NEWSAt the end of their journey along the nave, the figurines of the three Magi arrived at the crib in time for the Feast of the Epiphany on 6th January. The festival celebrates the visit by the Magi to the baby Jesus, indicating that Christ, the Jewish Messiah, had also come for the salvation of the Gentiles. The PCC met for routine business on Thursday 8th January. Holy Trinity Barsham now has its own Facebook page. To find it, enter into the Facebook search bar ‘Church of the Most Holy Trinity Barsham’.Although probably only a minority of visitors use the visitors book, an audit of entries nevertheless reveals something of the profile of our visitors. In 2025 there was a significant increase in the number of entries, with 115 entries representing 242 people (just 123 named people in 2024). Visitors came from 19 of the 39 historical English counties as well as from Wales, and more than half of all visitors came from Norfolk or Suffolk. Overseas visitors came from Germany, the USA (Virginia), Mexico and Australia. Remarks typically referred to the beauty of the church, its atmosphere and historical interest, and 11 sets of visitors came in search of ancestral links. Others were impressed by its care, and one appreciative visitor wrote, ‘Blessings and praise to the cleaners’! The Christmas raffle organised so expertly by Diana raised a record sum of £321.00. The PCC acknowledges with thanks the kind anonymous donation at Christmas of £40.00 towards the cost of providing church candles.Donations from the Christmas Card Tree in the Lady Chapel have enabled us to send £200.00 to WaterAid. Many thanks to Sarah Jane for arranging this once again.160 items were donated to the Beccles Foodbank in December, bringing the total number of items donated in 2025 to 2,364.FORWARD PLANNINGThere will be a Benefice Evensong for Candlemas at Holy Trinity Barsham at3pm on Sunday 1st February, with tea afterwards. SNIPPETS – Spotlight on the East Window The tracery of the East window at Barsham has been the subject of much debate and comment but less has been said about the stained glass. Installed in the 1870s, the glass was commissioned by Barsham’s first Anglo-Catholic rector, the Revd RAJ Suckling (Rector 1868-1880 and Patron 1868-1917), and made by Charles Kempe, a devout Anglo-Catholic, who would go on to become one of the most celebrated stained glass makers and designers of church fittings of his day. The commission was typical of the Anglo-Catholic Movement, which favoured a form of elaborate church decoration not seen since the Reformation of the 16th and 17th centuries. The subject matter in the glass was inspired by some key tenets of Anglo-Catholicism, and understanding these is the key to appreciating the window. The Anglo-Catholic Movement emphasised its continuity with the historic Catholic Church, drawing its beliefs, liturgy and practices from the early Church, including the authority of early Church teachings, which had been shaped by the seven Ecumenical Councils and the writings of the theologians collectively known as the Early Church Fathers. So too, Anglo-Catholics emphasised the Apostolic Succession, believing bishops to be the successors of the Apostles of Christ, performing the same functions (preaching, governing, ordaining) and passing on the authority of the Apostles from one generation of bishops to the next in unbroken line. Three further elements of Anglo-Catholic practice and belief relevant here are the central place of the Eucharist with the Real Presence of Christ, devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the intercession of the saints. This is the context for the window and its 21 saints. There in the very centre is the Blessed Virgin Mary with Christ child, and in the bottom row Mary and the Annunciation. The top row of four depicts the Apostles John and Peter, and two other foundational figures from earliest Christianity, John the Baptist and Paul. Two rows below are the figures of the so-called Great Church Fathers: St Gregory, St Augustine of Hippo, St Jerome and St Ambrose, theologians and pillars of the early Church whose writings did much to establish the intellectual and doctrinal foundation of Christianity. Of the five saints in the row below the Great Church Fathers, St Felix (centre) and St Edmund (far left) are local saints, the latter also regarded as one of the patron saints of England until the Tudor period. St Benedict (centre right) was the founder of the Benedictine Order, selected presumably to reflect the Anglo-Catholic revival of Benedictine monasticism within the Anglican Communion. Likewise, the inclusion of St Mildred (centre left), the 8th century abbess of the Benedictine abbey at Minster in Thanet, highlights the revival of religious orders for women (two of RAJ Suckling’s sisters were Anglican nuns in the order All Saints Sisters of the Poor). St Lucian of Antioch (far right) was a significant theologian of the early Church but his presence here is more likely to symbolise the central importance of the Eucharist and in it theReal Presence of Christ, especially in times of persecution (in the 1870s Anglo-Catholic priests were persecuted both by the conservative Church hierarchy and by Parliament). The story goes that whilst awaiting execution alongside fellow Christians in a Roman prison, Lucian lay down and allowed the bread and wine to be placed on his chest as a ‘living altar for the Living God’ as there was no proper altar or suitable surface available, thus enabling his fellows to receive communion before they were martyred. In Christian art, as in the Barsham window, Lucian is often depicted with the elements of the Eucharist on his chest.FEBRUARY DIARYSunday 1st February – Septuagesima. Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany. Presentation of Christ in the Temple - Candlemas. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Revd Jonathan Olanczuk. 3pm Evensong for Candlemas with tea after. Revd Graham Naylor. Sunday 8th February – Sexagesima. Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Revd Canon John Fellows.Sunday 15th February – Quinquagesima. Last Sunday after the Epiphany. 11.15am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Revd Desmond Banister.Wednesday 18th February – Ash Wednesday. Holy Communion with Ashing: 10am at Holy Trinity Bungay and 7pm at All Saints Mettingham. Revd Graham Naylor. Sunday 22nd February – First Sunday in Lent. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Revd Graham Naylor.Church correspondent: Robert Bacon 07867 306016, robert.bacon@yahoo.co.uk
NEWSAdvent Candles have been lit on each of the Sundays in Advent, and a Service of Lessons and Carols for Christmas was held on Thursday 18th December. A peal of five bells welcomed a large congregation to the beautifully decorated church, and the service opened with Sarah’s charmingly rendered, candle-lit solo first verse of Once in Royal. The choir added much to the atmosphere with the anthem Stille, Stille, Stille and their glorious, soaring descants in the carols which, with the readings, told the familiar story of the Nativity. Afterwards the raffles were drawn for a fabulous Christmas cake and two hampers full of delights, and there was mingling and good cheer over refreshments of mulled wine, spiced apple juice and tasty bites. Many thanks to all those who contributed to the evening and to those who offered items for the hampers. A group from the Diss U3A Round Tower Study Group visited the church on Tuesday 18th November.The church brass received its annual shine thanks to the team of volunteers on 20thNovember. It would be a great help to have new volunteers for the church cleaning rota. If you can help, please let Bridget know. The PCC extends its gratitude to everyone who has contributed to the busy life of Holy Trinity Barsham in 2025: in worship, music, administration, maintenance and decoration, in special events, fundraising and charitable giving. Particular thanks are extended to our licensed retired clergy.The sales table organised by Jenny raised £85.00 bringing the cumulative total for 2025 to a record sum of £1,376.00. Well done and many thanks to those who have staffed the table, generously donated items for sale or supported by making purchases.Many thanks as well to the Beccles Lions who kindly donated £652.00, representing the cost of transporting the Love Boxes to Moldova.The Barsham PCC acknowledges with much gratitude a legacy of £1,000.00 from the estate of the late Mrs Penny Banks.The Beccles Foodbank was delighted to receive our 251 items in November. A list of items currently most needed by the foodbank may be found on the chest at the back of the church. SNIPPETS – New Year, New HopeTraditionally, the New Year has been a time both to take stock and to look ahead. 175 years ago in his New Year poem, Ring Out, Wild Bells, Alfred, Lord Tennyson did exactly this, naming some of the social and political ills of his day and suggesting remedies. The poem has lost none of its relevance today! Ring Out, Wild BellsRing out, wild bells, to the wild sky,The flying cloud, the frosty light:The year is dying in the night;Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.Ring out the old, ring in the new,Ring, happy bells, across the snow:The year is going, let him go;Ring out the false, ring in the true.Ring out the grief that saps the mindFor those that here we see no more;Ring out the feud of rich and poor,Ring in redress to all mankind.Ring out a slowly dying cause,And ancient forms of party strife;Ring in the nobler modes of life,With sweeter manners, purer laws.Ring out the want, the care, the sin,The faithless coldness of the times;Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymesBut ring the fuller minstrel in.Ring out false pride in place and blood,The civic slander and the spite;Ring in the love of truth and right,Ring in the common love of good.Ring out old shapes of foul disease;Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;Ring out the thousand wars of old,Ring in the thousand years of peace.Ring in the valiant man and free,The larger heart, the kindlier hand;Ring out the darkness of the land,Ring in the Christ that is to be.For us, there are new concerns, unimaginable in Tennyson’s time, amongst them the ongoing