12 & 13 September: A Weekend of 900 Years Celebrations
Continuing our celebration of 900 Years of St Mary the Virgin Church, Shipton under Wychwood.
Saturday 12 September is Ride and Stride day. If you are interested in taking part, please visit the website here to find out more
Bell Ringing in Shipton on 12 September
A full peal will be rung on the bells of St Mary’s Church in celebration of the 900th anniversary. The bells will be rung by a team of ringers from the Chipping Norton Branch of the Oxford Diocesan Guild of Church Bell Ringers and invited friends. The ringing will be of 5040 changes and will take just short of 3 hours of continuous ringing. The significance of 5040 is that it is the maximum number of sequences of the order in which 7 bells can be rung without repeating a sequence.
Since 1893 when the number of bells in the tower was increased from 5 to 8, and the ringing chamber was move from the ground floor to its present position, a total of 64 peals have been rung on St Mary’s bells. The first being on 16th December of that year and the last on Tuesday 12th September 1989 by a team from the Oxford Diocesan Guild of Church Bell Ringers. This last date may be coincidental or may be related to the fact that the traditional date to celebrate the Feast of St Mary the Virgin was September 8th.
Saturday 12 September 10am-12 noon banner making!
At Wych Court, High St (behind Grove Farm), Shipton u Wychwood.
Calling all Creative Children! to help make banners to decorate the Church for the Peoples Feast. Bring old clothes!
Sunday 13 September at 11am a special Patronal Church service in Shipton Church with Bishop Colin will take place. A patronal service is the occasion on which a parish annually honours the saint who was chosen as the Patron Saint of the parish. On this day, this benefice celebrate to honour Saint Mary the Virgin.