Rosie’s Ramblings – Spring 2026

Rosie’s Ramblings – Spring 2026

Welcome to the Spring edition of the Villager Quarterly magazine! What a dismal, damp (to put it mildly) few weeks we’ve had, but the snowdrops in the churchyard are a joy to behold, the daffodils are in bud and according to the Met Office App, the temperature is due to leap to 13°C this afternoon – positively balmy!

We had Ash Wednesday a few days ago. It was a bit chilly in church and, having cleared up after our service of Holy Communion for the beginning of Lent, I was looking forward to getting back to my warm, cosy home. As happens quite often when we’re about to lock up, somebody came into the church.

Our visitor was a tall, thin man wearing a woolly hat and dressed for cycling – though not in Lycra! His reaction on entering spoke volumes; he was awe-struck: stunned into silence. He walked up the aisle and I joined him at the pulpit gazing in admiration at our life-sized wooden statues of King David playing his lyre, flanked by two angels playing shawms (our dear departed organist Gillian told me that’s what they are.) He told me his name was Stewart and our conversation went something like this:

Stewart: Wow!

Me: Aren’t they beautiful? I’ve never seen anything like them in any other English church.

Stewart: Have you been in many churches?

Me: Yes, quite a lot.

Stewart: I bet you haven’t been in as many as I have.

Me: How many have you been in then?

Stewart: More than five thousand.

Well, that put me in my place! It was clear that Stewart wasn’t simply clocking up churches for the sake of it; he had a deep appreciation of their beauty and knowledge of church architecture. When I offered him coffee, he declined politely, saying he couldn’t stay long as he was cycling to Ipswich. That certainly made my achievements in the annual sponsored cycle ride seem pretty feeble! We carried on talking:

Stewart: Do you know what got me doing this?

Me: No, what did?

Stewart: Homelessness.

He told me that when the pandemic came he decided to try and visit all the churches in England, cycling around and sleeping in church porches. He’d been as far north as Berwick-upon-Tweed, and down to the south coast, but especially liked Norfolk and Suffold with our high concentration of glorious mediaeval buildings. He was rightly proud of his achievements, and showed me some photos that he’d taken on his tablet before he went on his way. It was a privilege to meet him.

If you haven’t been to our beautiful church, you are depriving yourself! You’re welcome any time we are open, but best of all come and join us at 10.45 am on Easter Day, 5th April, as we celebrate the Resurrection: "Christ is Risen, he is risen indeed, Alleluia!

Rosie