NEWSBishop Martin has announced that the Revd Josh Bailey has agreed to become Interim Rural Dean for the Waveney and Blyth Deanery. Many congratulations to Josh on this appointment and best wishes to him as he embarks on these new and additional responsibilities. A Benefice Evensong was held at All Saints Mettingham on Sunday 30th April and was attended by a number from Holy Trinity, Barsham with Shipmeadow.The APCM (Annual Parochial Church Meeting) was held in the church on the afternoon of Thursday 4th May, attended by members of the PCC as well as eight other members of the congregation. Bridget and Diana were re-elected as churchwardens, all existing members of the PCC were re-elected for another year, and Cheryl was elected back onto the PCC. The Rev Josh expressed his gratitude to all those who contribute to the running of the church throughout the year, in particular the churchwardens and members of the PCC who look after the finances, the fabric, the churchyard and the admin. Appreciation and thanks were also expressed to those who help week in week out, making refreshments after Sunday service and arranging flowers; and those who help in other capacities such as cleaning the church, and providing splendid teas and refreshments for visiting groups and special events. On Coronation weekend the National Anthem was sung at Sunday service and afterwards glasses of bubbly were raised in the Loyal Toast. Coronation celebrations continued on the Wednesday following when Tess Blower’s team of ringers rang a 45-minute quarter peal(worth ‘googling’ for an explanation) as part of the Ringing for the King programme in which quarter peals were rung in every ringable tower in the district. At Barsham there was a good turn-out of listeners and given that 16mm of rain fell on Barsham the day before and 14mm the day after, it was a blessing to enjoy the peal sitting in the churchyard on a pleasant afternoon.A U3A East Suffolk Church Crawlers group of 16 delightful enthusiasts from the Ipswich area visited for a guided tour of the church and refreshments on Friday 19th May. Thank you for continuing to support the Foodbank. In April our contributions amounted to 204 items. The fourth Sunday sales table organised by Cherry raised £85. FORWARD PLANNINGStuart Bowell, Chairman of the Round Tower Churches Society will be giving a talk ‘Round Towered Churches: a Norfolk and Suffolk Speciality’ at St John’s Church, Ilketshall St John at 7pm on Thursday 8th June.The Rt Revd Dr Mike Harrison, Bishop of Dunwich, will be celebrating Eucharist with us at Barsham on Sunday 16th July.The HT Barsham with Shipmeadow annual Summer Lunch will take place on Wednesday 5th July at the kind invitation of Nick and Jenny Caddick at St Bartholomew’s Church, Shipmeadow. Tickets will be available from Bridget in early June and there will be a sign-up sheet at the back of the church for people to indicate what food they can offer to bring. The Suffolk Guild of Ringers will be ringing at Holy Trinity, Barsham with Shipmeadow at 2pm on Saturday 12th August.Tour, tea and Evensong at St Edmundsbury Cathedral, Sunday 10th September, 1.45–5pm. Places can still be booked through Bridget. Bishop Norman will join us for Harvest Evensong and Harvest Supper in the Village Hall on Sunday 8th October.SNIPPETS – Churchyard Flora Malcolm and Colin work hard to look after the churchyard, carefully balancing the need to prevent it from becoming overgrown with the maintenance of its picturesque appearance and the goal of encouraging biodiversity. Whilst access paths are mown, including to graves known to be tended, mowing is kept to a minimum to encourage the growth of wildflowers and to protect wildlife habitat. Haymaking is managed in the traditional way, taking place in August. An interesting initiative has been the planting of Yellow Rattle plugs, since Rattle is a parasitic plant that feeds off the roots of grass and thus controls growth.Churchyards are now recognised to be a vital refuge for flora and fauna struggling to survive in landscapes otherwise largely polluted with chemicals and stripped of habitats. ‘God’s Acre’ is often the last sanctuary for some of our most threatened grassland plants, mosses, lichens and flowers, and the butterflies and insects they support. Flowery grasslands supporting a luxuriant array of flora and fauna used to be commonplace, but an estimated 98% has been lost since the 1930s. During the Second World