St. Petronilla's...

March, July and November of every year I wander up the hill to our little church, St Petronilla's. There I join Lesley to help her clean the church. This is not an onerous task given the tiny size of the congregation, so it's generally a simple matter of dusting the pews etc, sweeping the floor and vacuuming the carpeted areas. It usually only takes about 45 minutes, every Friday morning of those months. I started doing this as a way of participating in the day to day activities of our little village. Apart from that, I rarely set foot in the church, just attending local funeral services, the annual Christmas Carols by Candlelight service and perhaps a couple of other services or fundraising events that may be going on there.

It's a really lovely sunny day here today although I guess it's also typical March weather - namely it's also jolly cold outside! So some of these photos have some camera shake but given that I was shaking from the cold, it's hardly surprising...

Here's the view from the car park looking over the 'new' graveyard and across to one part of our little village...



And this is the gate into the churchyard itself with some the old gravestones to be seen. Most of them are in a pretty precarious state and only on a very few can you actually read the inscriptions... a shame really because I enjoy reading old inscriptions. Some can be amusing, others downright vitriolic!



Inside the church, the stained glass windows are stunning...







These are all different in each of the window bays...



But my absolute favourite is the window above the loft where the bell ringers sit. You will just have to imagine the magnificence of this window as the sun had not moved sufficiently to show its true glory...



Here's part of the door leading into church, showing some detail to the carvings...



And finally, a photo of the church, showing the path leading into it... shame the rose isn't in bloom because it really is superb with the most beautiful perfume to it...



Over the years I've been meeting Lesley here to do our little bit, I've grown very fond of the church and I enjoy the peace and quiet here. Mind you, Lesley and I tend to put the world to rights as we chat away (teeth chattering too through the cold inside the church!) and we share many giggles about this and that. All in all, I think I'm the lucky one who receives far more from this 'chore' than I ever expected to. What a bargain!