Country diary: It’s hard being a vicar in a long, hot summer | Simon Lockett

Madley, Herefordshire: The cool of our churches has been welcome to many, but my polyester robes are not made for the weather we’ve had

Every summer, while roasting in my robes, I say to myself: “I must get a lighter set.” If I had a cotton cassock instead of a polyester cassock and alb, swaying to the singing of hymns might not raise my core temperature as much. In that regard, this year hasn’t been without its challenges.

Even so, our churches have become “cool spaces”. In Madley towards the end of term I received a call from Mr Batstone, headteacher of the primary school, wondering if classes could be held in church. Madley parish church is huge, with room in the nave for each class and a cool, subterranean crypt. I headed over later that week to find the church buzzing with children.

We’ve also had our summertime pet blessing, to celebrate the more‑than-human community. After a dynamic risk assessment, a bowl of water was supplied for the dogs and the door kept wide open. Unfortunately, we cannot open the stained glass windows.

I usually bring an earthworm to the service to highlight that the least glamorous animals can be the most important, but when I dug the garden there were none – they had dived deep to find moisture. This year I was concerned that a visiting guinea pig called Pippa might be eaten by one of the attending dogs; I needn’t have worried as our canine congregation were more settled than I had ever seen them, panting with exhaustion after their morning walk.

The irony is that Madley church is notoriously cold. At one midnight mass, the temperature by the altar was -15C. Even with the recent heatwaves, Felicity and Claire brought jumpers to the Saturday communion – at the door, the welcomer, Carol, said: “For the first time ever you won’t be needing those.”

The conversations afterwards in the porch are about the harvest and the smoke from the Bannau Brycheiniog fires. Winter barley yields are good, but the spring-sown cereals are too dry in the grain. While local farmers struggle to produce food and wildlife dies in the blazes, I lament that we appear to have failed the biblical mandate to care for the Earth. The worst of the heat has passed now, but even so, I must invest in those lighter robes.

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