War six million acres of grassland were lost to the plough in favour of cereals and were lost forever. Since then, industrial farming and development have continued the damage. Many churchyards have escaped this dramatic loss, however, and may have remained undisturbed, reseeding naturally for hundreds of years – perhaps even a thousand years in our case. So, churchyards are often the best places to see wild meadow grasses and flowers. As the Somerset Wildlife Trust puts it, ‘A churchyard is a little snapshot of how the countryside used to be’.Colin kindly took me around the churchyard ten days into May and pointed out over 20 varieties of wildflower then in flower, amongst them blue, white and mauve Bluebells, Ransoms, Oxslips (a cross-pollination of cowslip and primrose), Cowslips, Fumitory, Meadow Saxifrage, Vetch, Oxeye Daisy, and some with charming names like Crane’s Bill, Mouse-eared Chickweed, Nodding Star of Bethlehem and Lady’s Bedstraw. Nodding Star of Bethlehem is special and very rare, and Lady’s Bedstraw was first spotted in the churchyard here in 2011 and has spread successfully since mowing has been reduced. It is one of a number of wildflowers with ‘Lady’ in their name, referring to the Virgin Mary. According to the website Caring for God’s Acre – Caring for Meadows and Wildflowers in Burial Grounds: ‘Lady’s Bedstraw, when dried, smells sweet and was stuffed in straw mattresses and strewn on floors. It is also supposed to deter fleas. According to one medieval legend the Virgin Mary herself gave birth whilst lying on a bed of Lady’s Bedstraw and bracken. Lady’s Bedstraw has sweet, frothy, honey-smelling flowers and historically it was used to curdle milk during cheese-making’. Research carried out by Maurice Elliott and others between 1989 and 2010 and collected together in his pamphlet The Natural History of Barsham identified 114 different plants in Barsham churchyard and surroundings, including eight different varieties of grass and 19 mosses.JUNE DIARYSunday 28th May – Pentecost. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Rev Josh Bailey.Sunday 4th June –Trinity Sunday. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Rev Jonathan Olanczuk.Sunday 4th June – Trinity Sunday. 6.30pm Patronal Festival Choral Evensong at Barsham. Rev Josh Bailey. Sunday 11th June – First Sunday after Trinity. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Rev Jonathan Olanczuk.Sunday 18th June – Second Sunday after Trinity. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Rev Josh Bailey.Sunday 25th June – Third Sunday after Trinity. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Rev Canon John Fellows.Every Wednesday at 8.45am – Matins at Barsham. Church correspondent: Robert Bacon 07867 306016, robert.bacon@yahoo.co.uk
NEWSHoly Week began with the blessing and distribution of Palm Crosses on Palm Sunday. Some from the congregation attended the service of Holy Communion with foot-washing at Holy Trinity Bungay on Maundy Thursday, and the Meditation at Barsham on Good Friday. On Easter Morning we welcomed a congregation of 65 people to the service. The church looked splendid, with an exquisite arrangement of Easter lilies on the Etchingham tomb and elegant floral displays on the windowsills. It is such a pleasure to see flowers back in the church after Lent and it is a reminder of how lucky we are to have such a talented and dedicated team of flower arrangers. Donations to the Easter Lilies fund totalled £75 and this sum will be forwarded to the Diocesan Tear Fund to provide aid for victims of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria, and those suffering from the effects of the war in Ukraine. Many thanks to those who carried out the brass cleaning in the week before Easter. The brass around the church is now looking spic and span. Margaret, who has done a splendid job organising the Barsham Love Boxes, is handing this role on to Chris and Carolyn Lambert, who have kindly agreed to take on the role and are well placed for it with their involvement respectively in Beccles Lions and the Red Hat ladies. We will be participating in the Love Box scheme again in 2023.Members of the congregation donated 248 items to the Foodbank in March, including chocolate Easter eggs. The Rev Pam Bayliss sent a lovely letter of appreciation. Sarah Jane’s heroic efforts to find new homes for Mike Learner’s legacy bears realised a further £114 in March, bringing the