NEWSThe annual Summer Lunch in the former churchyard at St Bartholomew’s Shipmeadow on 25th June was a triumph: a most congenial occasion with over 70 guests enjoying excellent company and a fabulous array of sumptuous culinary delights. Favoured with a fine day, it was the only day that week to escape strong winds. We extend our grateful thanks to Nick and Jenny Caddick for their hospitality and for welcoming us to the grounds of St Bartholomew’s, and to all those who cooked, catered and helped set up and clear away. Our Patronal Evensong on Trinity Sunday saw the inauguration of the handsome new service books. The service was followed by fizz and tasty bites. The Rev’d Graham played the organ at Sunday service on 13th July, and afterwards we were delighted to celebrate his birthday with customary Barsham hospitality. The Rt Revd Dr Joanne Grenfell has been appointed as the new Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich. She takes up the position later this year and we look forward to welcoming her to Barsham in due course. Currently Bishop of Stepney in London, Bishop Joanne is also the Lead Safeguarding Bishop for the Church of England. Prior to ordination Bishop Joanne was a lecturer in English Literature at Oriel College, Oxford. The PCC met for routine business on Thursday 10th July. The old churchyard bench, repaired and restored, is now positioned in a peaceful spot in the churchyard under the east window. Copies of the Prayer Book magazine are available for loan at the back of the church. Please return them when finished. As many as ten swifts at a time have been seen over the churchyard. In addition, a jackdaw has been spotted feeding its young in one of the putlog holes high up on the face of the tower. The sales table organised by Jenny raised an excellent £120.00. The Summer Lunch raised a magnificent total of £1,320.00, comprising ticket sales of £883.00 with £348.00 from the raffle and £89.00 from the sale of drinks. We contributed 153 items to the Beccles Food Bank in June. FORWARD PLANNINGHaymaking will start on Monday 11th August and will continue for much of the week. The work will be led by the Community Payback Team, which has been keeping the parking area tidy this summer. Please do come and lend a hand if you can on any day and for whatever time you can manage. Raking hay is the chief task. It is helpful if you can bring your own rake. Chris Bardsley has kindly offered to provide her delicious ploughman’s lunch each day: please let her or Malcolm know if you are likely to be in for lunch so that she can cater appropriately for the numbers. The annual Suffolk Historic Churches Trust Ride, Stride & Drive, Saturday 13th September, 9am-5pm. The SHCT charity raises funds for the repair and restoration of churches and chapels in Suffolk. Of the money you might raise by sponsorship, half will come direct to Holy Trinity Barsham and the remainder placed in a central fund from which grants are made. Dick Carter is the Barsham organiser and Cheryl Coutts is the Beccles area coordinator. Participants are sponsored to walk, ride or drive around participating churches in the area – in the villages or around the town. From the beginning of August there will be yellow sponsorship forms available at the back of the church: when collecting sponsors, please ask them to give their full name, postal address and postcode, and to tick the Gift Aid box if they are taxpayers. There will also be a sign-up sheet for those willing to help by manning the church on a rota basis on the day, and helpers can also be sponsored for their efforts. Dr Barry Darch’s talk on the Redes of Beccles, Saturday 6th September at 2pm, Barsham Church, with a Barsham tea afterwards. SNIPPETS – St Bartholomew’s Church, ShipmeadowSitting in the churchyard at St Bartholomew’s, enjoying the summer lunch and taking in its glorious ambience, one cannot but notice how different the church is from Holy Trinity Barsham, most obviously with its shorter nave and chancel, its tiled roof, north porch and square tower. It feels very different and yet their stories have distinct parallels. The two churches are of a similar age: naves of the 11th or 12th century and chancels of the 14th. Both are constructed of flint rubble with stone dressings, albeit the plaster overlaying the flint survives better at Shipmeadow than at Barsham. The ancient round tower at Barsham is strikingly different from the square tower at Shipmeadow, but the addition of a new belfry of flint decorated with the newly fashionable building material, brick, at Barsham in the early 16th century echoes the building of a whole new tower of flint dressed with brick at Shipmeadow in the same period.In the 19th century both Shipmeadow and Barsham were important centres of the Anglo-Catholic revival in