Rev Simon White and parishioners at the Holy Triniy celebrations of the Queens Diamond Jubilee 2012.
The church (hall) is used for many events by the church, other village groups and private hire.

Down Your Way in the MMA
Holy Trinity, Mapperley

Mapperley falls within the united benefice of West Hallam, Mapperley, Stanley and Stanley Common; with a population of around two hundred and seventy it is the smallest parish in the Mission and Ministry Area and the only one located outside Erewash, being in Amber Valley. In common with the other villages of the benefice it has both agricultural and mining origins, its fortunes having been closely tied in different periods to the Shipley estate and the mining companies, nationalised or private. The twin lodge houses of the southern approach to the former Shipley Hall can still be made out in the forms of two private dwellings near the school, while rows of brick cottages which now attract high prices remind the visitor of the numerous estate and pit workers who used to throng them.

While we believe the Christian origins in Mapperley are very old, more recently the story has been one of innovation. The present building with its “A” frame construction, steeply pitched roof and large amounts of glass replaced a stone building erected on the same site in 1851, and fatally damaged by mining subsidence in the years 1957-1959. Initially the National Coal Board provided a wooden building nearby for worship, then in 1965 made financial compensation, and it was with this money that the present church was built and furnished, not without controversy. We marked our building’s fortieth birthday on Trinity Sunday (June 11th) with a Lay-led All Age Service united with our ecumenical partners in the West Hallam and Mapperley Covenant. Energetic lay leadership and a certain rugged independence of spirit probably go furthest to account for the survival of a church in Mapperley through many decades of change to the present day.

The present congregation numbers around twenty, of whom about half live in the village and half live in West Hallam. Sunday worship includes both the fairly traditional Holy Communion and an upbeat Morning Praise led on electronic instruments by talented friends of the church. We have a happy partnership with Mapperley Church of England (Voluntary Controlled) Primary School, which has about fifty five pupils, many of whom come from outside the village, parents choosing it for its caring, small-scale family atmosphere, Christian inspiration and excellent education. The local Bible Storytelling in schools project was pioneered here and the weekly visits by members of Holy Trinity and other local churches to spend fifteen minutes reading a Bible story with one of the classes is greatly appreciated. We have a flexible, multipurpose worship space (the sanctuary can be screened off with curtains) which serves as school hall for PE lessons and concerts and we are interested in expanding its use by the local community. It may be that our 1960’s building, which we sometimes think of as a liability, will turn out to be our greatest asset in mission and a greater blessing to the village.

Simon White

Article by Rev'd Simon White taken from The Stanleys Magazine of July 2006.
'Down your way in the MMA' ( Mission of Ministry Area) Holy Trinity

 

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The Reverend Gillian Ruth Turner-Callis

Rector the Rev Gill has left after almost 7 years.
Her last service took place on January 16th 2022 in United Church of All Saints, Stanley Common.
Gill moved to Salisbury to the post as Senior Chaplin for Alabare, a Christian charity based in Salisbury.

The Rev’ds. Peter and Ingrid Owen-Jones

After moving to Bridge Cottage (formerly The Bridge Inn, Stanley) in March 2000, one of the first visitors we had was the Rector, the Rev’d. Simon White, who left a note to say that he had called, as we were out at the time. It was a lovely welcome and gave us the impression that Stanley was a friendly village. This impression has remained throughout our time here and was extended to the villages around Stanley.

In 2001 Peter, who had been ordained several years earlier and was ministering in Little Eaton and Holbrook, was licensed to serve in the Church Benefice of Stanley and Stanley Common, West Hallam and Mapperley. This enabled us to get to know the congregations in these villages. At the same time, he continued with his secular job at Railtrack and later Network Rail.

Ingrid at the time was a teacher at Ockbrook School, from which she retired and then started training as a Reader (Lay minister) in the Church of England and was licensed in 2005. Apart from Sunday Services she was allowed to officiate at funerals and visit parishioners. A few years later, with the encouragement of the Rev’d. Simon White, she started exploring the ordained ministry, which led to ordination as deacon in 2011 and priest the following year. Now she was able to do everything a vicar could do, although part time and non-stipendiary. Apart from doing church duties she had in latter years a close relationship with Stanley St. Andrew’s School as a Foundation Governor, and to a lesser extent with the other schools.

This ministry got her in touch with many people in the four villages and was a very joyful time until she and Peter decided to move to Hampshire for family reasons and both of them had to ‘retire’ at the end of 2018 to prepare for the move south. After his retirement from secular work Peter, in addition to taking church services and officiating at weddings and baptisms, was very much involved in working parties at Diocesan level and working with the Bishop’s Leadership Team. Amongst his many roles, he represented locally and nationally the non-stipendiary clergy in the diocese and eventually became Rural Dean for the then Erewash Deanery.

March 2019.

See Also Bridge Cottage and their story by Ingrid and Peter Owen-Jones 2019