NEWSEaster Day saw the welcome return of flowers to the church, including a beautiful display of Easter lilies (the PCC is grateful for donations towards the cost). The flower arrangements in church are widely appreciated and as reported to the APCM, ‘We are fortunate to have such a talented team of flower arrangers’. Thank you MaryJane, Cheryl, Denise, Bridget, Sarah, Margaret, Audrey, Philippa, Chris, Cherry and Diana. The APCM took place on Thursday 1st May, attended by the PCC and five members of the congregation. Bridget and Cheryl were re-elected as churchwardens and grateful thanks were extended to them for their commitment and expertise in carrying out their responsibilities and duties. The 80th Anniversary of VE Day was marked in our service on Sunday 11th May in the choice of music and in Canon John Fellows’ thought-provoking and powerful sermon. The inauguration of the beautiful new service books will be at the Patronal Evensong on Trinity Sunday, 15th June. More on this in the July Newsletter. Bridget and Cheryl have met the new Bishop of Richborough, the Right Reverend Luke Irvine-Capel SSC, who provides Alternative Episcopal Oversight to Anglo-Catholic parishes in the eastern region of the Province of Canterbury. He was previously Archdeacon of Chichester and was consecrated as Bishop of Richborough at Canterbury Cathedral in February. We look forward to welcoming him to Barsham in due course. 40 members of the Round Tower Churches Society visited the church on Saturday 10th May prior to refreshments and their AGM at the village hall. The electronic swift calls in the tower have been switched on in the hope of attracting swifts to the belfry nest boxes. Please let us know of any sightings. We are grateful to the Community Payback Team for their recent work tidying up the vegetation around the parking area. Sarah Jane’s recent market stalls at Beccles market have raised £251.00 towards the renovation of the Rede tomb, and her next is on Friday 6th June, and then 26thSeptember and 3rd October. If anyone has unwanted household items in good condition, she would much appreciate having them for her stall. The sales table organised again by Jenny raised a very useful £120.00. The first ever Easter Hamper Raffle realised a splendid £170.00 for the fabric fund. The Beccles Food Bank thanks Barsham for the 175 items donated in April and would be grateful for the donation of household utensils as well as food. FORWARD PLANNINGThe Summer Lunch will be at St Bartholomew’s Shipmeadow at 12.30pm on Wednesday 25th June. Tickets cost £12.50 per person and should be bought in advance from Bridget. Barsham walk with Cheryl’s church walking group, 2pm Sat 19th July, starting at the church. Just over 4 miles. Tea afterwards at 4pm. All welcome. Long-range diary dates (with details nearer the time): Sat 6th Sept at 2pm, Barsham Church: Dr Barry Darch’s talk on the Redes of Beccles. Sat 13th Sept: Ride & Stride. Sun 28th Sept: Harvest Festival Evensong and village hall supper. Thu 18th Dec: Christmas Carol Service.SNIPPETS – A Blackbird in JuneIn the centre of the chancel lies the decorative marble ledger stone of Thomas Missenden, Rector of Barsham for 34 years in the mid-18th century (photo, front cover). He furnished his memorial with inscriptions in both Greek and Latin, the latter his reflection on the transient nature of life and translated as ‘The present hour is thine: The next no man can claim’. So, how to make the most of the ‘present hour’? One answer is a touch of mental housekeeping to bring under control the corrosive ‘noise’ of daily cares and anxieties that clutter minds and steal emotional energy. The Times recently reported on research at Cambridge University suggesting that ‘Taking time to contemplate aesthetically pleasing art can boost abstract thinking and free us from everyday anxieties…allowing for greater clarity and a healthier perspective’. Indeed, pausing consciously to appreciate beauty – not only in art but in a myriad of other forms, including human love and the natural world – can only help to enrich the present. This notion is perfectly illustrated in Edward Thomas’ poem Adelstrop, written in 1915 during the First World War and recalling a pre-war train journey when the train made an unscheduled halt at Adlestrop (‘…drew up there. Unwontedly.’). The stillness of the halt afforded Thomas a moment of unexpected serenity and tranquility as he soaked up the pastoral scene before him. The poem’s focus is the beauty of the natural world and the value of observing and appreciating often fleeting and unexpected moments of wonder and beauty in the everyday world. The poem is all the more poignant as Edward Thomas was killed on Easter Day 1917 in the thunderous