Ketton and Tinwell Benefice

Ketton and Tinwell Benefice

St Mary's Ketton &
All Saints' Tinwell

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Welcome

Welcome to St Mary’s Ketton and All Saints Tinwell; we are an inclusive & friendly church family in the beautiful county of Rutland. Please drop by and see us

Both our Churches are open every day for you to visit and for personal prayer

Our Vicar

Revd Dean Akrill

Email:vicar@kettonandtinwell.uk

Telephone: 01780 723181

Dean is here for the whole community in Ketton and in Tinwell, so please don’t hesitate to get in touch. 

Dean’s day off is Monday

Our Church Wardens: 

Ketton:
Sara Mann  saramann50@gmail.com
Alex Woodfield alex@ketton.org

Tinwell:
Bryan Yule bryan.yule766@gmail.com

Our Lay Pastoral Minister

Julia Freeman juliafreeman@tiscali.co.uk

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Recent Blog Posts

21/01/2026It is a wonderful thing to be able to visit our primary school on a regular basis. Ketton C.E Primary school is a jewel at the heart of our village. In the picture you can see the roots of the prayer tree they have in the Hall, these roots are the values which the school promotes, amongst them are empathy, tolerance, kindness, love and peace. Today I shared with the children the story of Martin Luther King, of how in a deeply segregated America he fought for equality, tolerance and peace, and that he had a dream in which children from all backgrounds could play together.As we look at the news in America today, perhaps we are reminded that we should not take the values of empathy, tolerance, kindness, love and peace for granted, and that we should also be thankful that our children have such positive and affirming influences in our schools. Revd Dean.  X Exit full screen gallery ⇗ Open full size image → Next image 0 of 0 ← Previous image [...] Read more...
14/01/2026Sunday’s Service at St. Mary’s  will be a bit different, you are welcome to receive prayers of healing, either for yourself or for someone else, there will also be an opportunity to light a prayer candle. All are welcome, no matter what you think or feel, or what you believe or don’t believe. You are welcome. We begin at 10.30am. A similar service will be held in Tinwell soon.  X Exit full screen gallery ⇗ Open full size image → Next image 0 of 0 ← Previous image [...] Read more...
09/01/2026Did you know that both our Churches are open every day for you to visit? We are also looking to create a special prayer space at St. Mary’s for personal prayer and quiet reflection. We are here for you, whoever you are, and whatever you believe or don’t believe, all are welcome.  During Lent this year, we’ll also be thinking about inclusion, when St. Mary’s, All Saints, and the Methodist Church join together for our Lent Course – “Inclusive God”, an exploration of how various groups of people sometimes feel excluded by Christianity, and how we might be more inclusive as a Church. As usual, there will be regular lent group meetings during the day, and we’ll also be looking at holding evening meetings so as many of us as possible can participate. Later in the year I aim to offer a reflective and meditative exploration of our faith, possibly in both Tinwell and Ketton, as well as a (potentially noisier) Pet Service! In the meantime, all this thinking about inclusion reminded me of this poem: “Some people look at me” by Marjorie DobsonSome people look at me as if I’m not human.It wasn’t my fault that I was born like this.But when you’re not the same,some people can’t cope with that.They bully, or call me names, or stare,or play on my weakness,knowing that I can’t fight back.Why are they so cruel?Why is life so unfair?God, do you love me?Am I really made in your image,as the kind and loving ones try to tell me?Are they telling the truth?I really need to know! God Bless, Revd Dean.  X Exit full screen gallery ⇗ Open full size image → Next image 0 of 0 ← Previous image [...] Read more...
02/01/2026Why not come to our all age-family service on Sunday? X Exit full screen gallery ⇗ Open full size image → Next image 0 of 0 ← Previous image [...] Read more...
25/12/2025Happy Christmas. may we know peace and light, even when the world is dark and cold.  X Exit full screen gallery ⇗ Open full size image → Next image 0 of 0 ← Previous image [...] Read more...
19/12/2025What a lovely time of year to begin ministry here in Ketton & Tinwell. The week began with a beautiful candlelit Carol Service in Tinwell, then on Tuesday there was the very joyful Christmas concert performed by the very talented Ketton Community Choir.   Yesterday it was a delight to welcome the children of our Church School into St. Mary’s for their end of term service. And, as I write this, there are a number of us planning Ketton’s  traditional Carol Service, as well as the Christingle extravaganza, which this year will feature a very unusual Angel!  Advent, particularly, the run-up to Christmas can be a very busy time; this season is also quite intense for different reasons, and whatever we’re doing on the day itself, it can provoke strong memories and emotions within us. Christmas is a potent mix of memory and emotion, but I think this has always been the case, even on that first Christmas Day when God was discovered within a small and vulnerable child;a God who shares our joys and our sorrows. Some years ago I attempted to convey some of this in a poem, which I called “Mary’s Star” Don’t all mothers see the divinewithin their child?Mary was no different,a new life shines as a halo,the first cry, like Angel song,born from pain,this healing presence,like a star in the pitch of night. But a star so often dies,before we see it,reflected in the heavens.And Mary wept,as she saw her own child’s halo fade,snuffed out by those afraid of light. Yet, on a clear night,a star still shines,and Mary, gazing up into the sky,can hear the echoes of Angels,and knows she isaccompanied by the Divine. God Bless, Revd Dean.  X Exit full screen gallery ⇗ Open full size image → Next image 0 of 0 ← Previous image [...] Read more...
