The church building was started in 1839 and completed in 1840 and the first service to be held in the church was on the 12th July 1840. Although the church was not dedicated until 2 months later, services were allowed under licence granted by the Bishop of Lichfield. There were two services that day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, both conducted by the Rector of St. Mary's Church, Crich, the Revd Thomas Carson with the Revd Thomas Hill, Vicar of Chesterfield preaching the sermons.

Note: the Rector of Crich took the services on that day as Tansley was still within the Parish of Crich and the building was called a chapel rather than a church. It was 25 years later before Tansley became a parish in its own right with its own Rector, Revd Melville Holmes.


For more information about the history of the church Click Here

The service was held last Monday evening at 7-30 pm with the Bishop of Repton, Bishop Humphrey, as the preacher exactly 170 years to the day, 12th July, that the church held its very first Service. Although there weren’t as many people as expected, the service was very successful and meaningful. Music and singing during a service can be very uplifting and it was never more so than during this service. With both doors wide open the singing was clearly heard on Church Street.

In his sermon, Bishop Humphrey took as his starting point the report in the Derby Mercury of the 15th July 1840 that recorded the opening of the church. The preacher at the morning and evening services that day, Rev. Thos. Hill, Vicar of Chesterfield, took his texts from 1 Corinthians and developed the two themes of worship and preaching as being the two pillars necessary in the development of the new church.

Bishop Humphrey then developed his own theme to show that the same two pillars of ‘worship’ and ‘preaching’ are still essential for the church today.

After the service everyone tucked into a sumptuous and varied selection of sandwiches, pork pies, sausage rolls and other finger food kindly provided by the ladies of the church during which Bishop Humphrey enjoyed and chatted happily with as many people as he could.

[Ed: In an e-mail received from Bishop Humphrey, he says “I enjoyed my visit on Monday - thank you to you all for making me so welcome. I hope the remainder of the celebrations are much blessed.]

The Methodist and Anglican churches in Tansley joined together in the annual "Summer Celebration" service on the Village Green. Although the weather over the previous few days was rather windy and wet, the skies cleared and the sun came out for the afternoon.

The service was in the form of "Songs of Praise" with a number of hymns accompanied by Bill Templeman on the keyboard. A reading from Mark chapter 8, verses 22-30, which described Jesus healing the blind man followed by the passage where Jesus asks the very familiar question "Who do you say I am?", was read by the Revd Richard Reade from Holy Trinity church.

A short address was given by the Revd Steve Bennett from the Methodist church. When asked for an opinion about an event, such as England's performance in the World Cup, a person who had not seen the event would often reply with reports they had heard, or evaded the question unless they had been told by a person they trusted. Jesus aked his disciples who people thought he was and then asked them who they who they thought he was. Steve then challenged each one by saying that at some time in one's life we are faced with who do we think Jesus is?

At the conclusion of the service the Revd Richard Reade expressed the best wishes of everyone to Revd Steve Bennett and his wife Liz on their move to the Erewash Valley Circuit. He thanked them for their friendship and working together in Tansley over the years and hoped they would be very happy in their new place.

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The morning was bright and sunny and once again the event brought together a goodly crowd that thoroughly enjoyed the convivial atmosphere and of course the pancakes, of which over 100 were cooked, served and devoured. Special thanks go to all those who so willingly volunteered their help to make it all a success, Kath who looked after the tea and coffee, June, Jean, Sheila and Polly who kept everyone supplied with pancakes and drinks, Jeanie T and Betty for looking after the Bring & Buy stall, Helen and Jack for looking after the raffle, Dorothy and Denys for washing up but especially Russell for standing at the hot stove with two frying pans for over 2 hours cooking pancakes. Special thanks go to Bob and Marion for planning, preparing and hosting the morning and everyone who came to spend, making a grand total of £300 for church funds with the hope that half of it can go towards improving the church lighting.

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It is such a joy that Tansley Primary School use the church quite frequently for their assemblies, presentations and concert and regularly decorate a large display board with work they have done in school. One of the delights is when the Pre-School children visit our Wednesday Cuppa-call-in morning just before Christmas to sing us their Christmas songs.

Please click here to see reports and pictures on the Tansley Village website

For over 30 years Holy Trinity church and the Methodist church have worked closely together through combined services on special occasions, Lent Study Groups, a monthly ecumenical group and through many other social events. The arrangements for working and praying together have been co-ordinated by an inter-church committee made up of representatives from the two churches.

At its meeting early in the year, the inter-church committee decided that although the informal arrangements for the ecumenical relationship between the two churches had always worked well, the churches should put the process on a more formal footing so that future incumbents and congregations would be required to continue with the relationship.

The inter-church committee suggested that both churches should sign a covenant which would be displayed in each church. The churches then formally ratified the wording of the covenant and the agreement to sign. A special service was held on the Village Green at 3 pm. on Sunday 5th July 2009 during which the covenant was signed by the Revd Richard Reade on behalf of Holy Trinity and by the Revd Steve Bennett on behalf of the Methodist Church.

In obedience to the call of Christ, we, the ministers and people of: Tansley Holy Trinity & Tansley Methodist Church who have increasingly shared our Christian life in a variety of ways over recent years, now feel a need to show our love for God and for one another by a more formal commitment to grow together in doing His will.

We confess our Faith in One God, the Father, Creator; the Son, Jesus, Christ Our Lord and the Holy Spirit, guiding His Church, the Body of Christ into all truth.

We repent of all that is sinful in our past histories and present attitudes;
We rejoice in the riches of the traditions we have inherited and seek to share them more fully with one another in the unity, which is the will and gift of God;
We seek a deepening of our communion with Christ and with one another;
We covenant to seek visible unity, even though in our pilgrimage together we cannot foresee the form it will eventually take.
In the light of the National Covenant between our two Churches, we therefore make this local commitment to God and to each other:

We commit ourselves and our churches:-
• To move through co-operation to a clear commitment to each other, in search of the unity for which Christ prayed and in common mission and service to the world.
• To engage in joint worship, prayer and study so that we may know and value each other and seek God's will for His people.
• To work together in pastoral, social and evangelistic outreach into our community.
• To publicize and promote our Church life and worship by joint means wherever possible.
• To nurture and develop the work of the inter-church committee that we might co-ordinate decision-making and use of resources.
• To express our achievements and aspirations in a united act of worship and rededication, marking the anniversary of the signing of this covenant.

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