NEWSRoy Wormald (photo) will celebrate Eucharist for us for the final time on Sunday 18th September. He has supported Barsham by celebrating our Eucharist service once a month for the past 12 years, and during the two years of Covid shutdown he continued to provide a monthly sermon for church members. We are most grateful to him, and we shall miss him officiating on the third Sunday, but we are delighted that he and Audrey will continue to be regular attenders at Barsham church. The Summer Lunch Party at St Bartholomew’s Church, Shipmeadow on 3rd August was a memorable occasion, enjoyed by over 70 people. Very many thanks to everyone who contributed to the organisation, logistics and catering, and special thanks to our hosts, Nick and Jenny Caddick. The churchyard is looking splendidly tidy following haymaking on 5th and 6th August: Colin reckons smarter than ever post-haymaking. As he points out, the sixteen people who toiled over two hot days were undoubtedly incentivised by the prospect of the excellent lunch provided by Chris Bardsley, who was assisted on the Friday by Carolyn. Many thanks and well done to ‘The Sixteen’, amongst whom were five young and energetic haymakers whose contribution was especially appreciated: thank you Annabelle, Louisa, Tilly, Josh and Tom. Janet has kindly prepared a variety of plants for sale at Old Hall, Barsham, with all proceeds going to the church. Warm thanks to everyone who donated to the Food Bank in July: you gave an impressive 259 items.The July sales table organised by Jenny yielded £100. Sarah Jane’s remarkable endeavours in selling the legacy teddy bears continue with further sales of £195, bringing the total to a splendid £1,782. The Barsham PCC gratefully acknowledges donations of £150 and £100, the latter being made in memory of the late Roy and Marian Pike. FORWARD PLANNINGThis year’s Suffolk Churches Ride and Stride is on Saturday 10th September. The Autumn Equinox Event takes place on Thursday 22nd, Friday 23rd and Saturday 24th September at 5.50pm with refreshments served from 30 minutes beforehand. Weather permitting, the spectacle is best on the middle day.Harvest Festival will be celebrated with Evensong at 5.30pm on Sunday 2nd October, with Harvest Supper at the village hall afterwards at 7pm. Tickets will be available in due course from Bridget and Diana. A date for the winter diary: Will Lindley will be presenting another Light Show in Barsham Church on Friday 18th and Saturday 19th November. He describes it as a ‘refreshed’ version of last year’s show. SNIPPETS – God’s AcreChurchyards are sometimes referred to as God’s Acre, an expression borrowed in the early 17th century from the German Gottesacker (Dutch Godsakker) – Field of God. I like that ancient Saxon phrase, which callsThe burial-ground God’s-Acre! It is just;It consecrates each grave within its walls,And breathes a benison o’er the sleeping dust.(From Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem God’s Acre)Our churchyard at Barsham is a beautiful place whatever the season: trim and neat as now after summer haymaking, bathed in the dew and mist of autumn, dressed in white in winter, or lush with wildflowers in spring. The existence and bounds of our churchyard are almost certainly as ancient as the church itself – nearly a thousand years old – but its current appearance has been forged largely over the last two centuries. A very small number of headstones began to appear in churchyards in the late 17th century, but the rows of headstones and ledgers that characterise churchyards today are predominantly later and at Barsham they are mostly of the 19th and 20th centuries. Previously, a burial might be marked at most by a wooden cross, but the norm in churchyards was the unmarked grave. One thing that has not changed over the centuries is the focus of responsibility for the upkeep of the churchyard, which lies today with the churchwardens and laity, as it has done since it was decreed by the Lateran Council 800 years ago in 1215. Perhaps the adoption of the term ‘God’s Acre’ in the 17th century reflected a new reverence for the churchyard imposed by the Protestant reformers, particularly the Puritans, during the Reformation. Prior to this and throughout the Middle Ages, the churchyard had been a community space used in part for devotional purposes – processions, preaching, mystery plays etc – but also for secular entertainments including games and sports, fairs and feasts, dancing and celebrations. In particular, churchyards were the venue for church ales: traditional festivities which took place regularly in the medieval church calendar, especially in spring and summer. Their purpose was to raise money for the upkeep of the church, in a loose sense perhaps the precursors of the modern church fete – or even our summer lunch. At church ales there would be food and drink, entertainments, music and dancing. Church ales were regarded by many as the embodiment of the ideal of community, and they enjoyed wide support at local level as well as from the Establishment in both Church and state. Like the critics of the 13th and 14th centuries, however, the reformers of the 16th and 17th centuries saw in church ales only gluttony, drunkenness and moral danger, and they attacked them on religious and moral grounds. Despite the support of the Stuart monarchy for the tradition of church ales, the 17th century reformers had their way and church ales were suppressed, to be replaced as a means of raising funds for the church by the less colourful and more sober church rates!September DiarySunday 28th August – Eleventh Sunday after Trinity. