Welcome to our Time Travellers event - What’s on when

Starting at 10.00 am come and meet characters from history who will be in the church and the churchyard. Women from the 12th, 14th and 17th centuries, a local 17th century stone mason, a Victorian Gent, a Victorian housemaid, WW1 Tommy and a WW1 nurse, WW2 ARP warden and WW2 Land Girls.

Short talks will be given by the 14th century wealth woman from 11.00 to 12.00 and from the Stonemason from 12.10 to 12.30 and from 12.00 to 14.20. Visit them in the green open-sided gazebo.

WW1 Tommy will be giving short talks by the grave of Frank Snape (Commonwealth War Grave) in the bottom row of the middle area below the church. 10.30, 11.30, 13.30 and 14.30.

The History Reenactment Workshop will be reenacting scenes from Sandon from 1549 - Tudor period. Guides in red tee-shirts will be available to explain what is going on with the characters and to answer any questions on the day.

All events stop for the Little Morton Singers who will perform musical gems from the 16th and 17th centuries - programmes available in church.

What else is happening?

WW2 Jeeps on the field outside the church - take care crossing the track as vehicles may be using it.

Family crafts, activities and games will be on all day other than 12.30 to 1.30.

Crafts, costume and object handling in the large green gazebo.

Children’s trails in the church and the churchyard.

Butterfly and Moth trail in the churchyard.

Regent travel stand guessing game and crafts.

It really helps us to know what you think of our event - there is activity based feedback all day in the pink gazebo outside the church door. Questionnaire on exit at the meet and greet gazebo.

Refreshments served all day except 12.30 to 1.30 when the choir is performing. Hot and cold drinks and lots and lots of cake!

This event is FREE. Donations are welcome in cash or by card. Donations during the choir performance go to the choir. All other donations go towards providing a refreshments area to improve visitor experience in the future.

When leaving, please do not go down Church Lane. You will be directed to leave via the Sandon Estate.

Little Morton Singers conducted by David Burrowes

Activities Programme continues ….

In the last few weeks All Saints’ has welcomed 170 school children. The year 2 groups from Bridgtown Primary, the year 6 groups from Walton Priory Middle School in Stone and the year 7 groups from King’s CoE Academy in Kidsgrove all enjoyed their time with us. They had a session outside with the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust learning about the environment, bug hunting and making clay animals. Inside the church they all did an age-appropriate history trail, had a go at chiming a bell, they were able to handle objects from history and dress up in historical costumes.

One teacher said ‘Thank you so much for such a fantastic day! All of the staff and children had a wonderful day at your amazing church.  Thank you to all of you and all of your staff for all your hard work’.

We are grateful for the support of Leon's coaches who have supplied some of the school transport for us at a reduced rate.

Lots more activities to come. Visit our Events page for the details.

Our conservation programme is almost complete……

We are delighted that the capital works in and around the church are now complete other than the return of our Royal Coat of Arms which is still away at the conservators and will be back with us in August. The wall paintings are now showing their vibrant colours and the tombs and monuments have been cleaned and we can see the delicate patterns carved into the albabaster lids and the shields showing the family connections are clean and bright. The monument to Samson Erdeswicke and his two wives has been cleaned and conserved and some old damage to the monument surrounds repaired. This work has transformed the chancel and brings us closer to the display Samson designed to celebrate his family connections and those of his wives. Our beautiful stained glass windows are now back in place protected by new exterior glazing to make them weatherproof and with the dust of decades removed, shine brightly and cast their colourful shadows into the church. Large areas of the internal walls have been repaired and painted making a suitable setting for these new restored items. We are open each Sunday afternoon from 12.30 to 16.00 so do come and take a look. In the current hot weather the interior of the church is cool and a great space to wander around. If you wish, there are always knowledgeable guides on hand to tell you about the history of the building.

Not yet in the church but a sneak preview of the conserved Royal Coat of Arms

Monument to Sampson Erdeswicke and his two wives. Note the boar’s head at the very top has been recovered and replaced with a new nose added.

Wall paintings north wall with detail of conserved tomb lid

Tombs north wall of chancel

West window with repaired and repainted wall

Free Events for 2026

All of these are also shown in our events calendar but as a reminder, please see the flyers below which set out all the events for the rest of the year as part of our 1000 years, 1000 voices events as part of our National Lottery Heritage Fund funded project in the church. The conservation project is drawing to a close so now we can bring people into the church to enjoy events and see what we have been doing since November 2025. Do come and join us.

Events for Families

At Sandon Church we are particularly enthusiastic about holding events for families so children can experience something of our church’s heritage and enjoy the lovely location of the church. All of these are in our events calendar but for speed we have set them out in the flyer below so you can find a family event that suits you. Please come and join in.

