Join the St John’s 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 John’s Church has a Christmas Concert on Friday with All proceeds go to Julia’s House and St John’s Church.
Tickets are £10 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 John’s Church in Devizes arrived today in two trucks – 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 Organists’ 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 Rev’d Jonathan Poston, said, “it’s great to have the organ in Church!”
“We’re all exhausted because we’ve been here since 8.15 this morning unloading it and it has been two wagon-loads of stuff. We’ve managed to get it in church and packed away. We’re really looking forward to our campaign to get our new pipe organ back in place. It’s going to be fantastic for the choir, and great for our church.”
“Realistically 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.”
Mike McClelland, the churchwarden who facilitated the setting up of the organ working group, said, “This is a phoenix rising from the ashes of the ruins of the old organ which was burnt.”
“We 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 can’t 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.”
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 John’s – the Bishop of Ramsbury, the Rt Rev’d 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.
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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 Majesty’s 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 John’s Church in Devizes to congratulate Alice Boyd, who worships at the church, on being Wiltshire’s 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 Devizes’ COVID19 vaccination centre.
Sarah Troughton, HM Lord-Lieutenant for Wiltshire, said: “I 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.
“She was nominated by another Alice, Alice Cleland, a former national Vice Chairman of the Women’s Royal Voluntary Service (WRVS). The contribution of both Alice’s to life in Wiltshire over many years has been exemplary.”
From left-to-right, the Rev’d Jonathan Poston, Rector of St John’s, 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.
Award recipient Alice Boyd said: “I 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.”
Alice Cleland, who made the nomination, said: “I 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.”
The Rev’d Jonathan Poston, Rector of St John’s in Devizes where Alice worships, said: “We are so proud of Alice who works so hard in our church and our community.”
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