The Benefice of the Knights & Hospitallers Parishes

Comprising Great Maplestead, Little Maplestead, Gestingthorpe and Pebmarsh
parishes of the Diocese of Chelmsford, in North Essex

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The Rector's Letter

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The Benefice comprises 4 completely independent parishes sharing a parish priest located just to the north of Halstead in north Essex.

See the individual parish sections for information about those Parishes. 

Dear Friends,

It’s a good thing that we have Family Services in our Churches.  This means that a service can be a little more informal than some of the others. Holy Communion, for instance.  At Great Maplestead there has been a Family Service for some years now, with various talented musicians playing instruments other than the organ to accompany the singing.

We are forming a new group to play, with young people as well as those a little older (i.e. me!) and we are willing to meet up and practice beforehand to learn the melodies we will sing.  However, WE NEED A FEW MORE MUSICIANS, any instrument welcome.  If you can help, please give me a call, or let me know.

THE CHOIR meeting monthly at Little Maplestead Church on the last Friday of the month at 6.30pm is going very well, with new members coming along.  At present we are singing “Adiemus” by Karl Jenkins.  This is a short collection of choral pieces sung to vowel sounds, not real words.  It is simple in a way, yet very effective.  The youngsters grasp it all quickly, but we adults are trying to read the words, and seem to be a lot slower to get the hang of it.  If you would like to come along, it’s great fun.  Sometimes we sing at weddings, and our wedding repertoire is slowly growing.  Everyone has a voice!  It’s so simple.

I am grateful and proud of our Church organists in the four Churches.  Considering that so many country churches have no-one to play, we are very fortunate to have a number of talented and willing people who come to play for us.  We are very lucky in this respect, and I want to express our appreciation for this.  We also have a Festival Choir at Great Maplestead, singers who meet to sing at Christmas, Harvest and Easter Services, with rehearsals beforehand.

Musical concerts are a good way to raise funds for village amenities, and we have several coming up this year.  Look out for information in this magazine, and on posters around, and do come along. For a very reasonable cost and refreshments, a good evening can be had by all.

With all good wishes,

Revd Janet.

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Please contact the Rector on 01787-463106, 
or email to .

You are most welcome to join Revd. Janet at Morning or Evening Prayer around the Parishes and speak to her afterwards if you wish - see the Services pages

Please note that the Rector's day off is Monday.