Welcome to St Chad's...

 

 

...the oldest building in Stafford, and "Stafford's hidden gem" - a working church in the Anglo-

Catholic tradition and a treasure house of unique and mysterious Norman carving.

 

 

Our website features  images and history of the church, details of worship and special events, and creative projects inspired by St Chad's, its tradition and its surrounding county of Staffordshire.

 

 

Fr Michael Fisher introduces St Chad's here.

 

This week's services...

 

...are here. We sing Evensong every Saturday.  We are keen to develop music at St Chads and welcome new choir members. Find out about St Chad's choir and music here. 

  

 

St Chad's mysterious Norman carvings include several so-called "Green Men." The church was built at a time when the natural world was being explored in a new way as a revelation of God and poets and philosophers were using fantastic imagery. This year we are celebrating the anonymous 14th century Gawain poet who came from the North West Midlands and might have known St Chads. One expert least, Marie Borroff, has suggested the poet came from "near the town of Stafford." "Gawain and the Green Knight" combines Christian morality with weird folklore ingedients. "Pearl" is an exquisite and visionary allegory. 

 

On Saturday May 7th 2011 at 12.00 the charismatic storyteller Xanthe Gresham told the story of Gawain and the Green Knight to an entralled audience. The Stafford Morris Men led everyone on a quest through the town to a climax in the Shire Hall Library,  where they  met the Green Knight himself in the form of an eight foot high puppet made by Carl Johnson of Stafford Library.

 

 

Before the performance Andrew Baker gave a short talk about the poet, why he or she is so important and why Stafford and St Chad's might claim the poet as our own. Children made shields and swords at the library which they brought along on the adventure.

 

Find out more about the Gawain Poet on Imagining Staffordshire, Staffordshire Libraries website, here.

To watch Belgian artist Alann De Vuyst's video please click on this link:

 

 

Timewalk...

 

...is St Chad's exciting sound & light show  revealing the history of the church and the town of Stafford.

 

Spirituality...

 

...is a simple introduction to various traditions for anyone wishing to explore Christian Spirituality.

 

A Winter Journey...

 

...is a musical pilgrimage   based on the introit chants for Advent and Christmas by Stafford composer and St Chad's choir member Andrew Baker.

 

Sacred Staffordshire...

 

...is a series of explorations of sacred sites in the county.

 

<sub>Contacts:

Rector of Stafford: The Revd Preb Graham Fowell (Tel: 01785 258511)
Priest in charge: Fr. Michael Fisher (Tel: 01785 245069)</sub>

Priest: Fr. Tony Hutchinson (Tel: 01902 373145)

_{Readers: Bob Button}

_{Church Wardens: Heather Wilhelms (Tel: 07954 996610), Ian Carr (Tel: 01785 244965)
Email: stchads @ hotmail.com}