On Saturday 21st December in the morning, the Duddon Valley Churches will be hosting a Coffee and Cake event at St Mary Magdelene, Broughton.The Valley churches have entered a tree into the festival, the theme this year is "Christmas Carols", and Valley Churches tree follows the theme Brightest and Best, which is quite apt for our little churches. We hope you will pop in to St Mary Magdelene on Saturday morning and have a brew.And don't forget to look out for the Broughton Bellringers tree...
The Valley churches Christmas Market was held in the Browfoot Room, Ulpha, at the end of November. An incredible £1400 was raised, all of which goes towards the maintenance and running costs associated with keeping the churches open. A massive Thank You to all the stallholders who took part, and to everyone who joined us on the day. Also, a Massive Thank You to the organisers, and volunteers who made cakes, soup, sandwiches and mulled wine. The auction was a great success, so another Thank You goes out to our auctioneer Phil and to all who contributed items for the auction. See you next year!
If you've passed our church at Ulpha anytime in the last few years, you'll have noticed the west wall, which faces the road, was looking increasingly unloved. With the external render failing, water ingress to the interior of the church was becoming noticeable. After securing funding for the work, scaffolding went up late in 2022, and contractors mobilised on site. The remaining render was removed and coping stones and lead flashing removed. New, wider lead flashing was installed, and a dubbing coat of lime render applied. The render was allowed to dry slowly, protected from our autumn weather by hessian and plastic sheeting. The scaffolding is now temporarily removed, but will be back in the next few weeks. Contractors plan to finish works around the end of May 2023.
