NEWSPotted primroses were distributed to everyone in the congregation on Mothering Sunday, 15th March. Thanks to Diana for organising this. 52 people witnessed the illumination of the rood at the Spring Equinox, the best showing being on Saturday 21st March. The Annual Meeting of Parishioners and the Annual Parochial Church Meeting took place on Sunday 22nd March immediately after morning service. At the former, Bridget and Cheryl were elected as Churchwardens for a further year and at the latter, Colin announced his retirement as Treasurer after 13 years of exemplary service in the role at Barsham. Much appreciation was shown for the work and dedication of all three church officers.Palm Crosses were distributed on Palm Sunday and the service featured a group reading of The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ from St Matthew’s Gospel. 25 people attended The Last Hour reflective service at Barsham on Good Friday, and there was a congregation of 55 for Eucharist on Easter morning, when we were delighted to welcome for his first visit to Barsham The Right Reverend Luke Irvine-Capel SSC, Bishop of Richborough. Many thanks to those who provided tasty refreshments after the service, and to those who decorated the church with such beautiful flower arrangements. A further six swift nesting boxes have been installed in the belfry. The cost of materials has been met by Save Our Suffolk Swifts and the cost of labour (£228.00) is being met through generous donations from members of the congregation. The electronic swift calls will be switched on at the end of April, and the birds are expected to return in early to mid May. Cheryl’s Barsham and Hempnall church walking group meets on Sunday 26thApril for a walk of about 3.5 miles in Barsham and Shipmeadow, starting at Barsham church at 2pm. Tea will be served at the church afterwards. All welcome. The sales table organised by Jenny raised a very creditable £170.00.Amy reports that 176 items were donated to the Foodbank in March.FORWARD PLANNINGVillage hall Big Breakfast, Saturday 9th May, 9am. Booking sheet in the church. Please let Bridget know of any dietary requirements. Organ recital & tea, 3pm on Saturday 30th May. Dr David Flood, formerly Organist of Canterbury Cathedral, will play a selection of pieces by Gigout, JS Bach, Vierne, Mendelssohn, Elgar, Rameau, Saint-Saens and Widor. Advance booking not required. Donations invited on the door.SNIPPETS – The Organ Loft that Never WasWhen David Flood gives his organ recital on the 30th of May, he will be playing the organ designed and built in 1877 by William Hill & Co, one of the leading organ builders of the day. The firm built organs for cathedrals, churches and town halls throughout Britain and beyond. Notable examples include the Chapel of King’s College, Cambridge (1834), the Chapel Royal (1837), Westminster Abbey (1848), Worcester Cathedral (1875), Peterborough Cathedral (1894), St George’s Cathedral, Cape Town and St Andrew’s Cathedral, Sydney; and town halls in Birmingham (1832), Melbourne (1872), Adelaide (1877) and Sydney (1890). The Hill organ was installed at Barsham when the vestry and organ chamber were constructed in 1880, and the triple arched organ screen was added in 1906, having previously been part of a sedilia located on the south wall of the sanctuary. The organ was originally designed to accommodate two manuals and although only one was included at the outset, a second was added during the complete restoration of the instrument in 2004/5 as part of the Trafalgar Bicentennial Commemoration Project. The new keyboard incorporated oak that had been afloat on HMS Victory at the Battle of Trafalgar. The Hill organ was not the first organ at Barsham. An earlier instrument had been installed in the chancel at some point between 1842 and 1868. An 1842 sketch of the church interior showed no organ, but a photograph of 1868 (by William Mills of Smallgate Street, Beccles) shows an organ standing against the north wall of the chancel, roughly where the vestry door is today. While cathedrals and some large city churches had been equipped with organs as far back as the 16th century and even earlier in some cases, organs typically did not arrive in rural parish churches until the mid to late 19th century. Where previously in rural churches the singing of hymns had been accompanied by the village band and perhaps a group of singers led by the parish clerk, now with the introduction of the organ came a formal robed choir seated in choir stalls in the chancel, with an organ installed in a purpose-built organ chamber. These developments were often associated with the Oxford Movement and the Anglo-Catholic Revival, as at Barsham. The ensuing ‘Anglican Choral Revival’ was in full flow by the 1870s and 1880s, with the publication of new hymnals, such as Hymns Ancient & Modern (1861), and