Church News & Events

SERVICES AT ST MARY'S CHURCH, CUSOP 

Our services are always welcoming so please join us if you can!

Sunday 18th January  - Holy Communion at 11am

Sunday 15th February  - Holy Communion at 11am

So many people came through our church door over the Christmas period! Lyndon’s students excelled themselves at their concert, our Carols and Candles Service had its usual unique and special atmosphere, and there was a good turnout on Christmas Day. Our thanks to everyone who helped at these events and to all those in the community who continue to support our beautiful church and churchyard.

Sadly, a veteran oak tree in the churchyard was blown over during the winter storms. Thankfully, we have fantastic community spirit with Andy and Ben, and our God’s Acre volunteers, all helping to tidy up the fallen branches. Every cloud has a silver lining and we’re planning for a sculpture to be carved “in situ” from the main trunk so watch this space!

A Christmas Celebration – a wonderful concert!

It was a delight and joy to hear Lyndon’s students playing on a variety of instruments,  particularly the organ as Lyndon had cleverly set up speakers so the sound filled the church. (We are now planning to set this up as a permanent feature.) Congratulations to all the students who played so brilliantly and to Lyndon, their gifted teacher. There was warm and enthusiastic applause from parents, grandparents and friends who thoroughly enjoyed the concert.

A retiring collection raised £310 and this amount was sent to “Open Door” a charity that provides hot meals to the Homeless in Hereford. We have since received this message, “ I can confirm receipt of £310 from St Mary's Church, Cusop. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. A Happy New Year to everyone at St Mary's,  Ian

Carols and Candles – well read, Arthur and Barnaby!

As always, this was a very special service with a truly lovely atmosphere when all the candles were lit. Our thanks to Arthur and Barnaby who were fantastic narrators of the Christmas Story. The church was wonderfully decorated and looked fabulous!  Our thanks to Larry and Jeremy for erecting the fantastic arch and to Cherry, Clive, and Linda for all their hard work. A big thank you to Lyndon, for playing the organ, and Ben for playing the trumpet so brilliantly.

Thank you, Trewern

A special thank you to the children from Dagenham staying at Trewern who decorated the Christmas tree so beautifully. It’s great that these groups of junior school pupils regularly visit our church and churchyard during their stays and leave such positive feedback in the Visitors’ Book. They learn about the history of the church as well as all the plants and animals in the churchyard with the help of the Information Boards. The day of the Candles and Carols Service was wet and soggy so we’re incredibly grateful to Trewern for allowing the congregation to park on their premises. Long may our special relationship with Trewern continue. It’s a “win, win” for everybody!

Tea at Three

We had a lovely gathering at the beginning of January with everyone enjoying each other’s company on a bitterly cold day. The days after Christmas can be depressing and low so meeting up for a cup of hot tea and chat can really lift the spirits.

We meet next on Sunday 22nd February. Why not join us in the comfort of Cusop Village Hall? We meet from 3.00pm to 4.30pm. You’re guaranteed a warm welcome and a friendly atmosphere. Do drop by and give it a try!

Caring for God’s Acre 

On Thursday 11th December we had “Operation Oak Tree”! Tragically, a veteran oak on the churchyard boundary was blown over during the storms. It was a great blessing and miracle that the historic Sheen family headstone remained intact even though surrounded by fallen branches. Our wonderful volunteers came to the rescue and constructed an impressive “Dead Hedge” from the smaller branches and twigs. So much so that they stepped back and admired their own work! Thank you everyone who turned up and made it such a productive and enjoyable session.

We love new volunteers so if you would like to join our friendly group in the New Year, please contact celiacundale@aol.com: Tel: 07790- 925616.

Thank you, Andy and Ben again!

A very big thank you to Andy Fryers and Ben Matthews who again came to the rescue and cleared the large branches of the oak tree which fell over the public footpath. Amazingly, the Rowan tree (which they previously cleared) fell during exactly the same week last year. The 1st week of December is evidently a popular week for storms blowing trees over!

