Little Ellingham

We held our first Church Coffee Morning for a very long time in July; thank you to everyone who came to support us. This used to be a regular event but lapsed due to several factors; not least the lack of people to run it. This is part of our attempt to improve the engagement we have with our community. We have several ideas how this could expand into something more than coffee and cake, so we shall see how it develops. Our intention is to hold this coffee morning on the Saturday before the third Sunday each month, so the next one will be on 16 August between 10am and 12pm.

For the same reason we have been opening our church daily since Easter and all appears to be going well.

Both initiatives have been born from questions raised about what functions our church needs to perform today apart from holding services of worship. But like many other rural churches we have to be realistic as to what we can achieve with the resources available. We shall continue to pray and listen.

In September we shall be holding our Harvest Festival, though it is unsure how much this will be a celebration for farmers as it appears to have been a very difficult year with the lack of rain.

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.

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.

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.