What holds Whaddon together?

This is the village’s church, and so it’s very important to keep everyone informed about its life, including its bricks and mortar, so that the village can decide how it wants to ensure it’s still here for generations to come. As he opened last year’s Church Fete, Professor Sir Bob Hepple, summed up the role St Mary’s plays: positioned as it is between the two parts of Whaddon, the church effectively holds the village together through its opportunity and responsibility for fostering its life. It does so by connecting the 400 villagers to their roots - the church has stood here since c.1300 - and to each other. These two forms of connecting are part of a whole: the building’s history is taken by the vibrant church community as a reassuring foundation on which to build community in the present. In other words, knowing that Christian faith has been a vital part of village life in Whaddon for over 700 years gives us confidence and inspiration imaginatively to convey it today.

So we celebrate at Christmas with carols, mulled wine and mince pies. At Easter the church is beautifully decorated with flowers, and the churchyard is full of Easter eggs soon discovered by enthusiastic children. At Whitsun Morrismen from as far afield as Yorkshire come and express the new life that God brings to us in dance and lead us in singing the ‘Whaddon Whitsun Song’ traceable to the 1800’s. At Harvest the church is full of autumn colour and local produce as we give thanks to God for his provision. On Remembrance Sunday soldiers from Bassingbourn Barracks march into the church to join the village in moving worship.

Regular Sunday worship is a varied diet and attracts different parts of the community. Many children, most of whom have been baptised here over the last few years, come with their parents to the monthly Family Service. On other Sundays services of Morning Prayer and Holy Communion are held, with substantial roles taken by lay people.

How might our life develop? We know from conversations around the village that many who do not attend worship Sunday by Sunday have big questions about faith and God, and so the PCC is working on a new type of service to which villagers can come to explore faith by asking questions, discussing life issues and receiving basic teaching. We’re considering, too, how we can help our children to develop their faith as they move towards secondary school

In all we do we realize that we must have a building that is flexible and sound. At the end of 2008, our Architect’s Quinquennial Report highlighted weaknesses in the upper tower. There are repairs to do to the lead roof, timber and masonry. The total project cost is in excess of £160,000. We have applied to English Heritage for a grant which, even if we are successful, will leave some major fund-raising required to achieve our goal. This time last year we emphasized that the church does not wish to be seen to be acting in competition with other village projects, such as the Playground Project and the Village Hall but we do want to fulfill the vision that Bob Hepple so powerfully described.   We hope that English Heritage will be a major partner in enabling us to continue to do what we believe God is calling us to, for in our fragmenting society, which institution other than the church has the possibility of holding our community together?