The great strength of a parish church is that it has always been at the heart of the community. It provides stability in times of great change. It also provides focus for people's worship and a reminder of the God who has looked after the village down through the millennia.

This strength is seen especially at Christmas. Last year Christmas Eve fell on a Sunday. This meant that as well as the normal Sunday morning service we also had the Village Christingle in the afternoon and the Midnight Communion. In all, around 450 people worshipped at St Nicholas's that day. This is an extraordinary number. In fact there can never have been that many people going to Great Doddington Church on any other day in its 800-year history.

You will see from the highlights below that the coming months are going to be a lot of fun! We have planned a full and varied social calendar for 2001. It is good to socialise as well as worship. Many of the social events will have a 'fund raising' aspect to them. For very many years (800 in fact!) the church has had inadequate heating. In Medieval times this was not so bad. However, for 21st century people it is not so welcoming in a public building! And so we have begun the process of installing a good and efficient heating system. It will no doubt take a considerable time to receive legal permission and actually have the system installed. The cost will also be very considerable, but worth it!

We have now received the permission of the ecclesiastical powers to have the wonderful Millennium quilt permanently encased and housed in the church. We hope it will be ready for viewing very soon.