The Parish of the Upper Skerne

Home
United Kingdom
Stockton-on-Tees
The Parish of the Upper Skerne

Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from The Parish of the Upper Skerne, Religious organisation, The Rectory, 2 Durham Road, Sedgefield, Stockton-on-Tees.

The churches of St Alban's Trimdon Grange; St Mary Magdalene's Trimdon Village; St Catherine's Fishburn; St Michael's Bishop Middleham and St Edmund's Sedgefield. We provide Christian fellowship and spiritual guidance to the communities of Trimdon Grange, Trimdon Village, Fishburn, Bishop Middleham, Sedgefield, Deaf Hill, Bradbury, Morden, Foxton and Mainsforth.

24/04/2023

Newsflash . . . Janet’s
BBC interview update

Those who missed this morning’s (Monday, April 24) double-honour interview on Radio Tees featuring Bishop Middleham musician-composer Janet Graham (Janet Deane as she is better known in the local community) and presenter Gary Phillipson will be able to hear it on BBC Sounds for the next 30 days.
Janet went on air to talk about the two surprise honours she was recently accorded by two distinguished personalities in the world of classical music. One featured an extremely complimentary review of two of her works for piano played at a recent celebratory concert in York. The second was news that three of her pieces are to be featured in a special London recital by highly-respected composer and pianist Anthony Green.
“Gary was particularly interested in how my musical journey started and how a girl from a pit village felt at such a famous place as the Royal Academy of Music,” said Janet. “We also touched upon the influence that local landscape and history can have on musical creativity.”
Janet is the popular organist at St Michael’s Church in Bishop Middleham as well as leader of the community’s bereavement support service. She can be contacted on 01740 656391 or by e-mail [email protected].

ends

15/04/2023

Double honour for
Bishop Middleham
composer-musician

Bishop Middleham musician-composer Janet Graham has received surprise honours from two distinguished personalities in the world of classical music.
She was first given an extremely complimentary UK magazine review of two works for piano she composed during the Covid lockdown and which were played at a recent celebratory concert in York by Dr Aleksander Szram, Director of Music at London’s prestigious Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance.
Janet then learned that three more of her pieces are to be featured in a special London recital later this month by Anthony Green, a gifted and respected composer and pianist who once taught Dr Szram at Trinity Laban Conservatoire.
“Tony Green is an old friend who continued championing my piano music throughout the 23 years when I was working as a music therapist and didn't have much time for composing. He has included my music in numerous recitals over the years and two of the pieces he'll be playing are dedicated to him”, said Janet (pictured) at her home in Bishop Middleham, near Sedgefield, where she is better known to most as Mrs Deane (she married her organist husband, Philip, in 1973) and as the popular organist at St Michael’s Church in Bishop Middleham as well as leader of the community’s bereavement support service.
Unknown to Janet, sitting in the audience at the York concert to celebrate the 75th birthday of internationally acclaimed composer, teacher and director and former Professor of Music at York University Nicola LeFanu, a pioneer in the world of contemporary women’s music, was Paul Conway, a respected critic from ‘Musical Opinion’, a leading quarterly UK magazine dedicated to classical music.
He subsequently described one of Janet’s compositions as “an enchanting meditative piece” and said that Dr Szram’s ‘poetic and spacious interpretation of the composer’s sophisticated yet directly expressive musical language cast a potent spell over the audience”.
At the London concert later this month, Anthony Green will play three of Janet's compositions, including the first performance of 'Winter Wanderings', written in 2020. The recital will mark the special birthdays of three respected UK guest composers - though, not surprisingly perhaps, Janet prefers to leave it to the reader to guess which of her birthdays it is!

11/03/2023

Sweet treat for Sedgefield
craftshop fund-raisers

Owners of ‘Front Loft to Loved’, the Sedgefield-based independent craft hub and creative workshop in The Square, were given a sweet surprise this week.
They received chocolates from the Friends of St Edmund’s Church in the town for selling more of the group’s 2023 charity Christmas calendars and cards than anyone else.
Friends’ membership secretary Brian Mutch presented the chocolates to business partners Kim Campbell and Sarah Morris and commented: “They did a wonderful job raising much-needed funds to help ensure the future of our ancient church and we are extremely grateful to them”.
Brian is pictured presenting the chocolates to Kim who said: “We are a local business and always try to support deserving activities whenever we can. The church clearly plays an important role in the life of the town.”

