PRESS RELEASE

30 April 2009

ROGATION SUNDAY CHURCH SERVICE AT BICKLEY HALL FARM

A special springtime church service will be held at the headquarters of Cheshire Wildlife Trust on 17th May.
Cattle, crops, water and the farmhouse will be amongst the agricultural elements to be blessed during the annual Rogation Sunday service, which will this year be held at Bickley Hall Farm, in Bickley nr Malpas.

The congregation from St Wenefrede’s Church at Bickley will swap their pews for practical shoes as they join the Canon Les Thomas in his holy tour around the farm.

Hymns will be sung outdoors as the service takes in features such as the traditional orchard, a series of ponds, wildflower meadows and native breed sheep and cows at the special wildlife location, which is also home to protected and endangered species such as lesser silver water beetle, barn owls, bats and harvest mice.

Canon Les Thomas said: “This Service is part of the local church standing alongside its farming neighbours in the annual cycle of life in the countryside. It begins in January when a plough and a lamb are brought into church for blessing in anticipation of the year’s work ahead on the land.

“This is followed in May with the Rogation Service on a local farm and then in October, the celebration of the in-gathered harvest. It reflects our belief as Christians, that God is bound up in all our life’s activities.

“We look forward to a special evening.”

The blessings are part of a tradition that goes back thousands of years, based on the Roman festival of ‘robigalia’, which involved local communities praying to the gods for protection of their crops as well as their fields and boundaries. The Latin word ‘robigo’ means ‘rust’ or ‘mould’ so prayers would be sent asking for the crops to be spared from mildew.

Christianity later adopted the tradition, when the local priest led all the villagers around the boundaries of their parish. The emphasis was changed slightly, with the word rogation coming from the Latin word ‘Rogare’ meaning ‘to ask’ or ‘beseech’. The Rogation ceremony became known as ‘beating the bounds’ and could include elaborate methods to remind locals of their boundaries, such as ‘bumping’ boys on prominent markers or stones, rolling them in brambles or ditches, or throwing them in a pond!

Thankfully such activities are no longer demonstrated and the agricultural celebrations now have a more contemporary approach, focusing on the enjoyment and access to the countryside for all, the conservation of wild species flourishing on farmers’ land and the appreciation of the natural ecological order and connectedness of life in the outdoors.

The service at Bickley Hall Farm, which is open to all and begins at 6.30pm, will be followed by home-cooked supper in the large farm kitchen.

If you would like to come but are not part of the usual congregation please call Cheshire Wildlife Trust on 01948 820728 so that numbers for catering can be established.

-ENDS-