depletion of nature. Often driven by short-termism and vested interest, governments around the world are failing to give the nature crisis the priority it deserves. Yet there is hope. Hope lies not in government but in society. In the UK, at least, public awareness and understanding of the need for nature recovery is expanding fast, especially amongst the young, and there is a gathering momentum of meaningful nature-friendly activity undertaken by individuals in their yards and gardens, and by communities, businesses and organisations in their operations and on the land they control. At Barsham the nature-friendly management of the churchyard and the swift boxes in the belfry are a case in point. So too is the public support that has enabled the Suffolk Wildlife Trust to add 381 acres of Worlingham Marshes to its existing reserves in the area to create a protected landscape rich in natural habitat across much of the Lower Waveney Valley. Hope lies in the sum of all of society’s small actions being sufficient to tip the scales in nature’s favour.A healthy natural world plays a vital role in climate control and provides the essential resources mankind needs for survival. It is also invigorating and healing for those who engage with it: there is a redemptive quality in the cyclical processes of the natural world – the seasons, the life cycle of plants – which are symbols of hope and renewal. With all this in mind, let the contemporary poet Matt Goodfellow ring in our New Year: Poem for a New YearSomething’s moving in,I hear the weather in the wind,sense the tension of a sheep-fieldand the pilgrimage of fins.Something’s not the same,I taste the sap and feel the grain,hear the rolling of the rowanringing, singing in a change.Something’s set to start,there’s meadow-music in the darkand the clouds that shroud the mountainslowly, softly start to part.JANUARY DIARY 4th January – 2nd Sunday of Christmas. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Revd Jonathan Olanczuk.Sunday 11th January – First Sunday after the Epiphany. Baptism of Christ. 11amSung Eucharist (BCP). Revd Canon John Fellows.Sunday 18th January – Second Sunday after the Epiphany. 11.15am Sung Eucharist (BCP), Barsham. Revd Desmond Banister.Sunday 25th January – Third Sunday after the Epiphany. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Revd Graham Naylor.Church correspondent: Robert Bacon 07867 306016, robert.bacon@yahoo.co.uk
NEWS123 Love Boxes were blessed by the Revd Graham on Sunday 26th October and are now on their way to Moldova. Congratulations and thanks to Cheryl on organising such a successful operation. Cheryl herself would like to thank everyone who wrapped boxes, as well as those who filled them. Contributions have come from our own congregation, the Suffolk Stitchers and Knitters (thanks in particular to Jenny Henwood for all her help), residents of the Foundry in Beccles and the Beccles Lions, who also funded carriage of the boxes to the Mustard Seed Relief Mission in Eastbourne. Remembrance in Barsham was marked at Sunday service on Remembrance Sunday with the Reading of Names by Neville Smith, followed by the Two-minutes Silence at 11am and a thought-provoking sermon by the Revd Canon John Fellows. The Revd Graham officiated at the Service of Remembrance in the village hall and the laying of wreaths at the war memorial on Tuesday 11th November, with the Two-minutes Silence at 11am and the Last Post and Reveille played very capably by Sir John Leman student Anna Knight. The PCC met for routine business on Thursday 6th November. At the annual Inter-churches Quiz at Mettingham village hall on Friday 14thNovember the Barsham team came joint 2nd out of nine teams. The team comprisedBridget, Cheryl, David, Dominique and Robert.A Christmas hamper and a Christmas cake will be raffled at the Service of Carols and Readings on 18th December. Donations of suitable foodstuffs and drinks for the hamper would be much appreciated. Please liaise with Diana if you would like to contribute. The October Sales Table organised by Sarah Jane raised a magnificent £185.00. Additionally, Sarah Jane’s Market Stalls have yielded a further £305.00 for the restoration of the Rede Tomb, the total now standing at £2,272.00.We are most grateful for the continued support of Doreen Springall, whose farm gate stall has raised £379.00 for the church this year. 155 items were donated to the Beccles Foodbank in October. I visited the Foodbank recently and found the staff outspoken in their appreciation of Barsham’s constant support. FORWARD PLANNINGAll help will be gratefully received for the cleaning of brass on Thursday 20thNovember at 9.30am. Christmas Carol Service, Thursday 18th December at 6.30pm – Followed by refreshments including sausage rolls, mince pies & mulled wine. SNIPPETS – Origins of the Rectors and Patrons BoardThe Rectors and Patrons Board has recently been updated to include the Revd Graham’s name (front cover photo). The board’s frame is a copy of the original (on the other side of the tower entrance) and was crafted from oak in 2019 by Jonathan Bacon (no relative) at the Harry Stebbing Workshop at