violence and chaos of the Battle of Arras. The poem was published in the New Statesman three weeks later. Yes. I remember Adlestrop —The name, because one afternoonOf heat the express-train drew up thereUnwontedly. It was late June.The steam hissed. Someone cleared his throat.No one left and no one cameOn the bare platform. What I sawWas Adlestrop—only the nameAnd willows, willow-herb, and grass,And meadowsweet, and haycocks dry,No whit less still and lonely fairThan the high cloudlets in the sky.And for that minute a blackbird sangClose by, and round him, mistier,Farther and farther, all the birdsOf Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire. JUNE DIARY Sunday 1st June – Seventh Sunday of Easter. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). RevdJonathan Olanczuk.Sunday 8th June – Pentecost. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Revd Canon John Fellows.Sunday 15th June – Trinity Sunday, Patronal Festival. 11.15am Sung Eucharist (BCP), Barsham. Revd Desmond Banister.6.30pm Patronal Evensong with new service books. Revd Graham Naylor.Sunday 22nd June – First Sunday after Trinity. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Revd Graham Naylor.Sunday 29th June – Second Sunday after Trinity. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Revd Graham Naylor.Church correspondent: Robert Bacon 07867 306016, robert.bacon@yahoo.co.uk
NEWSOn Palm Sunday, 13th April, palm crosses were blessed and distributed, commemorating Christ’s entry into Jerusalem and the palm branches with which people ‘strew His way’. The choir’s performance of Jesus Christ the Apple Tree was utterly beautiful and captivating, the Church filled with ethereal tones and harmonies and each word perfectly sung with absolute clarity. At the Benefice Service at Barsham on Mothering Sunday, 30th March, flowers were distributed to everyone, not just mothers, recognising the medieval roots of the Mothering Sunday tradition when, on the fourth Sunday in Lent, people who had moved away returned to their place of origin and the ‘mother church’ where they had been baptised, for a special service. The tradition survived the Protestant Reformation only to be hijacked in the early 20th century, when Mothering Sunday was increasingly taken to be ‘Mother’s Day’, a secular celebration of motherhood. Warmest congratulations to George and Fiona on their marriage at Barsham on Saturday 29th March (photo front cover – wedding decoration). The CollecTin.com contactless donation terminal has now been installed. We hope it will be helpful to visitors who wish to make a donation to help maintain the church. The PCC is grateful to Peter Gascoyne for researching and leading this initiative, and for sourcing the terminal and installing an internet router in the church. The illumination of the rood on the day of the Equinox, 20th March, was spectacular, as it was the previous evening as well. In all, 59 people witnessed the event, 43 on the day of the Equinox and 16 the day before.Theo Wells has repaired the panelling on the east side of the lychgate, replacing the worn-out old boards with new ones. Theo has also repaired the old churchyard bench most skilfully and refurbished it beautifully, just in time for its 90th birthday: it commemorates the Silver Jubilee of King George V in May 1935. It has been repositioned in the churchyard and makes another wonderful place for walkers and visitors to rest in this most attractive of churchyards. Migrating swallows have already started arriving in Suffolk from warmer winter climes and the swifts will follow. The electronic swift calls in the tower will be switched on shortly and we hope the swift boxes installed in the belfry last year will attract some birds this summer. Please do report any sightings if you see swifts around the church. Graham, Bridget, Cheryl and David acquitted themselves honourably on behalf of Barsham at the inter-churches General Knowledge quiz at Emmanuel Church, Bungay at the end of March. The sales table organised by Jenny raised a splendid £105.00.Thank you for the 226 items donated to the Food Bank in March. FORWARD PLANNINGThe APCM (Annual Parochial Church Meeting) and Annual Meeting of Parishioners will be held in the church at 2pm on Thursday 1st May. Anybody can attend and those entered on the Church Electoral Roll for this parish and those entered on the register of local government electors for the parish may vote at the election of parochial representatives of the laity (ie churchwardens, members of the PCC etc). If you cannot attend and would like copies of the audited financial statements, please contact Dominique (dominique.bacon@gmail.com).The Summer Lunch will take place on Wednesday 25th June at St Bartholomew’s