News & Features

Another month has passed and again I am left wondering where the time has gone! The weather has been very dry and the gardens are complaining (although I’m not!) but no doubt we will soon be saying it’s raining again and asking what has happened to the summer!

On May 28th and 29th, we are holding a Plant and Paperback Book Stall outside 72 The Street, Rocklands (next door to the school). Come along and buy your bedding plants and shrublets at very reasonable prices and pick up books to read during the summer at the same time! We are still ‘old school’, so it’s cash only, I’m afraid, but the PO will be open so you can get cash from there (and refreshments too!) All monies raised will go to keeping the little church ‘up the hill’ open.

In June we are holding another popular fundraising event which is the annual Flower Festival. This will run on Saturday and Sunday 28th and 29th when the beautifully decorated church will be open from 10.00 until about 17.00.

There will also be refreshments served from the original Victorian schoolroom, including light lunches, homemade cakes and savouries and the usual hot and cold drinks. There will also be a barbecue at lunchtime! On Monday 30th, we hope to have the church open again, but only drinks will be available in the schoolroom + possibly some cakes. And if that is not enough, there is a wonderful cake stall as well as a tent with bric-a-brac!

This year, on the Sunday, we are hoping to keep the church calm and peaceful for those who would like to have a quiet time of reflection in the morning, where visitors can sit and listen to some quiet music or maybe some poetry or readings as they drink in the wonderful aromas of the flowers and admire the displays, without hustle and bustle of chatter going on around them. After about midday, depending on what happens, it will be business as usual.

We look forward to seeing lots of visitors during the weekend - you can always be sure of a warm welcome at All Saints.

April
Easter appears a long time ago now. We don’t have a service in our church over Easter but we did host our evening Ash Wednesday service.

We also hosted the Walsingham Pilgrims overnight in the village hall on the Monday evening of Holy Week. We provided them with a meal which included cake (of course). As usual they held a short, simple but very moving service in our church in the evening together with several people from the Shellrock churches in attendance. Some oil was blessed and we each marked the sign of the cross on the forehead of the person next to us. We even knew the songs.

Our APCM has been held and we now have a churchwarden for the first time in three years. The new Electoral Roll has reduced to single figures but there is hope that with the people we now have on our PCC we can start to make a difference. There is much work to be done!

May
We had our first wedding for a long time in May. It was a jolly affair and sad that we don’t have many more; but that is the way things are at the moment. Maybe we should better market our churches as a desiring place for couples to make their wedding vows!!??

At the end of May we shall start opening our church on a daily basis. This is something we have wanted to do for some time but needed to put in place a few safeguards first. There is always that concern when a church is left open unattended, but someone may need that
quiet place to be at any time, not just for an hour on a Sunday twice each month!

We shall be hosting a combined benefice Service at the end of May. We hope we shall have seen many members of the ‘other’ benefice there to join us in our worship.

The village hall and the church are jointly holding an Open Gardens between 1.00pm and 5.00pm on Sunday 8th June. As well as the gardens, the church will be open, decorated with flowers and holding a Local History display as part of the event. Further details from the Open Gardens website; www.opengardens.co.uk. A Songs of Praise service will be held in the evening to finish the day.

On the first Sunday in May, we joined with churches across the country in holding a service of commemoration for VE day. Outside, the church was decorated with red, white and blue bunting and the service was followed by refreshments. Later in the week, our bells rang out at 6.30pm as they would have done eighty years ago and Charles, our churchwarden, lit a beacon in the churchyard.

Instead of our usual pop-up café, on 10th & 11th May, the church was the venue for a local history display celebrating jobs and occupations within Great Ellingham. It was a fascinating display, enjoyed by over 200 people over the weekend. There was plenty for people to discover. As well as family history, there was also the opportunity to see amazing archaeological finds from Matt Hall’s metal detecting. We thank Heather, Matt and teams for their hard work and for everyone who supported the event. Refreshments were available throughout, manned by members of the PCC.

