Blandford Forum Parish Church - Restore and Renew

11/11/2024

05/10/2024

Please Note: There is a community survey on pages 19 and 20 of the latest (October 2024) issue of Around Blandford. The survey relates to the ongoing Restore project at Blandford Forum Parish Church. Please respond either by using the QR code, or by completing the form on page 20 and posting the form in the clearly marked container bins at the Post Office entrance, the Parish Centre entrance, and at the Town Council Woodhouse Gardens community centre. The survey is anonymous. Many thanks!

28/07/2024

TALK AT BLANDFORD FORUM PARISH CHURCH, 3 August, 12.15 pm, by Rob Strong:

ROOF RESTORATION AT BFPC 2022-3

Get the inside story (from the Site Foreman) of the recent roof restoration project at Blandford Forum Parish Church. Refreshments available.

21/07/2024

Lightly incised graffiti, on panelling, north side of West Gallery, BFPC. The graffiti depicts the reverse of a one penny coin dated 186?4 (see picture below) Britannia is carefully drawn and even the ship image that featured on the right-hand lower side of the penny coin is included in the drawing. To the west of the ‘coin’ an individual with spikey hair or headwear is depicted. It is possible that this figure is a whimsical depiction of Britannia having ‘escaped’ from the coin, as the object held by the standing individual looks very like a trident and the spikey ‘hair’ is not unlike the pointed representation of Britannia’s headwear in the graffiti ‘coin’. The prominent nose of the standing figure is larger, but not unlike that of Britannia. Britannia depicted fighting herself?? The bronze ‘bun penny’, with Victoria on the obverse was first issued in 1860.

03/06/2024

The photo below is of graffiti on the wall of the Clock Chamber in the tower of Blandford Forum Parish Church. The date is 4 June 1944 and the signature is 'J. New', but what are the words that precede the date?

01/06/2024

Waving grass and wild flowers - the results of No Mow May at Blandford Forum Parish Church.

15/05/2024

No the Town Council hasn't given up their superb upkeep of the the churchyard. But we have asked them to desist from mowing the grass at the back of the church as part of Plantlife's No Mow May.

We will also be recording some of the plants that we see. So if you would like to be involved contact Sara on 07985 090360.

05/05/2024

BFPC Spring Bazaar 4 May. A view of one of the Restore displays. In the foreground is the church weathervane that was damaged during Storm Eunice in 2022 and is in need of significant repair. Visitors to the church enjoyed the rare opportunity to see the historic weathervane at close quarters.

22/04/2024

PRESS RELEASE - TWINNING WITH A TWIST
There is a new twist on twinning in Blandford Forum during the late May Bank Holiday on 25/26 May in Blandford Parish Church.
Towns, gardens, and even toilets, have been twinned but, on this occasion, it is ‘choirs’ that are working together. Joining the Dorset Voices, a choir drawn from various choral groups across North Dorset, the New Tottenham Singers from North London will perform Faure’s ‘Requiem’, Rutter’s ‘Gloria’ and other well-known choral repertoire, at Blandford Parish Church on Saturday 25th May at 7.30pm.
‘We are looking forward to our weekend in Blandford’ says Tom Fowkes, the Conductor of the New Tottenham Singers. ‘We’ve already had some preparatory rehearsals and discovered that, despite our different home environments, the combined choirs make a great sound together. We’re hoping this will be an on-going relationship’. Tom studied composition at Trinity College and is as at home in the West End as he is conducting choral music. Tom’s considerable musical pedigree is matched by the organist for the weekend, Stephen Disley. After studying at the Royal College of Music, Stephen was organist at Southwark Cathedral for 24 years. He will be accompanied by brass players and a percussionist, mostly drawn from the ranks of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.
The unique Blandford organ, by G. P. England, is known to be amongst the top three eighteenth-century instruments in UK.
As part of the choral twinning, the combined choirs will also lead full choral evensong on Sunday May 26th at 7.30 pm. They will perform the choral responses written by Tom Fowkes himself, for Merton College, Oxford and the anthem will be the splendid ‘I saw the Lord’, by John Stainer.
The Rural Dean of the Milton and Blandford Deanery commented: ‘We are hoping the whole weekend will be a festival of glorious choral music focused on the beautiful Georgian church at the heart of our Deanery’.
Link to buying tickets below:

Get ready for a night of heavenly music with Faure's Requiem and Rutter's Gloria - it's the dream ticket for classical music lovers!

08/04/2024

The window depicting St. Mark in the south wall of Blandford Forum Parish Church has been removed so that repairs and cleaning can be carried out. The window commemorates the reroofing and redecoration of the church in 1905. It was made and supplied by Cakebread Robey and Co of Stoke Newington. During the recent restoration of the roof at BFPC a piece of wood was found, close to the South-West gutter, on which are inscribed, in pencil, the names and skills of some of the people who took part in the 1905 project. If anyone recognizes a name on the list (see below) please let us know!

May 24th 1905
Carpenters
Jack Reed
Billy Bartlett
Bricklayer
William Gray
Plumbers R Brown
[-] ?Martin G Thomas
Scaffolder
Slasher Pitman