Who Are We?
We are a church community made up of a diverse membership all with a common
purpose of serving God in our local community in a wide variety of ways. We value
our different skills and want to empower each other more in personal spiritual growth
and outreach.
Our aims
Our main aim is to proclaim the gospel of Christ and share Gods love with our village
community.
In keeping with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, we would like to see our
church develop along three key lines:
- Prayer
- Reconciliation in broken relationships
- Mission/ evangelism within our community.
The Parochial Church Council (PCC) of St Mary the Virgin (known as St Mary’s)
wants the Church (both the building and the Community) to become the centre of the
village life again.
We want Christ to be seen in the way we as a church community relate to each other
and in the way we reach out to others.
We believe that, in today’s world, it is important for the Church to be visible and part
of parish life. We would hope to find an incumbent to serve us who would integrate
into the community and adopt an open, friendly and welcoming approach to all.
Where we are now.
Sadly the church building is desperately in need of a new heating system and we
have been working on plans to achieve this for some time. However it has meant that
in the short term the church building is having to be closed during the winter months.
We are being blessed by sharing in worship with the Methodist Church in the village
from November to Easter.
However this is not dampening spirits or energy put into the life of the church.
Each week:
8am Communion - BCP
10am Common Worship united service with the Methodist.
In the summer this service is 9.30am at the church.
11am @11 All Age Community Worship using a variety of ways to worship and
engage with all the family. (This meets in the Church in the summer and a variety of
venues in the winter)
6pm Once a month Sung Evensong.
Every Wednesday morning a Prayer Group.
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Regular events to feed the heart and the soul of our community, and often their
body too!
Community Wednesdays every week, alternating between an early family supper in
church, homegroup, and social evenings.
Mothers Union – meets once a month in the library.
Messy Church – once a half term which attracts about 90 adults and children in the
Village Hall.
Lunches – once a month. Run by Churches Together.
@11 Specials – about once a term where we provide bacon butties and activities for
the children on a Sunday morning while the parents can read the paper or chat to
friends.
Monthly Communion to local Nursing Home done by LPAs.
Homegroups – there are three groups currently running.
Monthly “Deeper” sessions for the chance to explore a passage in greater detail and
spend more time in worship than the normal service allows. Monthly but paused at
the moment.
United Services – 3 times a year with the Methodist and Lighthouse Church all
together in the Village Hall, (Christmas, Remembrance and July).
Marriage and Baptism preparation.
A number of special services through out the year.
What we are looking for?
A man / woman who puts God at the centre of their lives and believes that they are
part of His work here in Lytchett.
Our new incumbent will need to be a visible presence in the village, a good listener,
an efficient administrator with strong pastoral skills and a sense of mission to the
people whether regular worshippers or not.
The Church Community is in an uncomfortable situation at the moment with a lot of
uncertainty around the future as it is faced with a massive Church building project.
We need someone who can encourage and empower the willing helpers and give a
clear direction. Capturing the vision what “could be” in Lytchett is vital. We have a
village of 5,000 people that we long to reach out to in practical ways and share Gods
love.
A healthy sense of humour would be an asset!
The new incumbent will work with Jean De Garis, Team Leader, within Upton and
The Lytchetts Benefice.
The Church Building;
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St Mary’s Church is located on the site of the old village about one mile from the
present location of the community. The church is originally 11th or 12th Century with
additional parts added on in the 16th and 20th centuries.
Its main historical features are the John Maltravers tomb and the hagioscope,
thought to be the largest in the UK and possibly Europe.
The heating system has been failing over a number of years and has now forced us
to abandon services in the church over the winter months. We have spent an
extensive amount of time looking into our options and consulting with a wide number
of official bodies. The fundraising team have started work on raising the money
needed. The exploratory process has proved very expensive and we cannot proceed
further at the moment without more money in the bank.
In all other respects the building has been looked after well in the last few years and
there is a team of volunteers who coordinate this. Bacon butties got lots of willing
helpers to a gutter painting day, pity about the rain!
Music
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We are blessed with an enthusiastic choir for the 10am service and the sung
evensong. They team up with the Methodist Church for a larger choir for special
recitals and Christmas Carol service.
We have a composer within our midst who has written music for the church, “Not Just
For Sundays” and put on several other performances in the church using some of our
choir members as well.
At the @11 service we have used itunes to enable us to sing more contemporary
songs.
Childrens Work
We have a voluntary Childrens’ Worker who has run some amazing Messy Church
events which attract a lot of non church families.
We have community meals which attract families for an informal supper on a
Wednesday at 5.30pm.
About once a term there is the @11 special event.
@11 is geared to the whole family worshipping together and doing a variety of
activities and styles of worship, prayer and teaching. This is led by different people in
the congregation.
We have some children who come along to the 10am service with their parents and
we try to provide toys and activity bags for them and make the children and their
parents feel welcome.
Lay Pastoral Assistants
We have four lay pastoral assistants who visit a number of people in their homes and
take them communion on a monthly basis. They also organise covering the monthly
communion service at the local nursing home. They meet weekly for a prayer
meeting for the church.