Hingham, Norfolk. Ruth Murray, who added the new entry, pointed out that there are three styles of calligraphy across the two boards, the first up to the 1921 entry, the second from 1944 to 1960 (note the change in the letter ‘u’), and a third on the newer board (the style of ‘e’ changes). Records left by the Revd Allan Coates indicate that the original frame and board were donated by the then Patron, the Revd RAJ Suckling, who had salvaged the frame from the redundant Roman Catholic chapel of St John the Baptist in St John’s Alley, Norwich, where it had held a Benefactors Board. Suckling acquired the list of former rectors and patrons from the Norwich Diocesan Registry and commissioned the Barsham Rectors and Patrons Board from a workshop in Oxford, possibly that of Lawrence Turner, who undertook several other projects in this church. A modern transcription of Allan Coates’ notes suggests that Suckling’s gift was made at Christmas 1890, though it may more likely have been 1896 (see below).So, what of the story behind the Catholic chapel in St John’s Lane? Following the 16thcentury Protestant Reformation, Catholic worship in England was illegal and driven underground. By the mid-18th century, while public Catholic worship was still forbidden, the use of private chapels was tolerated and from the early 1760s the Catholic community in Norwich could worship in a small private chapel in Ten Bells Lane and from 1764 in a chapel at the Duke of Norfolk’s Norwich palace (the site of which is now St Andrew’s multi-storey car park). Circumstances eased in 1791 with the Roman Catholic Relief Act, which permitted public Catholic worship in registered chapels, provided worshippers took an oath of allegiance to the Crown and chapels were discreet – steeples and chapel bells were not allowed! The Duke of Norfolk’s private chapel closed in 1794 but that year a new public Roman Catholic chapel was built off St John’s Alley in the garden of Strangers’ Hall, and dedicated to St John the Baptist. The frame salvaged by RAJ Suckling housed the chapel’s Benefactors board, honouring those who had funded and endowed the chapel. Its style is consistent with the late Baroque/Rococco of the later 18th century and features stylized pelicans (symbolizing Christ in the Eucharist) in the spandrels. The Chapel of St John the Baptist served the Catholic community in Norwich for a century. However, with the 1829 Catholic Emancipation Act and the growth in Norwich’s Catholic community in the age of industrialization, larger premises were needed. A new and large Catholic parish church of St John the Baptist was constructed in Unthank Road between 1882 and 1910, becoming the Catholic Cathedral in 1976. With the nave completed in 1894, the Catholic community migrated from the small chapel off St John’s Alley to the new church and the old chapel was abandoned and sold in 1896 – which is likely when RAJ Suckling acquired the frame. After 1896 the old chapel in St John’s Alley was repurposed variously as a baking soda factory, a grocery warehouse and a Salvation Army hall. Finally, in 1921 it was purchased by Nugent Monck for his Norwich Players, and it became the Maddermarket Theatre, which thrives to this day.DECEMBER DIARYSunday 7th December – 2nd Sunday of Advent. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Revd Desmond Bannister.Sunday 14th December – 3rd Sunday of Advent. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Revd Canon John Fellows.Thursday 18th December – Service of Carols & Lessons, 6.30pm. Revd Graham Naylor. Sunday 21st December – 4th Sunday of Advent. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP), Barsham. Revd Jonathan Olanczuk. Thursday 25th December – Christmas Day – 10.30am. Sung Eucharist (BCP). Revd Graham Naylor.Sunday 28th December – 1st Sunday after Christmas Day. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Revd Graham Naylor.Church correspondent: Robert Bacon 07867 306016, robert.bacon@yahoo.co.uk
NEWSWe are sad to report the death of Penny Banks on the 3rd September. Her Cremation took place on the 25th September and was followed by a Wake in Barsham Church. Penny’s ashes were interred in Barsham Churchyard alongside those of her daughter and parents.The Quinquennial Inspection of the church fabric was carried out on the 23rdSeptember by architect Ruth Blackman. We await her report. More than 50 people witnessed the moving spectacle of the rood illuminated in a shaft of light from the setting sun at the Autumn Equinox.Harvest Festival at Barsham on Sunday 28th September was celebrated in fine style. Glorious flower arrangements and striking displays of produce created a colourful backdrop for the day’s services. The choir graced Choral Evensong with the anthem With Wonder Lord we See your Works. At Harvest Supper in the village hall 46 guests enjoyed a sumptuous feast at charmingly decorated tables. It was a most congenial evening, and its success was down to the team who worked so hard to plan, prepare and serve the food and drinks, to decorate the tables, and to clear up afterwards. All thanks to them.Amongst our guests at supper, we were pleased to