the Waveney Valley. Both benefitted from the work of Frederick Eden, one of the leading designers of Anglo-Catholic interior embellishment, most notably in his designs for new stained glass (and thereby hangs an intriguing tale for another time).Shipmeadow’s story diverges from that of Barsham however, in the community it served, both living and dead. From 1767 to 1938 the Rector of Shipmeadow was chaplain to the Wangford Hundred Workhouse at Shipmeadow, and from 1854 to 1859 to the Shipmeadow Penitentiary in Locks Lane. Inmates of the workhouse unfortunate enough to die there were buried in the churchyard at St Bartholomew’s, and the women of the Penitentiary walked up to the church every Sunday for morning service.AUGUST DIARYSunday 3rd August – Seventh Sunday after Trinity. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Revd Jonathan Olanczuk.Sunday 10th August – Eighth Sunday after Trinity. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Revd Canon John Fellows.Sunday 17th August – Ninth Sunday after Trinity. 11.15am Sung Eucharist (BCP), Barsham. Revd Desmond Banister.Sunday 24th August – Tenth Sunday after Trinity. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Revd Graham Naylor.Sunday 31st August – Eleventh Sunday after Trinity. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Revd Jonathan Olanczuk.Church correspondent: Robert Bacon 07867 306016, robert.bacon@yahoo.co.uk
NEWSThe new service book is here! Colin introduces the new book in an article printed below. He includes an appreciation of the editorial work done by a variety of people, but he himself has been the driving force and co-ordinator of the project and we owe him a huge vote of thanks for the considerable amount of time and effort he has invested in the project. On 28th May a party of 30 enthusiastic visitors from the Halesworth U3A Church Crawlers group enjoyed an afternoon at Holy Trinity with a talk and tour of the church by Robert, followed by a splendid tea kindly provided by Bridget and Cheryl. The electronic swift calls in the belfry have been effective at attracting the interest of swifts, which have regularly been seen circling the tower since the end of May. It’s not clear yet whether or not they are using the nest boxes. The sales table organised by Diana raised an impressive £140.00. The PCC wishes to extend its gratitude to the members of two visiting groups for their interest in Barsham Church and for their generous donations towards the upkeep of the church. The Halesworth U3A Church Crawlers group kindly donated £225.00 and the Round Tower Churches Society made a similar generous donation of £200.00. Many thanks to Sarah Jane who raised £134.00 for the Fabric Fund on her recent Market Stall event in Beccles.Thank you for the 298 items donated to the Beccles Food Bank in May, including much appreciated household items. FORWARD PLANNINGThe Summer Lunch will be at St Bartholomew’s Shipmeadow at 12.30pm on Wednesday 25th June. Tickets cost £12.50 per person and should be bought in advance from Bridget. Please bring your own chairs (and tables if you want them). All food and eating utensils are provided and drinks can be purchased there.Barsham walk with Cheryl’s church walking group, 2pm Sat 19th July, starting at the church. Just over 4 miles along the lanes and footpaths of Barsham. Tea afterwards at 4pm at the church. All welcome. Haymaking is likely to be taking place in the week commencing Monday 11thAugust. All helpers welcome. Details and confirmation of date to follow. Sarah Jane’s next market stalls in Beccles are scheduled for 26th September and 3rd October. She would welcome donations of any unwanted household items in good condition. Long-range diary dates (with details nearer the time): Sat 6th Sept at 2pm, Barsham Church: Dr Barry Darch’s talk on the Redes of Beccles. Sat 13th Sept: Ride & Stride. Sun 28th Sept: Harvest Festival Evensong and village hall supper. Thu 18th Dec: Christmas Carol Service.THE NEW SERVICE BOOK – An Introduction by Colin HarrisEvensong on our Patronal Day, Trinity Sunday, will witness the introduction of the new service book which will be used for the first time in Barsham Church following a complete revision of both music and liturgy, and it is fervently hoped that all congregants will find its use a pleasant and helpful experience. The book is composed of three sections, Holy Communion, Evensong and Psalms, each introduced with title and photograph. This has been very much a collaborative initiative over many months which has culminated in what I hope will prove to be a useful guide and aid to worshippers in Most Holy Trinity Church for many years to come.To simplify the service book, the harmonising staves have in most instances been removed, leaving only the notation of the melody which in turn