Our café church on 11th May was themed on Christian Aid, as it was the start of their annual fundraising week. The service utilised some of their online resources. We saw slides about Aurelia, a farmer from Guatemala, whose crops have been devastated by climate change causing heat waves, storms and unpredictable seasons – quite ironic given the lack of rains we have seen this year in our county, which are also causing problems for our own farmers and gardens. Each member of the congregation was given the opportunity to plant a sunflower seed to take home and nurture, remembering our world, created by God. We ended the service with a chocolate button reflection (Aurelia learnt how to grow cocoa and make chocolate with Christian Aid’s support) – savouring the chocolate as a reminder of how God wants to fill us with love and hope.

We held our APCM during May and are pleased to say that Charles agreed to continue as churchwarden. All the members of the PCC remain.

As May draws to a close, Rev Sue Strutt will be hanging up her formal position of Priest Associate and we thank her for all she has done with us in this benefice. We know she’ll still be at services, but hopefully she will be able to take some more time to rest and do ‘other things’!

Our next pop-up café will be on Saturday 7th June. This will be our usual offering of a place to socialise, get a hot drink and fresh cake. We are also planning a Messy Church at the same time, so welcome anyone interested in seeing church in a different light, with activities and crafts. Both will be 10am – 12 noon.

Welcome to our June entry. We hope and pray that this entry finds you well.

VE Day
We had a very moving service at the flowerbed, followed by refreshments at RSP. We watched as the flag floated and waved in the breeze, carrying our thoughts and memories of this poignant commemoration.

Celebration of Spring
Our first celebration of Spring, saw the church full of fragrant and bright flowers. After the service, we had refreshments and light snacks (which were delicious). Well done to everyone involved in all capacities and thank you to those who joined us on this special day.

A Portrait by Chris Riddell
Chris Riddell is helping support RSP by offering a portrait drawing day on the 19th of July between 10am and 6pm. It will include a 15 minute drawing session that will leave you with a portrait to treasure forever. These will be priced as £50. Booking is essential in order to not be disappointed.

Venue: Rocklands Village Hall, The Street, Rocklands, NR17 1TP
Please contact: John Brown - 07802 433 611 - propmaster@gmail.com

For more information on Chris Riddell’s style of drawing, as well as his usual prices for originals, you can peruse: https://cyclingfish.bigcartel.com/products

Agape

Our Agape meal is an important part of church where we share a meal in love. It took place on the 17^th of April and we all shared a meal together in the love of God and between each other.

Agape is the love of God for humans and the love of humans for God. It is about pure and selfless love. It is about the love that saves humanity. It is an action word not simply a feeling; ensuring that love is given through actions with no expectation of love in return. God loves everyone, wants everyone to be close to Him but will not disregard those who have sinned; this was shown through His action of Jesus dying on the cross. 

VE Day

We will be having a celebration of VE Day from 10:30am at the Memorial Flower Bed on the 4th of May. This has previously been well attended and we hope to welcome even more people this year! Dog walkers welcome to join us with your four-legged friend!

Village Hall Barn Dance

We will be having our much loved barn dance on the 10^th of May at 7pm. Tickets can be booked with John Brown, Sharon Brown or Shena Scholes.

John and Sharon Brown: 01953 483187


Shena Scholes: 01953 741741

APCM

Our APCM will be on the 18^th of May at 12:00pm and is an important meeting in our calendar. If you would like to be on our electoral roll please contact Dawn Thacker 01953 488206.

The sun is shining and the temperature is slowly rising so Spring perhaps has sprung and might be here to stay as I write on Good Friday?  (Traditionally, today is when potatoes should be planted, although I have never understood that ‘rule’, as Easter is very much a movable feast!)

The Cheese and Wine evening at the Village Hall last month, a joint venture with our friends at St Peter’s, went well. The Roskettes sang their hearts out and the food and drink was also much appreciated. Thanks to all who attended and/or contributed food/helped on that evening.

Due to ‘circumstances beyond our control’ (the imminent arrival of a grandchild!) there will be no “Barbara’s Day at Number 39’ this year but instead, there is a PLANT AND PAPERBACK BOOK SALE to be held outside 72 The Street (immediately next door to Rocklands School) on Wednesday 28th and Thursday 29th May from 10am till 3pm. This is during half term so we hope to see lots of people ……..there will be lots of things to buy at very reasonable prices and we hope the rain keeps off this year, after our experience last year!  All monies raised will go towards the upkeep of our beautiful little church (we can accept cash only, I’m afraid, but the Post Office will be open if you need to withdraw cash to pay for your purchases!)