the composition of anthems and music for the canticles. Interestingly, in 1891, when the refurbishment and beautification of Holy Trinity Barsham was getting into its stride under its Anglo-Catholic rector and patron, there was a proposal to build an elaborate organ loft at the west end of the church against the wall of the tower. The sketch for this project, entitled ‘Church of the Holy Trinity Barsham – Proposed West Gallery and Organ Case’, was made by the architect and designer Frederick Eden. Although the scheme was never brought to fruition, the sketch survives in the library of the Royal Institute of British Architects. Eden’s other work at Barsham includes designs for the stained glass in the nave, the chancel arch, the altar rails, the (usually obscured) front panel of the altar, and the side chapel itself as well as its stained glass and trompe d’oeil.MAY DIARYSunday 3rd May – Fifth Sunday of Easter. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP), Barsham. Revd Jonathan Olanczuk SSC.Sunday 10th May – Rogation Sunday. Sixth Sunday of Easter. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Revd Canon John Fellows.Sunday 17th May – Seventh Sunday of Easter. 11.15am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Revd Desmond Banister SSC.Sunday 24th May – Pentecost. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Revd Graham Naylor. Sunday 31st May – Trinity Sunday – Patronal Festival. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Revd Graham Naylor. 6.30pm Patronal Evensong. The Ven Rich Henderson, Archdeacon of Suffolk.Church correspondent: Robert Bacon 07867 306016, robert.bacon@yahoo.co.uk
NEWSThe PCC met for routine business on Thursday 5th March. Coming events in the second half of March include the Vernal Equinox, with the illumination of the rood, weather permitting, at about 5.15pm on the 19th, 20th and 21st. The Annual Parochial Church Meeting and Annual Meeting of Parishioners will take place on Sunday 22nd immediately after morning service and before coffee. The sales table this month will be on the fifth Sunday, 29th March.Following the interest shown in the belfry nesting boxes by last summer’s swifts, another set of swift nesting boxes is to be installed in the belfry this spring. The materials will be funded by a grant from Save Our Suffolk Swifts, and we hope the cost of labour can be met from donations. Details to follow. The sales table organised by Chris Bardsley raised a magnificent £200.00.Amy reports that 107 items were donated to the Foodbank in February.FORWARD PLANNINGCheryl’s Barsham and Hempnall church walking group will meet on Sunday 26th April for a walk of about 3.5 miles in Barsham and Shipmeadow. The start will be at Barsham church at 2pm and tea will be served there afterwards. All welcome. The village hall Big Breakfast, Saturday 9th May, 9am-midday. Please book in advance using the booking sheet at the back of the church. Organ recital & tea, Holy Trinity Barsham, 3pm on Saturday 30th May, given by Dr David Flood, formerly Organist and Master of Choristers at Canterbury Cathedral. This will be an enjoyable afternoon featuring some of the most famous organ favourites alongside some more unusual treats. Advance booking not required. Donations invited on the door.Summer Lunch, Wednesday 1st July. At the kind invitation of Nick and Jenny Caddick, at St Bartholomew’s, Shipmeadow.SNIPPETS – Seasonal reflections in stained glassThe three panels of Victorian stained glass from the east window of St Bartholomew’s Church Shipmeadow (front cover photo) were first installed in the church in the late 19th century when both Holy Trinity Barsham and St Bartholomew’s Shipmeadow were refurbished and beautified to designs by the celebrated Anglo-Catholic architect and designer Frederick Eden. It is possible, maybe likely, that the panels were designed by Eden himself, though they cannot have been made at his own workshop, which was not set up until 1909. As we approach Passiontide and Easter, the panels offer a dual reflection on this most important time in the Christian liturgical calendar. First and most obviously, of course, is their depiction of the Crucifixion. Less obviously, there lies in these window panels a story of redemption and resurrection.After being declared redundant in the 1970s, St Bartholomew’s enjoyed a brief revival after the 1979 fire at Barsham but was finally deconsecrated in the 1980s. By the time Nick and Jenny Caddick purchased the building in 1992, the building was in a state of creeping dereliction with windows smashed and the panels of the east window stolen. Then, in 1996, not long after the completion of the restoration and conversion, the Caddick family was sitting at breakfast one Sunday morning when they were disturbed by an intruder, who declared that he was in possession of the missing east window panels