enables the Nicene Creed, the Paternoster and Gloria to fit more neatly on fewer pages. A number of minor corrections have also been effected; who for instance was aware that for decades we had so dedicatedly sung what we believed to be the Ancient Three-Fold Kyrie not realising it was in fact a Nine-Fold rendition? Additionally, a larger font size has been employed throughout the book for ease of reading. Occasionally, in an attempt for perfection, a degree of pedantry occurred with the many alterations of pointing in the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis, and requests for the substitution of some colons with ellipses! The final section contains a selection of some of the best loved psalms which may be used not only in services, particularly Evensong, but also for those desirous of quiet reflection and contemplation.I must pay tribute and extend my thanks to all who have contributed so much to the service book’s creation, especially Peter Gascogne for his utmost patience and his technical expertise in producing the printed format for both music and narrative, to Canon John Fellows who advised on ecclesiastical matters, and to our organist David Bunkell for his unequalled musical and liturgical knowledge which have so importantly shaped this book. My thanks also to members of the PCC and the working party, who so rigorously and thoroughly proofread the abundance of stages through which this book has evolved. My gratitude to Robert Bacon for his splendid photographs which so delightfully enhance the book and appropriately introduce each section.Finally and most importantly of all, my sincere thanks to the kind and generous donor who not only suggested the project but also funded this venture, and wishes to retain their anonymity.JULY DIARYSunday 6th July – Second Sunday after Trinity. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). RevdJonathan Olanczuk.Sunday 13th July – Third Sunday after Trinity. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Revd Canon John Fellows.Sunday 20th July – Fourth Sunday after Trinity. 11.15am Sung Eucharist (BCP), Barsham. Revd Desmond Banister.Sunday 27th July – Fifth Sunday after Trinity. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Revd Graham Naylor.Church correspondent: Robert Bacon 07867 306016, robert.bacon@yahoo.co.uk
NEWSEaster Day saw the welcome return of flowers to the church, including a beautiful display of Easter lilies (the PCC is grateful for donations towards the cost). The flower arrangements in church are widely appreciated and as reported to the APCM, ‘We are fortunate to have such a talented team of flower arrangers’. Thank you MaryJane, Cheryl, Denise, Bridget, Sarah, Margaret, Audrey, Philippa, Chris, Cherry and Diana. The APCM took place on Thursday 1st May, attended by the PCC and five members of the congregation. Bridget and Cheryl were re-elected as churchwardens and grateful thanks were extended to them for their commitment and expertise in carrying out their responsibilities and duties. The 80th Anniversary of VE Day was marked in our service on Sunday 11th May in the choice of music and in Canon John Fellows’ thought-provoking and powerful sermon. The inauguration of the beautiful new service books will be at the Patronal Evensong on Trinity Sunday, 15th June. More on this in the July Newsletter. Bridget and Cheryl have met the new Bishop of Richborough, the Right Reverend Luke Irvine-Capel SSC, who provides Alternative Episcopal Oversight to Anglo-Catholic parishes in the eastern region of the Province of Canterbury. He was previously Archdeacon of Chichester and was consecrated as Bishop of Richborough at Canterbury Cathedral in February. We look forward to welcoming him to Barsham in due course. 40 members of the Round Tower Churches Society visited the church on Saturday 10th May prior to refreshments and their AGM at the village hall. The electronic swift calls in the tower have been switched on in the hope of attracting swifts to the belfry nest boxes. Please let us know of any sightings. We are grateful to the Community Payback Team for their recent work tidying up the vegetation around the parking area. Sarah Jane’s recent market stalls at Beccles market have raised £251.00 towards the renovation of the Rede tomb, and her next is on Friday 6th June, and then 26thSeptember and 3rd October. If anyone has unwanted household items in good condition, she would much appreciate having them for her stall. The sales table organised again by Jenny raised a very useful £120.00. The first ever Easter Hamper Raffle realised a splendid £170.00 for the fabric fund. The Beccles Food Bank thanks Barsham for the 175 items donated in April and would be grateful for the donation of household utensils as well as food. FORWARD PLANNINGThe Summer Lunch will