A date for your diary is the Flower Festival on 28th, 29th and 30th June with the usual wonderful display of flowers in the church as well as a bric-a-brac tent and sumptuous refreshments in the schoolroom. We have put in an early but strong request for good weather so are feeling confident that it will be a lovely weekend for all to enjoy!  More details next month!

As has been widely publicised, this year marks the 80th anniversary of VE Day. There are few people left who actually remember that actual day, but it is nevertheless a very important date to celebrate, not war, but the peace that May 8th 1945 brought, especially in these turbulent times.  Rocklands will be remembering, both at the memorial garden in Wayland Rd on May 4th at 10.30 and at a celebration Ceilidh in Rocklands Village Hall on May 10^th 

As I write, we are between Good Friday and Easter.  Our walkers were blessed with the weather on Good Friday – warm, dry and sunshine.  Seven adults, two children and five dogs set out with the cross from St James’ Church shortly after noon, heading to Rockland All Saints, where they arrived at 1.45pm.  They were joined by Rev Tori in Rocklands, who tracked the route backwards to find them – a welcome surprise to boost morale for the final leg.  Many then stayed and joined the congregation for the Stations of the Cross service.

Since last writing, St James held its annual Spring Fair, raising a much needed £640 towards church funds.  There were a reduced number of craft stalls, but a lovely range of items plus cakes and bacon rolls.  Thank you to everyone who supported including those in the background baking cakes, cleaning, washing up etc.

We also had our Mothering Sunday service, joined by members of the Scout Group.  The young people helped to make posies before the service, which we then given out during it. 

The service was led by members of the music group with modern songs, familiar to everyone (including some with actions).  

Our monthly pop-up café continues to see local support and in May, it will be combined with a history exhibition and display of metal detecting finds.  This will be held on Saturday 10th May 10am – 4pm and Sunday 11th May 12 noon – 5pm.  There is no entry fee. 

Refreshments will be available through out the opening, for which donations are welcome.  Heather, Judy and Matt always put on a great display and it will be worth a visit!

As with all CoE churches, we are renewing our electoral roll this year.  If you wish to add your name to this, please pick up a registration form from church and return to Kathryn as soon as possible.  The date for our APCM is now set as Wednesday 14th May at 7pm in St James’ Church.  If you wish to put your name forward for the PCC or churchwarden or to vote at the APCM, then you need to be registered on the electoral roll.

As I type this, the sun is shining, the daffodils are blooming and it feels like spring has finally sprung! (Even it only lasts a few days...)

In just over a week, we will be celebrating Mothering Sunday on 30th March where the children will be invited to make flower posies for mothers, and others in the congregation who look after us. This will be a café church style service with breakfast available before the service.

Over the same weekend we have our Spring Fair on Saturday 29th March. Fingers crossed the weather will shine on us again, bringing in visitors to sample the bacon rolls, cakes and buy from our stall holders! This is one of our main fundraisers for the year.

At the beginning of March, we had a glorious afternoon for our four pancake races. After the races, everyone came in to enjoy pancakes – around 50 were eaten, covered in toppings such as traditional lemon and sugar, to blueberries, banana, syrup or chocolate sauce (or in some cases, everything together)! Our placed runners were Under 5's: 1st Ronnie, 2nd Arlo, 3rd Noah. 5-7's: 1st Albie, 2nd Florence, 3rd Emily. 7-10's: 1st Grace, 2nd Freya, 3rd Oliver. Allcomers: 1st Cora, 2nd Lexi, 3rd John. Thank you to everyone who came and took part, plus the small army of race marshals, pancake makers and washer-uppers – we couldn’t do it without you!

During March, we have held three morning services – Holy Communion, Café Church and Morning Prayer. Our café service was on the theme of the Ten Commandments. Colin challenged us to reflect on these during Lent, perhaps revisiting them as part of our Easter preparations instead of giving up something. We were also reminded of the two commandments from Jesus in the New Testament from Matthew 22: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind’ and ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’.