Shipmeadow at the kind invitation of Nick & Jenny Caddick. Cheryl’s church walking group will be undertaking a walk in the Barsham area onSaturday 19th July, starting at the church at 2pm and finishing there for tea at 4pm. The walk will be just over 4 miles. All welcome. Dr Barry Darch has kindly offered to give a public talk on the Redes of Beccleson Saturday 6th September at 2pm at Barsham Church. This has come about as a result of the PCC’s current investigations into making good the crumbling Rede tomb in the churchyard. Barry has kindly offered to donate the proceeds of his talk to a fund for the tomb repair works. SNIPPETS – the Rede TombThe Rede tomb is the large table memorial set on a platform above a vaulted tomb on the east of the churchyard path. The Rede family played a significant part in the history of Beccles from the 15th to the 19th centuries, though the presence of the tomb in Barsham is through their ownership and residence at Ashmans Hall, Barsham in the 19th century. Dr Thomas Rede was rector of St Michael’s Church in the first half of the 16thcentury and various Redes were involved in the Townlands Charity from its inception after the Henrician Reformation in the 1530s down to the 19th century. In the 18thcentury a Thomas Rede owned Roos Hall and built St Mary’s House, Ballygate in 1788, and his son Robert built Ashmans Hall in 1820. Both Thomas and Robert are buried in the tomb at Barsham. Also of note, on the north side of the table is inscribed a memorial to Rede Rede Fowke, the infant son of Frank Fowke and his wife Louisa, the daughter of the Rev’d Robert Rede Rede of Ashmans Hall. Captain Frank Fowke (1823-1865) of the Royal Engineers was a prolific and ingenious inventor of military equipment and a notable architect and engineer. Under Prince Albert’s patronage, he designed several important mid-19th century public buildings, including the Royal Albert Hall, parts of the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Museum of Science and Arts in Edinburgh, and the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin.May DiarySunday 4th May – Third Sunday of Easter. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). RevdJonathan Olanczuk.Sunday 11th May – Fourth Sunday of Easter. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Revd Canon John Fellows.Sunday 18th May – Fifth Sunday of Easter. 11.00am Sung Eucharist (BCP), Barsham. Revd Desmond Banister.Sunday 25th May – Sixth Sunday of Easter. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Revd Graham Naylor.Church correspondent: Robert Bacon 07867 306016, robert.bacon@yahoo.co.uk
NEWSA congregation of over 50 people welcomed our new Rector, the Revd Graham Naylor, when he took his first service at Barsham on Sunday 23rd February. The service was followed by celebratory drinks and eats. Graham is running a Lent Course over four consecutive weeks on Wednesday mornings at Holy Trinity Bungay from 11am to noon, starting on Wednesday 12thMarch, and at Mettingham Village Hall on Tuesday evenings, from 6pm to 7pm, starting on Tuesday 18th March. People wishing to be included on the Electoral Roll for Holy Trinity Barsham should collect a form from Bridget or from the back of the church, and return it to Bridget completed by Sunday 13th April. The PCC is grateful to George Hammond for repairing the iron gate in the chancel screen (photo, front cover). For some years parts of its decorative detail had been bent and missing. The gate was designed in about 1870 by Charles Kempe (1837-1907), the celebrated designer of church fittings, interior decorations and stained glass, who also made the glass for our fine east window. (hammondhalldesigns.com)At the routine PCC meeting on 6th March, it was confirmed that Ruth Blackman, a director of architects Birdsall, Swash and Blackman has agreed to become our new church architect. This architectural practice has been serving churches in Norfolk for 50 years and Ruth has a particular interest in round tower churches. The PCC is grateful for the valuable service of our former architect, Chris Codling of Peter Codling Architects Ltd of Norwich, who retired recently. An Easter hamper is to be raffled after the service on Easter Day. If you would like to contribute some foodstuffs or drink – perhaps with an Easter theme – please give donations to Diana. The sales table organised by Margaret raised the fantastic sum of £150.00, a figure much helped by the sale of Chris Bardsley’s beautiful Easter Cards.Many thanks to those who contributed to the 232 items donated to the Food Bank in February.FORWARD PLANNINGThe APCM (Annual Parochial Church Meeting) and Annual Meeting of Parishioners will take place in the church at 2pm on Thursday 1st May. Anybody