be at St Bartholomew’s Shipmeadow at 12.30pm on Wednesday 25th June. Tickets cost £12.50 per person and should be bought in advance from Bridget. Barsham walk with Cheryl’s church walking group, 2pm Sat 19th July, starting at the church. Just over 4 miles. Tea afterwards at 4pm. All welcome. Long-range diary dates (with details nearer the time): Sat 6th Sept at 2pm, Barsham Church: Dr Barry Darch’s talk on the Redes of Beccles. Sat 13th Sept: Ride & Stride. Sun 28th Sept: Harvest Festival Evensong and village hall supper. Thu 18th Dec: Christmas Carol Service.SNIPPETS – A Blackbird in JuneIn the centre of the chancel lies the decorative marble ledger stone of Thomas Missenden, Rector of Barsham for 34 years in the mid-18th century (photo, front cover). He furnished his memorial with inscriptions in both Greek and Latin, the latter his reflection on the transient nature of life and translated as ‘The present hour is thine: The next no man can claim’. So, how to make the most of the ‘present hour’? One answer is a touch of mental housekeeping to bring under control the corrosive ‘noise’ of daily cares and anxieties that clutter minds and steal emotional energy. The Times recently reported on research at Cambridge University suggesting that ‘Taking time to contemplate aesthetically pleasing art can boost abstract thinking and free us from everyday anxieties…allowing for greater clarity and a healthier perspective’. Indeed, pausing consciously to appreciate beauty – not only in art but in a myriad of other forms, including human love and the natural world – can only help to enrich the present. This notion is perfectly illustrated in Edward Thomas’ poem Adelstrop, written in 1915 during the First World War and recalling a pre-war train journey when the train made an unscheduled halt at Adlestrop (‘…drew up there. Unwontedly.’). The stillness of the halt afforded Thomas a moment of unexpected serenity and tranquility as he soaked up the pastoral scene before him. The poem’s focus is the beauty of the natural world and the value of observing and appreciating often fleeting and unexpected moments of wonder and beauty in the everyday world. The poem is all the more poignant as Edward Thomas was killed on Easter Day 1917 in the thunderous violence and chaos of the Battle of Arras. The poem was published in the New Statesman three weeks later. Yes. I remember Adlestrop —The name, because one afternoonOf heat the express-train drew up thereUnwontedly. It was late June.The steam hissed. Someone cleared his throat.No one left and no one cameOn the bare platform. What I sawWas Adlestrop—only the nameAnd willows, willow-herb, and grass,And meadowsweet, and haycocks dry,No whit less still and lonely fairThan the high cloudlets in the sky.And for that minute a blackbird sangClose by, and round him, mistier,Farther and farther, all the birdsOf Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire. JUNE DIARY Sunday 1st June – Seventh Sunday of Easter. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). RevdJonathan Olanczuk.Sunday 8th June – Pentecost. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Revd Canon John Fellows.Sunday 15th June – Trinity Sunday, Patronal Festival. 11.15am Sung Eucharist (BCP), Barsham. Revd Desmond Banister.6.30pm Patronal Evensong with new service books. Revd Graham Naylor.Sunday 22nd June – First Sunday after Trinity. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Revd Graham Naylor.Sunday 29th June – Second Sunday after Trinity. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Revd Graham Naylor.Church correspondent: Robert Bacon 07867 306016, robert.bacon@yahoo.co.uk
NEWSOn Palm Sunday, 13th April, palm crosses were blessed and distributed, commemorating Christ’s entry into Jerusalem and the palm branches with which people ‘strew His way’. The choir’s performance of Jesus Christ the Apple Tree was utterly beautiful and captivating, the Church filled with ethereal tones and harmonies and each word perfectly sung with absolute clarity. At the Benefice Service at Barsham on Mothering Sunday, 30th March, flowers were distributed to everyone, not just mothers, recognising the medieval roots of the Mothering Sunday tradition when, on the fourth Sunday in Lent, people who had moved away returned to their place of origin and the ‘mother church’ where they had been baptised, for a special service. The tradition survived the Protestant Reformation only to be hijacked in the early 20th century, when Mothering Sunday was increasingly taken to be ‘Mother’s Day’, a secular celebration of motherhood. Warmest congratulations to George and Fiona on their marriage at Barsham on Saturday 29th March (photo front cover – wedding decoration). The CollecTin.com contactless donation terminal has now been installed. We hope it will be