NEWS
The 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 PLANNING
Cheryl’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 glass
The 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 DIARY
Monday 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, [email protected]