Search

Type your text, and hit enter to search:
Close This site uses cookies. If you continue to use the site you agree to this. For more details please see our cookies policy.

Amazing Grace: Amazing Play

Forbest Mutch reports on a unique theatrical production at St Andrew's on 31 October 2023

In January 1773, in a church in the English market town of Olney, the congregation sang a new hymn by their minister, written to illustrate his latest sermon. Two hundred and fifty years later, Amazing Grace has become the world’s best-loved hymn and one of the most-recorded songs of all time.

Let’s start at the beginning. In 1754, a 29-year-old John Newton was captain of a slave ship, ploughing the infamous triangular route between Liverpool and the Caribbean via the West Coast of Africa, where he picked up native slaves in chains. A decade later, he is an established curate in Olney.

Newton’s journey from slave trader to evangelical Christian and slave abolitionist is remarkable and was brought to life vividly by the Living Breath theatre company in a play called Forever Mine, which was presented on the St Andrew’s altar stage at the end of October 2023.

Forever Mine St Andrews 31 10 The story is told largely through Newton’s lifelong correspondence with his wife Polly. In his letters, he chronicles his hardships as a slave trader at sea; his growing distaste for the plight of his human cargo and his burning desire to become ordained in the church, following his conversion to Christianity.

The play is staged in front of a simple set with minimal props. This concentrates attention on the dynamic cast of four, led by Ellis J Wells as Newton and Susie Garvey-Williams as Polly. The audience is carried along on waves of sympathetic emotion, love and righteous justice, as Newton’s faith develops, his status as a writer of hymns grows in collaboration with poet William Cowper, and his links with famous slave abolitionist William Wilberforce fix his place in history.

The production was touring to mark the 250th anniversary of Newton’s most-loved hymn, Faith's Review and Expectation, which has come to be known by its opening phrase, Amazing Grace. The play ends with the audience joining in a chorus of the hymn’s first verse:

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now I'm found,
Was blind but now I see.

 
Brilliant theatre – a moving, engaging and compelling drama.

Forbes Mutch

More details about the play and the production coming to St Andrew's are here:
Forever Mine

Glenys
Hello and welcome to St Andrew's. If you are new, we have a page for you to get to know us and learn more about planning a visit.
Click here to see more.

Planning your Visit

Banner group 1140x320A Warm Hello 

No one belongs here more than you.

We look forward to meeting you! Here's some information so that if you're planning a visit you know beforehand what to expect on a Sunday morning.  We have other pages telling you more About Us, our approach to Faith and our Online services.

Where and When

We meet at the Church Building (details below) for our main Sunday Service starting at 10.30am. For your first visit, we recommend arriving 10-15 minutes early to ensure you find a parking space and can settle in before the service begins. When you arrive, you should be greeted by someone on our Welcome Team.

Plan your journey:
While, unfortunately, St Andrew's does not have its own carpark, there is a council-run pay and display carpark a short distance along St Andrew Street, to the east of the church; there is a £1.50 flat-rate charge for parking in this carpark on Sundays (though half an hour or less is free).

This is a useful East Herts Council website page for full details of parking in Hertford.

There are single yellow lines outside the church with parking restrictions, but some 30-minute parking bays are situated on the opposite side of the road for short stays (longer on Sundays).

Open Google Maps

Accessibility: There is wheelchair access, and a sound loop for anyone who needs it. Please let one of the Welcome Team know on your arrival and they will help you to get set up. There is a disabled toilet towards the back of the church, behind the kitchen.

Our Service

The service will usually begin promptly at 10.30am and will last between 60 and 75 minutes. We enjoy the presence of an excellent choir who help us sing hymns (modern and traditional) as well as provide anthems and special songs through the period of communion. We have a traditional organ but also benefit from music played on the piano and by our band (eg on the Second Sunday of each month when we have an All-Age Service in which our children and young people are fully involved).

Each 10.30am service includes a sermon, prayers and eucharist.

After the service, everyone is invited for coffee and conversation - some like to stay for a quick chat while others remain in the church for a longer time.

Communion

Children and Young People

Children are never too young to come to church. You and your children are very welcome at St Andrew’s. 

We really value worshipping God together as a family, so children stay with their parent or grown-up at the start of the service before being invited to leave for the young people's activities after the first hymn. Junior Church meets in the St Andrew's Centre (our adjoining hall), accessed through the church on Sunday mornings. You will need to go with your children to their groups and register them as part of our child safety policy.

The children and young people then return to the main service in time to join the eucharist and, if confirmed, take Holy Communion or, if not, receive a blessing. We offer a little box of raisins to children being blessed at the altar.

There is a Children's Corner in church where you can go at any time. You will find books, toys and drawing materials there.

Toilet and baby-change facilities are located at the back of church, behind the kitchen.

There's more information here: Children and Young People at St Andrew's

Junior Church celebration

Getting Connected


Home Groups

While Sundays are a great way to meet new people, it is often in smaller gatherings that you can really get to know someone. Being part of one of our small groups allows you to make new friends, share together and support each other. We have a variety of groups that meet throughout the week. Check out Home Groups on our website and see if there’s one that you could join. Alternatively, speak to a member of the Welcome Team who will give you the information that you need.

Serving and Volunteering

If you want to get involved in the life of the church and help us make Sundays run smoothly, you can sign up to serve on a team. Please contact Phil in the Church Office.

Get in touch with us
If you have any questions, please do get in touch. You'll find our contact details here.

We hope that you will feel at home at our church.

Group photo at the top of the page taken by Tim Pike