All Saints Great Glemham was pleased to welcome Megan Goodwin and Gareth Marsland on the occasion of their wedding on Saturday 2 July. It was a beautiful summer's day and the church was full to brimming with their families who had come to share this special moment in Megan and Gareth's journey together. The Revd Bill Sokolis performed the ceremony and Hannah Pemberton was the organist.Megan and Gareth had chosen Gt Glemham because Megan's grandparents, Benjamin Boon and Mary Scace, had married there during the Second World War and Mary's wedding ring united Megan and Gareth on this special day.
Gt Glemham’s eventful day started when villagers (and visitors) gathered at the village hall at 9.30am to meet up with two donkeys to process with our palm crosses up the road to the church. From 10am to 11am we had a Benefice Holy Communion service where 42 folk attended lead by Revd Bill Sokolis ably supported by Hannah at the organ and the choir. The congregation all faced West in the church to read and take part in ‘The Passion’. This is the only service where the congregation is asked to face West rather than East towards the altar. We then all went out into the sunshine to meet up with more villagers gathered around a new oak tree that had been planted in the churchyard in readiness for the ‘official’ planting ceremony to take place. In the year of the Coronation the youngest and oldest member of Gt Glemham planted a tree just outside the wall of the church and a Sweet Chestnut stands there still. As part of Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee the Gt Glemham Parish Council successfully bid for an oak tree offered by East Suffolk Council and it was decided to plant it in the churchyard in line with the chestnut and ask the oldest and youngest member of the village to officially finish the planting. This was done with due ceremony by The Earl of Cranbrook (89 years) and Otto Kenworthy (2 years). Lord Cranbrook asked that anyone who was born in 1952 and 70 this year to take part too – so David Inman joined them in putting more soil around the tree. Otto was extremely enthusiastic and got on with the job immediately and impressed all with his ‘treading in’ skills – definitely an arborist in the making. Refreshments were then enjoyed by all. Although the tree is a ‘quercus robur’ it will be known in Gt Glemham as the ‘Treebilee’. At 2.30pm the church welcomed the Close-Brooks family for the Baptism of Arthur (3 years) and Ivy (8 months) Close-Brooks and Rowley Hird (2 years). Revd Robin Alderson presided over a happy and joyful occasion ably assisted by the 13 or so children in the congregation. All in all, a busy and enjoyable day for All Saints Great Glemham. My thanks go to everyone who helped and took part in all these events. It really felt as if the church was not only physically – but actually at the heart of the village. Jill Pascoe Churchwarden
Revd Rachel has announced that after 4 and a half years in our Benefice she will be moving on to pastures new in the Chichester Diocese. We will be sorry to see her go but wish her well in her new venture.
BAPTISM OF OTTO JOHN KENWORTHYThe Kenworthy family came together on Saturday 11 September for the Baptism of Otto John at All Saints’ Church Great Glemham. This was a long awaited event has Amber and Andrew had wanted to bring Otto to be Baptised soon after he was born in October 2019 – but ‘you know what’ intervened – and it had to be postponed. Otto, now 2 years old, was not particularly impressed with being washed by Revd Rachel – but all went well. The joy of the family coming together for this special occasion was evident and it was so good to have a feeling of normality returning to the church after such a long break.Jill Pascoe - Churchwarden