In April, our café church service will coincide with Palm Sunday so we look forward to parading our palms around the churchyard. Following Palm Sunday, we move into Holy Week. The annual walk of witness will depart from St James at 12 noon on Good Friday and process to Rockland All Saints. Everyone is welcome to come for the walk (dogs welcome too). This will be followed by the Good Friday service at 2pm at All Saints – walkers are invited to stay but not compulsory.

As with all CoE churches, we are renewing our electoral roll this year. If you wish to add your name to this, please pick up a registration form from church and return to Kathryn. The date for our APCM is now set as Wednesday 14th May at 7pm in St James’ Church. If you wish to put your name forward for the PCC or churchwarden or to vote at the APCM, then you need to be registered on the electoral roll.

Cheese and Wine
Thank you for all those who came to the cheese and wine evening on the 22nd March. Thank you to the Roskettes, lovely as always. Thank you to everyone who brought food for the event.

Graham Cole
Dawn Thacker captured a few photos to share with us. This event raised £247.50 for each church in the village. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Rockland All Saints Church for choosing to support us by kindly donating their half to Rockland St. Peter’s Church. We cannot thank you enough and are ever so grateful.

Agape
On the 17th of April we will have an Agape meal and hope to see you there.

Celebration of Spring
We will be having a joyous celebration of spring with lunch, tea and cakes where the church will be decorated with flowers to show our celebration of Spring. If you wish to decorate the church and have a section yourself please contact us and we can organise this. If you cannot offer this, do not dismay! Come along and have a look at what has been done and treat yourself to a slice of cake!

VE Day
We will be having a celebration of VE Day from 10:30am at the Memorial Flower Bed on the 4th of May.

Chris Riddell
We hope you are looking forward to our fundraiser with Chris Riddell. See posters for more details on ensuring you have a slot for a portrait.

Future Entries
If you would like to share pictures from our events, you can submit them to: rsprocklands@gmail.com. We will then include them and credit you in our entries

With the lovely sunshine we have had recently, it is easy to believe Spring is just around the corner….at least when viewed from indoors!! By the time you read this, the vernal Equinox will have been and gone, the days will be getting longer and the clocks will have ‘sprung forward’ and hopefully, the temperature will have warmed up a bit!

The ‘Evening with Graham Cole’ event towards the end of February was a great success……many thanks to Graham for giving his time to help raise money for the church. Unfortunately, I was not well enough to attend but all reports have been excellent – thanks to all who supported as well.

As I write this, we are looking forward to the annual Cheese and Wine Evening at the Village Hall with the Roskettes providing the ‘cabaret’ act. I have no doubt those who attend will thoroughly enjoy the evening!

April brings Easter Week, starting with Palm Sunday on the 13th which we are celebrating as a benefice at a Café Church service in Gt Ellingham St James. Breakfast starts at 9.30 with an informal service at 10.30- if you have never been to a Café service, do please come along- it is all very relaxed and friendly and probably very different from the sort of service you imagine. On Maundy Thursday our friends at Rockland St Peter’s host an agape communion -again not a traditional style eucharist but nonetheless very meaningful and thought-provoking. (Agape is a Greek word for ‘love’ meaning the highest form of love or charity there is.) At All Saints we have the usual Good Friday service at 2pm on 18th to look forward to. This follows the Walk of Witness from St James’ church in Great Ellingham that leaves at midday. All are very welcome to join the walk and the service, including dogs. To celebrate Easter Day, we have a Shellrock benefice service at St James at 10.30, always a joyous occasion. We look forward to seeing you at any of these events/services.

Day Lent Course

This will take place on Mondays, starting on Monday 10 March, and on the following Mondays; 17th, 24th & 31st March, 7th & 14th April. This course will be held in the Tower Room, St Andrew’s Church, Hingham at 11am, followed by a soup lunch afterwards. Donations for the lunch to the Bishop’s Lent Appeal 2025 raising money for YANA (You Are Not Alone) to help fund its telephone helpline. YANA provides rural mental health support for those involved in agriculture and other rural businesses affected by stress and depression.