17/12/2025I’d like to thank you for the warm welcome we’ve received since arriving in Ketton, and particular thanks to the Church Wardens, and everybody involved in the Induction service. It was a very warm and joyful beginning to my ministry here in Ketton & Tinwell.  Rutland is a beautiful place, and I feel very privileged to live and work here; having grown up on an inner city council estate in Hull, the small child in me is quite simply amazed! We never know quite where the journey of life will lead us, which I think is quite an appropriate thing to reflect on as we approach Christmas. We remember a young woman, a girl really, travelling into the unknown with her unborn child.  When they arrive at a dark and dangerous place, they receive little welcome, other than from shepherds, the outcasts of their time, and from foreign travellers, their culture quite different.  But, of course, God was in the midst of that place. Christmas has always been a fundamental part of my faith, and I believe that it should shape who we are as a Church, this is why my personal vision for us as a community is to be a truly open and inclusive church, where each of us are special, including the vulnerable, the outcast, and the poorest, never withholding support or compassion.  This is the beginning of a new journey for us in Ketton and in Tinwell, following in the way of Mary who carried Christ, and made Christmas possible. Blessings. Revd Dean. X Exit full screen gallery ⇗ Open full size image → Next image 0 of 0 ← Previous image [...] Read more...
05/11/2025Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning. We will remember them. The village of Ketton will honour the lives of its war dead (36 in the First World War and 10 in the Second World War) in a Remembrance Day Service on Sunday 9 November at St Mary’s Church. The service starts at 10.15 and all comers are welcome into the church then or simply to stand at the war memorial from around 10.40. Church Road will be closed to traffic from 10.50 to 11.10 between the High Street and Chater Bridge. X Exit full screen gallery ⇗ Open full size image → Next image 0 of 0 ← Previous image [...] Read more...
30/09/202411.00am Sunday October 6th followed by a bring and share lunch in the Congregational Hall at 12 noon. Do bring something (non-perishable) for the Stamford Food Bank if you can. X Exit full screen gallery ⇗ Open full size image → Next image 0 of 0 ← Previous image [...] Read more...
25/08/2024At our service on 25 August we were joined by Rev Martyn Taylor of St Georges Church Stamford who took this shot of our congregation of 66 people today. We are still in vacancy and all praying that the right soul will come to join our church soon. This is the sort of welcome you can expect! X Exit full screen gallery ⇗ Open full size image → Next image 0 of 0 ← Previous image [...] Read more...
05/02/2024A Lent Course using Chocolat, the film based on the novel by Joanne Harris, as a starting point for exploring issues about God, faith, the world, and what it is to be human. To introduce the course, the ‘Chocolat’ film will be shown at 10.30am on Tuesday 13th February at Ketton Methodist Church, Bull Lane, PE9 3TB. Tuesdays 20th & 27th February and 5th, 12th & 19th March at Ketton Methodist Church. Refreshments from 10.30am Sessions start at 10.45am and end by 12noon X Exit full screen gallery ⇗ Open full size image → Next image 0 of 0 ← Previous image [...] Read more...
29/01/2024VIEW FROM THE PEW Wanted – one new vicar – a whole one! St Mary’s had a great Christmas – some of the largest congregations ever seen! Craig totted up 240 people at the Christingle.  He doesn’t usually count up to more than 95 on the golf course! Joking aside, it is always fantastic to see so many people drawn to church over the Christmas period.  The writer A N Wilson wrote a very interesting article in the Times recently: “Churches exist as much for those who don’t go as for those who do, and that is part of their beauty….Churches do not only exist for those who are pious or those who know themselves to be saved. Churches exist for those who do not go to them at all, or who do not go very often. And this is what is surely so beautiful about the Midnight Mass, or the Christmas morning service in which the pews are filled by those who would not necessarily know how to define their religious position.” At St Mary’s, we wholeheartedly agree that the church is for the whole village!  Our plans to fill the current vacancy involve recruiting a full time vicar.  We are making real headway on this mission internally within the Parish and the Diocese.  However, this needs a lot of additional support both in terms of time commitment and yes, sadly but obviously, financial.  The parish is funded exclusively by less than 50 villagers.  It doesn’t get help from the Church of England, the Council or Central Government as some might think. In the same way that the church is for the whole village, we do want to expand our financial supporters from less than 50 to a much wider spread, representative of the whole village, those who want the church to be there when they need it for a funeral, a wedding, baptism or a Christingle, as well as being very welcome at our services, our youth group, prayer meetings and other everyday activities.  Please think (and pray!) about how you can help. More news to follow next month. Contact us at fundourvicar@kettonandtinwell.uk X Exit full screen gallery ⇗ Open full size image → Next image 0 of 0 ← Previous image [...] Read more...
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