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Alton is a picture postcard village in the Staffordshire Moorlands, famous for the theme park just up the road, and just on the fringes of the Staffordshire Peak District.

The villagers are served by three churches; St Peter鈥檚, St John鈥檚 and the Methodist chapel. The Anglican parish is 'Alton with Bradley', comprising St Peter鈥檚 and the smaller St Leonard鈥檚, which is in the hamlet of Bradley just over a mile away.

'A Country Parish' will be written up here on the web month by month through 2008 with photos, interactive comments and audio interviews.
And... please leave your thoughts and comments on the messageboard. See the link for that on the right-hand side of this page.

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May '08 - Part 3 of 'A Country Parish'

After the late snow of April - summer has come to Alton. More tourists have been heading for the Towers while the village's social calendar is growing.

On Pentecost Sunday there was a barbecue/picnic in the grounds of St John's Roman Catholic Church in Alton (see picture at the top of this webpage).

It was听 organised by Alton Christians Together - a group which unites members of the Church of England, the Roman Catholics and the Methodists to promote Christian unity among villagers who don't go to church on a regular basis.

They also organised an auction of promises to raise money for the village hall, and the village's Maypole dancers are struggling to make a show for the fete next month.

Meanwhile the vicar is facing up to his new challenge - how to be in lots of places at the same time...

Anne Rogers has lived in Alton for many years and is a member of St Peter's. She's become known outside the village for her campaign to get her late son Ben's film about his personal battle with drug addiction shown in schools.

She has coped with several family tragedies and as she told Mary Fox no matter what life has thrown at her, her faith has always remained strong...