Colin

August news from St Peter's Church

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.

 

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Kathryn

August news from St James' Church

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!

 

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August news from Rockland St Peter's Church

Chris Riddell

We are very grateful to Chris Riddell, who kindly donated his time, talent and resources to our most recent event. With his support we have managed to raise a much needed and appreciated £1860 on the day. Many visitors walked to the church afterwards to view his artwork in the toilet too and left lovely comments in the visitor book. Thank you to everyone who baked, gave up their time and contributed to making this event happen. It would not have run so smoothly without you!

VJ Day

On the 17th of August we will have a VJ service at 12 noon. There will then be a bring your own picnic at the village hall which allows for inclement weather.

Barn Dance

On the 6th of September we will be hosting a barn dance at the village hall in the evening. Tickets will be on sale soon! Adults £10 Children £5 The Fezziwig Ceilidh Band will be teaching all the steps so no need to be a dancing expert!

Pudsey Lunch

Our annual fundraiser, in aid of Child in Need, will be on the 22nd of November – more details to follow.

Winter Market

Our winter market will be at the village hall on the 6th December. A fantastic way to buy some lovely gifts for a loved one or a treat for yourself! We will be having a raffle so please join us for that. If you are unable to join us but wish to help out, we would love donations to the raffle prizes.

 

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Cath

August news from Rockland All Saints Church

First, the good news……. the annual Flower Festival that we were so busy preparing for last time took place over a very hot weekend at the end of June and I am pleased to say that we raised more money than last year. We had fewer arrangers this year, as we were a bit earlier than previous years so some regular contributors were away on holiday but our wonderful boss, Barbara, worked like a Trojan to make sure there were no bare patches in the church and the whole display looked and smelled as wonderful as ever! The girls in the tearoom also worked their socks off in difficult conditions, so a HUGE thank you to them as well. With no water or electricity in the church, even keeping the flowers watered is a challenge, not to mention providing hot and cold drinks and lunches all weekend for a large number of visitors!

The other exciting event recently was also a joyous occasion when the entire school walked to the church on July 4th in order to plant crab apple trees to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Rocklands School (in its present building, that is, as the first village school was built in All Saints churchyard in 1851 but was superseded after Forster’s Education Act of 1870, which required each village to provide a school for its children; it was to be a little while before education became compulsory or free, but it was a start!) The schoolchildren were joined by Little Rocky’s babies and toddlers who came armed with a motley collection of buckets and spades in order to plant one of the trees and the three classes of the school each planted a tree. Julie Dekker (Executive Head) gave a moving speech about the importance of a village, and expressed a hope that in 50 years’ time, when the school is celebrating 200 years, some of the children would come back and look at the trees they planted in 2025. Now, of course, we have the challenge of carting water up the hill every day to water the trees; we have installed water butts round the schoolroom but the small amount of rain we have had hasn’t been enough to even reach the taps! Our particular thanks go to the Grandads and one great-grandad who dug the holes for the trees (‘helped’ by 3 year old Freddie) during the Flower Festival and have been back daily to water and have also put wire guards round them to prevent wild animals from eating them. Fingers crossed that they will all survive (both trees and grandads!!)

We were very pleased that a local builder came and replaced the ceiling in the shed that houses our primitive loo and also made the roof watertight. The walls have been painted and although it’s still very basic, it’s a whole lot less scary using the facilities than before, as the spiders have been encouraged to live in the next shed, for the time being at least!

Now the bad news….we have had a couple of people out to look at the repairs to the vandalised window behind the altar and it is looking as if a five-figure sum will be needed to do a proper job. A small percentage will be covered by our insurance but removing the panel that had the rock thrown through it will compromise the surrounding Victorian window so to repair it so that the window will be there for future generations to look at, will cost a lot of money, which we will need to find ourselves. Many thanks to those who have kindly donated towards the repairs already…..we are looking into CrowdFunding to see if more funds can be raised.

Finally, please note that there is a slight change to the order of services in Rocklands in August as the first Sunday (3rd)will be at All Saints and St Peter’s will be leading the VJ service at the memorial gardens on Wayland Rd at midday on 17th August followed by refreshments at the Village Hall. Please join us if you can. 

 

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Cath

June news from Rockland All Saints Church

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.

 

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Colin

June news from St Peter's Church

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.

 

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Kathryn

June news from St James' