St Marys Church in Stone, just outside of Kidderminster, hasbeen celebrating 750 years of worship on the site of the church. As part oftheir celebrations, they have mapped the history of the UK and the kings andqueens who have reigned with the history of the church itself. The result hasbeen a hand-produced banner stretching around the church with pictures of the monarchsalongside details of the vicars of the church.
Vicar Robert Legge said: We formed a committee to start thinkingabout what we might do to celebrate the anniversary and this was one of theideas which came out. A member of our congregation, Sue Laffey, is very intolocal history, so spent time researching the details both at the Hive and online.
We discovered there were quite a few vicars missing from our official listdisplayed in church! Then another member, Aley Richards, hand-painted most ofthe artwork and then a bigger team helped put the boards together. The resultis quite stunning!
The anniversary was officially celebrated over the weekendof 7 & 8 September with an open church event on the Saturday followed by acelebratory meal and a special service on Sunday morning with Archdeacon Nikki.There was also a BCP Evensong which proved very popular. The display will nowstay up until early December, as it was on the 5 December 1269 when the Bishopof Worcester, Godfrey Gifford, original dedicated the Chapel of Stone in honourof the Blessed Mary.
