Welcome to the website for the churches of St Giles’ Whittington, St Mary’s Weeford and St Bartholomew’s Hints.

We are three churches in the South Staffordshire area of the Lichfield Diocese, each one serving our own villages in our own way and rejoicing in our unique identities while at the same time supporting and encouraging each other in our common goal to serve God and our communities as well as we can.

We take our responsibilities as custodians of our very pretty buildings and churchyards very seriously and love to show them off to others. You can find us located just outside Lichfield so please do pop in and see us “in the flesh” if you are ever in the area.

Our Parish Priest and Vicar, Father Jason (the Revd Dr Jason Phillips)

Fr Jason has recently been appointed to Whittington with Weeford and Hints. We took the opportunity to find out a little more about him:

Fr Jason trained at England’s leading theological college, Ripon College, Cuddesdon, Oxford, where he undertook a Master of Ministry degree course. His training placements were at Manchester Cathedral, Soho Parish Church in London and St Giles’ Hospice in Whittington! As well as being a parish priest, Fr Jason supports the Diocesan vocations team and mentors candidates exploring vocations.

Fr Jason joins us from the Blakenall Heath Churches in Walsall where he undertook the strategic Diocesan role as Interim Priest. Previously he led in a similar role in Stafford for St Mary’s, St Chad’s and St Leonard’s. Before that he was curate of Mid Trent which encompasses ten village churches between Burston and Hixon on the edge of Stafford.

Fr Jason has always had an interest in inter-denomination and interfaith relations, and his doctorate was based on Judaism and Jewish identity. He has written articles for the Journal of The Council of Christians and Jews, of which he is a member. Fr Jason draws spiritual strength from the Benedictine tradition and undertakes periodic retreats to Ampleforth Abbey. He has led a number of retreats for the John Young Foundation (www.johnyoungfoundation.org.uk) that seeks to combine medicine and theology in its work and he regularly writes for their journal.

Fr Jason enjoys the theatre and regularly attends shows in Stoke, Lichfield, Stafford and London. He also enjoys travelling and has visited Australia and Spain many times and also Rome, San Francisco and the far East, including Japan. He enjoys cooking for friends and is especially fond of Italian food and trifle. His former team of churches always ensured that trifle was present at major events! Fr Jason also used to be guest chef at a luncheon club for the elderly in central London from time to time which he enjoyed enormously, albeit it was demanding!

The Bishop of Stafford has said of Fr Jason that ‘he brings a strong spiritual and calm presence coupled with an enthusiasm to drive forward the workings of the Holy Spirit’.

At the moment Fr Jason is best contacted by email: revdjason@fastmail.co.uk (a new phone number will follow shortly).

Our churchwardens can be contacted as follows:

• Whittington: Cath Gibbs (01543 433249) or Richard Dyott (01543 262300)
• Weeford: Angela Brookhouse (01543 411537) or Nigel Brough (01543 480157)
• Hints: Jeannette White (01543 480066) or Simon Clarke (07798 740209)