The Church of St Peter & St Paul

St. Peter and St. Paul, Great Casterton is one of the five churches in the group comprising Great Casterton, Little Casterton, Pickworth, Tickencote and Tinwell.

PRIEST-IN-CHARGE The Rev. Jo Saunders 01780 480479 Email revjosaunders@live.co.uk

READER John Hartley 01780 756045 Email john11hartley@gmail.com

Our Sunday Service is at 10.30, and is Holy Communion on the 1st, 3rd and 4th Sunday. We have an informal Family Service on the 2nd Sunday. Visitors are always welcome, and we have a toy corner for small children.

Baptisms are held at this service, but may also be arranged at other times.

Weddings by arrangement.

Anyone living in, or with a connection to, Great Casterton which includes Rutland Heights has the legal right to marry there. Anyone living in, or with a connection to, the other churches has the right to marry there

Gt. Casterton Church Hall is available for lettings. Contact Steve Suffling 01780 751384

The Casterton Singers form the church choir, but also give concerts. New members are very welcome. Contact Jill Bush 01780 767270 or Marion Horobin 01780 755523

Details of all services in the group can be found below.
NB: Large print copies of Service Sheets are available and we have excellent wheelchair access

Rev Jo's letter for May 2013
The economic downturn in this country has affected us all to some degree, but has affected our churches particularly hard. Interest rates have been minimal for several years, and this means that those fortunate enough to have capital have had to use it to fund their day-to-day running. Not all our five churches have any capital to draw on. In my last post we held a stewardship campaign to increase income, and I was amazed at how many people thought the state, or organisations like English Heritage, funded churches. Nothing could be further from the truth. Churches receive nothing from the state or other organisations, and as well as maintaining ancient buildings, have to contribute to the diocese to pay for clergy and their pensions, and for the administrative support given by the diocese. In these five churches we currently pay £23,450 to the Diocese of Peterborough. In addition the churches pay insurance and utility bills, and my expenses. Our Treasurer at Great Casterton, Julia, is going to explain in more detail exactly where the money goes.
Quite simply, the churches need much more financial support. £1 in the collection buys significantly less today than it did five years ago. Villagers still expect the church to be there for weddings, baptisms and funerals. Our prayer board at Gt Casterton bears witness to the fact that many people appreciate our prayer ministry. Our visitors’ books are full of positive comments about the peace people find within the churches, and how much they enjoy the treasures they see. But the hard fact is that if we are unable to increase our income, churches may, eventually, have to close.
So … if you value your parish church, will you support it financially? Will you give a regular sum towards its upkeep – and if you are a tax payer, gift-aid your contribution? If you already contribute, could you review your giving and perhaps increase it? If you don’t want to, or cannot give regularly, could you give a one-off donation? Or could you organise a fund-raising event of some sort for the church?
Tickencote, with its tiny congregation, has suffered particularly. Without the donations of visitors to this spectacular building, it could not keep going. It has had two large bills to pay this year, and this has exhausted its funds. If you are Tickencote resident, do please consider supporting your church. Without increased income its future looks very bleak. Worship has been sustained there since the Norman Conquest of 1066. How sad it would be if 2013 saw the end of that.
John Hartley has written elsewhere about the need for lay people to relieve the clergy of practical responsibilities and allow them to do what they are called to do – to preach the Gospel. I hate having to ask people for money, and would much prefer to focus on spiritual matters. But here are some happier things to think about:
On May 27th, Liz Jacobs and Ryszard Bietzk are to be married at Tickencote – the first wedding there for nine years, and the first of two there this year. (Two more reasons to keep Tickencote open…)
May brings with it two baptisms; William Cash, great-grandson of Great Casterton’s organist, Betty Lamb will be baptised there in the Family Service on May 12th and Jessica Glover, also at Great Casterton, on May 26th . We are delighted to welcome these babies into our church family.
Our Bible study group resumes on Wednesday May 8th at 2.00 in Great Casterton hall, when we shall begin looking at St Matthew’s gospel. Holy Terrors continues at the primary school on Wednesdays from 3.15.
With Easter behind us, and the great feasts of Pentecost, the Ascension and Trinity to come this month, we have much to celebrate. Pentecost marks the coming of the Holy Spirit, as St Augustine wrote:
Breathe in me O Holy Spirit,
that my thoughts may all be holy;
Act in me O Holy Spirit,
that my work, too, may be holy;
Draw my heart O Holy Spirit,
that I love but what is holy;
Strengthen me O Holy Spirit,
to defend all that is holy;
Guard me, then, O Holy Spirit,
that I always may be holy.
Amen.

When the Holy Spirit is pleased to work through us by our entreaty and friendship, the glory of God's holiness will shine through our lives.
With best wishes

Jo

Wednesdays 10.30am COFFEE, CAKES AND COMPANY- in the Church Hall (Term-time only).
A group of us meets beforehand for MORNING PRAYER in the church at 10.15 (not in August). All are welcome to both or either!

Our PLAY GROUP meets every Friday, in the Church Hall from 10.30. All children and their carers are very welcome. Contact Kate Simmons 01780 754163 for details

Our GAMES AND CRAFTS AFTERNOON takes place on the last Monday of each month. Cards, board games, crochet, knitting, sewing plus tea, cake and chat from 2.30 onwards. All ages welcome.

OTHER SERVICES WITHIN THE GROUP

The Parish Church stands in what in Roman times was a protected zone between the ramparts and ditch on the N.and E.and the river on the S. and W. The church stands on the site of a Roman temple, on which an early Christian church was built; this was probably a wooden structure, but of it no trace remains.

The wooden structure was replaced by a Saxon church consisting of a small Chancel and an archless Nave. Saxon long and short work is still in evidence in the S.E. corner of the nave.

The Norman church consisted of a nave and two small aisles divided from the Nave by round, arched arcades resting on columns of stone with square bases. The nave was low with a flat wooden roof. The tower opened into the nave through a fine horseshoe arch. At the E. end was a wall pierced with a low round arch leading into a small oblong chancel, against the East end of which was the altar.

In the 13th Century an Early English chancel with lancet windows was built, while the round arch between the nave and chancel was raised to a point. Other changes followed: the aisles were lighted with windows with decorated tracery, and carried on their walls in rough distemper the story of the Incarnation. Above the Norman arcade was added a clerestory with decorated windows surmounted by an open roof of massive oak timbers. Across the chancel arch stretched a wooden loft carrying figures of Our Lord on the Cross with St Mary and St John on either side.

In the 15th century a clerestory was added. The font on a chamfered plinth may be late 12th/early 13th century.

The Reformation saw the destruction of many of the church's treasures.

In the 18th century the church was fitted with box pews of deal.

Considerable restoration work was carried out in the mid to late 20th century.