NEWS
18 walkers and three dogs took part in Cheryl’s Barsham walk on Saturday 19thJuly. This was a most successful social occasion with half of the participants from Barsham and half from Hempnall. From Barsham church, the four-mile route took us to Ringsfield church via the old main road to Barsham Bridge Cottages and the track past Lodge Farm. Taking the bridleway from Ringsfield Old Hall to Ringsfield New Hall, the return leg brought us back along Hall Road and then Clarkes Lane to the church and a magnificent and most welcome tea. Many thanks to Cheryl for organising the event and to all those who baked, served and cleared the lovely tea. The PCC is grateful for donations made for the tea, totalling £210.00.
Bell ringers from the Friends of Derick Obergene Ringing Society came to ring the church bells on Monday morning 28th July.
A large congregation gathered on Thursday 7th September for the funeral and burial of Victor Smith of Barsham.
Haymaking began on Saturday 9th August and continued through the following week from Tuesday 12th. The mowing was undertaken by the Community Payback Team and the raking largely by members of the church (front cover picture: the Tuesday team). Once again this year, Chris Bardsley kindly provided her delicious ploughman’s lunches – so welcome after a morning’s hard labour in the sun! We are grateful to Community Payback for their cheerful support.
The architect’s Quinquennial Inspection has been arranged for Tuesday 23rdSeptember with church architect Ruth Blackman.
Sarah Jane’s next market stall is scheduled for 26th September. She would be grateful for any unwanted household goods in good condition to add to her stall.
The July sales table organised by Chris Bardsley raised a magnificent £171.00.
Amy reports that we contributed 169 items to the Beccles Food Bank in July.
FORWARD PLANNING
A talk by Dr Barry Darch, Saturday 6th September at 2pm in Barsham Church: Righteous or Roguish? The Redes of Beccles and Barsham: 400 years of a prominent local family. A delicious Barsham tea will be available afterwards and donations for the talk and tea are invited to contribute to the cost of making safe the Rede tomb in the churchyard. Booking in advance not necessary.
Ride, Stride & Drive, Saturday 13th September, 9am-5pm. Yellow sponsorship forms are 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 is also a sign-up sheet for those willing to join the rota of those manning the church on the day: helpers can also be sponsored for their efforts. Any questions about this event should be addressed to Cheryl.
The Autumn Equinox is on Monday 22nd September. Cloud cover permitting, the illumination of the rood will be visible on the 21st, 22nd and 23rd September at about 5.50pm. The display is usually best on the day of the Equinox.
Harvest Festival Evensong will be held at 5.30pm on Sunday 28th September. Harvest Supper follows at 7pm in the village hall. Tickets for Harvest Supper can be purchased from Bridget at £12.50 each.
SNIPPETS – Making hay while the sun shines
The annual haymaking in the churchyard is, of course, intended to keep the churchyard tidy and to encourage the regeneration of its diverse and precious flora and fauna. It is perhaps an echo of the hay-making that was for thousands of years, from the dawn of settled farming in Neolithic times until the recent age of mechanisation, one of the most important agricultural operations of the year. Hay was a staple crop, and haymaking was vital to the livelihood and survival of agrarian communities that depended on the power of horse and ox. Without hay – dried fodder – livestock could not survive the winter. Hay was also the main transport fuel right up to the age of mechanised transport in the 20th century. It enabled horse-drawn transport to operate around the year and to reach into regions without grazing. It should be no surprise that in Domesday Book at least 80% of the settlements recorded had their own hay meadows, and the frequent references to haymaking in medieval manuscripts, and its representation in the art and literature of later centuries reflects its central role in rural life. Think no further than Millet, Van Gogh, John Clare and Thomas Hardy, for instance.
The timing of haymaking was crucial to its success. The leaf and seed material in hay, not the stalk, contains the nutritional value, so mowing had to be timed for when the leaf was at its maximum size and the seed nearly ripe. This required experience and judgement as well as luck, for a period of dry weather at the right time was essential. To get the job done before the hay was over-ripened or spoiled by rain, haymaking called for all hands – men, women and children – from across the social spectrum. This common purpose and the collaboration and cooperation that accompanied it served to strengthen social bonds and to maintain a sense of community. It was a feature of rural life now lost.
Until the mid-19th century, and much later in some parts, mowing the hay was done by hand, using scythes. The cut herbage had to be turned and ‘tedded’ (spread out) to aerate and dry it as rapidly as possible to avoid fermentation. It was then raked into ‘windrows’, ready to be collected and piled into haystacks or carted to haylofts. Rainfall during the curing process could be a disaster. The damp caused leaching and moulding, which could ruin the entire crop, hence the idiom that survives into our own times: ‘make hay while the sun shines’.
SEPTEMBER DIARY
Sunday 7th September – Twelfth Sunday after Trinity. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Revd Jonathan Olanczuk.
Sunday 14th September – Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Revd Canon John Fellows.
Sunday 21st September – Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity. 11.15am Sung Eucharist (BCP), Barsham. Revd Desmond Banister.
Sunday 28th September – Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Revd Graham Naylor.
Sunday 28th September – Harvest Festival Evensong, 5.30pm. Revd Graham Naylor.
Church correspondent: Robert Bacon 07867 306016, [email protected]