am
We will tell the story of Christmas
Sing some of our favourite carols
Bless the crib
Launch our lights of love
Stars to hang on our tree in memory of loved ones
Eat mince pies and drink sherry
Services and events in church
Decorate the church for Christmas Thursday 8th December
Celebrate Christmas with us Sunday 11th December at 11.00 am
News Years Day Service Sunday 1st January 2023 at 11.00 am
Hymns and reflection for the new year followed by bacon butties and coffee
After Christmas tidy-up Thursday 5th January 2023 at 2.00 pm
Meet the Rector, tea and scones available. Bring your duster!
Candlemas Sunday 5th February 2023 at 11.00 am
Bring your candles to church for a service of light
Ash Wednesday Wednesday 22nd February at 11.00 am
A reflective service to begin Lent
Morning service and AGM Sunday 26th March at 11.00 am
Good Friday all-age worship Friday 7th April at 9.30 am
A simple service gathered round the cross, followed by hot cross buns
Easter Sunday all-age communion Sunday 9th April at 11.00 am
Light the Easter fire, celebrate the resurrection. Collect your easter egg!
News
At the Parochial Church Council AGM on 15th May it was agreed that we would join the Two Rivers Mission Community Joint Council. This will streamline administration. It was also agreed that the church will be open daily (times to be confirmed). The PCC remains in place to oversee the church building, finances and mission. We plan to put together a programme of special services for the year, in conjunction with the village hall.
Bell Appeal
Our three listed bells are in need of repair
The bells were sinking on their medieval oak frames. The frames were decayed with supports falling away from the trusses. One bell is cracked and all are out of tune. Around 30k is needed to carry out repairs.
Richard Sears, who is leading the project, has raised over 21k. You can help by supporting our events or making a donation. An easy way to donate is to subscribe to Easyfundraising, the UKs biggest charity shopping site. Just click on this link:
https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/invite/u8eytq/
For more information see The bell restoration page or email: rsears2017@gmail.com
The earliest bell dates from the reign of Henry VIII in 1505 with the others dating from the 1600’s. They have sat on a framework of oak trusses and horizontal foundation beams since they were installed but over the centuries, as rot set in, new beams were placed between the original ones. This closed the gap between the beams meaning that today it was impossible to lower a bell through them. So phase one of the work has involved placing two steel beams below the bell chamber to allow the original beams to be moved apart. This created a big-enough gap between the beams allowing passage for the bells. This work was completed in early March with the help of Eddie Staines and Arron Baker (Staines Trailors) who generously donated the metal beams saving the Bell Fund nearly £1000. We are grateful to Eddie and Arron for this support.
Phase two involved the actual bell-lowering which took place over an intensive 3-day period in March. Steve from Taylors Bell Foundry, Loughborough carried out the work with support from a team of volunteers who helped with holding guide ropes, operating pulleys, fetching and carrying and making the tea. The tenor (the oldest and biggest bell) came down first followed by the treble and the No. 2 bell. The bells rested overnight beside the font by the west door. Security was a concern but the police kept a watchful eye. People were able to view the bells before they were loaded onto a lorry and transported off to Loughborough. We hope to see the bells back in Huntshaw next year after they have been cleaned, repaired and retuned.
We are grateful to the volunteers who helped with this momentous task and look forward to seeing them again next year when we have to repeat the whole process in reverse!. See photos below.
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Book Reprint: Our popular book
on the history of Huntshaw
written by Richard Sears, has
been reprinted. All proceeds
from sales go to the church.
£6.00 per copy. Contact
The Big Jubilee Lunch
On Sunday, 5th June we celebrated the Queen's platinum jubilee. An outside service opened the event but then the rain came so we were forced indoors. The hall was festively decorated in red, white and blue and food, music and dress was 1950s themed. The coronation chicken was delicious and our jubilee trifle was amazing. After the meal we went outside for a ceremonial tree planting that was ably carried out by Andy. This was followed by the launch of the our Plant a Tree project. In honour of the Queen’s Green Canopy, the aim is to see 70 trees planted in and around the village in the coming year. Guests were given a sapling (a crab apple tree) and asked to match it with a tree of their choice. They were asked to capture and share their tree stories through photographs, videos, paintings, poems. Thirty trees were given out and we eagerly await those fantastic tree stories (as well as jams, jellies and wines!) The trees came from the Woodland Trust.
Thank you to those who helped with organising the event and who contributed to the catering.
Big The Art and Science of Bells and Bell Ringing
To support the bell restoration appeal an afternoon devoted to bells took place on Saturday, 14th May. And what a successful event it was!
Ian Campbell, the church’s top advisor on bells in Devon, led the event with an excellent talk. He brought along an 8 foot tall bell stand complete with large bell and demonstrated ringing in the "up" position and "down position" People were able to have a go at this after the talk and many were surprised at how difficult it was. Ian also brought along a set of hand bells and had members of the audience giving a melodious performance to the eager listeners. The Town Crier from Bideford acted as MC for the afternoon and there were models and displays to examine. Other activities included 'Guess the weight of the bell' and a raffle in which a bell-shaped cake (in the colours of the Ukrainian flag) was the prize. The 600-year old "Huntshaw Nail" found aloft in the belfry woodwork went for £50 in an informal auction. The weather was sunny and warm and cream teas spilled over onto the grass outside.
