This page is intended to keep parishioners and any other interested parties informed about the impending closure of St Mary’s Marple Bridge. If you have any comments or thoughts on this sad situation please feel free to make contact by email to christa.wardle@dioceseofnottingham.uk you may wish to send a copy to news@stmarysmarplebridge.org.uk but please remember that this is not the right place for expressions of anger with particular people.
- On 28th January a letter was received from the bishop announcing the decision taken ‘with a heavy heart’ to close the church of St Mary in Marple Bridge after the mass on Easter Sunday. To read this letter in full please click here.
- Following the official reading of the letter at church over on 8th/9th February Denise Ead, Chair of our parish pastoral council, (PPC) wrote to all parishioners. To see a copy of her letter please click here
- We sent all the questions we had to the bishop. To read them click here. The bishop replied and told us that two to representatives would come to Marple Bridge to meet parishioners about the closure. He also confirmed that though the church building would close for services the cemetery would continue to function and the rights of those who held or had purchased plots would be respected.
- There followed a meeting on Friday 14th March with representatives of the diocese at which the many parishioners present voiced their feeling and objections and a statement on behalf of all parishioners in reponse to the threat of closure was issued which you can read by clicking here
- Notes by both parish and diocesan representative at the meeting can be viewed by clicking here to see a document which also includes a note on events since then.
- A consultation questionnaire was given to everyone at the meeting to be filled in and returned to church as soon as possible but in any case by Sunday April 13th. You can download this by clicking here and return it either by post, dropping it off at the presbytery or by emailing it to the presbytery as an attachment. The email address to use is news@stmarysmarplebridge.org.uk
One action we can all take is to write to the bishop by letter or email or by filling in the consultation questionnaire issued at the meeting and returning it to church as soon as possible. The bishop’s address is Bishop’s House, 27 Cavendish Road East, Nottingham, Notts, NG7 1BB and his email is bishop@dioceseofnottingham.uk and/or christa.wardle@dioceseofnottingham.uk