St Mary's Church, Dymock

The United Benefice of the Leadon Vale

The Locality
Gloucestershire is a mainly rural county including parts of the Cotswolds, the Royal Forest of Dean and the Severn Vale but also the large conurbations of Gloucester and Cheltenham. Motorway access is excellent, with an exit to the benefice from junction 2 of the M50, which itself joins the M5 at junction 8.

The cathedral city of Gloucester is 8 miles to the south-east and offers good shopping facilities. It has a massive regeneration programme well underway, including particular emphasis on the docks and the largest new housing development in Europe. There is a number of well-known retail stores on the periphery and large hospitals in Gloucester and Cheltenham. The diocesan Retreat House is on the outskirts of Cheltenham, and there are other retreat centres nearby.

The Gloucestershire market town of Newent is 4 miles from the Rectory, Staunton 3 miles away and the Herefordshire market town of Ledbury 7 miles, all with medical facilities. The nearest secondary school is in Newent. There are four church primary schools in the Benefice and two care/nursing homes.

The ‘United Benefice of the Leadon Vale’ was created in December 2000 by merging the adjacent Ministry Teams of Redmarley and Dymock, and is in the extreme northwest of the diocese. It is in the deanery of Severn Vale, which has 46 parishes and was formed in 2009 by merging the previous deaneries of Forest North and Gloucester North. The Deanery Chapter includes Readers and meets monthly. The Benefice is completely rural, in an area of outstanding natural beauty, and borders the dioceses of Worcester and Hereford.          

The Benefice
There are 9 parishes and 10 churches, all generally well cared for but significant repairs are happening or planned in 4 of them, for which fund-raising is underway. Five of the parish churches hold Services every Sunday and four on three Sundays a month. On any 5^th Sunday there is a united Team Service in only one in turn. The tenth church is redundant and in the care of English Heritage, where three evening Services are held, one in each of the summer months.

The benefice is involved in all four primary schools. Our Ministry Teams lead weekly assemblies and other in-school activities including, in Dymock, ‘Open the Book’. The schools use the parish churches for their Easter, Harvest, Christmas and other events.

Various groups are active in the villages. From the churches there is Mothers’ Union in Redmarley, ‘Pilgrims’ in Dymock and ‘Meeting Point’ in Redmarley and Pauntley (4-11 year olds), plus other non-church groups in the village halls, which church members attended.

Dymock has a good relationship with the independent chapel in the village, sharing occasional worship and some outreach, including a joint Alpha course, ‘Pilgrims’ and a fortnightly lunch/Bible study. The adjacent parish of Newent has a ‘Churches Together’ ecumenical group including C of E, RC, Methodist, Baptist, United Reformed and others.

We meet and share as a united benefice on several occasions during the year including united Services and ‘Forward Planning’ meetings, but each parish maintains its own traditions and own PCC. We have not felt the need for a united ‘Benefice Council’.

The approximate population of the benefice is 2,600 and the church electoral rolls total 315. Three churches have websites:

www.dymockchurch.net                             www.zymology.net/donnington.htm

                                        www.bromesberrowstmaryschurch.weebly.com

Collaborative Ministry
Collaborative ministry is important to the benefice, which actively supports ‘all member ministry’. The Dymock and Redmarley ‘Local Ministry Teams’ were at the forefront of the LMT movement, being formed over 20 years ago, before the advent of the current ‘official’ schemes. The original LMTs were merged when the united benefice was created but found that, with 9 parishes, it was better to work as two teams whilst meeting and sharing together on a regular basis. The two Local Ministry Teams have become ‘Ministry Focus Groups’, comprised of ordained and lay members, all working under the oversight of the Incumbent.

All worship and pastoral care is monitored and implemented by the Teams, which comprise the Incumbent, 1 Non-Stipendiary Minister, 2 House for Duty priests, 1 Ordained Local Minister (curate), 2 Readers, 4 ‘Lay Pastors’ and other lay members of the congregations.  

Churchmanship
There are minor variations between the parishes but generally churchmanship can be described as ‘central’. Patterns of Worship vary around the benefice, using both Common Worship and the Book of Common Prayer. We have produced several Common Worship Booklets which include many of that book’s options and these are used across the benefice where appropriate.

Our membership is currently stable but, as in many places, much of the congregations are older rather than younger people, to some extent reflecting the age range in the villages, but there is some useful outreach among younger people.

Several of the churches have a small but faithful congregation and all will try new things. Four of the churches have a regular Family or ‘Community’ Service using permitted options from Common Worship, and sometimes use PowerPoint and video presentations. There are regular socials, concerts etc around the parishes providing many opportunities to share good fellowship, and several of the parishes normally provide refreshments after worship.  

Looking Ahead
One parish recently experimented with a ‘Fresh Expression’ for two years (Café Church) but has reverted to a monthly ‘All-Age’ Service in the church, including a newly formed junior choir which attracts the parents. They also ran a Youth Café for a time for teenagers, supported with EU funding via the Deanery. It closed due to discipline problems but hopes to re-open in some form, possibly in the village Cricket Club, which has plans to expand to include other sports. All the churches attract good additional numbers to the main Festivals; there is consequently good scope for growth at a speed appropriate to rural country folk!  

The Rectory
The modern Rectory is situated in the centre of the quiet village of Redmarley, almost opposite the church. Upstairs it has four bedrooms and two bathrooms. Downstairs is a central porch, good-sized lounge/diner with fireplace, separate kitchen, utility room, cloakroom, and a large L-shaped study. The whole has the benefit of oil-fired central heating and burglar alarm. There is a single garage and small fish pond in the front garden, and the rear garden, though large, is laid extensively to grass, so easily maintained – ideal for children or grandchildren! (Return to top)