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Rev Canon John Fellows.Sunday 4th September – Twelfth Sunday after Trinity. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). RevJonathan Olanczuk.Sunday 11th September – Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Rev Josh Bailey.Sunday 18th September – Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity. 11am Sung Eucharist (CW). Rev Roy Wormald.Sunday 25th September – Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Rev Canon John Fellows.Sunday 2nd October – Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). RevJonathan Olanczuk.Sunday 2nd October – 5.30pm Harvest Evensong. Rev Josh Bailey.Every Wednesday at 8.45am – Matins at Barsham Every Wednesday at 10am – Holy Communion (CW) at Holy Trinity, Bungay.Church correspondent: Robert Bacon 07867 306016, robert.bacon@yahoo.co.uk
NEWSThere will be no Matins on Wednesday 27th July. The PCC met in early July and it was agreed that the lychgate should be re-thatched. This work will be undertaken in late August by Nick Walker of Geldeston. A Master Thatcher, Nick uses traditional techniques (his tools are pictured on the cover) and he follows the stringent guidelines laid down by the prestigious East Anglia Master Thatchers Association. The work should take no more than a fortnight. Nick worked on Barsham Church once before, during his training. Some flintwork in the lychgate is also due to be repaired and this work will be done by Theo Wells, who worked on the flintwork of the porch recently. At the end of June we hosted our first overnight stay by a pilgrim walking the Via Beata (see below). She slept between the pews and in the morning attended Wednesday Matins. In mid-June Colin hosted a visit to the church by a tour group of 18 people from all over North America: from Canada and a range of US states including New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, Wisconsin, Idaho, Iowa, Missouri and California. They were in the UK to trace their common Throckmorton ancestry, all of them descended from Sir Lionel Throckmorton (1525-1599) and Elizabeth Blennerhassett (c.1537-c.1608). Sir Lionel came from South Elmham and Elizabeth was the daughter of John Blennerhassett of Barsham Hall. They married at Holy Trinity Barsham in June 1561. Both are buried at Holy Trinity, Bungay.With the lime trees flowering, the bees and their hives are back in the churchyard. Thank you for the 132 items donated to the Food Bank in June. The June sales table yielded £70. Sarah Jane has sold more legacy teddy bears, adding a further £165 to the total sum, which now stands at an impressive £1,587. FORWARD PLANNINGThe Summer Lunch Party will take place on Wednesday 3rd August at 12.30pm at St Bartholomew’s Church, Shipmeadow by kind invitation of Nick and Jenny Caddick. Tickets cost £10 and are available from Bridget and Diana. Food is provided and drinks, including wine and fizz, will be available to buy. Help with the provision of food would be much appreciated: please use the sheet at the back of the church to indicate how you can help. Please bring your own seats (and tables if you want them). Haymaking in the churchyard is planned for Friday and Saturday 5th and 6thAugust, weather permitting. All hands welcome!This year’s Suffolk Churches Ride and Stride event takes place on Saturday 10thSeptember. Last year Barsham Church raised over £1,000 and it would be great to match that or beat it this year. Dick, our Local Organiser, reminds us that we need Barsham Riders and Striders as well as Recorders at the church to sign in the visiting Riders and Striders and to offer refreshments. Harvest Festival will be celebrated with Evensong on Sunday 2nd October with a harvest supper at the village hall afterwards.SNIPPETS – The Via Beata and Church Walking PilgrimagesThe Via Beata – the Way of Blessing – is a waymarked long-distance walking route across Britain at its widest point, from Lowestoft to St Davids. It links a network of footpaths, bridleways and quiet lanes for some 340 miles, including through Barsham. Initiated for the new millennium in 2000, it was consciously designed as a pilgrimage route and features a number of contemplative Christian artworks along the way. The Via Beata’s destination, St Davids, was already a popular pilgrimage destination in the early Middle Ages, drawing pilgrims to the shrine of St David. Well established by at