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Other Information:
The church produces the parish magazine, which is distributed to subscribers
throughout the village. This provides a vital link between the churches and the
inhabitants of Lytchett Matravers. The vicar writes a monthly piece in it. Many local
traders advertise in the magazine.
Being a member of Churches Together does include us in some outreach to the
village e.g. a Christmas card is delivered to every home.
A thriving Mother’s Union meets monthly and has contacts with both national and
international Christian charities. It is directly involved with outreach fundraising
activities including holidays for families in need and support for diocesan refuge.
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Location
St Mary’s
OS SY 939 951
3936010 0961670
Rectory
The village of Lytchett Matravers lies to the north west of Poole and to the south
west of Wimborne and its borders are enclosed by the A31, the A35 and the A350.
The church is situated about 1 mile northwest of the present centre of the village in
an isolated location at the bottom of a steep hill. Vehicular access is from the C class
road from Lytchett Matravers to Winterborne Zelston. There is pedestrian access
from the village via Church Walk. This is situated at the north western end of High
Street at the top of Colehill Road and is a safe, attractive and environmentally friendly
approach to St Mary’s.
Car parking is available and there are reserved disabled parking spaces providing
easy access for all, including wheelchairs, to the church.
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St Mary the Virgin church is in a reasonable state of repair and is set within a
churchyard, which is closed except for allocated plots. The burial ground has been
extended in two directions to the southwest and on higher ground to the southeast
(Row Park). All the burial grounds are the responsibility of the parish council.
The north transept of the church was extended in 1993 to provide a better vestry, a
choir robing area, a small upper room, which is used for a Sunday school and
storage area. There is a small kitchen area and a toilet with disabled facilities on the
ground floor. The extension of the transept released space, allowing additional pews
to be added between the south door and the tower.
The Parish
Lytchett Matravers is a rural area and was largely a farming community but can now
be best described as a large village whose working population commutes to
neighbouring Poole, Bournemouth, Dorchester, Wareham or much further afield.
There have been new housing developments in recent years and there is the
possibility of further development on the outskirts of the village. The population of
4,500 is still growing. This population has more than enough young people to make
activities like scouts, guides, army cadets, youth clubs and sports teams viable.
There are a number of popular clubs catering for a variety of ages and interests.
There is a twinning association, which operates with the French town of Les Pieux.
The library serves as a focus for numerous activities.
There is a thriving and successful modern village school catering for pupils aged 511yrs and an attached pre school unit. There is an Astroturf pitch, which is used as a
sport academy attached to the school. There is a well respected comprehensive
school two miles away in Lytchett Minster. There are boys and girls grammar
schools on the outskirts of nearby Poole as well as St Edwards, which is a faith
school.
There is a well used and well equipped village hall situated conveniently in the centre
of the village. Next to the hall is a large recreation ground, which is used extensively
and frequently for various sports and which houses a play area for younger children.
Shops within the village consist of a village butcher / general store, pharmacy, a
small supermarket including the Post Office, a Drs Surgery, a hairdresser and an
estate agent. There are two public houses within the village.
Accommodation
There is a four bedroomed detached rectory on a large plot, which is in a good state
of repair and decoration, situated approximately ½ mile from the church.
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The usual Diocesan grant would be available for re decoration.
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History
There are no known records giving the date of the foundation of the church at
Lytchett Matravers. At Domesday, the manor of Lytchett Matravers was held by Sur
Hugh Maltravers. A Sir Walter Maltravers went on a crusade to the Holy Land and it
is possible that he ordered the church to be built beside the manor house in his
absence about the year 1200. The west tower, the nave and the chancel were built
at this time, followed by the North aisle in the 14th century.
It is possible that the Black Death, which ravaged Dorset in the second half of the
14th century left few people. The villagers forsook their cottages near the church and
moved to the higher ground leaving the church to fall into decay. Sir John
Maltravers’ heir, his granddaughter Alianor carried the manor and title to her
husband’s family, the Fitzalans, Earls of Arundel, who later became the Dukes of
Norfolk and are still Barons Maltravers.
A great deal of restoration was carried out at the beginning of the sixteenth century
by Dame Margarita Clements. The manor was sold by the Arundels in 1587 to the
Trenchard family from Wolveton near Dorchester.
The tower is the oldest part of the building – the arch dates from about 1200 whilst
the pinnacles, which are carved within the Maltravers fret, are circa 1500.
There are six bells, some very old, their dates being displayed in the Tower.
The hagioscope – a squint in a church, giving a view of the high altar – is unusually
large, providing of a view of the chancel but its origin is unknown.
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The arches on the north side of the nave date from about 1350, when the north aisle
was added.
There used to be a barrel organ and in 1891, the barrel organ was replaced by a pipe
organ with two manuals and pedals. Over the next hundred years, it was rebuilt
several times and improved. However it filled what is now the Porticorum, then the
vestry. This was replaced in 1992 by a Wyvern electronic organ.
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There is a yew tree outside the north door to the church, which has been assessed
as dating from AD590, thus older than the church. The churchyard wall is thought to
be as old as the church.
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