INTRODUCTION TO ALL SAINTS' CHURCH, HAWTON, NOTTS

All church services are to be suspended until further notice but Hawton Church will be open on Thursday mornings between 10am and noon for quiet reflection and prayer.  Access at other times can be made by contacting a keyholder. 

The latest report from Hawton (25th April)  is that nobody in the village has knowingly been infected with COVID-19. The village has not exactly cut itself off from the rest on the world, as the village of Eyam in Derbyshire did at the time of the Great Plague in 1665-6, but it has done the same job of social distancing, or more accurately, physical distancing, so that nobody is infected.  And of course, Hawton, unlike Eyam, is keeping the plague out rather than preventing it from escaping.  Reverend Liz Murray, like the Reverend William Mompesson of Eyam in 1666, Reverend Mike Gilbert (current Rector at Eyam) and Reverend Francis Clarke in 1603 (Rector of Hawton in The Watermeadow Mystery), is leading the way and reinforcing the faith and hopes of the population. She is at the Church every Thursday morming from 10 to 12.  And our bell-ringers will be ready too.  After Eyam had gone two weeks without a death in November 1666 the church bells were rung continuously for a whole day. We wonder when we will be able to do the same. 

 REFLECTIONS ON PRAYER

'Prayer goes far beyond merely asking for benefits for oneself or for others. Prayer can be a public act of worship but the person who prays in private feels himself to be alone in the presence of God. This is another way of putting the individual in touch with his deepest feelings. In some religions, no response to prayer from any supernatural being is even expected. Prayer is undertaken, not with the intention of influencing a deity, nor with any hope of prayer is been directly answered, but in order to produce a harmonious state of mind. Prayer and meditation facilitate integration by allowing time for previously unrelated thoughts and feelings to interact. Being able to get in touch with one's deepest thoughts and feelings, providing time for them to regroup theslves into new formations.  and combinations, are important aspects of the creative process, as well as a way of relieving tension and promoting mental health.'   Antony Storr, from Solitude, 1988.

                                                         Safeguarding

The parish of Hawton w Cotham is committed to the safeguarding of children, young people and adults. We follow the House of Bishops guidance and policies and have our own Parish Safeguarding Officer (PSO). 

The Church of England is preparing to take the church into people’s homes – through TV screens, laptops, computers and mobile phones – ahead of the first Sunday without public worship.

Hundreds of churches and cathedrals across the country are to live stream services without congregations, marking Mothering Sunday and a National Day of Prayer and Action tomorrow, which is being observed by all major Christian denominations.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, will lead the Church of England’s first national virtual service tomorrow morning. It will be broadcast simultaneously at 8am on the 39 BBC local radio stations in England and as BBC Radio 4’s Sunday Worship. It will then premier on Facebook through the Church of England’s page at 9am.

Meanwhile the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu will be live streaming a short prayer time on his Facebook page at 10am, 12 noon, 4pm and 6pm on Sunday. The time of prayer will include the Lord’s Prayer and two Taizé Chants and will be around 10 minutes long. 

The Church of England has also issued a special prayer for the National Day of Prayer and Action. The text is below.

Across the country cathedrals, parish churches and non-traditional church gatherings are adapting to the challenges posed by the restrictions on public gatherings to help limit the spread of infection in different ways.

The Bishop of Chelmsford, Stephen Cottrell, said: “The Church has never been a building, it has always been a people.

“We are about to discover what that means.

“From this Sunday onward the Church will meet as usual, but it won’t be happening in our buildings.

“It will be happening in our hearts and in our homes.”

The west aspect of All Saints' Church across the fields

This is intended to be a comprehensive website for all who wish to know about the life of All Saints' Church in Hawton. We have come to realise that there are many people who have links with, and affection for, this historic and beautiful church but are not necessarily worshipping Christians.  our aim is to make the church the centre of a community, not just Hawton village (which only has a population of 54) but involving a much larger area, especially the village of Cotham to the south and the new housing development taking place just north of Hawton. We lost our village hall several years ago as it had become unsafe, and events that used to take place there can now be carried out in the church itself, so at one level the church can be said to be a community centre also. So, in addition to church services, baptisms, weddings, and funerals we have a panoply of other activities, including open church events on Saturday mornings, with erudite expositions of the amazing stone carvings in the chancel, historical talks, plays, operettas, international links to Canada and to Hawton in the United States, arresting lectures, and invitations to open gardens in the spring and summer. There are two fairs held in the church, in the summer and a month before Christmas, and these are popular events, especially as the quality of the refreshments is universally praised. We are also establishing links with Newark Academy and Magnus Academy schools, whose Art and History departments are including the church in their curricular activities. Ther are many other ways that those interested can become involved in safeguarding the future of this church for our children and their children, and we are keen to explore all of them.

This website exists to raise awareness, promote the importance of the church in the community, and to inform and educate in the broadest sense. A building such as this needs to be celebrated and extolled as a lasting heritage of the past and a beacon for the future. Many improvements have taken place already, but many more are planned, and you can find out about these as you explore these pages.  Please be enthused, and join in when you can.