To help us plan for the Lent course session and cater for the lunches, please email Caroline to let us know if you are coming to this; admin@standrewshingham.org.uk

Evening Lent Course

This course will take place on Tuesday evenings, starting on Tuesday 11 March and on the following Tuesdays; 18th, 25th, (1st April, 8th April). Time will be 7.00pm for a 7.15pm start. This course will be held at Orchard House, Church Street, Great Ellingham (Charles Mason’s
home).

To help us plan for the Lent course session, please email Colin to let us know if you will be attending; colin.thomas196@btinternet.com

Discussions will focus on Faith Journeys - how we came to faith and what it means today.

On behalf of RAS PCC, many thanks to Rev Tori for organising the Vision Day on February 1st. Seven of our PCC were able to attend ,and we found it an uplifting experience. Thanks too to those who provided refreshments etc – a good event all round!

On the following day, we celebrated Candlemas with an informal yet meaningful service remembering the presentation of Jesus as a 40 day old infant at the temple in Jerusalem, which included an impromptu dramatic presentation of the story with makeshift ‘costumes’ (aka tea towels!) and two origami doves that were launched by an 11 year old Joseph with enthusiasm. The Shellrock Music Group led the music, minus a couple of key members, but the congregation sang lustily, nevertheless. Everyone lit a candle remembering that Jesus is the Light of the World as we finished with ‘This little light of mine’ and we enjoyed homemade biscuits in the shape of a dove with our coffee after the service.

On February 17th the church held the funeral of Maria Christina Gathergood -Standley who had lived a very simple life in her isolated family farm on Swangey Lane almost all her 94 years of age. The service was well-attended and reflected her love of nature and all creatures. RIP Christina.

The Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM) for All Saints will be held on March 15th at 10.00am in Rocklands Primary School hall (by kind permission of the Executive Headteacher). As this is the year for renewing the Electoral Roll, (where have the last six years gone??) current members will be contacted with a new form to complete. If anybody else would like to be included at All Saints, please let Cath Jones (cath@jones871.plus.com) know. We have been managing without a church warden for several years now, but we live in hope that, maybe this year, someone will be willing to take on that commitment. In the meantime, we continue to share the workload between us, where possible.

Following the Evening with Graham Cole, the next joint fundraiser with our friends at Rockland St Peter’s church is on Saturday March 22nd in Rocklands Village Hall (7pm) which will be a Cheese and Wine Evening. Tickets (available in Rocklands Community Shop or from John Brown, Julie Dekker and Cath Jones) are £10 each and include a glass of wine and food as well as entertainment by the Roskettes, who have been busy practising their repertoire for months. There is also a licensed bar and a raffle (donations of raffle prizes always welcome!)

Our February café church on 9th February followed the story of Jesus’ first disciples – with a reading from Luke 5 where Jesus tells the fishermen to cast their nets on the other side of their boat. A short talk and discussion followed about how it might have felt to be the fishermen, or even their families, as Jesus asked them to follow him. The songs, led by the music group, were suitably selected to match, including ‘Follow me, says Jesus’, ‘Will you come and follow me?’ and ‘Go tell it on the mountain’.

If you are a budding musician who would like to join a small group, then we’d love to hear from you. Our group comprises one guitar, one flute and four singers but it would be lovely to have a wider number, even if it’s not each month. Reading music is an advantage but hymns are generally simpler than most tunes so it doesn’t require too much experience. Please contact Colin Thomas for more information.

The café service in March will be on 9th. There will be a bonus café church for Mothering Sunday on 30th March. Everyone is welcome to come along from 9.30am for breakfast (toast, rolls, fresh coffee). There will be the chance to make flower posies from 10am on Mothering Sunday; these will be given out during the service.

Our February pop up café was another cold and frosty one but a stalwart gathering called in for coffee and fresh cakes – warm cemetery buns, coffee cake and lemon cake. We also have a table of delicious jams and chutneys on sale, made by Margaret Thomas. Our next café will be on Saturday 8th March.

