Nearly 250 people visited St Mary’s Church over Saturday, February 24th and Sunday, February 25th as part of its ‘Open Weekend’.

For two days St Mary’s was full of stalls displaying all of the elements of church life – from bell ringing to floristry, from support for schools to support for the hungry and homeless.

There were tours of the churchyard on offer and a ‘behind the scenes’ look at the workings of the organ. The weekend also gave the opportunity to show off the recent changes that have been made to the interior of St Mary’s, including the provision of toilet facilities and a kitchen.

Assistant Curate, The Rev’d Simon Tarlton, who, together with the ‘Neighbourhood Group’ at St Mary’s, helped to arrange the weekend, said: “It has been a tremendous success and a real joy to welcome an incredible 248 people into our church who had either never been here before or remember it from long ago.

“We have had some incredibly positive feedback and everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves. Some of the team are already talking about doing it all again next year”.

There was music too with a very very well attended concert on Saturday night with Goodrich based ‘The Roaring Megs’ and the Phoenix Theatre Singers.

The weekend culminated in a celebration ‘come and sing’ Choral Evensong with a Victorian theme. Over 20 visiting singers joined in with St Mary’s own regular choir under the direction of St Mary’s Director of Music, Mark Sanderson to bring the events to a close.