Bowland Benefice
Pews News 23 July 2023
7th Sunday after Trinity

Collect
Lord of all power and might,
the author and giver of all good things:
graft in our hearts the love of your name,
increase in us true religion,
nourish us with all goodness,
and of your great mercy keep us in the same;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.
This week in the Benefice
Sunday
23 July

9.30am Holy Communion in
White Ladies Aston
10.30am Morning Prayer in
Upton Snodsbury
11.00am Holy Communion in
Peopleton

Tuesday
25July

10.45am Funeral of Margery
Holman (see below)
7.30pm Bowland Benefice
Council Meeting in
The Parish Room,
White Ladies Aston
(see below)

Sunday
30 July
8 th Sunday
after Trinity

10.30am Benefice Holy
Communion in
Broughton Hackett
2.00pm Summer Garden
Party in the grounds
of Wolverton Hall,
(see below)
The funeral of Margery Holman (late of Upton
Snodsbury) will take place at Worcester Crematorium
on Tuesday at 10.45am. All are welcome.
May she rest in peace.

If you have anything you would like discussed at the
Council Meeting on Tuesday, please do let me know
( [email protected] )
Please do come along and join the congregation at St
Leonard’s next Sunday for the Benefice Communion
Service. Also during August there will be just one
Benefice Communion Service each Sunday.
All are welcome to the Summer Garden Party in aid of
St Nicholas Church, at Wolverton Hall by kind
invitation of Sir Nicholas and Lady Georgia Coleridge.
Meet at St Nicholas Church at 2.00pm to walk across
to Wolverton Hall. Tickets are £7 each (children £3) to
include a glass of Pimms, tea/coffee and cake. The
swimming pool will be available to use. Tickets from
Caroline (840630), Diana (840611), Carole (840879)

and Kim (840911).

Last Sunday, during my weekly phone call with my
son, he told me he had played the organ that morning
for the Eucharist service at St Kenelm’s church,
Minster Lovell near Witney. It was the special patronal
service as St Kenelm’s saint’s day was Monday 17 July.
There is a lot of information, some contradictory,
about St Kenelm on the internet. It is a fascinating
story and I thought I could share some of it with you.
Maybe if you are going to the Morning Prayer service
in Upton Snodsbury this weekend you could think
back through the centuries, remember Kenelm and his

connection with our Benefice.

Legend tells us that Kenelm was the son of a Mercian
king, Kenwulph who died in 819AD when Kenelm was
only 7. Kenwulph founded Winchcombe Abbey.
Family jealousy and intrigue followed the king’s death
and Kenelm (now a boy king) was beheaded and
buried on the orders of his elder sister Quendryda,
whilst he was singing a Te Deum on a visit in the Clent

Hills.

Heaven took a hand as a heavenly dove informed the
Pope of Kenelm’s murder and he sent monks from
Winchcombe to find the body and carry him home.
As the monks approached a particular thicket near
Romsley, they saw a shining light, dug and found

Kenelm’s body.

As they lifted him up water sprang forth and out
flowed a stream. These waters afterwards became
known for their healing qualities and a well-head was

erected.

On the way to Wincombe, Kenelm’s body rested over
night in the church in Upton Snodsbury and when
crossing the River Avon near Fladbury, monks from
Worcester Cathedral claimed the body too. And a

fight ensued!

Eventually Kenelm’s body, carried by exhausted
Winchcombe monks, and still being chased by the
Worcester monks, was within sight of Wincombe.
The monks struck the ground with a staff and a spring
burst out to refresh them for the rest of the journey.
St Kenelm was buried solemnly at Winchcombe
Abbey, miracles were reported at his tomb and, as
mentioned in The Nun’s Priest’s Tale in Chaucer’s
Canterbury Tales, the shrine became a place of

pilgrimage.

Winchcombe Abbey, disappeared but in the parish
church of St Peter in Winchcombe, in the 19 th century,
2 stone coffins were discovered and are believed to

contain the relics of St Kenelm and his father King

Kenwulph.