NEWS
123 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 PLANNING
All 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 Board
The 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 DIARY
Sunday 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, [email protected]