St. Mary’s, Rickmansworth

St. Mary’s, Rickmansworth

St. Mary’s, Rickmansworth

St. Mary’s is a large church in a prominent position. It is shared by the Anglicans and Methodists. St. Mary’s is open and I found the door open and a sign put out to welcome visitors.

Welcome to St. Mary’s

Inside I found an excellent ‘Visit St. Mary’s’ leaflet. This folds out to A3 with a history, pictures and a plan. It is very well done indeed and would serve as a good model for other churches to follow. There is also a trail leaflet, mainly aimed at children which is also very good. This was produced by NADFAS (The National Association of Decorative and Fine Arts Societies). It is so rare to find something like this. The Diocesan prayer diary and ‘New Daylight’ Bible notes are available too. There is a display on church life here.

A prayer board is there (and is well used) as well as a votive stand, a children’s area and some of their work is displayed. Also a good display about World War 1 and 2 dead. The Lady Chapel is set aside for prayer – and the prayer books and bibles in it show that this is used. A ‘Saints and Pilgrims’ Book is displayed – this is an excellent initiative by the Diocese of St. Albans that is widely used.

St. Mary’s is a very well cared for church and some lights were left on to help give a welcoming atmosphere. The website can be found at http://www.stmarysrickmansworth.org.uk this gives good visitor information.

I rate St. Mary’s as excellent from the point of this study – go and have a look as this will give other churches some good ideas of how to welcome visitors. Here are some more pictures-

St. Mary’s interior

Lady Chapel

Nave and High Altar

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