23/11/2022

https://scontent.fman1-2.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/316407448_506455951514893_6588035894392292904_n.jpg?_nc_cat=107&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=0d5531&_nc_ohc=iVsGvBhtfJMAX8v84I0&_nc_ht=scontent.fman1-2.fna&oh=00_AfC08sB7VzHf7iKUBSPYc2MFTVBg_29JTwswyy9Q2Rz_PQ&oe=638255C3
Janet’s compositions to feature
at special celebration concert

Two compositions for piano by Bishop Middleham musician Janet Graham are to be played at a special celebration concert in York next month for internationally-acclaimed composer, teacher and director Nicola LeFanu.
The two pieces – ‘Churchyard blackbird at Pentecost’ and ‘Advent Thoughts’ -were produced by Janet during the Covid lockdown and will be played at the St Saviourgate Chapel concert on December 3rd by Dr. Aleksander Szram, the recently-appointed Director of Music at London’s prestigious Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance.
The concert has been arranged to mark LeFanu’s 75th birthday and her contribution to the world of music, including her 14 years as Professor of Music at the University of York. She is highly-regarded by many for her work with ‘Women in Music’ at a time when few women were able to secure performances of their compositions.
It will be a special occasion for Janet because the two pieces will be played by Dr. Szram who has previously recorded a CD of Janet’s work.
“I’m really looking forward to hearing him play again. He is a wonderful pianist”, said Janet this week.
A former student at the Royal Academy of Music where she was awarded prizes for her compositions, the now Mrs Deane (she married her organist husband, Philip, in 1973), went on to work as a composer, piano-teacher and music therapist before ‘retiring’ in 2013 to concentrate on her main interest, composition. Her pieces have featured on Radio 3 and several other radio stations.
These days, Janet combines composing with her enjoyment as organist at St Michael’s Church in Bishop Middleham where she also leads a bereavement support group.

21/11/2022

American family link aids
local church preservation

Calendars and Christmas cards produced this year by the Friends of St Edmund’s Church in Sedgefield have created special memories for a family in Illinois, USA, who have a link with the Durham town stretching back more than 150 years.
Mrs Catherine Murray, who lives in Lake Bluff, recently visited Sedgefield but was disappointed when she found the doors to the church were closed.
Then, during a visit to Sedgefield’s ‘From Loft to Loved’ home and gift shop, she noticed samples of the Friends’ 2023 calendar and this year’s Christmas cards and was particularly pleased with a tri-fold card showing the church interior.
Shop owners Kim and Sarah contacted Friends’ membership secretary Brian Mutch who, after exchanging e-mails with Mrs Murray, subsequently forwarded two calendars and a pack of the local scene cards to her.
In one message to Brian, Mrs Murray explained that her grandfather, James Clark, who then lived at Weterton Mill farm on the outskirts of Sedgefield, was baptised in the church in November 1860, a month after he was born
“We were very sad that the church was closed and that is why the card showing the interior is so special”, said Mrs Murray, the youngest child of her grandfather’s twelfth child.
‘From Loft to Loved’ now stocks the Friends’ merchandise which, says Brian, is ‘flying off the shelves’.
He commented: “We know that the Friends’ fund-raising merchandise goes to many parts of the world but I don’t believe we have ever sent anything to Illinois. It’s gratifying to think that the Murray family are helping to preserve the fabric of St Edmund’s even though they live so far away.”

15/10/2022

Popular quiz and supper
to aid church preservation

Quiz-lovers are being advised to sharpen their pencils and start revising for one of the most popular events organised by the Friends of St Edmund’s Church in Sedgefield- the annual Quiz Night and Pie and Pea Supper at Ceddesfeld Hall.
This year’s quiz, the first since the pandemic, will be held on Saturday, November 19th, from 7.30pm. Tickets cost £10 and include supper. A vegetarian option is available on request.
Tickets are available from Alison Hodgson (01740 620912), Brian Mutch (01740 622302) or from Tickety Boo in the village.
“The quiz night is always very popular and helps us to raise much-needed funds for preservation work on the fabric at St Edmund’s”, said Alison.
Flashback: all smiles from the winners of the most recent pre-Covid quiz night
Ends

Note to News Desk:
Further information is available from Brian or Alison at the numbers above. Do not hesitate to contact them.
The image is free of copyright

