Great Ellingham

In October we held our second Messy Church! We celebrated harvest so some of our activities centred around food – making bread, planting cress seeds and designing meals using pictures of food. The theme was based on the bible passage, the feeding of the five thousand, so to link to this we also weaved baskets and played a fish game. It was an enjoyable session. Our next one will be on Saturday 10th January and be themed around Christmas and new year. For more information on Messy Church, please drop into the church as we have a display board all about it!

Our pop-up café featured an excellent range of cakes as usual. It is well worth a stop by! Our next dates will be 8th November and 13th December. Open from 10am – 12noon. We continue to offer jams and chutneys, made by Margaret Thomas, priced at £3 each. The heating will be going on and during November and December, there will be some preloved toys. Everyone is welcome, including well behaved dogs. Donations are welcome towards the refreshments – cash and card are both accepted.

Our Harvest Festival café church service on Sunday 12th October was busy with several different faces. Kathryn led the service, with the music group, based on the parable of the sower. The talk reflected on the sunflower seeds planted at our May service and what plants need to survive. Trees and plants link together through the wood wide web (yes, it’s a thing!), making them stronger, and, just like the plants in our environments, we too need food, water and connections with people to thrive. Jesus often met with friends and strangers – in homes, at temples, by lakes – connecting with them and building relationships. As part of the talk, we played a game finding familiar links with others – because people often find it easier to build a connection when they have something in common. Another way to make friends, is through food – something we always have at café church. This then led to our harvest collection of tins and packets, destined for the Thetford foodbank.

The Thetford food bank is part of the Trussel network across the UK. Thetford serves the centres in Attleborough and Watton, alongside Thetford. All the donations are weighed in before being sorted and packed into boxes providing emergency food for individuals, couples or families. These are then given out following a referral– which can come from a number of different agencies including Citizens Advice, health visitors or social services. The referral basis is to ensure additional support is provided to the clients so they can support themselves.

Thank you to everyone who donates to the food bank – whether through harvest services this year or the collection points in Rocklands or Great Ellingham village shops. The donations are hugely appreciated and greatly needed.

There will be no café church in November as we will be commemorating Remembrance, starting at Little Ellingham at 10.30am before moving on to the Deopham Green memorial and finishing at Great Ellingham. Everyone is welcome to attend part or all of the service. If attending Deopham Green, please remember to wrap up warm as it can get very windy across the airfield. Refreshments will be available at Great Ellingham.

Our Christmas Fair is on Friday 14th November 6-9pm and Saturday 15th November, 10am – 1pm. We have some stalls booked for Christmas wreaths, soaps and candles, decorative lamps, silver jewellery, jams and ceramics, wood turned gifts, dog toys and a selection of vinyl printed gifts. There will be a raflle and tombola, plus fresh cakes and hot drinks. On Friday evening we will have mulled wine available. This will be replaced on Saturday morning with tea and coffee, alongside fresh bacon rolls. There will be some variation on stalls between the two sessions. Do come along and support our fundraising!

On Sunday 2nd November, there will be an All Souls service. This is a reflective service and anyone who has been bereaved this year is welcome to attend.

As I type this, the weather has definitely has an autumnal feel in the air and the heat of the summer seems a distant memory! Our pop-up cafés con nued throughout August and September, with a varied number of visitors. There are always plenty of home-made cakes on offer, plus hot drinks and squash. Dona ons are welcome towards the refreshment - cash and card are both accepted. We have recently been offering a jams and chutneys, made by Margaret Thomas, priced at £3 each and they have proved popular! The hea ng will be going on when it gets cooler and there will be some pre-loved toys during November and December. Everyone is welcome, including well behaved dogs. Our next dates will be 11th October, 8th November and 13th December. Open from 10am – 12noon. In June, we experimented with our first Messy Church on the theme of Pentecost. Our next Messy Church will be on Saturday 11th October, star ng at 10am. Our theme will be harvest and based on the Bible story, the feeding of the 5000. Children are welcome with their parent / carers and we have a selec on of cra and food ac vi es planned. A er the ac vi es, the session will end with the bible story, a short prayer and me for refreshments. There is no charge, although small dona ons are welcome. We’d love to welcome you! Our Harvest Fes val will be the café church service on Sunday 12th October. During the service we welcome dona ons for the food bank. Par cularly in need at the moment are nned fruit, nned soup, UHT milk, nned meat and fish, and pasta sauce. As usual, if you’d like to join us for food before the service, breakfast is available from 9.30am comprising cold meats, cheese, eggs and rolls or toast with jams, fresh coffee or tea. The service will start at 10.30am, led by members of the music group. It is an informal service and everyone is welcome, whether they usually come to church or not. There will be no café church in November as we will be commemora ng Remembrance with visits to Li le Ellingham church and Deopham Green memorial. Save the date: Our Christmas Fair is Friday 14th November 6-9pm and Saturday 15th November, 10am – 1pm. We have some stalls booked for Christmas wreaths, soaps and candles, decora ve lamps, silver jewellery, jams and ceramics, wood turned gi s, dog toys and a selec on of vinyl printed gi s. We do have space for a few more tables, so please get in touch if you’d like to book – contact Kathryn on 01953 572159 or sunflowerjones@hotmail.com

There has been a flurry of events held at St James during July. The month started by hosting the Teddy Festival art exhibition, on one of the hottest days of the year so far! Even the icing on the cakes was melting! The church was full of lots of different pieces on display. The afternoon tea was fully booked with visitors to listen to local artists Christine and Pete.

We had a first for the church on Friday 11th July – a joint sleepover from Squirrels and Beavers from Great Ellingham (St James) Scout Group. 22 young people stayed the night, sleeping in pop up tents set up in the chancel. A lovely opportunity for them to experience something a little different – and they seemed to have scared the bats away, as they were disappointed not to see any. They thoroughly enjoyed themselves and hope to come back again.

This was followed by our monthly pop-up café, another warm morning but a much quieter affair. Still, plenty of delicious cakes on offer. These continue through the summer – our next will be on Saturdays 9th August and 13th September.

Our café church service was combined with Teddy Thanksgiving so our focus was solely on teddy bears! We enjoyed familiar hymns led by the music group and our reading was from 1 Corinthians 12 – about how parts of the body are all important and work together, just as any team need to. We had a newly written story, all about a bear visiting the teddy bear festival, including reference to around 50 of the 80 bears on display around the village. As with all stories, it had a happy ending with our bear finding some new friends! The talk reflected on the start of the festival and, as usual, we gave thanks to all those involved in bringing the festival together. Teddy related activities were available after the service and several young people took the opportunity to make a small teddy parachute!

Next month, our café church service will be on Sunday 10th August. Although the theme is yet to be decided, the format will be the same – breakfast available from 9.30am comprising cold meats, cheese, eggs and rolls or toast with jams, fresh coffee or tea. The service will start at 10.30am, led by members of the music group. It is an informal service and everyone is welcome, whether they usually come to church or not.

Save the date: the Norfolk Churches Trust Bike, Walk, Drive is just around the corner on Saturday 13th September. Dust off those wheels or boots so you can get out and explore our local Norfolk churches!

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.

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.