The Church of England Parish of Bemerton has three church buildings where we meet on a regular basis to pray together and find time to catch up with each other. We are an inclusive church and everybody is welcome. The parish covers St Peter’s Place, Fugglestone Red, Bemerton Heath, Lower Bemerton and Quidhampton. Our three church buildings are:
St Michael’s Church, St Michael’s Road, Salisbury.
This is the church on the hill on Bemerton Heath. It was built in the late 1950’s and has a sculpture of the Risen Jesus on the building looking out over the Heath. We have a worship band and have a relaxed style of services in which our band plays. We are always happy to have new members join both the band and the community that gathers here. Our main service is on a Sunday morning at 10:30 and lasts between 40 minutes and 1 hour 15 minutes depending on which Sunday you attend. We have a Fun Church on the 1st Sunday and a more informal service on the third Sunday with a service of Holy Communion on the 2nd, 4th and any 5th Sundays of the month. We also have a mid-week service of Holy Communion on Wednesdays at 12:10pm as well as on major festivals which fall on a week day.
During the week we have morning prayer Monday to Friday at 8:30am (10am on Saturdays) and evening prayer Tuesday to Friday at 5pm. These last around half an hour. Evening Prayer is led by the Rector and sometimes means it is not prayed publicly if the Rector is at a meeting or dealing with a pastoral matter. Do not fear though for the Rector prays morning, evening and night prayer every day so evening prayer will be prayed by him privately on such occasions. If you would be interested in being on a rota to attended/lead evening prayer please let Rev’d Kevin know.
There is also St Michael’s Community Centre on site which has a community cafe and space for people to rent out on an hourly for sessional basis. The Community Fridge is also located here offering close to sell by food and donated food items. These are free to those who can’t afford food and also available to people who would like to make a donation. No vouchers are needed or questions asked, we simply ask you take only what you need so others can access have food to eat. If you have items of food you would like to donate to the Community Fridge please get in touch to find out what we can accept. We also have a Community Cafe which in usual times offers hot and cold drinks, cake, panini and soup.
St Andrew’s Church, Lower Bemerton
St. Andrew’s is a tiny 13th century Church, and is the final resting place of George Herbert (1593-1633), celebrated in the Church of England’s lectionary, on 27th February, as a priest and poet.
We have an 8am Book of Common Prayer(BCP) service of Holy Communion every Sunday and on the first Sunday of the month we have BCP Evensong at 6pm (Although that needs to be a said Evening Prayer at the moment. There is also a BCP Communion at 10am on Fridays.
St John’s Church Lower Bemerton
St John’s is now referred to as St John’s Place and is a Community Centre leased to Bemerton Community by Salisbury Diocese. The Chancel (The end of the church which has the main altar table in) is still consecrated (blessed) and can therefore hold services. It is also licensed so weddings can take place there provided you meet the conditions necessary to marry in a Church of England church. More information about this can be found here. St John’s place, however, is run by Bemerton Community who oversees all bookings and runs the community centre. This means that weddings can only be booked in if the ‘venue’ is available and hasn’t been booked by somebody else. It is possible to book your wedding reception at St John’s Place but this is something you would need to contact Bemerton Community about. More information is available here.
Ministry Team
Our ministry team comprises our Rector, Rev’d Kevin Martin who is assisted by a priest in the parish who has permission to officate (PTO) at services along with two retired priests with PTO, a retired Licensed Lay Minister (LLM) PTO, a lay worship leader and a number of lay pastoral assistants (LPAs). We are also very pleased to have an Ordinand (somebody who is training to be a priest) who lives in the parish and is undertaking some of her training here. You can find out more about our less shy ministry members on our meet the team page.
We are delighted to have two Church of England primary schools and a secondary school in the parish along with two other primary schools and recently a new Springfields school opening.
If all we have the “cure of souls” of a quarter of salisbury – 16,000 people.
Safeguarding
Bemerton Parish takes its responsibilities surrounding the safeguarding of children, young people, and adults who may be at risk very seriously, and works in partnership with the Diocese of Salisbury to ensure that we work in accordance with best practice at all times.
If you have any Safeguarding questions or concerns you can contact our Parish Safeguarding Officer, Mrs Helen Pessell on 01722 333604 email helen.safeguarding.bemerton@protonmail.com
Alternatively you can contact the Salisbury Diocesan Safeguarding Officers:Mrs Suzy Futcher Suzy works 9am-5pm, Monday-Wednesday inclusive. She should be the first point of contact for urgent safeguarding advice from 8am-9pm on Mondays and Tuesdays and from 8am until 1pm on a Wednesdays (via mob 07500 664800), after which she will handover to Jem Carter as below..
Mr Jem (Jeremy) Carter Jem works 9am-5pm Tuesday-Friday inclusive, although one day a week (predominantly Tuesday) will be spent providing dedicated Safeguarding support to the Cathedral. Jem should be the first point of contact for urgent safeguarding advice from 1pm on Weds through until 5pm on a Friday. He is available on an ‘on call’ basis until 9pm on Wednesday and Thursday evenings – on mobile 07469 857888.