Re101022

11/10/2022

Celebration service for
long-serving minister

Licensed lay minister Michael King is to have his half-century of ministry service celebrated at St Edmund’s Church in Sedgefield at 10am on Sunday, October 30th, to which members of all denominations are invited. But few know that his remarkable career began because of an emergency!
One Saturday afternoon in 1972, Michael’s father, the minister of a united Congregational, Baptist and Methodist Church at Nailsworth in the Stroud Valley, received a call for help from the Baptist Church in neighbouring Avening who said they had been let down by the person leading their service the very next day.
For a number of years, Michael had been assisting his father who then decided that it was time for the young Mr King to ‘go solo’ – though he would be accompanied by a very senior local preacher to ensure that he stayed on the ‘straight and narrow’.
“Never did I imagine that this emergency would lead to a life of preaching ministry”, said Michael this week at the Sedgefield home he shares with his wife, Judith.
Michael then went on to train as a teacher at Westminster College, Oxford, studying Theology and the Psychology of Education. The college was a Methodist Foundation and had an active Local Preacher’s Society, which Michael joined, and during his four years there, he preached mostly in rural churches near the city of Oxford.
Once qualified as a teacher, he moved to Burford, in Oxfordshire, two years later to Letchworth in Hertfordshire and in 1989 to Sedgefield. In each of these locations he pursued his preaching ministry, mostly in the Methodist Church.
In 1992, the King family began attending St. Edmund’s Church in Sedgefield which ultimately led to Michael being licensed as a Lay Reader (Licensed Local Minister) in September 2008 with his ministry focussed mostly on St. Edmund’s and the Parish of the Upper Skerne. Michael also holds the Bishop’s licence to conduct funeral ministry and services of Communion by Extension.
In 2014, following a chance conversation with a Minister at a meeting, Michael offered his services as locum for the Church of Scotland in the Outer Hebrides. Since then, apart from the Covid years, Michael has spent three to four weeks each year on the islands of Barra and South Uist, leading services in the churches on those islands and which, he says, “have been one of the most fulfilling and exciting opportunities of my ministry”.
This week, Parish warden John Burrows commented: “Since Michael arrived in Sedgefield, he has worked tirelessly in so many ways for both the church and the wider community. He has been an inspiration to all of us.”
Ends

08/10/2022

New sales centre for
Sedgefield ‘Friends’

Owners of ‘From Loft to Loved’, the Sedgefield-based home and gift shop where once-treasured household items are recycled into unique pieces of furniture and furnishings, are backing efforts to help ensure the future of the town’s ancient church.

The independent business led by Kim Campbell and Sarah Morris, which now enjoys a reputation as one of the best craft hubs and creative workshops in the region, has become the new sales centre in the town for items produced by the Friends of St Edmund’s Church.

This week, they took their first delivery of the church charity’s Christmas cards and 2023 calendars which are now on sale at the ‘From Loft to Loved’ shop in The Square.

Kim, pictured receiving the cards from Friends’ membership secretary Brian Mutch, commented: “We are a local business and always try to support deserving activities in the community. The church clearly plays an important role in the life of the town.”

Brian added: “We are delighted and very grateful to have support for our fund-raising efforts from such a special outlet.”

04/10/2022

Ken’s photographs to feature
on charity Christmas cards

.

Two new striking photographs which have been highly praised by supporters of the town’s church will feature in this year’s packs of Christmas cards produced by the Friends of St Edmund’s charity.
They are the work of experienced photographer Ken Wilson and will be sold with four of the best-selling cards in recent years to help maintain the fabric of the ancient building.
Two copies of each of the six cards are included which cost £8 per pack including envelopes. Alternatively, customers can ‘pick and mix’ 12 copies of one or more of the same cards for the same price.
Ken, a keen photographer for over 50 years who rates Hardwick Park as his favourite spot for pursuing his special interests in landscape and wildlife photography, said this week that he was ‘very honoured’ to have his pictures used in both the Friends’ calendar and the Christmas card packs,
The cards go on sale this week and can be obtained from Friends’ membership secretary Brian Mutch on 01740 622302, via [email protected] or at 6 Hasledon Grove, Sedgefield.
Cards and calendars will also be available at ‘Loft to Love’ in Sedgefield.
For local people with mobility or health problems, Brian and his wife, Christine, will deliver cards and calendars to homes by appointment and take payment using the group’s hand-held card machine or cash payment

Ken’s photographs to feature
on charity Christmas cards

Two new striking photographs which have been highly praised by supporters of the town’s church will feature in this year’s packs of Christmas cards produced by the Friends of St Edmund’s charity.
They are the work of experienced photographer Ken Wilson and will be sold with four of the best-selling cards in recent years to help maintain the fabric of the ancient building.
Two copies of each of the six cards are included which cost £8 per pack including envelopes. Alternatively, customers can ‘pick and mix’ 12 copies of one or more of the same cards for the same price.
Ken, a keen photographer for over 50 years who rates Hardwick Park as his favourite spot for pursuing his special interests in landscape and wildlife photography, said this week that he was ‘very honoured’ to have his pictures used in both the Friends’ calendar and the Christmas card packs,
The cards go on sale this week and can be obtained from Friends’ membership secretary Brian Mutch on 01740 622302, via [email protected] or at 6 Hasledon Grove, Sedgefield.
Cards and calendars will also be available at ‘Loft to Love’ in Sedgefield.
For local people with mobility or health problems, Brian and his wife, Christine, will deliver cards and calendars to homes by appointment and take payment using the group’s hand-held card machine or cash payment

Address

The Rectory, 2 Durham Road, Sedgefield
Stockton-on-Tees
TS213DW

Telephone

+441740620274

Website

http://www.upperskerne.org.uk/welcome.html

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when The Parish of the Upper Skerne posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Place Of Worship

Send a message to The Parish of the Upper Skerne:

Shortcuts

Address
Telephone
Alerts
Contact The Place Of Worship
Claim ownership or report listing

Want your place of worship to be the top-listed Place Of Worship in Stockton-on-Tees?