Welcome to St Michael & All Angels
serving the communities of Appleby Magna & Parva
The church is open Tuesday to Thursday between 10am & 3pm for visitors or private prayer.
Services:
Services are usually at 10am on most, but not all, Sundays. For service dates / times please check the calendar page of this website. We usually have a Holy Communion on 2nd Sundays and 4th Sundays each month, led by a ministry team member. Kids’ Kingdom group meet in the church hall opposite for part of these services. We all enjoy their feedback about their activities at the closing of the service. On the other Sundays we may have a baptism or a more informal service. We also hold mid-week Holy Communion services at 10am on the 1st Wednesday of each month.
Special services are held throughout the year, the Lights of Love, D-I-Y Nativity, and Christmas Eve Carols services are particularly appreciated.
Activities:
Please check the calendar section for dates of forthcoming groups / events, including:
weekly Kids’ Kingdom Baby and Toddlers group (Thursdays 9-11am, term-time),
Kids Kingdom for under 11s on 2 Sunday mornings a month (term-time),
Community Lunch in the Church Hall (12.30pm, 3rd Wednesdays in the month, adults £6, children £2) open to all, but need to book please,
and on 4th Wednesdays we host a popular Coffee and Chat in the Church Hall 10am-12noon, open to all.
Plus adhoc events in the church / hall, such as Flower Festival, Christmas Trees Festival, craft fayre and seasonal fetes.
Village Setting:
Appleby Magna and Parva were traditionally mining and farming based communities, but today are chiefly commuter communities due to the closeness of the M42. There are several historic buildings in the village, including the grade 1, Sir John Moore School dating from 1697. Originally built as a Grammar School for boys, it now hosts the village primary school.
Church Building:
The church has played an important role in the community here for over 800 years, as we are known to have had a Rector here in the time of King John. This Grade 11* listed 14th century building has beautiful medieval, Georgian, and Victorian stained-glass windows, and Georgian oak box pews.
The chapel, in the north-east corner, is the oldest part of the church. This chapel is where members of the Appleby family were buried. The chapel, originally dedicated to St. Helen, now contains the Vestry and the organ.
The numbered oak box pews were installed in the 1829-32 renovations and rented by villagers. Basic bench pews were installed down the centre for poorer villagers to use. The font was gifted by Miss Moore in 1832. The Moore sisters also gifted the church clock. It was made in 1850 by Edward J Dent of London, whose firm made the Westminster clock (in Big Ben Tower).
It is a large church for a small village, so presents many challenges. Several major repair projects have been completed, with more still to be done.
Church Hall:
The h
all was built as a school for girls in 1845, the boys attending the nearby Grammar School in Appleby Parva. It later became the village primary school. The hall is listed grade II as its a relatively early example of a National School commissioned by a landowner.
After the primary school moved into the grammar school building, the PCC bought this building from the Board of Education and it re-opened in 1972 as the Church Hall.
The hall may be hired for community use, please contact the Booking Clerk on 01530 273786.
Repair Grants:
Maintenance of both buildings is the responsibility of the local congregation, and we are grateful to various funding bodies who have helped us carry out repairs & improvements.
More recently, in 2020 we received a grant from the government’s Culture Recovery Fund, administered by Historic England, for repairs to some chancel windows. In 2022 we were able to add secondary glazing to the hall windows thanks to grants from North West Leicestershire District Council Zero Carbon Fund, Mercia Park Community Fund, the Bernard Sunley Foundation & other local funders.
Thanks to their support the church will continue to be a place of solace and worship, and the hall continue to be used for community events.