welcome Roz Armstrong, who is attached to the benefice and Lightwave as Ordinand in Training.Representatives of the PCCs of Bungay and Mettingham, Barsham with Shipmeadow and the Lightwave Core Team met for a Benefice Awayday on Saturday 11th October at All Hallows Ditchingham. To express our appreciation and thanks for their dedication and service, the PCC entertained Barsham’s volunteer clergy at the annual ‘Clergy Lunch’ at White House Barn, Barsham on the 15th October. After filling Love Boxes, please keep them at home until a date is given for bringing them to church. The Blessing of the Love Boxes will be on Sunday 26th October. A team of six wrapped a second batch of Love Boxes on the 2nd October and the next wrapping session will be at 2.30pm on Thursday 26th October: all help much appreciated. Cheryl thanks the riders, striders and welcomers who contributed to the £1,475.00 raised at this year’s Ride and Stride event. This was a record result (£1000.00 in 2024; £1,016.00 in 2023; and £869.00 in 2022) following a fantastic effort by all at Barsham Church, sponsors and participants. Half of this sum comes to Barsham and we can also access SHCT grants in the future. Congratulations to Neville Smith on his part in a BBC Radio Suffolk report, broadcast on the 19th September, about the Suffolk Wildlife Trust’s initiative to promote habitats across the county through Private Nature Reserves. A team from Community Payback has tidied the parking area and church drive and installed new disabled parking signs.The Revd Pam Bayliss sends thanks for the 181 items donated to the Beccles Food Bank in September, including 90 items at Harvest Festival. FORWARD PLANNINGRemembrance Sunday, 9th November – Please arrive for 10.45am to allow time for the Reading of Names and the two-minutes silence at 11am.Service of Remembrance at Barsham Village Hall, Tuesday 11thNovember, Revd Graham Naylor – The hall will be open from 10.15 for a 10.45am start. Parking on the village hall paddock. Refreshments available afterwards with optional donation. Everyone welcome.Christmas Carol Service, Thursday 18th December at 6.30pm – Followed by refreshments including mince pies and mulled wine. SNIPPETS – The Pelican in her PietyIf, like me, you have gazed up at the chancel arch and admired the winged ‘angel’ crowning the arch, look again more closely! I realised recently that this is not an angel at all, but a pelican. It sits on its nest surrounded by its young, plucking at its own breast to feed them (cover photo). This motif is known as the ‘Pelican in Her Piety’ and is well established in Christian art, appearing in stained glass, roof bosses, altar frontals, lecterns, carvings and so on. The motif appears on the 16th century processional cross carried by Malcolm at the start of our services, and the truncated body of a bird on the end of the medieval pew at the front of the nave is possibly the remains of a pelican, perhaps desecrated at the Reformation. The image of the mother pelican feeding her young in an act of self-sacrifice has its roots in pre-Christian Roman legend and was taken up in early Christianity as an obvious analogy with Christ’s sacrifice. The Pelican in Her Piety had become a powerful image of Christ’s Passion by at least the 3rd century – St Augustine of Hippo referred to it in the late 4th century – and from the 12th century it was a staple feature of liturgical tradition. In the mid-13th century St Thomas Aquinas calls Christ ‘pie pelicane, Jesu Domine’ (the pious pelican, Lord Jesus), and in the early 14th century Dante described Christ as ‘our Pelican who shed His blood in order to give eternal life to the children of men’. When Richard Foxe, Bishop of Winchester, founded Corpus Christi College, Oxford in 1517, he included the pelican in its coat of arms. A century later, the King James Bible translated a prophesy of Jesus in Psalm 102 as ‘I am like a pelican in the wilderness’.The act of the mother pelican saving her young by feeding them with her own blood became a metaphor for Christ’s body and blood in the Eucharist, and in the Anglo-Catholic Revival of the 19th century the image was adopted as a reminder of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Thus, at Barsham the Revd RAJ Suckling had the image of the Pelican in Her Piety incorporated in the design of the plaster ceiling of the chancel, where it was symbolically located on the two plaster panels immediately above the altar.NOVEMBER DIARYSunday 2nd November – All Saints. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Revd Jonathan Olanczuk.Sunday 9th November – Third Sunday before Advent. Remembrance Sunday.10.45 for 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Revd Canon John Fellows.Sunday 16th November – Second Sunday before Advent. 11.15am Sung Eucharist (BCP), Barsham. Revd Desmond Banister.Sunday 23rd November – Christ the King. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Revd Graham Naylor.Sunday 30th November – First Sunday of Advent. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Revd Philip Merry. Church correspondent: Robert Bacon 07867 306016, robert.bacon@yahoo.co.uk