It won’t be long until the start of Lent so that can only mean one thing – Shrove Tuesday and Pancake races! These take place after school, from around 3.30pm, starting from the Methodist church on Church Street. Please bring a pancake and pan if you wish to race. (We only have a couple of spare pans and would welcome any old pans as donations!) Races are split into age groups – roughly under 5s, 5-7, 8-10 and adults – depending on the number of participants. Pancakes and a selection of toppings are then available in the church afterwards – in return for a small donation. If you can make a batch of pancakes or help on the afternoon, that would be amazing – contact Kathryn or Charles.

Our annual Spring Fair will be on Saturday 29th March, 10 – 12.30. Please do come and support this event as it’s one of our major fundraisers to keep the church open. There are a few spaces available for stalls if you would like to come. Please contact Kathryn 01953 572159 or sunflowerjones@hotmail.com.

We have received the dreaded Quinquennial report for our church and, as expected, there are many maintenance requirements amounting to thousands of pounds. If anyone has a magic wand can we please borrow it!?

We shall be holding our evening service of Holy Communion and Imposition of Ashes in our church on Ash Wednesday which will mark the start of Lent. We are expecting a Lent course to be organised in our benefice which will be open to all and probably be held in the evening.

We hope the March Newsletter finds you well. We have noticed the snow drops have appeared and the daffodils are teasing us with the hint of spring to come. Farmers will be preparing for their loveable lambs that graze our beautiful countryside in no time.

Shrove Tuesday

The 4th of March 2025 will be Shrove Tuesday or Pancake day and lent will start on Ash Wednesday. Traditionally, pancakes were made as it helps use up the extra ingredients before lent begins.

Joel 2:12-13 - “Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.”

Cheese and Wine

We have a cheese and wine evening on the 22nd of March at St. Peter’s Church and the Roskettes will be there! Tickets will go on sale shortly. We look forward to seeing you!

Graham Cole

Thank you to everyone who attended the evening at Graham Cole on the 22nd of February 2025. We hope you enjoyed it! I am sure we can find some pictures for the next issue!

Chris Riddell

We are hoping to have a portrait day with our village’s much-loved author and illustrator of The Goth Girl as well as other beautiful titles. If you have not read Goth Girl we recommend you do; there is some great word play on character names adults will appreciate! If you have a child, then it is the perfect book to read and enjoy together. Whilst no date has been confirmed as of yet, this event will help raise money for the church which Chris has kindly helped out with in the past. We hope for your continued support through the year when more events will appear.

Christian Books

We have been listening around for book recommendations with regards to Christian fiction and non-fiction. If you have been listening to UCB radio recently, you may have picked up some new books to read:

An email from Paul by 17 year old, Krystal Cambell Aldred When Courage Calls: Josephine Butler and the Radical Pursuit of Justice for Women by Sarah C. Williams

Maybe you want to focus on Christian literature for your lent and so Kathryn (on our PCC) would like to also offer up the option of Lord Foulgrin’s Letters by Randy Alcorn. All three are available on Amazon as too is Chris Riddell’s Goth Girl.

We shall be holding a ‘Vision Day’ in Little Ellingham village hall on Saturday 1st February for all the churches associated with Tori’s Role as Priest-in-charge. This event is primarily to identify how we are doing now and what the future is to be as we move towards becoming one benefice. This will be an opportunity for individual members of our churches to have their voice. To put forward ideas, concerns, hopes and expectations.

Although maybe not the most important consideration, one question that needs to be answered is ‘What do we call our combined benefice?’ Currently it is ‘Gt and Lt Ellingham, Hingham, High Oak, Rockland All Saints, Rockland St Peter and Scoulton with Wood Rising’. Quite a mouthful, so if you have a better suggestion, please bring it with you.

Coffee and Tea will be available on arrival and throughout the session. There will be a break for lunch of soup, rolls, cheese and cake around half way.

If you cannot make this session but feel you have something to contribute, please inform Tori or Sue. Their contact details are at the end of these Ramblings as usual. Alternatively they both will be at the Benefice service on Sunday.

Happy New Year! It feels a little strange saying this in February because January has come and gone so quickly. In the Church calendar we are in what is called Ordinary Time; we are not in the major seasons of Advent, Christmas, Lent or Easter (but we are sure they will all come around again soon enough).

