Rector: Rev Ian Whitehead
The Rectory, Church Road, Rolleston on Dove, DE13 9BE
tel: 810151

Dear Friends,

The coming of December means getting my new diary out for 2003. There is something about a new diary that is so nice. The pages are clean and new, each date has a promise of something to come about it. There is something positive and hopeful about a new diary, perhaps a case of looking forward to the future in a new way. However it doesn’t take long, especially in a Clergy Diary, for the new year to become as cluttered in the diary as the previous years. Forward dates transferred from the back of the old diary into the new and already the new year is turning into a potential re-run of last year. Too many meetings, too many ‘got to do’s’ and not enough space for people.

Looking back through last year’s diary also has its thoughts and feeling as you transfer Aunty Jean’s birthday forward to 2003. As I look back going through each month for events and Birthdays to transfer into the new I see things that have happened. The positive events that bring a smile, and the events that bring a sadness. How quickly the year has gone by, how much has happened and how little I achieved.

Each Christmas there comes again those thoughts of what to buy for whom? How soon to do the Christmas cards? Which services at church to consider going to?

As a clergy family, Christmas has to be planned perhaps sooner than many, all the family occasions working round the services and events of the Christmas week. Each Christmas I come again to think about how to present Christmas this year. Perhaps I should just run out the same sermon as last year! Yet each year I come to a different theme in the end, perhaps the Shepherds or Joseph and how they see the birth of the child who changed everything. 

May you all have a wonderful Christmas and New Year, remembering your loved ones and sharing something special in the season together. May you also know something of the peace of the Christ-child and the promise of a new star that he offers to all.

Ian Whitehead

Dear Friends,

As you come to read this the summer holidays will be nearly over and the coming of Autumn will be following on so quickly. This year with all its different events has flown by so quickly we have hardly had chance to take it all in. No sooner was Easter celebrated than it seems to be Harvest Festival time once more. In between we have had some wonderful events and reasons to celebrate. Gardens Sunday, not so long ago in Rolleston, was a fantastic day brought together by a team of people this year. In it we raised £3,700 for the Fabric of St Mary’s church, a wonderful effort not only by that small group but also the many others who did so much on the day, in preparation for it and in the Gardens themselves. On behalf of St Mary’s church may I say a sincere thank you.

The end of September will bring the celebration of Harvest once more. Each year the cycle of the land brings us once more to the bounty that God gives to us and with him we can both sow and reap, buy and sell. Harvest certainly for us means celebrating the riches of God in this world and his provision for our needs but you only have to read some of the older prayers in the Book of Common Prayer to see that this was not always the case for us in this country. Then we suffered almost as much as we see the suffering of our world brothers and sisters in Africa today. Then and now there is prayer for rain and also the peaceful rule of governments who affect crops almost as much if not more than the rain. Harvest is a time for upturned hands in thankfulness for what we have received, it is also a time for clasped hands in prayer for those who have not.

Ian Whitehead

Note: Harvest will be celebrated on September 29th with Family Service at 9.30am & Evensong at 6.30pm followed by Auction of Harvest Produce (see noticeboard for details).

Dear Friends,

As I sit and write this, Village Celebrations for the Queens Jubilee are just weeks away. Posters and arrangements are all around the village adding to the anticipation. Now as you read this it will all be just memories, but also hopefully an experience that shows just how this village of Rolleston can and does join together to pull out the stops and enjoy itself. It never fails to amaze me just how inventive, creative and hardworking people can be.

This will no doubt be shown once more on 21st July, Gardens Sunday in aid of the Church Fabric. Many, many people are volunteering so much to help maintain and develop our Parish Church. This years Gardens Sunday is tinged with sadness as we remember the great contribution Mrs Judy Tillett made in organising Gardens Sunday each year. We remember the loss she is to us, as Judy, and as the drive and enthusiasm that made Gardens Sunday so special. This year a group of people have been finding out in organising it just how much Judy did each year behind the scenes for the Church she supported so well. I hope that you also will be able to enjoy the day with us, see the gardens and help us in our work at St Mary’s.

Nearly half a year ago I shared with you some of the thoughts about St Mary’s Church and its future course. This has been working through the system of the Church and came together in a major presentation to the Church membership of Stepping Stones. There are five areas of work we feel God is calling us to. Each one a stepping-stone helping us to move forward as a church. Some of the areas are vital to the Church others are literally steps of faith. In the Fabric we have a vision of the Old School Room being available and used more by the community and so it needs refurbishment and updating. Disabled access to the Church is a necessity today and hopefully some draft plans will be available for discussion at the Church on Garden Sunday. Within the Church there are plans for bringing it more up to date as a building whilst losing none of its history, style and presence that it has as an ancient place of worship. To help us in our faith there are now small groups meeting in peoples homes where faith as well as questions can be shared, together with this a course has been running to help us as a Church to meet with and help those in need. As the Rector here I have been given what is called the ‘cure of all souls’; the responsibility before God for the Parish and its people and this is something that the Church as a whole is sharing in.

To aid the running of the church there will be an appointment of an Administrator/Secretary to maintain some of the more administrative jobs that cross a Clergy desk as well as the running of a busy Church. Lastly the need of our Youth is very much on our minds and we totally support the recent moves of the Parish Council together with the Police in thinking about a Parish based Youth Club here in Rolleston.

The church and the village live in exciting times; we share many things with the church building as well as the parish as a whole. Burton may have the Queen coming to visit; Rolleston may seem just a village on the outskirts but to us who live here Rolleston means much more than a place to live. In many ways the Church and Village are more alive and active now than any Town or City. We may not have the bright lights, the high-ranking Visitor, noise and bustle but we do have something far more important. A beating heart that is alive and active in the village not just for itself but also for all here.

Revd Ian Whitehead

Dear Friends,

It never fails to amaze me about how many people in Rolleston are prepared to get involved with the community. In fact I could go as far as to say that I have never come across a community that does so much together!

This coming year once more seems filled with activity and community involvement. No doubt elsewhere in this magazine there will be many of the different groups advertising their activities over the coming months. It is great to see so much happening from the Civic Trust, RODSEC, St Mary’s Church, Choral Society, Parish Council, Methodist Church, Allotments, Art Group, John of Rolleston School, Playgroup, Scouts & Guides and no doubt others I have failed to mention! All this builds community and even if you personally don’t get involved in any of the activities you will still feel their effect.

This year being the Queen’s Jubilee Year, in spite of what the press may think, many organisations in the village are hard at work organising different events. St Mary’s Church will also be a focus of some of these events as well as an organiser and supporter. Our role will be one of hosting, contributing and praying.

It shows that cause and effect can have far reaching possibilities. The things that we do as a Church affect you. The things of God will also affect you even if you are not actively involved. Such is God who we at St Mary’s worship each Sunday, a God of action and involvement, and who I pray will touch your lives each morning as I ring the Church bell.

Celebrate this coming year and enjoy all that our community organises and celebrates not just for what we might get out of it but also for the good of our community to which we all are a part.

Rev Ian Whitehead

Back to St Mary's Home Page

Home Page, establishments

© Richard Bush

Last updated: 2 March 2004