Abbotsbury and Langton Herring

  • A CRASH awoke us in the early hours of Thursday, March 5.

Concerned we looked out of the window to see a wintry landscape and thick snow. The crash was the snow slipping from the thatch.

A greater concern was that it was the day of the licensing of our new Associate Priest the Rev’d Ada Whittock and the Priest in Charge Rev’d Richard Press.

This was to be a unique licensing, the first of two priests licensed together.

About 200 people were expected for the service in St Nicholas Church in the evening from all parts of the county.

Happily, conditions during the day improved and the ceremony was able to go ahead as planned.

A rehearsal had been held the day before to make sure that everyone knew their place in a service that was to be full of ritual and symbolism, and to iron out any wrinkles.

The congregation and priests arrived to the lovely sight of the church paths lit up by candle lanterns.

The moving and memorable service was taken by The Archdeacon of Sherborne, Ven Paul Taylor assisted by the Area Dean, Rev’d Ian Hobbs.

Priests from the Deanery of Weymouth and Portland arrived on the day, to take part in the procession, dressed in traditional robes, alb with purple stole, purple being the colour for Lent.

The six churchwardens, two from each of the parishes of the joint benefice of Abbotsbury, Langton Herring and Portesham, took major roles in the ceremony accompanied by other members of the laity.

Traditional objects from each parish, chalice and paten from St Peter’s, Portesham, flagon from St Nicholas, Abbotsbury and Bible from St Peter’s, Langton Herring were used by Ada and Richard in the ancient ritual.

At the end of the service the Archdeacon led the two priests by the hand towards the church door to greet everyone as they left the church.

The collection is to be given to the Church in Sudan, which is linked to our Diocese of Salisbury.

A reception was held afterwards in Strangways Hall. A veritable feast had been organised by the ladies of the benefice.

Thanks are given to all those who arranged the service, Peter and Barbara who kindly gave over their home for the priests to robe in, Pat Crockett who manned the hall and to everyone who made such delicious food. We all welcome Ada and her husband Keith to our benefice and hope that they will settle in well.

  • SHROVE Tuesday, February 24 saw fun and games at the village hall as the Friends of St Nicholas Church held their Pancake Party.

Fancy dress, live music and pancakes of all kinds proved to be immensely enjoyable raising about £86 for future projects.

Langton Herring

  • AN EMAIL from Judy Barrett tells me that ‘A group of dedicated idiots gathered at the Elm Tree Inn on Tuesday, February 17 for an evening of nostalgic fun.

Old-fashioned games such as chess, ludo, shove ha’penny, and younger ones like jenga were on offer, also rubick’s cube and jigsaw puzzles.

The pub provided a hot meal and a good and noisy time was had by all. We would like to thank Andrew and his staff for putting up with us and helping to raise £78 for the Air Ambulance’ Well done to them all.