and wished to return them. The Caddicks directed him to John Buchanan, who would be celebrating Eucharist that morning at Barsham. The man attended the Barsham service and at the altar rail made it known to John that he wanted to make a confession. John invited him to stay behind after the service and the story spilled out. The man had been a builder. Not from this area, he had found himself one day passing St Bartholomew’s on the main road, and seeing the church in a state of disrepair, he stopped to investigate. Marking its state of decay, he decided to remove the stained glass panels from the east window. Years later, however, his conscience caught up with him and he confessed the theft to his local vicar. Unfortunately, the builder was unable to recall the location of the village church from which he had taken the glass, and the vicar’s enquiries of the diocese were fruitless. The builder carefully boxed up the panels for safe storage until, one day in 1996, he found himself by chance on the same road through Shipmeadow. Recognizing the church from which he had taken the glass, he stopped and went in to investigate, only to find himself intruding on the Caddicks’ breakfast. So it was that the window panels came to be returned, carefully curated and undamaged. Since then, Nick and Jenny Caddick have had them restored at Devlin Plummer (formerly King’s) of Norwich, stained glass specialists, and mounted beautifully in heavy oak frames over LED back-lit screens. They will shortly be hung for display on the wall at St Bartholomew’s where they belong, re-erected, if not resurrected.APRIL DIARYMonday 30th, Tuesday 31st March & Wednesday 1st April – 6.30pm Compline, Holy Trinity Bungay. Revd Graham Naylor. Wednesday 1st April – 10am Holy Communion, Holy Trinity Bungay. Revd Graham Naylor.Thursday 2nd April – Maundy Thursday. 6.30pm Holy Communion with foot washing, Holy Trinity Bungay. Revd Graham Naylor. Friday 3rd April – Good Friday. Reflective Service – The Last Hour, 2pm at Barsham. Revd Graham Naylor. Sunday 5th April – Easter Day. 6.30am Sunrise Service, Bungay Common, Revd Graham Naylor. 11.00am Sung Eucharist (BCP), Barsham. The Right Reverend Luke Irvine-Capel SSC, Bishop of Richborough.Sunday 12th April – Second Sunday of Easter. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Revd Canon John Fellows.Sunday 19th April – Third Sunday of Easter. 11.15am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Revd Desmond Banister SSC.Sunday 26th April – Fourth Sunday of Easter.11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Revd Jonathan Olanczuk SSC.Church correspondent: Robert Bacon 07867 306016, robert.bacon@yahoo.co.uk
NEWSBridget and Cheryl attended the Service of Welcome and Enthronement of The Right Reverend Dr Joanne Grenfell, 12th Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich on Saturday 24th January at St Edmundsbury Cathedral. A full nave, flickering candles in all the candelabra and contemplative Taizé chants made for a special atmosphere at the Benefice Evensong for Candlemas at Barsham onSunday 1st February. Special thanks to Sarah for leading the choir, and to those who provided such a delicious tea. The sales table understudied and organised by Bridget raised a splendid £140.00. Amy reports that 123 items were donated to the Foodbank in January.FORWARD PLANNINGLight Show, St Michael’s Beccles, Saturday 14th March, 6.30-8.30pm. See St Michael’s as never before with light installations by visual artist William Lindley. Come and go any time during the evening. Booking not required. Donations gratefully received. Refreshments on sale. Vernal Equinox, Friday 20th March. The illumination of the rood, weather permitting, will be on the 19th, 20th & 21st March at about 5.15pm. Annual Parochial Church Meeting and Annual Meeting of Parishioners, Sunday 22nd March. These will take place in the church immediately after morning service and before coffee. If you cannot attend and would like copies of the audited financial statements, please contact Dominique (dominique.bacon@gmail.com).Easter Day, Sunday 5th April. The Bishop of Richborough, The Right Reverend Luke Irvine-Capel SSC, will be presiding at Eucharist. Organ recital and tea, Saturday 30th May at 3pm. Dr David Flood, for 32 years Organist and Master of Choristers at Canterbury Cathedral, will be giving a recital at Holy Trinity Barsham. Details to follow. Summer Lunch, Wednesday 1st July. At the kind invitation of Nick and Jenny Caddick, at St Bartholomew’s, Shipmeadow.SNIPPETS – Colin’s Historical Reflections on the APCMIt is the time of year when Church Officers are busily preparing their reports on the previous year’s activities for presentation to the Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM). The meeting, which must take place by the 31st May, appears to be one meeting but is in fact