Santa’s tour this year was wonderful. We paid a visit to 8 acres this year as an extra venue. With the help of carols outside the shop, we raised £426.00 for E.A.C.H. Santa must say a huge thank you to Richard Baker. Without him Santa’s tour would not be possible; he supplies the tractor and trailer as well as giving his time and a very generous donation. Thank you again, Richard.

We have ‘An evening with Graham Cole O.B.E’, aka Tony Stamp from the much loved ‘The Bill’, on Saturday the 22nd February at 7pm at Rocklands Village Hall. There will be a licensed bar and snacks. Only £5 a ticket! Please phone: 07802 433 611

In January, we do not hold services at All Saints as it is so hard to heat the church and make it comfortable enough for our congregation so the next service will be Candlemas on February 2nd, which falls 40 days after Christmas and exactly halfway between Christmas Day and the Spring Equinox so the days will soon be getting noticeably longer very soon! It is an informal family-friendly service so we would love you to join us, even if you are not a regular church goer.

We have a couple of fundraising events to be held in conjunction with St Peter’s church in Rocklands Village Hall coming up. The first is ‘An Evening with Graham Cole’ (aka PC Tony Stamp from ‘The Bill’ ) who is going to talk about some of his experiences at 7pm on February 22nd. Tickets are available from Rocklands Community Shop and 07802 433611 priced at just £5 each and there will be a licensed bar and snacks too. This promises to be a really good evening so do please join us. Graham lives locally and his grandchild attends Rocklands School and we are very grateful to him for offering to do this evening for us.

The second event is the Cheese and Wine Evening, same place, same time but on March 22nd when we will again have a licensed bar, a cheese-based buffet and entertainment from the Roskettes. More details in the March ‘Rocklander’.

It was a frosty white morning for our first pop up café of the year. There was a swift change in personnel due to illness but the weather didn’t dampen the number of visitors who called in for fresh (still warm) cemetery buns, sausage rolls and malt loaf. We’re enjoying hosting these and meeting members of our parish, so do stop by if in the area. Our next one is Saturday 8th February, 10 – 12.

Our café church service celebrated the Epiphany story which was read over three parts and performed by willing volunteers from the congregation. The arrival of the Magi is only mentioned in the gospel of Matthew and there was some discussion as to who these people were, where they had come from, if they brought the gifts intentionally with them and how they might have known where to travel. The music reflected the theme, still celebrating Christmas. The next café service will be on Sunday 9th February. Breakfast from 9.30am and service at 10.30am.

Our monthly café services are led by the music group comprising a guitar player, flautist and four singers. If you play an instrument and would like to get involved, we’d love to hear from you! It would be great to expand our offering. Usually, hymns are relatively straight forward pieces so they are suitable for people with an ability to read music, even if out of practice! Contact Colin Thomas or come and see us. In addition to the café church services, the group also provides music at occasional other services such as the Christingle, Pet Service and Candlemas at Rockland All Saints.

St James’ Church has regular services on the first three Sundays of the month. The first and third alternate between Holy Communion and Morning Prayer, depending on availability of ministers to take the service. For more information, check the notice board / front porch at church or the Shellrock website.

Our event diary is starting to fill up – the annual Spring Fair will be on Saturday 29th March, 10 – 12.30. Contact Kathryn for more information or to book a stall. Also coming up will be our annual pancake races on Shrove Tuesday, 4th March. If you can make a batch of pancakes or help on the afternoon, that would be amazing – contact Kathryn or Charles. Watch this space for a local history exhibition later this year....

After a busy month leading up to Christmas, January has been relatively quiet. We had a very enjoyable Carol service followed by our Christmas Day service of Holy Communion. Apart from our regular services we have started to look forward to the new year and what is in store for us.

We are happy to be hosting the Vision Day in our village hall on 1st February when we hope to welcome many of you to Tori’s talk and discussion on the future of our two benefices. We shall provide tea and coffee from the start and a light lunch will be served around midday.

Before we know it, we shall be in the season of Lent and looking towards Easter and our APCM!