helpful to visitors who wish to make a donation to help maintain the church. The PCC is grateful to Peter Gascoyne for researching and leading this initiative, and for sourcing the terminal and installing an internet router in the church. The illumination of the rood on the day of the Equinox, 20th March, was spectacular, as it was the previous evening as well. In all, 59 people witnessed the event, 43 on the day of the Equinox and 16 the day before.Theo Wells has repaired the panelling on the east side of the lychgate, replacing the worn-out old boards with new ones. Theo has also repaired the old churchyard bench most skilfully and refurbished it beautifully, just in time for its 90th birthday: it commemorates the Silver Jubilee of King George V in May 1935. It has been repositioned in the churchyard and makes another wonderful place for walkers and visitors to rest in this most attractive of churchyards. Migrating swallows have already started arriving in Suffolk from warmer winter climes and the swifts will follow. The electronic swift calls in the tower will be switched on shortly and we hope the swift boxes installed in the belfry last year will attract some birds this summer. Please do report any sightings if you see swifts around the church. Graham, Bridget, Cheryl and David acquitted themselves honourably on behalf of Barsham at the inter-churches General Knowledge quiz at Emmanuel Church, Bungay at the end of March. The sales table organised by Jenny raised a splendid £105.00.Thank you for the 226 items donated to the Food Bank in March. FORWARD PLANNINGThe APCM (Annual Parochial Church Meeting) and Annual Meeting of Parishioners will be held in the church at 2pm on Thursday 1st May. Anybody can attend and those entered on the Church Electoral Roll for this parish and those entered on the register of local government electors for the parish may vote at the election of parochial representatives of the laity (ie churchwardens, members of the PCC etc). If you cannot attend and would like copies of the audited financial statements, please contact Dominique (dominique.bacon@gmail.com).The Summer Lunch will take place on Wednesday 25th June at St Bartholomew’s Shipmeadow at the kind invitation of Nick & Jenny Caddick. Cheryl’s church walking group will be undertaking a walk in the Barsham area onSaturday 19th July, starting at the church at 2pm and finishing there for tea at 4pm. The walk will be just over 4 miles. All welcome. Dr Barry Darch has kindly offered to give a public talk on the Redes of Beccleson Saturday 6th September at 2pm at Barsham Church. This has come about as a result of the PCC’s current investigations into making good the crumbling Rede tomb in the churchyard. Barry has kindly offered to donate the proceeds of his talk to a fund for the tomb repair works. SNIPPETS – the Rede TombThe Rede tomb is the large table memorial set on a platform above a vaulted tomb on the east of the churchyard path. The Rede family played a significant part in the history of Beccles from the 15th to the 19th centuries, though the presence of the tomb in Barsham is through their ownership and residence at Ashmans Hall, Barsham in the 19th century. Dr Thomas Rede was rector of St Michael’s Church in the first half of the 16thcentury and various Redes were involved in the Townlands Charity from its inception after the Henrician Reformation in the 1530s down to the 19th century. In the 18thcentury a Thomas Rede owned Roos Hall and built St Mary’s House, Ballygate in 1788, and his son Robert built Ashmans Hall in 1820. Both Thomas and Robert are buried in the tomb at Barsham. Also of note, on the north side of the table is inscribed a memorial to Rede Rede Fowke, the infant son of Frank Fowke and his wife Louisa, the daughter of the Rev’d Robert Rede Rede of Ashmans Hall. Captain Frank Fowke (1823-1865) of the Royal Engineers was a prolific and ingenious inventor of military equipment and a notable architect and engineer. Under Prince Albert’s patronage, he designed several important mid-19th century public buildings, including the Royal Albert Hall, parts of the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Museum of Science and Arts in Edinburgh, and the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin.May DiarySunday 4th May – Third Sunday of Easter. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). RevdJonathan Olanczuk.Sunday 11th May – Fourth Sunday of Easter. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Revd Canon John Fellows.Sunday 18th May – Fifth Sunday of Easter. 11.00am Sung Eucharist (BCP), Barsham. Revd Desmond Banister.Sunday 25th May – Sixth Sunday of Easter. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Revd Graham Naylor.Church correspondent: Robert Bacon 07867 306016, robert.bacon@yahoo.co.uk