Save the Dates

Table Top Sale – Sunday 8th March in aid of The Friends of St Mary’s, Cusop.

The Friends raises money to help maintain the church building and churchyard.

Lent Lunch - our annual and popular Lent Lunch will take place on Monday 9th March. All proceeds will be sent to St Michael’s Hospice, Hereford.

Friends of St Mary’s, Cusop

Our meeting in September was informal, relaxed and well attended! It was great to see some new faces. Enthusiastic ideas for fundraising were bursting forth and a date was fixed for the first event. The Friends’ purpose is to support Cusop Church and to raise money for the fabric of the church and the churchyard. If you would like to join this friendly group or make a donation, please contact Chair, Mark Hainge by email at hainge@btinternet.com.

Hereford Food Bank

February is cold and struggling families need ingredients for hot meals during the half-term holiday. Please think about donating just a few tins of food. Volunteers pick up items every Wednesday morning at 11.30am from Cusop Church and Cusop Village Hall. Thank you for everyone’s generosity and kindness.

Thank you!

Cusop PCC are grateful to have received a very generous donation towards the cost of the restoration of the lychgate and the belfry. It’s also thanks to the “Friends of Cusop Church” that these essential repairs have been completed. Please do visit the  church and see the difference. You will not be disappointed. The belfry and lychgate are now looking absolutely beautiful due to excellent craftsmanship.

Our next project is the restoration of the William Seward Grave in our churchyard and a sculpture from the Oak Tree "in situ".

If you would like to make a donation to any of the above projects,

please contact  Malcolm Darbyshire, PCC Treasurer, Celia Cundale, or Cherry Keylock.

Stone Seat Celebration

Sandwiched between soaking wet and gloomy days, we were blessed with perfect weather for our Stone Seat Celebration! We had a great turnout including four well-behaved dogs. Thank you to everyone who came and supported the event. It was an opportunity for us to show our appreciation to Robert “Tush” for constructing such a beautiful Stone Seat at the back of our Bee and Butterfly Garden from where visitors can either admire distant views of Mousecastle or the flowers and herbs in the garden alive with buzzing bees and butterflies.

Robert was thanked and presented with a gift. He explained how he had sourced the stone from different places in our area which makes it a real “Community Stone Seat”. A very big thank you to Sue, Keith, Larry, Pauline, Angela, Jeremy and Caroline who presented singalong songs and a selection of poetry. It was hugely entertaining and great fun!

Our thanks to everyone who contributed to the fabulous spread of sandwiches and cakes and helped serve cups of tea and wash up afterwards. The churchyard is such a wonderful venue for these friendly and happy events!

There are some exciting discoveries regarding links between our churchyard and Cusop Castle. Turn to Cusop History Group’s article in the Community pages to find out!

Yew Tree Cards for Sale at Church

Archie Miles, renowned photographer happened to be in our churchyard one day. He was so impressed with our magnificent ancient yew trees that he took photographs and asked our permission to print cards. We said, "Yes please!" The cards are now for sale in the church.

Charitable Giving

The PCC aims to donate 10% of its operating income to outside causes. In 2024, we donated a total of £1,136.50 which was 10.9% operating income. Donations were made to the following charities: 

St Michael's Hospice - £618.50  (Lent Lunch proceeds)

Messy Church - £50.00

Hereford Food Bank - £100

Royal British Legion - £343.00

Hereford Chuches Tourism Trust - £25.00

Thank you to everyone who has helped to make these donations possible.

Launch Party for our Information Boards 

Our Launch Party was a happy and joyous occasion!  The sun shone down as we welcomed thirty Year 6 pupils from Eastbrook Primary School in Dagenham who were quite spellbound having just arrived from a traffic jam on the M25 to the bliss and beauty of our churchyard! The pupils and teachers from Trewern were a splendid addition to our party and there was a great turnout from our local community!