cumulative total to a remarkable £2,436.The Sunday collections for March amounted to £1,273. The fourth Sunday sales tableorganised by Chris Bardsley raised a magnificent £175, a sum largely enhanced by the sale of the beautiful Easter cards and tasty puddings she had so carefully made. Barsham Parochial Church Council very gratefully acknowledges recent donations of £50, £200 and £1,000.Many thanks to Maisebrooke Farm at Shipmeadow, whose Barsham Church collection box recently yielded over £15 in small change.FORWARD PLANNINGThe Service of Farewell and Thanksgiving for Archdeacon Jeanette will be at 3pm on Sunday 23 April at St Michael’s, Framlingham. Her successor, the Revd Canon Rich Henderson, will be collated and installed at St Edmundsbury Cathedral on the afternoon of 14th May. The APCM (Annual Parochial Church Meeting) is on Thursday 4th May in the church. Anyone can attend this meeting. The Rt Revd Dr Mike Harrison, Bishop of Dunwich, will be celebrating Eucharist with us at Barsham on Sunday 16th July.Tour, tea and Evensong at St Edmundsbury Cathedral, Sunday 10th September, 1.45pm – 5pm. Places can be booked through Bridget. SNIPPETS – The altar frontFor most of the year, the front of the altar is covered by one of a set of frontals, coloured to match the liturgical day or season. The exception to this is during Holy Week, when the altar is traditionally stripped on Maundy Thursday in preparation for Good Friday. At Barsham this reveals the handsome marquetry work on the wooden front panel, designed by Frederick Eden and made by Lawrence Turner. The panel is of walnut, inlaid with precious woods and ivory (photo on front cover). It was a gift in 1906 from the Anglo-Catholic congregation of St Alban the Martyr, Holborn in London, where the Vicar was the Rev R A J Suckling, a leading figure in the Anglo-Catholic Revival and former Rector of Barsham for 21 years from 1868 to1889, and Patron from1880 to 1917. I am sure with Good Friday in mind, Eden’s design incorporates a set of stylized emblems of the Passion: a crown of thorns (overlying the cross), three nails (converging on the centre of the cross), and scourges in each of the quadrants. The words ‘Glory’, Laud’, ‘Honour’ and ‘Power’ recall John Mason Neale’s Palm Sunday hymn ‘All Glory, Laud and Honour…’, celebrating Christ’s entry into Jerusalem. This was in fact a translation from Latin of the original words by Theodulf, a 9th century Bishop of Orleans, who may perhaps have been referencing Revelation, 4:11 – ‘Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things...’.Frederick Eden (1864-1944) was a church architect and designer of stained glass and church fittings, specializing in the decoration of Anglo-Catholic interiors. His practice was based in Holborn, London, where Suckling was Vicar of St Alban the Martyr. Repeatedly commissioned by Suckling, Eden was responsible for many of the treasures that make Barsham Church what it is today. His work was of national importance, and he was appointed curator of the ecclesiastical furnishings display at the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley in 1924. The significance of his work is still recognised and valued: the library of the Royal Institute of British Architects and the Victoria and Albert Museum both hold a large number of his design drawings for stained glass windows and church fittings. The Oxford-based Lawrence Turner (1864-1957) was a celebrated architectural stonemason, sculptor, wood carver and plaster modeler (he executed the plaster ceiling in the chancel) who worked with the top architects of the day, including Frederick Eden. He carried out many prestigious commissions in churches as well as universities, schools, great houses, government buildings, war memorials and tombs. He was elected Master of the Art Workers Guild in 1922 and was a Fellow of the British Institute of Industrial Art.Like Eden and Suckling, the hymn-writer J M Neale (1818-1866) was another proponent of the Anglo-Catholic Revival and was one of the founders of the Cambridge Camden Society which argued for more ritual and religious decoration in churches: exactly the kind of work Suckling was commissioning from Eden, Turner and others.MAY DIARYSunday 30th April. Fourth Sunday of Easter. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Rev Josh Bailey.Sunday 7th May – Fifth Sunday of Easter. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Rev Jonathan Olanczuk.Sunday 14th May – Sixth Sunday of Easter. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Rev Jonathan Olanczuk.Thursday 18th May – Ascension Day. 7pm Holy Communion at All Saints, Mettingham. Rev Josh Bailey.Sunday 21st May – Seventh Sunday of Easter. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Rev Josh Bailey.Sunday 28th May – Pentecost. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Rev Josh Bailey.Sunday 28th May – Benefice Choral Evensong. 6.30pm at All Saints, Mettingham. Every Wednesday at 8.45am – Matins at Barsham. Church correspondent: Robert Bacon 07867 306016, robert.bacon@yahoo.co.uk