can attend and those entered on the Church Electoral Roll for this parish and those entered on the register of local government electors for the parish may vote at the election of parochial representatives of the laity (ie churchwardens, members of the PCC etc). If you cannot attend and would like copies of the audited financial statements, please contact Dominique (dominique.bacon@gmail.com).Coffee mornings at Barsham and Shipmeadow Village Hall take place on the 2nd Saturday of each month, 10am - noon. There is usually a good attendance from the church congregation and always delicious cakes and snacks.The Summer Lunch will be held on Wednesday 25th June at St Bartholomew’s Shipmeadow at the kind invitation of Nick and Jenny Caddick. A MESSAGE FROM THE RECTOR, The Revd Graham Dear friendsAs I type this in mid-March, it is four weeks since I had the joy and privilege of being Instituted, Inducted, and Installed (the Church of England never does one thing when it can do three!) as Rector of the Bungay Benefice. I am thankful for the very warm and supportive welcome I have received from everyone – including the food and fizz following my first service at Barsham - and I look forward to getting to know you all over the coming months and years. I would add my thanks to those of Bishop Graeme to the churchwardens, PCC, congregation, and clergy who have maintained the pattern of services and the ongoing work of ministry during the vacancy.Prior to training for ordination at Ridley Hall, Cambridge, I spent 25 years in the touring music industry as a sound engineer and in tour and production management. I was attached to St Peter & St Paul church, Lavenham with St Mary’s church, Preston St Mary during training and stayed on to serve my curacy – including holding a vacancy in the year that Her late-Majesty Queen Elizabeth II died.I look forward to being part of the worshipping community at Barsham and to discovering together what God is calling us to in the next chapter in the life of the parish and benefice as we seek to minister to the existing congregation and the community around us.With every blessingGrahamAPRIL DIARYSunday 6th April – Fifth Sunday in Lent. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Revd Jonathan Olanczuk.Sunday 13th April – Palm Sunday. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Revd Canon John Fellows.Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday 14th-16th April – 6.30pm Compline with Reflection, Holy Trinity Bungay. Revd Graham Naylor. Thursday 17th April – Maundy Thursday. 6.30pm Holy Communion with foot washing, Holy Trinity Bungay. Revd Graham Naylor. Friday 18th April – Good Friday. 10.30am Walk of Witness, starting at Emmanuel Church, Bungay, arriving at Holy Trinity Bungay for Reflective Service for Good Friday at 12 midday. 2-3pm Reflective Service – Hour at the Cross. Barsham. Revd Graham Naylor. Sunday 20th April – Easter Day. 6.30am Sunrise Service, Bungay Common, Revd Graham Naylor. 11.00am Sung Eucharist (BCP), Barsham. Revd Desmond Banister.Sunday 27th April – Second Sunday of Easter. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Revd Graham Naylor.Church correspondent: Robert Bacon 07867 306016, robert.bacon@yahoo.co.uk
NEWSThe Institution, Induction and Installation of the Revd Graham Naylor as Rector of the Bungay Benefice by the Right Reverend Graeme Knowles, Assistant Bishop, and the Venerable Rich Henderson, Archdeacon of Suffolk, took place at Holy Trinity Bungay on Monday 17th February. The Venerable Sally Gaze, Archdeacon for Rural Mission, was the preacher and the singing was led by a combined choir from Lavenham and Barsham. The church was full and the congregation included a party of Graham’s supporters from Lavenham. Welcome Graham!The Revd Graham Naylor will be running a Lent Course with weekly daytime sessions at Holy Trinity Bungay and evening sessions at Mettingham Village Hall. Details to be published separately. In celebration of Candlemas on Sunday 2nd February, lighted candles were held by all for the singing of the introit hymn, When candles are lighted on Candlemas Day.Spring Equinox, Thursday 20th March. Weather permitting, the illumination of the rood will be visible on the 19th, 20th and 21st March at about 5.15pm. All welcome. The January sales table organised by Jenny raised a magnificent £120.00, a sum boosted by the sale of the Christmas gift tags so beautifully made by Chris Bardsley. In January 210 items were donated to the Food Bank at St Luke’s. Warm clothes are still needed during these winter months. FORWARD PLANNINGA date for the diary: The Summer Lunch will be on Wednesday 25th June.SNIPPETS – The Taming of the Shrew’s ReputationWe share our house with a shrew. It