The Upper Itchen Benefice

Benefice Focus & Activity

Teaching, Nurture & Ministry
We believe that prayer needs to be at the start and heart of everything we do. Although some fellowship groups have been going for some time, the Mission Audit identified a thirst for more spiritual development in the form of prayer and house groups to supplement annual Lent courses.Several weekly groups have now started in Cheriton, Kilmeston and Bramdean. There are two more in the pipe line. Debbie Thompson has arranged a series of Supper Talks on a variety of subjects: Coping with Stress, Icons, and Amazing Grace. In November there was a very successful Parish Pilgrimage to Salisbury Cathedral. On the Winchester Diocesan Day of Prayer in April there were prayer services in all the six churches with a walk, in which about thirty people took part, threading its way around them all. In Cheriton there was a special service: the Psalms as an aid to prayer. Every year we have had small groups of Confirmation candidates, both adult and young people who have been confirmed by Bishop Trevor in Cheriton. Alpha courses and Marriage Courses are held regularly. See Teaching & Nurture and Ministry & Worship sections for full and uptodate details.

Responding with compassion
We have a Lay Visitors Team to supplement clergy pastoral visiting. Each visitor has been trained through the Deanery. An authorised team of lay volunteers has expanded home communions. There is a monthly coffee morning at Beauworth with organised transport, and monthly clubs for older people in Cheriton and Kilmeston. The Benefice supports the Winchester Churches Night Shelter with a regular cooking rota, donations of useful items and money, and volunteers helping at the Shelter. The Benefice also takes part in volunteering at the Refectory at Winchester Cathedral. We now have a well established Church Mission Society link with our CMS Mission Partners Jason and Tracy Day in Nepal where they work at a hospital. We help to support them financially. We respond to appeals for help through the Deanery link with Lango in Uganda . Each church also has its own separate lists of further charitable giving. See Community section for full and uptodate details.

Serving the whole community
As well as traditional Harvest Suppers, summer fetes and autumn fairs, parishes have organized balls, barbecues, bridge nights, choral music events, specialist talks etc. But we recognise that the church needs to be more visible and accessible and more at the heart of the community. We feel we should offer further attractive social occasions and make more imaginative use of our historic church buildings. Hospitality, especially to newcomers, could be more effective. As stated in the Rector specification, we are seeking to attract a person who is gregarious, interested in the people he/ she serves and who has the capacity and skills to get to know them. Of course it would be a matter for him/her how this might be achieved, but the public places in the Benefice such as the school, the pubs and the village halls, or even walking in the open countryside may offer appropriate opportunities. See Community section for full and uptodate details.

Benefice Structure

The six parishes which make up the Benefice - Beauworth, Bramdean, Cheriton, Hinton Ampner, Kilmeston, and Tichborne - came together in 2001 as the Upper Itchen Benefice, which forms part of the Deanery of Alresford and the Diocese of Winchester. Formerly the parishes were divided into two Benefices each consisting of three parishes. The Suffragan Bishop who looks after the Deanery of Alresford, of which the Benefice forms part, is the Bishop of Basingstoke.

Three Special Focus Teams have developed to focus on and help to develop core areas of the work of the church: Ministry and Worship team; Teaching and Nurture team; and the Community and Communication team which has evolved into the Community Network.

A summary of the Benefice Structure can be found here. The Benefice has a single Benefice Council which has a representative from each parish, a representative from each of our three special focus teams, and the Rector and Readers as its members. Current members of the Council can be found in Who's Who. The Benefice Council’s constitution has recently been amended so that it can become a more efficient and responsive body, more able to meet the needs of the people and to assist the Rector. A copy of the Benefice Council Constitution can be found here.

Location

The Benefice sits astride the A272 some 8 miles east of Winchester, 12 miles west of Petersfield and adjacent to the delightful town of New Alresford. It is within an area designated as being of outstanding natural beauty and on the edge of the newly created South Downs National Park. There is a bus service with a stop located near the rectory to Winchester, New Alresford and Petersfield. Winchester and Petersfield are on main railway routes between London and Weymouth and London and Portsmouth respectively.

The Rectory

The Rectory for the incumbent of the Benefice is in Cheriton. It is a well maintained 1950s house with three double and one single bedrooms. Downstairs there is a study and a sitting room, the latter leading to the dining room. It has a good sized kitchen and a utility room. The mature garden is about half an acre. It is conveniently situated within a stone.s throw of St Michael and All Angel.s church, the Flower Pots Public House, which has its own much esteemed brewery, the village green and shop and the recreation ground where there are tennis courts and a cricket pitch. Cricket may be observed without leaving the garden! Also within walking distance of the rectory is Cheriton School, a flourishing county primary school.

Benefice Publications

Church and Village is the Benefice monthly magazine. This serves all the villages, with village and community and church news and events. It is delivered to those that subscribe. The centre spread of the magazine shows the services to be conducted in the Benefice in the current month, and by whom.

Weekly Pew Leaflets are distributed at church services. These have the current Sunday’s readings printed in full, and give details of forthcoming church events, details of those in need of prayer, and other snippets of news.

See Communication section for more details.