Hitchin: Here's the latest weekend column from A Churchwarden Writes, with all your up to date news from St Mary's Church in the heart of our town.

A Churchwarden writes … Bishop's staffs and Royal Crowns as we look ahead to a Coronation year.  

Hitchin Parish is now officially playing in the 'Premier League' of the CofE, beginning a busy month of February with an impressive ceremony at Canterbury Cathedral conducted by Archbishop Justin Welby.  

Many people from Hitchin's Anglican community travelled down to Kent at the beginning of the month and many more watched on a livestream as Jane Mainwaring, who just a few years ago was Vicar at St Mark's, Hitchin, was ordained as Bishop of Hertford.

Previously in a senior Church post in St Albans, Jane will now serve the community in Hertford, where another service of celebration was held on 4th February at All Saints, Hertford to welcome her. In her new role she will act as a Suffragan Bishop, along with the Bishop of Bedford, supporting the Bishop of St Albans, the diocese in which Hitchin stands. Since Jane looked after St Mary's during our search for a new Vicar in 2019, we feel particularly glad to congratulate her on this promotion and look forward to her next visit to our Church.  

The ceremony lasting nearly two hours saw two others also consecrated by Archbishop Welby with a large number of Britain's leading clerics taking part. It was the first such event in the Cathedral for nearly 5 years, combining ancient traditions such as the giving of rings and a staff to each applicant with modern touches from the speakers, including the new Bishops' families.  

You can read more about this and watch the ceremony here: 

Candlemas

Back at St Mary's, Candlemas has been celebrated at our 'One Bread' service, bringing an end to the season of Epiphany. The crib has now been packed safely away for another year, after being visited by many hundreds of Hitchinites over the last couple of months.  

Now our thoughts turn towards Easter as this Sunday (February 19) is the Sunday next before Lent, and we'd love you to join us for any of our services this week, including morning prayer Monday-Thursday at 9am and midweek Communion at 11am on Wednesday.

The church is also open every day, if you wish to come in for a moment of private prayer and to light a candle.  

Services on Sunday (February 19)

8am Said Eucharist. 

10am Sung Eucharist. President & preacher: Revd Chris Bunce. 

This service will also be live-streamed on the St Mary's youtube page - https://www.youtube.com/c/StMarysHitchin

630pm Choral Evensong. Some wonderful music from our choir adds to the evening service. 

St Mary's Fundraising

To support St Mary's, our fundraising team has been working hard to stage our biggest event of the year, the Silent Film show.

This has become a fixture of the Hitchin social calendar. Now in its ninth Year, we have shown a range of classics of the golden age of Cinema, from Harold Lloyd comedies to Nosferatu and Metropolis.

This year's offering on our big screen in the nave was 'The Mark of Zorro' with swashbuckling action from Douglas Fairbanks. Our virtuoso Organist Donald MacKenzie introduced the show, explaining that this film was a forerunner of comic book vigilante heroes such as Batman and Spiderman. Put the first weekend in February in your calendar for next year's offering, and if you have any suggestions for a film please let us know!  

A Queen is Crowned

As we are receiving more details of the Coronation weekend in May and looking forward to that event, we have one more vintage film treat for you.  

Many readers will have seen 'The Crown' on TV, but of course where it all began was at the iconic Coronation Ceremony in 1953 when Queen Elizabeth II was crowned.  

In aid of St Mary's Preservation Trust appeal (HeartofHitchin.com HeartofHitchin) join us for an early evening screening on Saturday 4th March of the historic colour film 'A Queen is Crowned'.

Narrated by Sir Laurence Olivier, it records the iconic ceremony and all its pageantry.

Enjoy with a glass of fizz and teatime treats included in the price, in the glorious setting of St Mary's Church, Hitchin and help with restoration of our the Grade I listed building at the same time. Prize Raffle on the night (Tickets £15/£5 under 18s) 

Next week: Pancakes and fasting… 

Further updated details of our services, opening times and events are found on our public Facebook page @StMarysChurchHitchin   

Further information is found on our website: 

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