St Mary's

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The village of Woodend was described in 2018, by Demographer Bernard Salt, as Victoria’s ‘most liveable’ country town. A goldilocks town that’s not too big, not too small, not too rich, not too poor, not too old, not too young, but just right. It is locally recognised as benefiting from a strong sense of place and of community, the latter attribute possibly strengthened by the experience of the Covid pandemic.

Woodend, with its attractive and heritage protected High Street, enjoys picturesque views and easy cycle, walking and car access to the surrounding hills and forests of the Macedon Ranges. It is within 64 km of Melbourne GPO and 70 km from central Bendigo, with excellent connectivity to both, via the Calder highway and the Bendigo (Echuca and Swan Hill) rail-line. 

With a growing population of now 6,732 people or 2,444 households, Woodend is served by a state and a Catholic primary school as well as an ecumenical, years 5-12, independent college and a number of pre-schools and childcare centres. School buses service other secondary and independent schools in Gisborne and Kyneton. There are two medical centres, an aged care centre and a popular, new residential village for seniors. 

The township supports numerous volunteer groups and clubs, including CFA, SES, Land Care, Scouts, and a Heritage Society as well as the Macedon Ranges Sustainability Group, Red Cross, Rotary and Lions Clubs. Sporting, health and well-being groups, for both juniors and seniors, are also active within the village, associated with the Buffalo Recreation Centre, the town’s recently updated sports ground and well regarded golf course. Well patronised community facilities include the Community Centre and Library, a Neighbourhood House and a Men’s Shed. 

On any day the town centre’s cafés and shops add a vibrancy to the village scene, complemented by the monthly Farmers Market and Lion’s Club craft market as well and an annual Sustainability Fair and the Woodend Winter Arts Festival, now in its eighteenth year. 

Recent Census statistics demonstrate Woodend’s description as a goldilocks village with a relatively balanced range of age groups, income and education levels. However, as a country town, home ownership levels and Anglo Australian family backgrounds remain above average. And the percentage of people professing an Anglican religious affiliation (9.6%) is higher than the Victorian average (6.3%).  

Woodend Victoria’s most liveable regional town.

Our parish has members ranging in age from young children to the elderly. It includes

young families, people in middle life and active retirees, including supportive retired clergy. We are a mix of folk who have lived in or around Woodend for all or most of their lives and others who have moved to the area in more recent times.  We are from a mixture of faith traditions, but together, we strive to follow our calling to be the body of Christ in this place, living out gospel values in all we do, holding our differences respectfully and loving each other and our community. 

Our Sunday Services. Our regular Sunday Service takes the form of a Sung Eucharist, based on the Anglican Prayer Book, second order. Our liturgical style leans toward liberal catholic. While our services are traditional, they are relaxed, inclusive and welcoming. The parish community is rostered each week to read, write prayers, serve at the altar, offer morning tea and a welcome to all comers.  Our music is based on the hymns found in Together in Song and Songs of Grace, however, we embrace both old and new music styles and augment our selection of traditional hymns with a mix of more contemporary music. Our singing is accompanied by the organ or led by a group of parish singers and musicians who meet regularly to sing, plan hymn selections and share a meal. Our Sunday Services are followed by a time of fellowship in the Norma Richardson Hall. 

Safe Church. We encourage participation in Safe Church workshops and uphold the Being Together statement.

St Mary’s Guild Meetings every fourth Wednesday of each month at 11 am in the Norma Richardson Hall. Finish approximately 12:30. New members always welcome.

Street Stall. The Street Stall is held on the first Saturday of the month from 9 am to 12 pm, in High Street Woodend, selling cakes, jams and preserves, knitted goods and more.

Knit, Chat and Cuppa craft & morning tea group meet every third Wednesday of each month at 11 am in the Norma Richardson Hall. Finish approximately 1 pm. Everyone is welcome to join in.

St Mary’s Music Makers is a group of singers, musicians and song writers who meet regularly to sing and play together, to plan hymn selections for services and special occasions and sometimes share a meal. St Mary’s Music Weekendsare run every year or so. These are wonderfully uplifting times of praise, fellowship and fun as we learn new songs and hymns together. 

Woodend Waving Walkers was an idea that started during the Covid lockdowns. It is an occasional group who enjoy a walk around Woodend together and team it with an opportunity to call in on some of our older or otherwise housebound parishioners for a chat. 

Other Activities include fund raising events, such as Community Trivia Nights and Sausage Sizzles outside a local supermarket and First Friday Film Nights showing children’s and other films.

Community Connections. We actively encourage strong connections between our parish and the wider Woodend community. St Mary’s aims to be a contact point between those in need and those who can help. Members of St Mary’s are actively involved in and support the multi faith VCC Emergencies Ministry, the Macedon Ranges Rural Australians for Refugees, Community Blanket Sewing Days and a Bereaved Mothers Group. 

We also host Community Christmas Carols in the garden, after school Shrove Tuesday Pancakes for Primary School children and hold an annual Easter Egg Hunt in the church grounds. Our parishioners are involved in local walking and sporting groups, schools, various arts, music and cultural groups and societies and community activities such as the Community Christmas Tree. 

