A service of 6 readings & Carols to celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus
Bells before, during….and after.
CAROL SERVICE
A SERVICE OF 6 READINGS AND CAROLS.
SUNDAY 21ST DECEMBER 2025 AT 3PM.
Bells before, during….and after. Celebrate with us as we come together to hear the Christmas story, sing a few Carols, be entertained by ‘The Music Makers’, and partake of light refreshments. The ‘Music Makers’ handbell ringers will be entertaining us part way through the service with some festive tunes played on the handbells. One of the tunes will actually be played on the church’s very own set of bells. This will be very special as they have not been played in quite a number of years.
While refreshments are being served you are invited to ‘have a go’. You never know, this may be something you have always had a yearning to do – maybe something on the ‘bucket list’ – now is the time to try.
It would be wonderful if we could generate enough interest in people wishing to explore this hobby further. It would be a shame for the bells to be packed away in their little pouches and not see the light of day for another decade or so.
St Andrews Church has been fortunate enough to receive £17,000 in grant funding, to enable much needed repairs to the Chancel slated roof, and associated rainwater goods.
In April 2022 Marshall’s Charity awarded the sum of £5,000 in grant funding.
National Churches Trust, in partnership with the Wolfson Foundation, also awarded a total of £12,000 in July 2022, towards the cost of the works.
“National Churches Trust, in partnership with The Wolfson Foundation, awards a total of £12,000 to St Andrews Church.“
“The Wolfson Foundation are supporting St Andrews Church in their grant funding towards the repair of the Chancel roof.“
“Marshall’s Charity award £5,000 to St Andrew’s Church, Halton Holegate, towards much needed repairs to their Chancel roof.“
The grant funding received, in addition to a contribution from church funds, will complete the repairs to all the church roofs, and rainwater goods, in addition to much replacement of stonework. This has been a long process, lasting the 10 years, but this will ensure the building will remain watertight for many years to come.
Due to Health and Safety concerns we will have to close the church to visitors during the duration of the chancel roof works. It is anticipated that the work will be completed by the end of 2022, weather conditions allowing. We will still, however, be able to hold our regular Sunday worship services.
Further updates will become available as we progress towards the end of the works.
St Andrew’s Church, Halton Holegate is holding a Service of Prayer and Reflection remembering her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on Sunday 18th September at 10.00am. All are welcome.
Credit:Press Association
A book of Condolence is now available in St Andrew’s Church for anyone wishing to leave messages of condolence or memories of our late and dearly loved Queen Elizabeth II.
The church will remain open daily until 20th September, 9.00am to 4.00pm daily should you wish to sign the book with your thoughts, memories and reflections.
A quiet space to sit and reflect with your own private prayers and thoughts.
This will be our 7th year of taking part in the festival, and it’s a wonderful opportunity for visitors to more fully engage with our churches. A lot of churches are open most, if not all days during the week anyway, but it is unlikely visitors would find anyone there to chat to or answer any questions they might have. One of the wonderful things about the Wolds & Coast festival is that someone should be present to be able to answer their questions, identify specific things they may wish to look at, know about, and such like. There are certain items of interest that can only be made available when volunteers are present, such as the historic Burial, Marriage and baptism registers, which we will have available to visitors, but these are usually locked away for safe keeping. Family history is still high on people’s reasons for visiting parish churches. We also hold a record of all the legible headstone inscriptions in the churchyard, which helps people to locate the actual graves of their relatives.
People have lots of different reasons for visiting churches and tend to plan their route around their interests. It could be the architecture, the stonework, memorials, carvings, or just the peace and tranquility. Some visitors spend a lot of time in the church, others come in, find their particular item of interest, take a photograph, and off they go to the next church on their route that has similar appeal. For example, here at St Andrews we have a stone effigy of a knight in armour, probably from the 14th century. This was said to have been found under the floor of the church during later restoration work, one theory being that it may have been buried to protect it during the dissolution of the monasteries in the 1500’s. In the Willoughby chapel at St James’s church in Spilsby – just 1½miles to the west of Halton Holegate- there are many medieval and Tudor tombs, effigies, and monuments dedicated to the Willoughby de Eresby family, and in Little Steeping church – 2 miles to the east of us – they have a 14th-century recumbent stone effigy of Thomas de Redyng who was Rector of the parish from 1318 to 1353 and is considered to be the builder of the church. So, lots to see within just a few miles of each other.
