The Parish church of St Mary Magdalene dates back to the 13th Century and has been a place of worship for over 800 years.

The Tower and spire date from the 15th Century. However on 27 February 2008, the church spire was badly damaged by an earthquake. The top 30 feet (9.1 m) of it had to be rebuilt, the work was completed in 2009.

The church has recently undergone its biggest refurbishment since Victorian times, creating a beautiful space for our community to come together in worship and prayer.

St Mary Magdalene Church

Waltham Church hosts regular worship and Holy Communion services, an All-Age Messy Church, a Café Church, a Parent/carer baby and toddler group, art group, home groups, Cinema Nights and other one-off events – all of which sadly are on hold in order to keep our congregations safe, especially the elderly and vulnerable.
 
We have recently gone online with the other Ironstone churches for Zoom worship and telephone services, pre-recorded services, and Youtube videos. We even managed 3 outdoor socially distanced services when the weather was a bit warm. You would be most welcome to join in with what we are doing as a church. We are always open to suggestions about what we could do to help build faith and community.  

The church building is open for private prayer on Wednesdays and Sundays from around 930am until around 1pm
 
There is a box in church to support the work of Storehouse - the Melton Foodbank – please give what tins/packet food you can.

We are part of a group of 7 churches called the Ironstone Villages Family of Churches and you can find out what is happening across all the churches here: 

https://www.ironstonechurches.org/waltham.html

If you would like to receive the monthly email copy of our Newsletter (the Yellow Pages) then please just ask.

Message from Mike and Chris

Hi Everyone

We wanted to let you know of all the exciting things happening in Waltham church this week as part of the Queen's Jubilee celebrations, including this Sunday's special Jubilee/Pentecost Café Church at 3pm!

Wednesday starts at 9am with a short service of Prayers for healing & wholeness - with Holy Communion.

Wednesday from 10 am until 4pm it's Community Café - freshly brewed coffee, tea and yummy cake - Little Gems our parent/carer and baby/toddler group also meets then 10-1130 - and a chance to look at the Community Bunting made by the school, the Scout Group, pre-school, Waltham Hall, Little Gems, and people living in the village - it looks amazing - there will also be some Jubilee memorabilia displays from village groups and some special Jubilee flower displays in the church windows.

You can also visit the church Thursday, Friday or Saturday 11am-4pm to see the displays and refreshments will be available.

Sunday 5th June is Pentecost Sunday - the birthday of the Christian Church - so we will be holding a special Jubilee/Pentecost Café Church 3pm- we will be having tea/coffee/cake & sausage rolls and singing some hymns accompanied by the organ, with crafts and a special Jubilee Quiz.

As a lasting tribute to the Queen's Platinum Jubilee we have constructed and planted a Jubilee garden in the churchyard which will be officially opened by the Mayor of Melton at Sunday's Café church.

All the above is absolutely free of charge, but we would appreciate donations towards the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal.

We do hope that you can join us for any of the above.

Finally... if you are planning to come to Café Church on Sunday it would help us to plan catering if you could let us know you are coming. If you enjoy baking and would like to make some sausage rolls for Sunday please let us know.😊

We look forward to seeing you soon.

God bless

Mike & Chris

Meet Our Rector - Reverend Canon John Barr

We moved to Waltham-on-the-Wolds in April 2017 from Great Malvern in Worcestershire, just by the famous hills.

Then on 23 May 2017 I became Rector of the Ironstone Villages - a family of seven churches - at the same time as my wife Mary became Vicar in the Melton Mowbray Team.

As Rector, I am delighted to be able to become involved with the school which I look at every day from the other side of the Melton Road!

I live at the Vicarage on Melton Road with my wife Mary, and you will often see me out walking with our dog Benji. You can contact me on 01664 464265.
 

Services

Currently, due to the pandemic, our services take place via Zoom, although some are held in our church yard. If you would like details of all our events, please contact the school office and they will gladly put you in touch with one of our team.

• First Sunday - Joint Benefice Communion Service in Scalford
• Second Sunday - Messy Church, family oriented
• Third Sunday – Communion Service in one of the smaller benefice churches
• Fourth Sunday – Benefice Communion Service in Waltham

All services at 10.30am at Waltham Church unless stated.

Every Wednesday at 9am there is a short service of Prayer for Healing and Wholeness.

There is a Parents/Carers, Babies and Toddlers group (Little Gems) which meets every Wednesday at 10.00am in the church.

We have a school service in church each term, and the church joins the school for Open the Book Assemblies each week, and a termly Messy fiesta in school.