Despite being the holiday season it has been a very busy month for the Project Group as you can see below.
Following confirmation of the project name as Project St. Mary’s we have been racking our combined brains for a project logo which everyone could associate with. There were a number of attempts of artwork from group members (and their spouses) but little did we realise we were staring at the obvious every time we entered our precious church. Outside the west door of St. Mary’s is a carving of a pair of birds either side of the door. Many years ago a local potter, Andrew Hazelden, designed the artwork above based on those carvings in the church. It was used for the ‘Memories’ Book printed in 2005, following an exhibition in Aldermaston Parish Hall as part of the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Celebrations in 2002. We think the birds are doves but if anyone has any other information we would love to hear from you. The good news is that Andrew has kindly agreed we can use his artwork as our new project logo.
Another important step forward for the project is the release of our new project website. Chris Boott has recently joined the project group and has made tremendous progress with designing and implementing the site. It contains a wealth of information about the project and, moving forward, will be our main form of communication on progress and plans. Take a look for yourselves at http://project-stmarys.uk/ and let us know of any comments or ideas you may have. For those that use Facebook we also have a link at www.facebook.com/projectstmarys
In a previous Parish magazine article we mentioned the meeting Reverend Becky and myself had with a local Berkshire religious publication called Xn. As well as the article we had a video of the interview recorded in the church. This has now been completed and a link to the article and video is here for you to enjoy online!
XN Media Article st-marys-go-from-doomsday-to-eternity
How can you help? – Although we have now passed the halfway mark in raising the funds for the initial planning and approvals stage we still need another £2000 of your donations to reach our target. That will then allow us to prepare all the necessary approval applications to the Diocese, English Heritage and local council. To make a donation take a look at the project website at http://project-stmarys.uk/ and follow the link and instructions under Getting Involved – Help fund the Initial Phase. Please note you can opt to be anonymous and for those not on the internet , please send donations c/o Revd Becky Bevan at The Rectory, Wasing Lane, Aldermaston, RG7 4LX. Also as we mentioned last month we are looking for help in a number of areas. For instance if you have any skills in writing website articles, drafting proposals, or just keen to offer help we would like to hear from you by contacting any of the project group.
Thank you again for your support
Ian Cave