least the late 8th century, its many subsequent visitors included William I in 1077, Henry II in 1171 and Edward I in 1284.In recent years, an organisation called Church Walking Pilgrimages has worked to set up overnight sanctuaries for walking pilgrims in churches and church halls roughly every ten miles along a number of pilgrimage routes in England, including their latest, the Via Beata. Barsham Church is part of the Via Beata sanctuary network. Explaining the rationale behind its mission to promote these overnight stop-overs in churches, Church Walking Pilgrimages writes: ‘Pilgrimage has been for over a thousand years an activity undertaken by many people... For some it is a transformative process, for others it is healing, for others it is a holiday, for most it is a combination of all three. Pilgrimage was a major part of people’s lives in the medieval period and is experiencing a revival now. Why so? Because spiritual searching by individuals is as strong as it has ever been, but sadly most seekers will never attend a conventional church service. The church still speaks to them though: the peace of the building, its setting and resonance of worship and simplicity is meaningful to everyone, the very atmosphere of the building imparts God’s presence’. 2023 is a particularly important year for the Via Beata since it marks the 900th anniversary of the declaration by Pope Callixtus II in 1123 that two pilgrimages to St Davids should be equal to one journey to Rome.August DiarySunday 24th July – Sixth Sunday after Trinity. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Rev Canon John Fellows.Sunday 31st July – Seventh Sunday after Trinity. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Rev Canon John Fellows.Sunday 31st July – Seventh Sunday after Trinity. 6.30pm Benefice Service, Choral Evensong, All Saints, Mettingham. Rev Josh Bailey.Sunday 7th August – Eighth Sunday after Trinity. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). RevJonathan Olanczuk.Sunday 14th August – Ninth Sunday after Trinity. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Rev Josh Bailey.Sunday 21st August – Tenth Sunday after Trinity. 11am Sung Eucharist (CW). Rev Roy Wormald.Sunday 28th August – Eleventh Sunday after Trinity. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Rev Canon John Fellows.Sunday 4th September – Twelfth Sunday after Trinity. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). RevJonathan Olanczuk.Every Wednesday at 8.45am – Matins at Barsham Every Wednesday at 10am – Holy Communion (CW) at Holy Trinity, Bungay.Church correspondent: Robert Bacon 07867 306016, robert.bacon@yahoo.co.uk
NEWSAn appreciative audience enjoyed the SuAnLo Concert followed by a sumptuous tea in the church on the afternoon of Saturday 21st May. The trio performed some beautiful Classical pieces, including favourites by Vivaldi, Gounod, JS Bach, Mozart, Fauré and others; as well as a selection of film and popular music, including Enrico Morricone’s haunting theme tune to The Mission and Alan Menken’s ‘Tale as Old as Time’ from Beauty and the Beast. Pictured on the front cover are (from left to right): Suzanna Guterl (‘Su’), flautist; Ana Salaberria (‘An’), singer; and Loreto Aramendi (‘Lo’), organist. Thanks to the generosity of the SuAnLo trio and the hard-working ladies of the church who provided the tea, the concert raised £493 for the Fabric Fund. At the close of our Sunday service on the Jubilee weekend, we sang the National Anthem and afterwards raised our glasses to the Queen in a loyal toast as we enjoyed drinks and nibbles. Some stayed longer for a Jubilee picnic lunch at tables inside the church, the weather being inclement outside. On Sunday 29th May the Benefice service was held at Barsham. It was a joy to see so many representatives from our three churches, and also Ed Land who presided at his first service at Barsham. This was the last fifth Sunday Benefice service to be held in the morning: in future on the fifth Sunday each church will hold its own morning service at the customary time and in addition there will be a Benefice Evensong held in turn at Barsham and Mettingham, with the Bungay congregation encouraged to attend. It is hoped that a Benefice choir could be formed. We celebrated our Patronal Festival on Trinity Sunday, 12th June, with a service of Eucharist at 11am and Choral Evensong at 6.30pm. Both services were conducted by Rev Josh Bailey. The numbers at Evensong were fewer than usual but it was a beautiful evening and the congregation enjoyed the service and the wine and canapés that followed.A magnificent 272 items were donated to the Food Bank in May – a significant boost to the Food Bank and very much appreciated. Many thanks to all donors. The wine-tasting evening at the Old Rectory raised £180 for emergency humanitarian aid for Ukraine. The money will be put to use via the charity Aid to the Church in Need. This larger than expected amount was made possible by the generosity of Tom Mead of Adnams, who waived part of his