A very successful afternoon and well over £1,000 was raised towards the bell appeal.
Big Huntshaw in Pre-historic times
On a cold, wet and windy evening on 12th March, the hall was packed for a talk by local archaeologist Michael Griffith-Jones.
Michael enlightened the audience on how successive peoples migrated into our area, pushing out the ones before, and the way they lived life from 10,000BC through to Roman Times. Especially illuminating was how the Bronze Age "Huntshaw Dagger" found in Huntshaw Barrow No 2 on Haycroft Farm over 100 years ago was of national significance.
Plus at Berry Castle and other North Devon Hillforts the spiritual significance of the 3-river system on three sides, and how they always ‘dip’ one to one corner.
The event proved to be very popular and around £250 was raised for the Huntshaw bell restoration fund. Thank you Michael for a fascinating evening
A walking Treasure Hunt
On Sunday 17th July over 40 people completed a circular walk of four miles around the lanes, woods, hills and valleys of Huntshaw. This was an amazing achievement and all should be congratulated as this particular day was the hottest day ever recorded! There were clues to solve along the way with one clue being in Honey Wood Orchard, where much welcomed cold ciders and apple juices were being given out. A barbecue awaited the intrepid walkers on arrival back at the church. Over £400 was raised for the bell appeal. Our grateful thanks go to Chris Tattersall from Honey Wood Orchard for providing the cider and apple juice and to Les Birch was manning the barbecue.
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Harvest supper
On Saturday 10th September we enjoyed our annual Harvest supper. The food was delicious as usual and a good time was had by all.
Halloween Skittles night
On Saturday, 29th October the ghosts and ghouls of the village turned out and played skittles. Various levels of skittling skill was demontrated and everyone had a lot of fun.
Our projects
Wild life friendly churchyard
An area at the rear of the church has been
set aside to grow wild and many grasses and flowers took hold last year. The butterflies loved it and our bug hotel hosted many guests.
The Huntshaw Graveyard Survey
See it on this website. The Huntshaw Graveyard Survey is the culmination of seven years of intensive research by Richard Sears. Richard was born and grew up at Huntshaw Mill and has maintained strong links with the village. He has written two books on the history of Huntshaw. The survey has attracted global interest with inquiries from as far as Australia and North America. Feedback has been very good.
The survey consists of six sections including a 240 page record of each headstone, ledger and memorial complete with photographs, inscriptions and background history. There are records of 800 people buried in the churchyard over the past 400 years but there will have been many more than this as records have been lost. The survey makes fascinating reading.
Two files containing photographs of all the headstones with their inscriptions are now available in the church. One copy can be loaned out if you would like time to study the information. Contact rsears2017@gmail.com if you wish to do this.
Thank you for your hard work and commitment Richard.
HUNTSHAW PARISH HALL
The Friends work closely with the parish hall management committee and we are now putting on joint events
We are also great supporters of the Alverdiscott and Huntshaw Community Facebook page where you can keep up to speed with all that is going on locally.
Support Us
Get involved: Keeping the church clean and tidy, maintaining the churchyard, organising fundraising events, contributing to research of the fascinating heritage or simply making the tea. Get involved and do your bit to keep your local church a special place. And have fun along the way! There is something for everyone. See the Events Page to keep up to date with the latest events, news and stories
Making a donation is your opportunity to support and help us raise funds to keep the Church of St Mary Magdalene open for the enjoyment and appreciation of the whole community.
Grant awards
The repair work would not have been possible without the generosity of a number of organisations.
At the end of 2020 we were awarded a lifeline grant from the £1.57bn Culture Recovery Fund.
The Church of St Mary Magdalene Huntshaw was one of 445 heritage sites across the country to receive a lifesaving financial boost from the government thanks to the £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund to help them through the coronavirus pandemic. The organisations shared £103 million to help restart vital reconstruction work and maintenance on cherished heritage sites, keeping venues open and supporting those working in the sector. The Friends of the church were awarded £11,900 to fund urgent repairs arising from storm damage and to revive our restoration and conservation programme.
We are #HereForCulture
The Coastal Recycling Community Fund awarded £25,000 towards urgent repairs to the tower.
The Devon Historic Churches Trust Devon Historic Churches Trust awarded a grant of £4,000.
The Allchurches Trust Allchurches Trust awarded a grant of £1,500.
The Wolfson Foundation in conjunction with ChurchCare awarded £7,000
The Bideford Bridge Trust awarded £2,000
See our Bell Restoration page for details of grants given to the Bell Appeal
Thank you to all organisations for their generosity
Safeguarding
If you have a concern about the safety of someone or the actions of someone working with children or vulnerable adults, please speak to someone:
Our Safeguarding Representatives are:
Rev Gary Owen
01769 560792
Mr Derek Birch
07970 865423
The Diocesan Safeguarding Team can be contacted via:
https://exeter.anglican.org/resources/safeguarding/safeguarding-team/
If you are a young person and you feel unhappy about something happening to you, call Childline on 0800 11 11
We have implemented a policy of no single use plastics
We are working to make this website more accessible to all. See our Accessibility Statement