Report on The Wellspring Villages Celebration Weekend – 4th and 5th October
A local historian wrote recently: “Within the walls of our churches lie centuries of faith, art, memory and community life.” How very true. We could also add that written into the landscape and the surrounding settlements, farms and chalk downlands lies a further record of the human story in these parts of God’s good creation, here in North Wiltshire.
Over the weekend of the 4th and 5th of October, as the newly constituted single Anglican Parish of the Wellspring Villages, we picked up many of these threads and wove them together into a beautiful picture of the human journey so far in our villages, while anticipating new, united pathways going forward into a new future together.
The former Anglican Parishes of Liddington, Wanborough, Bishopstone and Hinton Parva became the single Anglican Parish of the Wellspring Villages on 1st June, and we marked and celebrated this in a Pilgrim Walk around the four churches on the Saturday, and a special Harvest Celebration Service on the Sunday at All Saints, followed by a ‘bring and share’ Harvest Lunch in Wanborough Village Hall.
THE WELLSPRING PILGRIM WALK: Saturday 4th October, 9.30 a.m. – St Andrew’s
About 20 people met at St Andrew’s, amidst beautiful flower displays, harvest produce and pealing bells, with others joining along the way. We gathered around the font and used water collected from one of the Wanborough springs to symbolise our faith, hope and love in God, which we pledged to pour out in His service in the days and years ahead, as we poured the water into the font. Then Dame Sarah Troughton, a member of our worshipping community and Lord Lieutenant of Wiltshire, sent us all off, with suitable words of encouragement, on our Wellspring Pilgrim Walk around our four churches of Wanborough, Liddington, Bishopstone and Hinton Parva.
It was a beautiful autumnal day – cloudy with sunny spells and a strong, gusting breeze.
In Liddington, the bell ringers gave a demonstration of bell ringing using a camera and video link, so that we could watch the bells in action at the same time as the bell ringers handled their ropes in a complex synchronicity of shifting patterns. Using Liddington spring water this time, we again gave thanks around the font for the settlement of Liddington – formed around clear spring waters emanating from the chalk downlands above many generations ago – and for the church community of All Saints, established in subsequent centuries. Again, we pledged ourselves to the ongoing service of God in this place as we poured the water into the font.
The longest stretch of our walk took us down through the Liddington Combe, under the M4, up to the Ridgeway Path heading towards Foxhill, and then up onto the high Ridgeway path along the top of the chalk escarpment, overlooking the Vale of the White Horse – a stunningly beautiful stretch – before turning left down the Bishopstone Combe to the Bishopstone Village Hall for lunch. Delicious autumnal soup and fresh oven-baked bread replenished our depleted resources.
From here we returned to St Andrew’s via St Mary’s, Bishopstone, and St Swithin’s, Hinton Parva, following the same pattern of prayer and reflection. This took us winding through the lower fields and farmland beneath the chalk escarpments, past human settlement and finally up onto the large open field and children’s play area east of St Andrew’s.
We plan to make this walk an annual event. It is a stunningly beautiful and varied walk through amazing countryside, which also offers opportunities to pause for thanksgiving, reflection, praise and prayer in the wonderful ancient churches of these four villages – each formed around fresh water springs flowing from the downs. Our prayer is that the living water Jesus promised the woman at the well in John 4 will indeed well up in us, His followers and people, in this newly constituted single Parish of the Wellspring Villages in the years ahead.
THE HARVEST CELEBRATION SERVICE: Sunday 5th October, 10.30 a.m. – All Saints, Liddington
Pealing bells again welcomed us to church at All Saints, Liddington, on the Sunday morning, along with glorious harvest displays of flowers and produce of all kinds and a stunning cake in the shape of an open Bible, with the words of John chapter 4, verses 13 and 14 printed onto the fondant icing on the top:
“Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.’”
So, we were actually able to read and inwardly digest Jesus’ words in every possible sense.
Naturally, the theme of the service focused around water – its amazing and unique properties, without which there would be no life on earth and no harvest at all. Julian Cook, a local farmer, shared his experience of the importance of water in his life, as well as his experience of the living water, God’s Holy Spirit, that Jesus promised to give us when we put our faith and trust in Him.
The centrepiece of the service was a symbolic action involving our four Churchwardens, each carrying spring water from one of the four villages, coming together at the font and pouring those waters simultaneously into a bowl on the font, as we dedicated ourselves afresh to the ongoing work of prayer and the service of God in this special place of the Wellspring Villages.
Not everything went to plan. The pages of the order of service were accidentally printed in the wrong order – something I didn’t notice in the busyness before the service began. This made for an interesting service with an entirely new order of proceedings which seemed to have a life all of their own! I couldn’t help recollecting afterwards the words of Britain’s best-loved comedian, who wisely stated, after trying unsuccessfully to play the introduction to Grieg’s Piano Concerto:
“These are all the right notes (for us, words), just not necessarily in the right order.”
Happily, it didn’t detract from the service at all; if anything, it made it even more special and unique.
THE CELEBRATION HARVEST LUNCH: Sunday 5th October, 12.30 p.m. – Wanborough Village Hall
The ‘bring and share’ Harvest Lunch took place in Wanborough Village Hall. The food was superb – as was the wine – and far more than we could consume in a single lunchtime, although it was well worth the effort! There was, of course, cake – the grand cake in the form of an open Bible. What truly English occasion could take place without cake?
This inevitably led to a cake-cutting ceremony, a toast to the newly formed Parish of the Wellspring Villages with an excellent splash of bubbly, and a heartfelt round of applause to bring our weekend celebrations to a fitting end.
Thank you to everyone who attended some or all of the proceedings, and a very special thank you to everyone who worked hard to help deliver what turned out to be a thoroughly enjoyable and significant weekend in the life of our new Anglican Parish of the Wellspring Villages.
If the teamwork on display this weekend is a taste of things to come, then the future of our single parish promises to be truly positive, interesting, creative and united.
Details of all future services and events will be on our new website.
Revd Steve Paynter
Vicar
