St Mary's Radcliffe on Trent

The Churchwarden’s Bike Ride – by Dave Townsend
(not to be confused with the Vicar’s Bike Tour)

For many years St Mary’s has supported the Nottinghamshire Historic Churches Trust Sponsored Bike Ride. This annual event is one of the main sources of funds for the Trust which was founded in 1986 to help repair and renovate some of the many hundreds of churches and chapels in the county. To encourage those who prefer not to cycle, this event is now known as the ‘Ride and Stride’ – which this year was held on Saturday 8 September.

The object is to raise funds by obtaining sponsorship to cycle or walk to as many of the designated churches and chapels as practical during the day.

Following in the footsteps, or more accurately, tyre tracks, of previous regular St Mary cycling stalwarts including Brian Bull, Martin Skeffington and the Sugdens, this is the second year I have taken part ‘seriously’. That is ignoring my brief forays to Shelford many years ago with my sons Mark and Peter.

Somewhat cooler, it was even better than last year. We are indeed fortunate to be close to the beautiful Vale of Belvoir and adjacent rural areas of eastern Nottinghamshire. It was a real pleasure to renew my acquaintanceship with the many historical places of worship nearby; and to discover some new ones which I had hitherto missed.

I decided this time to make a photographic record of my journey both for myself and to share with others who may not be so familiar the ‘gems’ on our doorstep. I have to admit at this point that many of the photos nearly failed to materialise. The parable of the Foolish Virgins came to mind when I realised, as the battery of my digital camera began to fail about half way round, that I had neither any spare batteries or even enough money to buy some more. So swallowing my pride, I phoned home from Orston and asked Peter to meet me at Scarrington 20 minutes later with supplies; which he duly did and I and my camera continued refreshed.

I’ve included here two contrasting places of worship to illustrate the wide range of buildings visited. I had never been to Elston (five miles from Newark) before and was particularly intrigued to find the Old Chapel in the middle of a field. It is now disused, apart from occasional services, and is cared for by the Nottinghamshire Historic Churches Trust.

The most interesting architectural feature is the Norman arch, while inside there is the usual miscellany of architectural styles. A certain amount of mystery surrounds the building itself as it was recorded in the parish of East Stoke as well as Elston. It may have been physically moved to its present location in the Middle Ages; where it was probably the chapel of St Leonard’s leper hospital situated nearby.

Seven miles away by road but centuries away in foundation is the parish church of St Thomas in Aslockton. This was built in 1892, paid for by a Mrs Sophia Hall in memory of her son, the Rev. Thomas Hall, who was drowned when his cruise ship, the RMS Quetta was shipwrecked en route from Australia to England. Inside there are a number of references to the shipwreck including the Quetta window and the roof represents an upturned boat. The external elevations are built in Ancaster stone in the Early English style whilst the inside is lined with warm red brick.

Spurred on by the encouragement of my many sponsors from St Mary’s and elsewhere, I eventually visited 29 churches and chapels during the day, covering a total of 60 miles. If it’s any consolation to those who sponsored me for each place visited, I probably would have visited at least 2 more if I hadn’t stopped to take the photos.

Thanks to the generosity of my sponsors I will have raised over £250, which when the appropriate Gift Aid tax relief is added will total about £310. Half of this amount will go to the Trust and half to St Mary’s.