fee. Collections on the five Sundays of May amounted to a very healthy £1,933 and the Maysales table organised by Jenny yielded £125. Sarah Jane continues her excellent endeavours with the sale of legacy teddy bears, recently adding a further £422 to the total sum, which now stands at £1,423. FORWARD PLANNINGThe Summer Lunch Party will take place on Wednesday 3rd August at 12.30pm at St Bartholomew’s Church, Shipmeadow by kind invitation of Nick and Jenny Caddick. Tickets are likely to cost £10 and will be available from Bridget shortly. Haymaking in the churchyard is planned for Friday and Saturday 5th and 6th August, weather permitting. All hands welcome!The annual Suffolk Churches Ride and Stride fundraiser will take place this year on Saturday 10th September. Last year Barsham Church raised over £1,000 through Ride and Stride, 50% of this total going to the Suffolk Historic Churches Trust and 50% to our own church. Let’s hope we can raise a similar amount or even more this year. Dick, our Local Organiser, reminds us that we need Barsham Riders and Striders as well as Recorders at the church to sign in the visiting Riders and Striders and to offer refreshments. Dick adds that anyone can volunteer to play the organ for an hour or two and this would be an added attraction.SNIPPETS – The Suffolk Churches Historic TrustNext year the Trust will be celebrating its 50th birthday. Since its launch in December 1973, it has raised over £5 million, with which it has furnished grants for the repair and maintenance of churches, chapels and meeting houses in Suffolk (it is non-denominational). The Trust’s income comes from legacies, donations, sponsored events (including Ride and Stride), grants and from membership fees from its Friends. Holy Trinity Barsham is one of about 500 medieval churches in Suffolk, and you don’t need to be a church-goer to recognise the importance of these precious buildings. Their value is obvious to those who worship regularly or occasionally, and to those who attend for special occasions such as weddings, baptisms and funerals; but there is a far wider community of people who appreciate our medieval church heritage. Some love our old churches for the history of their architecture, furnishings and fittings, others as valued places for social contact or musical entertainment, and some simply for their beauty in our rural and urban landscapes – an essential ingredient to any English village or market town. Many people are thus willing for diverse reasons to give time and money to help preserve these wonderful buildings for future generations.JULY DIARYSunday 26th June – Second Sunday after Trinity. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Rev Canon John Fellows.Sunday 3rd July – Third Sunday after Trinity. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Rev Jonathan Olanczuk.Sunday 10th July – Fourth Sunday of Trinity – 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Rev Jonathan Olanczuk.Sunday 17th July – Fifth Sunday after Trinity. 11am Sung Eucharist with incense (CW). Rev Roy Wormald. Sunday 24th July – Sixth Sunday after Trinity. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Rev Canon John Fellows.Sunday 31st July – Seventh Sunday after Trinity. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Rev Canon John Fellows.Sunday 31st July – Seventh Sunday after Trinity. 6.30pm Benefice Service, Choral Evensong, All Saints, Mettingham. Rev Josh Bailey.Sunday 7th August – Eighth Sunday after Trinity. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). RevJonathan Olanczuk.Every Wednesday at 8.45am – Matins at Barsham Every Wednesday at 10am – Holy Communion (CW) at Holy Trinity, Bungay.Church correspondent: Robert Bacon 07867 306016, robert.bacon@yahoo.co.uk
NEWSIt is with much sadness that we report the deaths at the end of April of two members of our church community, Jane Kinsella, who from time to time used to play the organ for services at Barsham, and Jeanne Turner. Easter was celebrated at Barsham by a congregation of 52 people at Sung Eucharist on Easter morning. We were delighted to welcome the Rev Ed Land, Associate Minister for the Rural Lightwave Hub to our routine PCC meeting in early May. Thanks to Malcolm’s careful management of the churchyard, the wild flowers are flourishing. 