North Wall newly painted

Just like decorating at home, once you start painting a church, the next bit needs doing too. We have been fortunate to have the west wall of the church, which had deteriorated badly, replastered and painted as an appropriate setting for our restored west window. The north wall next door to it looked very shabby by comparison and is the location of the Royal Coat of Arms also away for conservation. The National Lottery Heritage Fund kindly agreed that we could also paint the north wall to set the coat of arms off properly when it returns. Pictured below is the finished wall and a picture of Andy Cooper our Benefice Reader, taking a service from under the scaffolding. Thankfully, the scaffolding has now gone. We are all avoiding looking too closely at the ceiling and the south wall or we will never get the church back in full working order.

Services still running from under the scaffolding - thanks Andy

New clean look for the north wall

Christ Church Academy visit to see their painting in place

We had a visit from the pupils and teacher from Christ Church Academy who made our fabulous temporary picture to cover the space where a stained glass window had been removed for conservation. At our recent open day to meet the conservators and contractors they dropped in over their lunch break to see their picture in place. We are so pleased with it we are exploring ways of keeping it in the church for the longer term. Well done to the pupils who designed and painted the picture.

Hedge Planting with Oak Tree Farm Rural Project

Members of the churchyard maintenance team were joined today by churchwarden Elizabeth Jarrett and friends from the Oak Tree Farm Rural Project to help clear some ground around our new shed, plant wild flower seeds and a new hedge. The 120 hawthorn whips were provided by the Woodland Trust along with Holly saplings. This is part of our project funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund. The team was supported by a volunteer who is doing their Duke of Edinburgh Award. Thanks to everyone for their help.

Project Progress Update April 2026

Progress to April 2026

Since November 2025, our lead contractors, Lang Conservation, have been working with specialist conservators to deliver the capital works approved by The National Lottery Heritage Fund as part of the grant award. The majority of the work required to improve the drainage and soakaways has been completed and work is currently underway on the repairs to the external stonework and repointing particularly on the west and south walls of the -church which get the worst of the weather. Internally, the west wall has been stripped of its plaster, replastered and repainted to provide an improved setting to west window when it returns to the church. There are plans to repaint the north wall as well as part of the package of work.

The stained glass windows have been removed originally to facilitate cleaning and re-leading of the windows. It turned out that the quality of the original firing of the colour was insufficient to allow the full reglazing to be done. Instead the stained glass windows will be set into a brass frame and reinstalled in the front of the window apertures with a clear glass but leaded window installed to provide weather proofing. Some of the plain leaded windows have been removed for repair and the first one was re-installed at the beginning of this month.

The Royal Coat of Arms was removed from site by Calibre Conservation and has been dismantled and cleaned and will be remounted onto a new backing before being returned to the church. When the painting was taken off its backing board, it was found to be slightly bigger than expected although it was suspected that part of the original was not either there or on show. The left hand of the painting had been folded under as had the top. When the top was exposed, it is clear that the Coat of Arms is that of Charles II. The frame will be extended to allow the entire painting to be seen. This has been a much more complex conservation than expected due to the damage to the painting just by the original mounting process and the Coat of Arms is expected back in the church at the end of June.

Calibre Conservation has been working in the chancel since November 2025, though some very cold weather, to clean and conserve the wall paintings and the monuments in the chancel. The work that has been done is extraordinary with the colours and intricate designs emerging from the gloom of dust and dirt that has accumulated over the centuries. Work is continuing until May and we will publish photographs of the completed work and are planning a 360 degree tour of the church to show the work which will be published in due course.

Alongside this work, we have launched our 1000 years, 1000 voices celebration of the history of the history of All Saints through a series of events which are set out in our Events Section. So far this year these have included setting up a Knit and Natter group to produce poppies for Remembrance Day, a History Quiz and a Trip Down Memory Lane which includes capturing some verbal histories for posterity.

Below is a picture of a newly restored tomb lid. The same tomb before restoration is shown in the header of this news item.

Newly cleaned alabaster tomb lid previously grey and with little detail. Early use of resins add colour to the heraldic shield.

Update on our Stained Glass Windows

The two mid 19th century windows have been removed from the church and have been assessed by the conservators. We were sad to hear that the colour and overpainting on the windows is not stable enough for a full clean and re-leading of the glass to take place. We are therefore going to bring some new technology to our old windows to ensure they can be enjoyed for future generations. The stained glass will be lightly cleaned and put into a frame to give it structure. A plain glass window in the same pattern will be made to go into the window gap to provide weather proofing and the original windows will be hung in front of the plain glass. It is a technique that has been used at Lichfield Cathedral and Beverly Minster so we are in good company. We will keep you up to date on progress.

The West window

Additional Poppy Pattern

For those of you who are part of our Knit and Natter sessions on the fourth Thursday of each month, here is a crochet pattern to be used instead of knitting.

Upcoming events in our 1000 Years/Voices event

See the events pages for ongoing updates

The King’s Church of England Academy Students come to the rescue

Our two 19th century stained-glass windows by William Wailles in the style of Augustus Pugin, who designed the Houses of Parliament have have been removed for restoration as part of a project, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, to conserve rare heritage artefacts in the church.