Visitors sometimes plan their route to visit churches to play the organ, which again would not be possible during regular open days. Last year at Halton Holegate we had people queuing up for their turn to play. We were hoping to have the organ available again this year, but as with ourselves, our lawns and gardens, the organ has also suffered from the excessive heat. It has gone out of tune and some of the keys are sticking, so sadly, we are unable to have it playable again until after the festival weekend. However, St James church in Spilsby have their William Hill organ available, Holy Trinity church in Hagworthingham has a playable organ, as do St Peter & St Paul church in Old Bolingbroke, who have recently had their organ fully refurbished. Old Bolingbroke also has an organist & harp recital between 2 o’clock and 3.30 on Saturday and Sunday 5th & 6th. Everyone will be made very welcome there, and there is no charge, just pop in, take a pew, and enjoy.
As part of an earlier National Lottery funded project, we researched the names on our War Memorial tablet, and produced interpretive boards, with details of ‘who they were, where they lived, where they went to school, what they did for a living, their families that were left behind’– they are no longer just anonymous names on a carved piece of stone, and these are on display in the church.
All of our pew ends have fascinating poppy head carvings, some dating back to the 15th century, with others being of the Victorian era. A lot of the Victorian ones depict all things ‘countryside or farming’, family crests, monarchs, and so on, but some of the earlier carvings tend to be a bit cheekier in nature, a hare with a tortoise on its back, a group of monkeys, mythical creatures, and some very stylised heads and faces, almost akin to gargoyles.
We will have the Halton Holegate scrapbook available for people to see. This was put together in 1905 by Rev Disbrowe, who was Rector here at the time. It is a combination of village and church history, with the earliest documented details from the 1500s. It was added to, following the death of Revd Disbrowe, and records events up to the 1980’s. It’s a fascinating record of the life of the village, the church and its people.
Other churches in the area have lots of different things to see and do, such as, St Marys church in Hundleby has a flower festival and a harvest service in church on Sunday 6th at 3pm, again, all welcome.
Many churches are offering tea and cake, but if you are fancying something a little more substantial then St Helens church at East Keal, just 2 miles south of Spilsby, are offering a ploughman’s lunch and, I quote, “delicious homemade puddings and cakes”.
The festival has its own website : lincswoldsandcoastchurches.org On the website there is a brochure available to download, showing all the participating churches, their location, what they are offering during the weekend, and their opening times. This year the festival organisers are also offering to post out brochures, subject to availability, the information for that is on the website. It’s not just people from Lincolnshire who visit our churches, they’re from far and wide. I understand that brochures have been posted out from Devon to Northumberland and places in between , even a request from Ontario Canada, who have Ancestry links to the county. Some churches you visit may also still have some brochures to pick up, especially if it is on the first weekend, so you can have a copy for the following weekend to plan your next round of visits to the wonderful historic churches, and hospitality that this beautiful county of Lincolnshire has to offer. We are passionate about our churches and just want to throw open the doors and share that passion with whoever comes through.
CHANGES TO THE 2026 BROCHURE
In our listing for the Wolds & Coast Festival 2026 we advertise that the church organ is available to play. However, due to the hot weather it has gone a little out of tune, and some of the keys are sticking. Our organ man is not able to get to us until after the event, so sadly our organ will not be playable on the weekend of 5th & 6th September.
If anyone would like to visit us at another time to play, once the organ is playable, please contact us and we will be more than welcome to arrange this for you.
Light refreshments will be served on both days.
To find us: Postcode PE23 5PA ///eventful.rivals.waltzes
Having resided at St Andrews Church, Halton Holegate for almost 2 years, the Wooly Walls are continuing their peregrination around the Bolingbroke Deanery. As of 1st March 2025 the Wooly Walls have been transported to St Helen’s Church, Church Lane, Stickford. The church is open 10:00 to 4:00 daily.
Having completed its residence at St Andrew’s’ church, the ‘Wooly Walls’ are on the move to Stickford. St Helen’s church will be the custodians of this amazing display for the next few weeks.
The Spirit of Sutterby is a community heritage project based around the deserted medieval village of Sutterby in the Lincolnshire Wolds.
The ‘Wooly Walls’ is a crafted representation of the project, which reflects the different themes of Wolds heritage, archaeology, and natural history.
Go along and learn more about the project through interpretive banners. St Helen’s church in Stickford, which is open 10:00 to 4:00pm daily..
More information about the Spirit of Sutterby project can be found here.
St Andrew's Church Halton Holegate 