15 varieties of wild flower were spotted in the churchyard in mid-May. We are most grateful to Howard Trust for inviting us to the Old Rectory for a wonderfully sociable evening and a fascinating wine-tasting led by Tom Mead from Adnams (Harleston). Tom helped 22 of us to explore six very different styles of wine from six different parts of the world. The revised and updated visitors’ guidebook to Holy Trinity, Barsham with Shipmeadow is now available at the back of the church for visitors to purchase. Grateful thanks to the ladies of the church who produced such a generous and delicious tea for the U3A History Walking Group towards the end of April. Barsham church rightly enjoys a considerable reputation for its hospitality, including the excellence of its teas.The congregation kindly donated 174 items to the Food Bank in April and now we have been asked to return to providing foodstuffs rather than toiletries. The Rev Pam Bayliss, Manager of the Beccles Foodbanks, wrote recently: ‘Dear Barsham Friends, I am writing… to say how touched we were to receive the lovely, generous goods you donated to us especially over the Easter holidays... You are thoughtful in the items you donate, and the regular help you give us is really appreciated. I know the families who come in will be really thrilled to receive the extra toiletries etc, especially as at present life is very hard. We have a number of families with several children who we know are struggling, so this will be a wonderful help to them. Once again many thanks…’The April sales table raised £65. Sarah Jane continues with the sale of legacy teddy bears and has now raised a remarkable £1,001. With money from the March sales table and the surplus Easter lily fund, we were able to donate £350 towards the Diocesan Appeal for the Crisis in Ukraine. The church cleaning team has shrunk in recent years so new helpers would be hugely appreciated. The commitment involves dusting and hoovering about four times a year. Please talk to Bridget if you are able to help or would like to find out more. FORWARD PLANNINGFor the Queen’s Jubilee Celebration on Sunday 5th June we will enjoy ‘drinks and nibbles’ after church. The proposed picnic lunch at the village hall will not now be taking place. Details for the annual Summer Lunch in August at Shipmeadow Church will be available shortly. SNIPPETS – Barsham’s beautiful flower arrangementsBarsham Church is extremely fortunate in having a team of dedicated and talented flower arrangers who week by week place beautiful arrangements on the Etchingham tomb and the windowsill near the pulpit. On Festival Days the team unites to decorate the whole church, each member having their own space. MaryJane does both windows in the porch, Cheryl the font, Denise the first window, Bridget the centre, Margaret the windowsill next to the pulpit, Cherry the choir window, Diana the tomb and Chris covers the Lady Chapel. The flower team will also arrange flowers for weddings and funerals on request.The team of arrangers aims to keep to liturgical colours when appropriate. At Easter the church is filled with lilies, the Easter flower, funded by donations from members of the congregation. This year, however, we broke with tradition to support charities helping victims of the war in Ukraine. With just two lily arrangements (one of which is pictured on the cover) and the other decorations made up of greenery, it was possible to add much of the ‘lily fund’ to the money raised at the March sales table, enabling us to send £350 to Ukraine. In a further show of support for the people of Ukraine, the flowers around the Pascal candle were blue and yellow. The flowers for Harvest Festival are always bright and cheerful, and Colin and Margaret grow gourds which are added to the floral arrangements on the windowsills. Chris’s contribution is spectacular with all the produce of harvest imaginable! The Harvest Supper table also benefits from the gourds. The four Sundays of Advent have no decorations except for the Advent wreath. This is a wreath with five candles, three purple, one pink and the centre one white. For the four Sundays of Advent the first purple candle is for Prophecy, the second for Bethlehem, the third is the Shepard’s Candle for Gaudete (Joy), and pink is the Angel Candle, while the central white candle for Christmas Day is the Christ Candle. At Christmas the flowers tend to be red, gold and white with lots of holly and ivy. Flowers make a substantial contribution to the beauty of our church and the dedication of the arrangers is very much appreciated.Anyone who wishes to join our team or to contribute in any way will be most welcome. Please contact Diana.JUNE DIARYThursday 26th May – Ascension Day. 9am Holy Communion. Ilketshall St Margaret. Rev Josh Bailey.Sunday 29th May – Seventh Sunday of Easter – Benefice Service at Barsham, 10.30am. Sung Eucharist (BCP). Rev Edward Land.Sunday 5th June – Whitsunday – Day of Pentecost. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). RevJonathan Olanczuk.Sunday 12th June – Trinity Sunday. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Rev Josh Bailey.Sunday 12th June – Trinity Sunday. 6.30pm Trinity Evensong. Rev Josh Bailey.Sunday 19th June – First Sunday after Trinity. 11am Sung Eucharist with incense (CW). Rev Roy Wormald. Sunday 26th June – Second Sunday after Trinity. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Rev Canon John Fellows.Sunday 3rd July – Third Sunday after Trinity. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Rev Jonathan Olanczuk.Every Wednesday at 8.45am – Matins at Barsham Every Wednesday at 10am – Holy Communion (CW) at Holy Trinity, Bungay.Church correspondent: Robert Bacon 01502 710945, robert.bacon@yahoo.co.uk