When we knew that we would have scaffolding inside the church whilst the wall was being repaired, Mrs J Goldstraw Head of Year 7 at The King’s Church of England Academy in Kidsgrove came to the rescue. At short notice, she led a project for year 7 students to paint or draw on the theme of religion or nature. The resulting 86 pieces of artwork have been put together as an enormous collage and pasted onto a board which is now hanging on the scaffolding on the inside of the frame of West window.

Elizabeth Jarrett, Churchwarden said ‘pupils have worked hard to create some attractive designs, many with thoughtful words on their chosen theme. Our congregation is delighted to have ugly scaffolding so beautifully decorated’

CHRIST CHURCH ACADEMY PUPILS MAKE A SPLASH OF COLOUR

All Saints’ Church at Sandon has two 19th century stained-glass windows by William Wailles in the style of Augustus Pugin, who designed the Houses of Parliament. These have been removed for restoration as part of a project, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund to conserve rare heritage artefacts in the church.

Head of Art, Miss D Fares, and talented pupils at Christ Church Academy have created the most amazing artwork, in the form of a stained glass window, to hang in place of the window above our Lady Altar.

Elizabeth Jarrett, Churchwarden said ‘Our main altar is out of action due to works in the Chancel to restore the Elizabethan genealogical wall paintings, monuments and tombs so our Lady Chapel altar is now the focal point of our services. Our congregation is thrilled with the excellent quality of the artwork which is brightening up our church building’.

Oral History Training

We are offering an opportunity for people to attend a short training session on how to capture oral history. This is part of our 1000 years, a 1000 voices celebration of the history of the church. The session will be held in the Sandon Parish room on Friday 23 January from 2.00 to 3.30 and will include refreshments. It is free to attend. Please contact Lorna at keystoneheritage.info@gmail.com to book a place or get more details.

Sampson’s Monument Cleaned

Our brilliant conservators have been working on the monuments in the chancel for a number of weeks now and although the area is boarded off, I did sneak in with their agreement to take a couple of pictures of the work completed to clean the Samson Erdeswicke monument. Samson and his two wives now look much brighter and the surrounding heraldic symbols stand out clearly against their decorative backgrounds. The conservators are now working on the remaining tombs and the wall paintings. Work is scheduled to continue until May 2026 and we will keep you posted on progress.

Newly cleaned tomb giving a clearer idea of how it might have looked when new.

1000 Years, 1000 Voices

To celebrate a church being at the site of All Saints’ Sandon for 1000 years, we are running a series of events to recognise the passage of history during that time and the role of local people in the life of the church over the ages. Details of these can be found in our events pages and they start with a Quiz at Sandon Parish Room on Friday 23 January at 7.30. We are grateful to the Dog and Doublet for donating a prize for the Quiz.

We then get going with our series of Knit and Natter Groups to be held at the Greyhound at Burston starting at 1.30 until 3.00 on Thursday 29 January and continuing each fourth Thursday through the year. Our aim is to knit 1000 poppies for Remembrance. We are grateful to the Greyhound for the use of a room at their pub. Details of the knitting patterns can be found on the events page.

On 21 February we will hold a Down Memory Lane day at the Sandon Parish room from 10.00 to 4.00. Drop in to share your memories of the local area and the church, perhaps bring photos or an object from the past. We will be launching our Time Capsule project the same day.

Watch this blog and our Events pages for more details of these free events through the year.

Would you like to be a volunteer at the church?

Would you like to be part of our team of volunteers at the church? We have a variety of roles with help to maintain, support and celebrate the history and heritage of All Saints’ in Sandon. Please see below for details. We would love you to join us.

Royal Coat of Arms Taken Down for Conservation

After a couple of weeks of anticipation, today was the day that the Royal Coat of Arms finally came down from the wall to be taken to the conservator’s workshop to be cleaned and repaired. The scaffolding was build in the church and we watched in admiration as people clambered up to release the fixings on the wall. These turned out to be brackets held to the wall by handmade nails which pulled out quite easily. Six people, two at the top, two in the middle and two at the base took the weight of the frame and gently lowered it down to the floor. It was great to see the painting up close finally and to see it in a better light which made the colours much clearer. We can’t wait to see it cleaned and restored and back in its usual place on the north wall of the church.

Work starts in the Church

Our contractors are now on site and the chancel is very much out of bounds to the congregation as work starts on repairing the internal ceilings to remove years of damage by jackdaws who have pecked through the plaster as part of their nesting activity. The outer eaves were closed off earlier this year before the breeding season started and the jackdaws have retired to the roof in the south aisle where they can’t do any internal damage. We improvised for our Remembrance Service on 9th November with a huge poppy suspended on the screen to give us something to focus on other than the closed off space and we may use this approach again in future as it was a strong reminder of the purpose of the service.

If you visit the church you will notice the contractors site in the car park. Access to the church is only possible with permission from the contractors while work is underway other than planned services and events details of which are on this website.