The Party was an opportunity to tell everyone about why our ancient church is so special and how the churchyard is a haven for wildlife encouraging a wide variety of flora and fauna. We hope that the Boards will act as a springboard for visitors of all ages to explore and enjoy our church and churchyard.. The teachers at Trewern are delighted with them and will regularly be using the Boards as a teaching resource..

It’s been a challenging project and there were lots of people to thank in public  especially our artists, Lizzie Harper and Alison Alcock, also Keith Hodgetts and Caroline Hafner,  John Wilks and Cusop History Group who helped design the boards, Shelley Signs from Shrewsbury who made them, Danny Tong and John Buckwell who so carefully installed the boards and OTM who mowed the grass and cut the hedge perfectly in time for the party. Our thanks also to the Heritage Lottery Fund for giving us a grant covering a large part of the cost.

It was a great moment when the children excitedly unveiled the boards to a countdown! Lizzie, who drew the illustrations for the Flora and Fauna Boards helped with the unveiling. She hadn’t seen the boards previously but was delighted with them. We then had some fabulous entertainment from Keith, Sue and Larry, and refreshments were served. It was a very happy and memorable occasion!

Flower and Cleaning Rota

 A HUGE thank you to all our wonderful helpers who do such an amazing job! Our beautiful church always looks clean and welcoming and that’s all because of their hard work and commitment. We are truly grateful.

Plan of Graves in Churchyard

A new and updated plan of all the graves in the churchyard is now in the church for visitors who are searching for their relatives’ memorials. There is also an alphabetical list of all memorials for quick reference. Our thanks to John Wilks who produced the original version of this as previously, there was no accurate record. We’re also very grateful to Jane Weaver who has photographed every memorial individually.

All donations for churchyard maintenance gratefully received!

It costs Cusop PCC over £1000 a year to have the grass mowed in our churchyard. We don’t receive any grants towards this even though the whole community benefits from the wide open space in our beautiful churchyard which is incredibly popular with dog walkers, young families and people of all ages.

One sunny day, I met two ladies laying a tablecloth and sharing coffee and cake together in the open air.  It’s thanks to our wonderful God’s Acre volunteers and the grass cutting regime that we can keep our costs down to just over £1,000 a year but it is still a lot of money. If you would like to make a donation towards the costs of maintaining our churchyard, please place it in the Donation Box inside the church by the main door or contact Celia Cundale, Acting Churchwarden (celiacundale@aol.com), or our Treasurer, Malcolm Darbyshire.

Any donation large or small will make a difference. Thank You!

Churchyard Flowers 

As part of our Eco Church programme, we do not allow artificial flowers or oasis in the churchyard, “Fresh flowers are encouraged as the symbol of the gift of creation and the brevity of life.  Artificial flowers, e.g. silk or plastic flowers, are inappropriate”. (Diocesan churchyard regulations)  It’s wonderful how everyone has taken this on board and the PCC would like to sincerely thank you for this.  Thank you for helping to keep our churchyard beautiful and for being kind to nature.

ECO CHURCH

Brown Long-Eared Bats

We’re so grateful to Paul and Jane Smith and other local bat enthusiasts who identified brown long-eared bats in the darkness of Cusop Church . A year ago, we participated in the “Bats in Churches” project identifying the presence of bats  and their entry points into our church. Our feedback to the project was part of a national survey showing the distribution of bats in churches. We  thought our bats were most likely common pipistrelles so were delighted to hear that our church is home to the rarer brown long-eared bat.

The brown long-eared bat certainly lives up to its name ; its ears are nearly as long as its body! Otherwise, it’s a medium size bat measuring 3.7-5.2cm long with a wingspan of  20-30cm and weighing  6-12grams. It has greyish-brown fur and a relatively slow, fluttery flight.

