NEWS
Potted 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 PLANNING
Village 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 Was
When 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 DIARY
Sunday 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, [email protected]