NEWSOn the first Sunday in March we were delighted to welcome for Choral Evensong the Canon Precentor Philip Banks and the Girls’ Choir of St Edmundsbury Cathedral, along with their supporters (cover photo by Chad Owen Cox: @o_c_portraits). A congregation of over 60 people filled the nave and the 13 girl choristers under Director of Music Timothy Parsons graced the service with stirring contemporary music. The setting for the canticles was composed in 2021 for the Choir of St Edmundsbury by Paul Trepte, a former Director of Music at St Edmundsbury and then Ely Cathedral. The setting for the anthem, the Prayer of St Richard of Chichester, was by the young composer LJ White, and the responses were sung to a beautiful setting by Malcolm Archer. St Edmundsbury is one of a growing number of Cathedrals now operating girls’ and boys’ choirs on an equal footing, dividing up the week between them and combining at Christmas, Easter and other special services. The girls’ choir is a recent innovation: formed just before the Covid pandemic arrived, it was able to get under way only once lockdowns were lifted. A cheerful band of 22 people from church filled two long tables at the village hall for the annual Barsham Big Breakfast on Saturday 11th March. Very many thanks to the village hall team for providing such a magnificent breakfast feast, and thanks to all for excellent company. On Mothering Sunday Revd Josh blessed a beautiful array of primulas, which were then distributed to every member of the congregation. The sun didn’t break through for the ‘Equinox Event’ on the first two evenings, though we welcomed for a talk and church tour seven visitors on the first day and nine on the second, including one from Bury St Edmund’s and another who came by train from Surbiton. The sun did appear on the third evening however, and we had a glorious display, seen by 27 delighted onlookers.If you would like to donate to the Easter Lilies fund, there will be a collection box at the back of the church every Sunday until Easter. Money not used for the purchase of lilies will be sent to the Tear Fund, a Christian charity helping victims of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria, and war in Ukraine. The PCC met for routine business on 16th March. Very many thanks for the 214 items that were donated to the Foodbank in February. Amy tells us that toiletries as well as foods are important now. Sunday Collections in February amounted to £1,181.00. The January sales tableorganised by Sarah Jane raised a very creditable £100.00. FORWARD PLANNINGThe Service of Farewell and Thanksgiving for Archdeacon Jeanette will be at 3pm on Sunday 23 April at St Michael’s, Framlingham. Her successor, the Revd Canon Rich Henderson, will be collated and installed at St Edmundsbury Cathedral on the afternoon of 14th May. The next Benefice service of Choral Evensong will be held at All Saints, Mettingham at 6.30pm on Sunday 30th April. The APCM (Annual Parochial Church Meeting) is to be held on Thursday 4th May. Anyone can attend this meeting. Tour, tea and Evensong at St Edmundsbury Cathedral, Sunday 10th September, 1.45pm – 5pm. There are still some places left on this group visit and these can be booked through Bridget. AN EASTER MESSAGE FROM THE REVD JOSH BAILEYWhy I love Easter"Therefore we were buried with him through baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, thus also we ourselves might walk in new life." Romans 6:4Beautiful and broken. The stubborn fact of our existence. Our bodies don't keep. Work is frustrating as often as fulfilling. Relationships can be heavenly and hellish. Even the greatest joys we experience are tinged with sadness.Jesus enters into ALL of it. But even in his weak, decaying existence from Bethlehem to Jerusalem, He gives us whispers of another world. His connection