Norma Richardson Hall is a highly valued community resource and another connection point between the parish and our town.

Services were livestreamed to Face Book with a link on our website during the pandemic. At times these had up to 500 viewers. We held Zoom Morning Tea 10.00am on Sundays to check in with each other and transferred our Bible Discussion Group to Zoom. St Mary’s garden hosted initiatives that helped raise the spirits of young and old including a ‘Rainbow’ of painted stones and ‘Woodend Spoonville’.  An impromptu foodbank appeared in the church with a bring what you can, take what you need philosophy. This led to financial donations and the formation of the Woodend Community Chest which continues to support needy families. During the interregnum, our locum, Rev Richard has taken over the role of contact person for those needing this type of assistance. 

Face Book continues to be used to communicate with our community with offers of support in crises and giving a Christian comment on current events that affect or trouble us as a community. It has been particularly valuable during the pandemic and during the very damaging big winter storm of 2021. It is also a great way of publicising our activities and inviting community participation.  We sometimes also communicate via our monthly local community run paper, The New Woodend Star. 

Our Parish Webpage is a primary source of information about our parish, our activities and contact links. It also provides a gateway for Hall bookings. 

A new initiative is our YouTube Channel. It contains an Evensong for A Community in Lockdown, a service put together remotely by parish members in late 2020, some short clips of various parish events and activities and a Welcome to St Marys video. We are looking to expand the use of this resource. 

St Mary’s church community aspires to build on the foundations that have been laid. We are looking to regain the momentum that the Covid years have hampered, restarting many of our fundraising and community engagement activities and looking to re-establish a more targeted ministry for children by building on the links we have within the local schools. We hope to welcome a new priest who will lead us with Christ centred, Bible based teaching that has a practical application in our lives. Someone who will grow with us in faith, and who will work with us as we strive to live out our calling in our community and our world.

Anglicans first worshipped on the site of the current St Mary’s church in a small wooden building from 1859. By 1864 a decision was made to replace it with a more substantial bluestone building built in the Gothic Revival style. It was added to in stages as funds became available.  

First, a tower was added in 1898, then the vestry in 1903 and finally the second taller tower, known as the 'Peace Tower', in 1929. St Mary's Woodend is renowned for its magnificent windows, two of which are by William Montgomery, Melbourne’s leading stained-glass artist from the 1880’s to the 1920’s.

A full history of St Mary's is available from the Woodend & District Heritage Society. "Walls Two Feet Thick", by Janet Hawkins, it tells the story of a much-loved building, and the people who worshipped there. It also records the monuments and plaques and some of the changes to the furnishings of the building from 1859 to 1990. In more recent times the pews were replaced with 70 chairs, allowing flexibility in the way the space is used. The church is open daily. 

The Norma Richardson Hall is a multi-purpose hall available for hire in central Woodend. After the original church hall was destroyed by fire in 2008, The Norma Richardson Hall was built in keeping with heritage guidelines and was opened on 12 August 2012.  Named after a long standing and highly regarded member of the St Mary’s parish and proactive member of the Guild, The Norma Richardson Hall is a valuable asset to the parish and also the wider community. It is a great place to hold a function, wedding, family gathering, movie night, dance or yoga classes, exhibition or for use as venue for events and parish fellowship after a service at St Mary's. The NRH represents far more than just a valuable income stream for the Parish, more importantly, it is a venue for outreach initiatives and provides a vehicle for community engagement which underpins and supports the mental health and well-being of our local community. This became very evident during extended lockdown periods throughout the last couple of years of the Covid-19 pandemic. For this reason, we support selected not-for-profit community groups by donating use of the Hall for their fundraising efforts and for social enterprises. 

The NRH has a maximum capacity of 100 people and is a a high-quality modern venue for events. Other facilities include: a fully-equipped kitchen with servery, full wheelchair access, baby change station, black-out blinds, gas ducted heating, and a sunny timber deck. 

Meets on the 4th Wednesday of the month at 11 am in The Norma Richardson Hall

President 

Mrs. Carol Barker 5427 2669

Knit and Natter

We meet every third Wednesday in the Norma Richardson Hall from 11 am.

Bring your own craft/knitting or help to make items such as blankets, newborn knits and young children's wear.

We can supply yarn, needles and patterns.

Free cuppa and friendly people. All are welcome.

St Mary’s Guild

Support various community projects, local, national and international, both with fundraising and donations and with knitted clothing.

Its current focus is on providing blankets for rough sleepers through The Salvos, and knitted clothes for indigenous women, children and babies in Central Australia through CAWLS (Central Australia Women's Legal Service).

All newcomers (male and female) are welcome to join St Marys’ Guild.

Street Stall

St Mary's Guild hold a fundraising street stall on the first Saturday of each month from 9 am. It is located on High Street, in front of the Newsagency in Woodend.

Home baked cakes, biscuits, scones, jams, marmalades, relishes and knitted items for infants and newborns are for sale.

An attractive prize is raffled each month and tickets are sold and the winner is drawn on the day.

Contact

Guild Secretary Sylvia Mathews on 

0488 776 645 

nma00780@bigpond.net.au