A special Plough Sunday service was held at Winterborne Monkton Church.

The service was held on Sunday, January 7 and is the first time the church has held a service to recognise the traditional English celebration.

Plough Sunday marks the the beginning of the agricultural year and is traditionally held on the Sunday after Epiphany.

The Team Rector, Canon Thomas Woodhouse, said: "We already have successful services to celebrate Rogation-tide and Harvest; and we have added to our worshipping life services by celebrating Plough Sunday and Lammastide. Monkton is one of the communities within the team where the farmers and farm workers who work on the land actually live.

A plough was brought outside the church and blessed by Mr Woodhouse during the service.

He explained: “It went very well. Our churchwarden Charles Norman arranged for us to get the plough which was placed outside the church, and there was grain and corn.

“We started the service inside the church then everyone went outside halfway through and gathered around the plough. There was prayer and we blessed the plough, the workers, and the corn.

“It is about making the connection between the church and the community, that the two co-exist. Our hope is that the community sees the church as relevant to its life.

"It is an Important challenge for the church to be relevant and is the first time we have held a service like this at our church, but lots of other churches hold similar services.

“The reason we thought to do it was because Winterborne Monkton Church is one of nine churches in the parish. We are part of a community of farm workers, who live and work in the parish.

"The Rogation service on Sunday 6th May 2018 will involve a walk onto Maiden Castle (which is farmed by the PCC Treasurer’s family) and then a celebration in the open air: we are hoping for dry weather!"