with the creation as a sinless, blessed human is the stuff of our dreams. When he speaks to the wind, it listens. When he wants food for people, the creation delivers it up at his request. When he's stuck on the wrong side of a lake, he just walks to where he wants to go. When confronted with decades long human dysfunction, He calmly tells it to get lost: and it's gone. Cells restructured. Minds made whole. Souls at peace; given joy where there was only darkness. And it’s all pointing to the defeat of the shadow that hangs over us - the spectre of meaninglessness cast over everything by death; the removal of the curse that has dogged the very ground we walk on.When Easter finally comes after that long Saturday, all our assumptions about ourexistence can be torn up and thrown away. There's no more shrugging at suffering! The life that Jesus reveals in his physical, immortal body is unlike anything the universe has ever known before. A life made perfect BY death; rather than the half-life we know, always on the verge of being swallowed up by death. Almost anything wonderful that we can imagine can happen now. And one day it will. Because His tomb is empty.The life we rejoice in at Easter is our life. New. Immortal. Full of possibility. Giving suffering a purpose. Giving hope to anyone who knows they need it. Totally real!I love Easter because I love the new life of Jesus. When despair lurks, Jesus declares a different future. If Christ has been raised from the dead - AND HE HAS - my wildest hopes and longings are only the warm-up act for all the new creation will bring. And the chocolate's nice too.APRIL DIARYSunday 2nd April – Palm Sunday. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Rev Jonathan Olanczuk.Thursday 6th April. Maundy Thursday. 7.30pm Holy Communion with foot-washing. Holy Trinity, Bungay. Rev Josh Bailey.Friday 7th April. Good Friday. 12 noon Meditation at All Saints, Mettingham & 2pm Meditation, Holy Trinity, Barsham with Shipmeadow. Rev Josh Bailey.Sunday 9th April. Easter Sunday. 6.30am Sunrise Service at Outney Common, Bungay. 11am Sung Eucharist at Barsham (BCP). Both services Rev Josh Bailey.Sunday 16th April. Second Sunday of Easter. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Rev Josh Bailey.Sunday 23rd April. Third Sunday of Easter. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Rev Jonathan Olanczuk.Sunday 30th April. Fourth Sunday of Easter. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Rev Josh Bailey.Every Wednesday at 8.45am – Matins at Barsham. Church correspondent: Robert Bacon 07867 306016, robert.bacon@yahoo.co.uk
NEWSWeekly Matins has now resumed at 8.45am on Wednesdays, except there will be no service on 29th February and 26th April. We are extremely grateful to our three organists, Kevin Turner, David Bunkell and Murray Walding, who have so generously stepped in following the sad loss of Bob. The skill of their playing adds much beauty to our services. Three tables of diners from across the Benefice enjoyed a fine spread of delicious foods at the Benefice bring-and-share lunch at Barsham Village Hall on the last Sunday of January. Many thanks to those who supported the event.We congratulate The Revd Canon Rich Henderson, Rural Dean of Waveney and Blyth, and Rector of Beccles with Worlingham, North Cove and Barnby, on being appointed the next Archdeacon of Suffolk. There will be a Service of Farewell and thanksgiving for Archdeacon Jeanette at 3pm on Sunday 23 April at St Michael’s, Framlingham. A splendid 262 items were donated to the Foodbank in January. It can’t be said too often that our contributions are hugely appreciated. The January sales table organised by Margaret raised £75.00. In the calendar year 2022 the sales table made a magnificent total of £1,350.00.Barsham with Shipmeadow very gratefully acknowledges a donation of £250.00.FORWARD PLANNINGThe Choir of St Edmundsbury Cathedral will sing Choral Evensong at Barsham at 3.30pm on Sunday 5th March. Do bring friends! The Barsham Big Breakfast will take place on Saturday 11th March at 9.30am in the Barsham and Shipmeadow Village Hall. By all means attend on an individual basis (seats can be booked by emailing bsvh.info@gmail.com) or contact Bridget to join the church table, which will meet at the village hall at 10am. The cooked breakfast menu includes locally sourced meat as well as vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options. With lengthening daylight