Join the St Johnโs Choir and talented soloists for a heart-warming evening of festive favourites, carols, and candlelit Christmas atmosphere this Friday 12 th December at 7.30pm…..
The spectacular, and oldest church in Devizes, St Johnโs Church has a Christmas Concert on Friday with All proceeds go to Juliaโs House and St John’s Church.
Tickets are ยฃ10 for adults, free for accompanied children. Tickets are available via Ticketsource, Devizes Books, or by scanning the QR code in the poster below.
A new organ for St Johnโs Church in Devizes arrived today in two trucks โ although it will be some time before it is installed and working…..
The instrument, which was kindly gifted by Trinity United Reformed Church in Plymouth, was identified by a working group as being ideal for the Church. It has been used several times for the National Young Organistsโ Competition.
It is part of a project to get a pipe organ back in the church, which is known for its choral tradition, for the first time since the fire of 2006. An electronic organ installed then as a temporary solution is still being used, but is ageing rapidly, requires increasing amounts of servicing, and will soon need to be replaced.
The Rector of St John with St Mary, Devizes, the Revโd Jonathan Poston, said, โitโs great to have the organ in Church!”
โWeโre all exhausted because weโve been here since 8.15 this morning unloading it and it has been two wagon-loads of stuff. Weโve managed to get it in church and packed away. ย Weโre really looking forward to our campaign to get our new pipe organ back in place. Itโs going to be fantastic for the choir, and great for our church.”ย
โRealistically it will take at least 12 months to get the organ working, as it is a huge project, but it will be well worth waiting for.โย
Mike McClelland, the churchwarden who facilitated the setting up of the organ working group, said, โThis is a phoenix rising from the ashes of the ruins of the old organ which was burnt.โย
โWe are now preparing for a faculty, or permission from the Diocese of Salisbury to make significant alternations to the Church, building on faculties granted in 2002 and 2008. We canโt start work until we get the faculty, and we also need to raise some money for the project. We do hope to both start and finish work during 2024.โย
Teams of parishioners worked hard to move the pipes into the church and clean up afterwards. This had to be done urgently as this is just the first part of a busy day at St Johnโs โ the Bishop of Ramsbury, the Rt Revโd Andrew Rumsey, confirmed five young people and one adult in the church that evening.
The project is being led by Lance Foy Organs of Truro.
May 1936, Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie I stood with his exiled family on Paddington Station. Before being advised to flee Ethiopia, so he could addressโฆ
It was back in March last year when I last mentioned Devizes author Dave McKenna,ย reviewing his debut, The Killer & The Catalyst. He’s returned withโฆ
By Andy Fawthrop Folk Me! – Another Great Local Music Festival You donโt necessarily need a long pedigree to stage a successful music festival, butโฆ
In In 1981 John Sullivan created a deadpan simpleton character for his sitcom, Only Fools and Horses. Immortalised by the late Roger Lloyd-Pack, Trigger wouldโฆ
Sheez, I go away for five minutes and look what happens. Devizes Facebookland turns into the Ok Corral! Seems I must interrupt my lovely mountaineeringโฆ
By Charlotte Emily Devizes Town Crier There are some moments when history feels less like something written in books and more like something happening rightโฆ
Brave New Broken Hearts Club is the acoustic folk-indie project of Neil Phillimore, who might sound as cockney as Ray Winstone singing Any Old Iron on his Facebook videos, but says he’s a former Devizes resident, and he’s returning for a one-off gig at St Johns, Friday 10th February…..
With his trademark brand of “engaging storytelling and warm, affecting songwriting,” he brings waterways London folk poet-singer Pearl Fish with him too.
Promising “an intimate evening of beautiful songwriting and human connection,” tickets are a tenner, HERE.
Her Majestyโs Lord Lieutenant of Wiltshire has come to a Devizes church to help a Devizes resident celebrate a locally unique Jubilee award.…
Sarah Troughton came to St Johnโs Church in Devizes to congratulate Alice Boyd, who worships at the church, on being Wiltshireโs only winner of the special Platinum Champion Award, which have been granted in honour of Her Majesty The Queen and the great example she has set in her 70 years of service.
Alice has volunteered for Wiltshire Sight and The Talking Newspaper for 20 years, as a magistrate for 18 years, and more recently has been a marshal at Devizesโ COVID19 vaccination centre.
Sarah Troughton, HM Lord-Lieutenant for Wiltshire, said:ย โI am delighted Alice has been specially honoured as the only person in Wiltshire to receive a Platinum Champion Award, an initiative started by Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cornwall. Only 490 awards were made across the whole of the UK, so this deserved honour is a very select one.
โShe was nominated by another Alice, Alice Cleland, a former national Vice Chairman of the Womenโs Royal Voluntary Service (WRVS). The contribution of both Alice’s to life in Wiltshire over many years has been exemplary.โย
From left-to-right, the Revโd Jonathan Poston, Rector of St Johnโs, Devizes; Sarah Troughton, HM Lord Lieutenant for Wiltshire; Alice Boyd, recipient of the Platinum Champion Award; Alice Cleland, who made the nomination. Credit: Gerry Lynch.ย
Award recipient Alice Boyd said:ย โI am humbled and very, very, honoured to receive this award. I volunteer to contribute to the community in which I live and make it a better place. I know that I am very fortunate to be able to do so.โย
Alice Cleland, who made the nomination, said:ย โI know how much volunteering Alice has done over the years and I was reminded of this when I saw her outside the Corn Exchange in Devizes on so many cold winter days helping with the vaccination programme. When I saw nominations being sought for this award, I knew of nobody more deserving.โย
The Revโd Jonathan Poston, Rector of St Johnโs in Devizes where Alice worships, said:ย โWe are so proud of Alice who works so hard in our church and our community.โย
If both Claire and Chloe Grist jest their working and marital relationships are of โleftโ and โright tit,โ respectively, it might explain the reason forโฆ
January last year, The Southgate Inn Devizes announced Jamsters, a monthly Friday night platform for loose groupings and associations created at their regular jam sessionsโฆ
Earthlings and all other organic lifeforms with a taste for the occult, fortean and generalย weirdness are heading to The Barge at HoneyStreet the firstโฆ
by Ian Diddams images by Michael Stevens โ Pharos Photography Shakespeare is credited as having introduced around 1,700 words into the English language, and severalโฆ