emerges while we’re watching TV and scurries to and fro along the beam behind the screen. It does no harm and we accept it as a legitimate member of the household: shrews, after all, have probably lived in the building for hundreds of years. Reflecting on our little housemate, I realised I knew almost nothing about shrews, except for their unenviable reputation. The shrew was reviled in folklore from the earliest times and in many cultures. Aristotle recorded the popular belief that the shrew was venomous (the water shrew does in fact have a toxic bite), and Pliny described various cures for shrew bites. In the evolution of the English language the word ‘shrew’ took on two meanings. In Old English ‘screawa’ referred to the creature, but in Middle English ‘shrewe’ came to mean a spiteful or malign person, and became a nickname for the Devil. A spin-off verb emerged and ‘I beshrew thee’ was a common spell for directing malign forces. The mid-13th century Bodleian Bestiarydescribed shrews as ‘greedy men who seek earthly goods and make the goods of others their prey’, and in the late 14th century Chaucer employed the word thus in The Pardoner’s Tale. By the 16th century the label ‘shrew’ had been assigned to the ill-tempered, scolding, nagging woman who had long existed as a comedic, stock character in traditional folklore, and Shakespeare employed this usage routinely, notably in The Taming of the Shrew. In the early 17th century, scholars at the English College of Douai, translating the Latin Vulgate Bible into English, named the shrew in a long list of animals listed as unclean in Leviticus 11, though in fact they had mistranslated the Latin word for ferret! The shrew’s unfortunate reputation was summed up in Edward Topsell’s mid-17th century bestiary Historie of Foure-Footed Beasts and Serpents, which made the shrew ‘a ravening beast, feyning itself to be gentle and tame, but being touched it biteth deep and poisoneth deadly. It beareth a cruel mind, desiring to hurt anything, neither is there any creature it loveth or it loveth him, because it is feared of all’.In contrast, some Native American traditions were kinder to the shrew. With its relentless search for food and survival, it was revered for its qualities of curiosity, resourcefulness and perseverance: an understanding of this fascinating and impressive creature that is so much nearer the mark. The common shrew native to Britain is typically 5-8 cm in length and weighs just 5-12g. It must eat every 2-3 hours to stay alive and each day consume some 80-90% of its bodyweight in food – constantly hunting for insects, nuts, grain, worms, with only short snatches of sleep between. It does not hibernate, but in winter survives by shrinking, reducing its size – including its organs, skull and brain – by 30-50%, thus minimising the energy required to move, and reducing the demand for food in times of scarcity. Perhaps to avoid competing for food, the shrew is solitary and socialises only during the summer breeding season. It has an exceptionally high metabolic rate, with up to 800 breaths a minute and a heartbeat of 800 -1,000 beats a minute. Most closely related to the mole and the hedgehog, shrews are not rodents. They are the second most numerous mammal in Britain and are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981). Through the lens of science rather than superstition and folklore, the shrew is now better understood and appreciated, but the Native American celebration of its qualities is worth holding on to. The curiosity of the shrew reminds us to sharpen our awareness, to explore, learn, ask questions, find hidden opportunities, pay attention to small details and to seek new experiences. Its resourcefulness reminds us to use our available resources wisely and with ingenuity; and its determination sets an example of diligence and tenacity in navigating life’s challenges.MARCH DIARYSunday 2nd March – Last Sunday after Epiphany. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). RevdJonathan Olanczuk.Wednesday 5th March – Ash Wednesday. 6.30pm Holy Communion with Imposition of Ashes, Holy Trinity Bungay. Revd Graham Naylor. Sunday 9th March – First Sunday of Lent. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Revd Canon John Fellows.Sunday 16th March – Second Sunday of Lent. 11.15am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Revd Desmond Banister.Sunday 23rd March – Third Sunday of Lent. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Revd Canon John Fellows.Sunday 30th March – Fourth Sunday of Lent. Mothering Sunday. Benefice Service at Barsham: 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Revd Graham Naylor.Church correspondent: Robert Bacon 07867 306016, robert.bacon@yahoo.co.uk