hours and carpets of spring flowers breaking through (front cover: Barsham snowdrops), the Spring Equinox is just around the corner, falling on Monday 20th March. Assuming the sun shines, the ‘Equinox Event’ in the church may be seen on 19th, 20th and 21st March. Refreshments will be served from 4.45pm on all three days and the shaft of sunlight should begin to strike the rood at approximately 5.15pm.The next Benefice service of Choral Evensong will be held at All Saints, Mettingham at 6.30pm on Sunday 30th April. SNIPPETS – Oak Tree PlantingColin and Malcolm planted three oak saplings on the northern boundary of the churchyard on the first day of February. They were a gift from Bishop Martin Seeley, who has offered saplings to all the parishes of the St Edmundsbury and Ipswich Diocese. Originally planned as a part of the Queen’s Green Canopy initiative to celebrate her Platinum Jubilee, and as a fitting response to the climate crisis, Bishop Martin now wishes the trees to serve also as a memorial to our longest-serving monarch – and this is how we should see our three ‘Elizabeth Oaks’ at Barsham. In fact, most of Bishop Martin’s saplings were hornbeams, grown from seeds he collected in Christchurch Park, Ipswich, but he was also given 60 oak saplings, and our trees come from this latter source. The oak seems particularly appropriate in this context since in history and legend, oak trees have long symbolised royalty, patriotism and strength.It is pertinent too that our three oaks will make a valuable contribution to biodiversity in the long term. The Woodland Trust website provides extensive detail: the oak supports more life than any other native species: ‘a haven for a colossal 2,300 wildlife species, providing vital spaces to eat, shelter and breed’. Of these, 326 species depend on the oak for their very survival and 229 species inhabit the oak almost exclusively. Every bit of the tree has value, from the top of the canopy to the tip of the roots. Oak flowers are eaten by squirrels and many insects, and the pollen is a popular food source for bees. Acorns are attractive to 31 different woodland mammals as well as some birds. Oak leaves provide food for caterpillars and aphids, the latter producing the sugary honeydew that wood ants feast on, and these invertebrates attract species from higher up the food chain, including birds – the oak supports 38 species of bird. Oak bark provides niches for wildlife to shelter, feed and breed, including a range of invertebrates, bats and birds. Meanwhile, at the base of the trunk, fungi feed on the wood, and oak hosts 716 types of lichen, which offer nesting material, food and shelter. Liverworts and mosses cling to bark and branches, and various fungi rely on oak, some support the root systems and others depend on decaying organic matter in the leaf mould and fallen deadwood. Of course, dead and decaying trees are a vital part of a wood’s biodiversity, providing habitat and nourishment for a vast array of species.March Diary & Holy WeekWednesday 22nd February – Ash Wednesday. 10am Holy Communion, Holy Trinity, Bungay & 7pm Holy Communion, All Saints, Mettingham. Both services Rev Josh Bailey. Sunday 26th February – First Sunday of Lent. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Rev Josh Bailey.Sunday 5th March – Second Sunday of Lent. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Rev Jonathan Olanczuk.Sunday 5th March – 3.30pm Choral Evensong with the Cathedral Choir. Rev Josh Bailey.Sunday 12th March – Third Sunday of Lent. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Rev Jonathan Olanczuk.Sunday 19th March – Mothering Sunday. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Rev Josh Bailey.Sunday 26th March – Passion Sunday. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Rev Josh Bailey.Sunday 2nd April – Palm Sunday. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Rev Jonathan Olanczuk.Thursday 6th April. Maundy Thursday. 7.30pm Holy Communion with foot-washing. Holy Trinity, Bungay. Rev Josh Bailey.Friday 7th April. Good Friday. 12 noon Meditation at All Saints, Mettingham & 2pm Meditation, Holy Trinity, Barsham with Shipmeadow. Rev Josh Bailey.Sunday 9th April. Easter Sunday. 6.30am Sunrise Service at Outney Common. 11am Sung Eucharist at Barsham (BCP). Both services Rev Josh Bailey.Every Wednesday at 8.45am – Matins at Barsham. Church correspondent: Robert Bacon 07867 306016, robert.bacon@yahoo.co.uk
