All Saints Services and Activities

Occasional Services

Holy Baptism: 2nd and 4th Sundays.

Pram Service for mothers and young children, alternate Wednesday at 2 p.m.

Confessions by appointment

Please telephone the Parish Office on 01525 381418 10am to 1pm Monday to Friday to discuss arrangements for Baptisms or Weddings.

Regular Activities at All Saints

• Pathfinders and Trailblazers- 9.15 a.m. Sunday School is held during the 9.15 service for children aged 3-12. Leader Alison Dobbie

• Choir - Trebles Practice on Tuesdays 6 p.m. - 7 p.m. Full Practice Fridays 7.30p.m. - 9.00 p.m. Associated with the Royal School of Church Music (R.S.C.M.). Secretary Lindsay Bevis - Tel 01525 383806

• Special Choir - Sings at Major Festivals and special events supplementing the regular choir. Secretary Lindsay Bevis - Tel 01525 383806

• Bellringers ring every Sunday at both Services. Practice Mondays 7.30 - 9.30 p.m. Captain - Phil Dunn Tel 01525 384107

• Mother's Union meet every second Tuesday, 8.00 p.m., in the North Transept. Secretary - Karen Oxtoby. Tel 01525 755683

• Senior Youth Club meets every Sunday evening in the Good Samaritan Room

• First Steps' Service for carers with young children. Alternate Wednesdays at 2pm

• Pages Park Playtime for carers with toddlers. Thursdays 10-11.30am at Pages Park Pavilion. Leader Bev Crockett Tel: 01525 852691

• Young Families' Group. Fridays in Good Samaritan Room 10am. Leader Stacey Major. Tel: 01525372376

The Coffee Shop

All Saints has a pleasant Coffee Shop

Come and pay us a visit if you are in our area!

Hours of Opening

• Tuesday 10a.m. to 3.30 p.m.

• Friday 10a.m. to 3.30 p.m.

• Saturday 10a.m. to 3.30 p.m.

The Wilkes Walk

THE WILKES SERVICE AND CEREMONY OF UP ENDING

Rogationtide sees the annual Wilkes' Walk procession through the town to the almshouses in North Street - a feature of life in Leighton Buzzard for more than 300 years. Rogationtide is the period of three days immediately before Ascension Day and traditionally it has been a time when parish boundaries are walked and the land is blessed in the hope of a bountiful harvest.

In Leighton Buzzard the Rogationtide procession takes place on the Monday and is a quintessential English eccentricity well worth witnessing. Originally it would have covered much more of the parish, but times have changed and it is not practical today.

The original almshouses in Leighton Buzzard were built by Edward Wilkes in 1630 in memory of his father John, long before community housing projects. They were endowed by his son Matthew who clearly wanted his family’s generosity remembered. So he wrote a provision into his will that each year at Rogationtide a child should be upended outside the almshouses whilst an extract of his father's will is read out, "in order that those watching may understand and retain the words better."

Residents of the almshouses receive ten shillings - a great deal of money in days gone by - the young person upended receives five shillings and the children in the choir get two shillings and sixpence each and free buns and lemonade around the market cross. It used to be ale and spiced buns but this was stopped in 1896 as it was getting out of hand with more than 2000 buns and a great deal of beer consumed! The Vicar is paid ten shillings to preach a sermon in the parish church.

So, back to the procession: At about 11.45am it forms up at All Saints, headed by a garland bearer, the cross with the choir, the clergy and the clerk and trustees of the Wilkes' charity. It makes its way through the town, stopping the traffic on the busy ring road until it reaches the almshouses. Here there is a hymn, a prayer, an anthem by the choir and then the "upending" whilst the will is read out by the clerk. It used to be only boys who were upended, but today things are more equal. Then they all retrace their steps to the Market Cross for refreshment.

Edward Wilkes died in 1646 and is buried in the parish church, his son Matthew died in 1693.