two. First is the Annual Meeting of Parishioners (AMP) at which the only business is the election of the Churchwardens, and not only those on the Church electoral role but also all parishioners listed on the Parliamentary role, church-goers or not and people of any faith, are entitled to vote.Immediately following the AMP, and generally quite seamlessly, the APCM takes place and at this only those listed on the Church electoral role may vote. The purpose of the APCM is to receive the reports on fabric, finance and the general activities of the church, and to elect PCC members, Deanery Synod representatives, and to appoint an independent auditor.Historically the situation was very different. The meeting often then referred to as either the Vestry or Easter Meeting was, until late Victorian times, responsible for all activities within the parish whether secular or religious. In addition to the Churchwardens, also elected were, an Overseer of the Poor who administered the Poor Law, a Surveyor of the Highways responsible for the maintenance of thoroughfares in the parish, and the appointment of sexton. Financial and fabric matters were normally undertaken by the incumbent, who often met the cost of church repairs himself.Whilst at a small parish like Barsham the proceedings were relatively straightforward, in larger parishes they could be more complex. At the Vestry meeting of 1797 at St. Peter Mancroft Norwich, in addition to the two churchwardens, also elected were two sidesmen, a pew opener, a bellows blower, an organist, an upper and lower sexton, a clerk, four overseers of the poor and remarkably, twelve auditors.During the nineteenth century there was a growing discontent at the Church’s involvement in secular matters. This culminated in the passing of the Local Government Act of 1894, which removed all secular business from the Vestry Meetings, transferring it to the newly established elected Parish Councils. This transition was not without issues, the literacy and numeracy so evident in the clergy was not always present in the local population, who were now expected to chair and conduct business. Additionally, charities previously administered by the Church were, if of a secular nature, transferred to the Parish Councils, but many charities were of indeterminate status and posed a divisive issue.In Barsham the incumbent, the Rev. Allan Coates, a traditionalist, was strongly opposed to the new legislation and believed sincerely that Church and State could best work together. His response to the newly formed Parish Council’s desire to take over the single charity paying £2 9s 0d for churchyard maintenance was somewhat brusque. The final sentence of his letter to the Parish Council states ‘I do not care to have it said even by one person that I am dealing with funds to which I have no legal right, especially in the face of the fact that every year I dispense from my own pocket over £30 in cash aid of the Clubs and pensions to my parishioners’. The matter was resolved by the Charity Commissioners, who deemed that the charity be divided equally between the two councils, with trustees Rev. Allan Coates, George Self and Walter Felgate appointed to ensure good management of the charity. However, Coates was resolute in his refusal to act as chairman of the Parish Council, which resulted in no meetings being conducted from the 22nd April 1897 until the 4th August 1915 when, partly because of the war time situation, he finally relented and took the chair! Parish Councils in Barsham were thereafter held successfully on a regular basis.In contrast, Parochial Church Councils since 1894 have successfully undertaken their reduced role, and today the Most Holy Trinity Barsham is blessed with an excellent Council whose dedicated members are unified in their resolve and industry to ensure the continued success of this beautiful Parish Church with its friendly atmosphere and very special style of worship. If possible, please spare a little of your time and remain in Church after the morning service to attend the APCM on the 22nd March to discover the activities and events of your PCC over the past year.MARCH DIARYSunday 1st March – Second Sunday in Lent. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Revd Jonathan Olanczuk. Sunday 8th March – Third Sunday in Lent. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Revd Canon John Fellows.Sunday 15th March – Fourth Sunday in Lent. Mothering Sunday. 11.15amSung Eucharist (BCP). Revd Desmond Banister.Sunday 22nd March – Fifth Sunday in Lent. Passion Sunday.11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Revd Graham Naylor.Sunday 29th March – Palm Sunday. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Revd Graham Naylor.Church correspondent: Robert Bacon 07867 306016, robert.bacon@yahoo.co.uk
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
