The weather was beautiful today, the sun was out and it was hot, and the sky was a beautiful blue. It was perfect weather to be outside, and an ideal day for a Christening. We made a day trip to Bedford to see the new born son of our dear friends. It was a very enjoyable day. It was also a great family reunion, with parents and grandmother having arrived from Australia for the celebrations. It was lovely to see them again. The christening was held at the Anglican church of England, St Owen’s church, in Bromham. Bromham is approximately three miles north of Bedford.
St Owens church is located in Bromham park on 13 acres of land. The rent of the land is said to be used to pay for maintenance and repairs of the church. The church is a most beautiful building. It is a Grade 1 listed building. The church register dates as far back as 1570, however the church is said to have been built in 1200. It has the look of a 13th century Gothic style building. The tower however was built in the 15th century, and has gargoyles on the angles.
I was asked how many bells the church has and at the time I did not know, we were talking about four or five bells. I later discovered that the church has a total of six bells. In 1907 the bells were recast by Taylor. The church consist of a chancel (31 ft. 7 in. by 14 ft. 8 in); a nave (42 ft. 6 in. by 20 ft.); a north aisle (10 ft. 6 in. wide); and a west tower (12 ft. 10 in. by 14 ft. 1 in).
This monument above drew our attention soon after walking into the church, and we could not help but go up to it for closer inspection. It is made of alabaster. It is an effigy of a man wearing full plate armour on a pedestal with shields. The man is surrounded by six columns that support a canopy. The man supposed to be Sir Lewis Dyve. During the Great Rebellion, Dyve was the commander of the Ring’s forces for the Newport Pagnell district.
Thomas Lord Trevor founded a library in the church. The Georgian monument above is dedicated to Thomas Lord Trevor.
The christening service lasted approximately 45 minutes. It was a lovely service. We sang unacommpanied two or three hymns, one of which was ‘wide wide as the ocean’. They were lovely old songs, but I cannot remember the names of them now. I noticed they had a pipe organ and piano. The parents had agreed that there would be no hymns sung in the service. However, when the Minister began the service she announced that she had discussed the matter with the GodMother and they had decided to sing hymns after all. I had thought if only someone had a music hymn book that I could have played, but I could not see anything there. It didn’t seem to matter though, as our singing sounded lovely regardless. During the service, one of the ladies from the church went to the front of the church and read a story to the children. It was so cute how the little children participated in their story time, and the things that they came up with.
There were a couple of themes I picked up on from the service. The Minister discussed the role that adults play in the life of a little child, and how everything we do and say will influence that child’s perceptions and experiences. Without realising it, we are all acting as role models for children and what we do will set examples to the children. Another thing the Minister suggested was that when we watch televsision with children, we can influence the children by commenting on the programme. For example, if something comes on the screen that includes violence or similar, then you could say to the child, ‘well, that’s not very nice is it. People shouldn’t behave like that, it is wrong. And say why.’ And that when children have grown into young adults then you can go into deeper discussion, and that she said, is when the debate begins. Another theme during the service was that we should, every one of us, acknowledge that we are all sinful, and that we do, whether with intent or not, hurt other people. We must say sorry to those we hurt. It is good for children to hear us apologise, so that they learn that when they have done something wrong they must say sorry and seek forgiveness.
The St Owen’s church is very active in providing activities for children. On Wednesday’s the church hosts a ‘fisherman’s friends’ day when children from birth can come along witht heir parents to participate in games, songs, stories and making crafts. These meetings are held in the church at 2pm every Wednesday during school term.
St Owen’s Church – Bromham, The Old Police Station, 40 Stagsden Road, Bromham, Bedford, MK43 8PT. Telephone +44 (0)1234 823 222.
Alice Letts 