As with all UK bats, it’s nocturnal, only coming out at night to feed on midges, moths and other flying insects. It has an incredible sense of direction thanks to echolocation, which it uses to hunt prey. Brown long-eared bats roost in holes in trees and old buildings. In the summer, females form maternity colonies and have just a single pup each. Our wonderful volunteers who clean the church will be glad to know that they hibernate over winter between November and April thus causing less mess in the church!

 

Apple Tree Project

The project has been admired by all who visit our churchyard.  It’s wonderful that it’s become a real community effort and there are so many people to thank for giving up their time and offering their skills.

Thank you to all those who took wood chippings and made generous donations to the church. A special thank you to Julian Smith for removing a large, ivy- infested trunk and Andy Fryers and John Hanson for helping to transform the area into an attractive and comfortable home for the apple trees. The trees were carefully planted by ten masked volunteers supervised by Ainsleigh. A huge thank you to Ainsleigh and the Marches Apple Network for all their expertise and help with this fabulous project.

As always, our very grateful thanks to our loyal volunteers who excelled themselves with the planting and then continued working in the churchyard weeding and clearing unwanted brambles.

It has been a joy to see children hugging their trees and faces lit up with smiles on seeing the trees planted which have become beacons of hope for the future. Thank you again to all who have helped with this inspirational project. 

Celia Cundale

Support and Care

If you would like to talk to someone, there are people who are there to listen. Life doesn’t always go to plan, for all kinds of reasons, such as illness, grief, change of circumstances, relational issues or loneliness.  As a church community we are here to offer you support, a listening ear and prayer, whatever it is you’re going through.  Our pastoral visiting team are good listeners and have all undergone safeguarding checks and training. Please contact: 

E mail: pastoralvisitors@gmail.com

Telephone: 01981 501032

 

Cusop Church is an Eco Church 

“He saw all that he made and it was good”. God loved his creation and it’s our responsibility to care for it.

God loved his creation and it’s our responsibility to care for it. At Cusop Church, we’ve been guided by the wonderful charity , Caring for God’s Acre, and thanks to the hard work of local volunteers, we’ve been able to follow a conservation programme for over 15 years. This includes a grass cutting regime so we have meadow areas where wild flowers and grasses can flourish. The increasing diversity of plants that now grow encourages not just pollinators like bees but a whole range of species of insects and minibeasts.

We have bird and hedgehog boxes, a fabulous Bug Hotel and four enormous compost heaps! We know our churchyard is a haven for wildlife as we’ve found toads, slow worms and fascinating beetles on our taskforce days and we must protect these animals.

One autumnal morning, we went “hunting” in the churchyard and found thirty-five species of fungi.  We love memorials made from natural local stone as it encourages different kinds of lichen that are so important for our ecosystem. A lichen survey revealed an incredible seventy-nine species of lichen in our churchyard with the oldest natural stone memorials “being home” to the rarest lichen. We’ve now signed up to Eco Church and that’s inspired us with new projects including planting eight apple trees which are all Herefordshire varieties.

If we added up the acreage of all churchyards it’s a massive amount of land. If at least some of this land is carefully managed to encourage wild native plants and animals that would increase biodiversity and make a significant difference to our environment.

Every single organism plays a role in our ecosystem from the tiny bee that pollinates the wild flowers to the huge ancient yew which provides a home and food for wildlife.

God wants us to protect the glory, beauty and diversity of his creation so please let’s do it!

 

Welcome Booklet

In conjunction with Cusop Village Hall and the Parish Council, Cusop Church has produced a Welcome Booklet and we have already started delivering this to new residents living at Bookers Edge. The booklet contains a wealth of useful information about amenities and activities in and around Cusop. If you want to view it, log onto www.cusop.net and you’ll find it on the Useful Links page under Home. Our thanks to Alison Matthews for setting up this link on the village website. If you know anyone who would like to have a printed copy of "The Welcome Booklet", please contact Celia Cundale (01497-820396).