Gillingham area, Dorset C of E Churches

08/09/2026

This Saturday our churches will be raising money for Dorset Historic Churches Trust on the annual Ride and Stride. Please do join us at any of the events below, or find and out more and donate on the website:

Gillingham – Meet at 9:30am at St Mary’s Church. We will be again walking as a team to raise money. We’ve planned a 5km circular walk around Gillingham starting and finishing at St Mary’s. All are welcome to join.
Bring a packed lunch to share at the end if you like. For more information, contact Kate Wickson.

Milton – Refreshments at St Simon & St Jude. From 3:00pm, please do come along.

Silton – (Prior to today) Diana Masters and Mike & Michaela Metcalfe will be doing a walk. And on this Ride
and Stride Saturday Peter Williams will be aiming to get close to his personal best: visiting 45 x Dorset churches on his bicycle!

The Trophy was presented by Colin Weston DL (right) to Jeff Thomas (centre)  and congratulated by David Grant, Trust Chairman.  Images by [email protected]  

06/09/2026

This morning St Mary’s celebrated their patronal festival, celebrating the Blessed Virgin Mary and our church family. As part of the festivities we celebrated our altar servers, and our established servers were all presented with medals. Our three young servers are doing really well and working through their training and will given their medals soon. We also blessed school bags ahead of the academic year.

Hail Mary, Hail Mary, Hail Mary full of grace

05/09/2026

A huge thank you to our Little Cherubs team who were rushed off their feet in the VSR selling toys, doing the popular tombola, and selling cakes and drinks. Little Cherubs Toddler Group (Gillingham, Dorset)

And a big thank you to our church volunteers for all their hard work too!

05/09/2026

The view from the top!

05/09/2026

Such a lot of fun with our brave teddies zipping down from St Mary’s tower!

05/09/2026

The sun is shining and we’re ready for our fun day! Lots to buy and win in the VSR as well as coffee and cakes, and games to play in the churchyard! Come and see us from 11!

04/09/2026

Tomorrow!! And the weathers looking good. See you there with your teddy bear 🧸

02/09/2026

This weekend St Mary’s celebrate their patronal, the patronage of the Blessed Virgin Mary after whom the church is named. On Saturday we have our fun day from 11am- 2pm alongside the Little Cherubs toddler group.

On Sunday we have our patronal festival, a special Parish Eucharist celebrating our Lady and our church family. All are welcome, and we will also be offering a blessing for the start of a new school year so do bring your school bags for a special blessing!
*please note a small amount of incense will be used.

Image- Madonna and Child from the reredos behind the altar at St Mary’s.

26/08/2026

St Mary’s Fun Day September 5th 11am-2pm!

21/08/2026

We had a fantastic two days at the Gillingham and Shaftesbury show this week, lots of tea and coffee and excellent cakes from our volunteer bakers. Wonderful to connect with our community across North Dorset. Many thanks to all our cake makers and volunteers on site from across our benefice and the Shaftesbury churches team, especially the organiser Jo Churchill. We are waiting to hear how much money has been raised for three local charities.