St Laurence Festival
Church and Community Together
Our annual festival 3rd - 11th June to celebrate our Patron. St. Laurence
The Festival of St Laurence
All events are in church and there is no charge to attend
(but we won't turn down any donations)
The Festival of St Laurence brings together church and community.
For a week in June, the church and community groups put on activities and events to celebrate our patron saint - St Laurence.
The Festival is back for 2023!
All events are in church and there is no charge to attend
(but we will not turn down any donations)
The Festival has a full programme of exciting and interesting events.
The church will be open all week, from 10am, and refreshments available at all times.
Do drop in; we’ll be happy to see you.
For more information about events, or to put up a display, please email Derry French on [email protected].
Full details will be displayed around the town and on the church website: https://winslowbenefice.org.uk/festival
All events are held in church and refreshments will always be available
All church services as usual
Festival of St. Laurence Itinerary
3th - 11th June 2023. Church and community together.
Saturday 3rd June
9:30 - Displays arrive to set up
10am-12noon Coffee morning hosted by The Choir - anything can happen! Refreshments, Raffle and Activities.
7:30pm Crazy Kings, Winslow Players - present the mad lives of the Kings of England in dramatic form. from William I to Charles III
Sunday 4th June
2:30pm "Sing lustily and with good courage: John Wesley's directions for hymn singing". a talk by our parish priest, Revd. Dr. Stephen O'Connor.
Monday 5th June
11am Winslow Walks with David Noy. Places of Worship.
Apart from the parish church, Winslow has had many other places used by different Christian groups. The walk will show you where Roman Catholics, the Salvation Army, Methodists and Congregationalists met, ending with a visit to Keach’s Meeting House, built by the Baptists in 1695. Please meet at the Church.
2:30pm Buckinghamshire Hymnwriters - Derry French.
Come and find out about the famous hymn writers native to Buckinghamshire and sing some of their hymns still in use today.
7:30pm The Bells!.
A fascinating talk about the History of the Church Bells and a tour of the Tower!
Tuesday 6th June - 2:30pm -
"How did that happen?" Alan the Canon
From engineer to priest. Find out how Canon Alan Hodgetts became a priest and his time in prison ministry.
Wednesday 7th June - 2:30pm -
Through the changing scenes of life or A to H via Z. Rev'd Daphne Preece
There once was a geography teacher
who tried hard to not let God reach her;
but holy persistence broke down her resistance;
she became a pastor and preacher.
Thursday 8th June
2:30pm Finding Eanswyth: the life and afterlife of an Anglo-Saxon Saint. We welcome Lesley Hardy, who was part of the team which discovered, in Folkestone, the bones and relics of St. Eanswyth, a Saxon princess who became a saint.
7:30pm Adstock Singer in concert. Welcome back to the popular local singers for a second year.
Friday 9th June
9:30am Winslow CofE school will be visiting the church for Collective Worship for the first time since before lockdown.
2:30pm Milton Keynes: a City revisited - Graham Anderson Winslow CofE school will be visiting the church for Collective Worship for the first time since before lockdown.
Saturday 10th June
11am Winslow Walks with David Noy. How William Lowndes created modern Winslow.
William Lowndes transformed Winslow when he built Winslw Hall (1700). The walk will show how his money affected the town and created the layout which survives today. It will finish at Keach’s Meeting House, built in 1695 by Lowndes’ business partner William Gyles
2:30pm Do not labour for food which spoils: a personal journey into priesthood
Come and meet our new parish priest, the Reverend Doctor Stephen O’Connor and hear about his fascinating careers.
Sunday 11th June - Festival Choral Evensong 5pm
A special Choral Evensong to celebrate the Festival.
Monday 12th June
Exhibits to be dismantled.
Previous festivals
About the contributors
Dr David Noy
He is a retired lecturer in Classics, and an Honorary Research Associate of the Open University. His great- grandfather Arthur Midgley arrived in Winslow in 1867 and his family were ironmongers in Winslow for 100 years. He is the author of How One Man Transformed a Town: Winslow 1640-1770 and William Lowndes, and of various other books and articles about Winslow. He regularly gives talks about the history of Winslow and leads walks around the town.
Adstock Singers
The Adstock Singers was formed as a women's choir seven years ago, singing songs in a cottage sitting room. It has since grown to include singers from as far afield as Buckingham, Tingewick, Hemel Hempstead and even Winslow and has come to include male voices too. They give two formal concerts a year in St Cecilia's church, Adstock, as well as performing in art galleries, in churches throughout Buckinghamshire, in orchards and even from the back of a tractor, raising several thousand pounds for various charities. Members of the choir include first time singers, professional musicians and experienced amateurs and, above all, they sing for the joy of singing together!
Winslow Players
Festival 2022 Parish Mag June 3Formed in 1967, the Town’s amateur dramatic society has performed three productions a year since then, until the outbreak of Covid-19 stopped them in their tracks. Members come from far and wide, including Aylesbury, Leighton Buzzard and Milton Keynes, and they always welcome new members. This is their first public performance since February 2020.
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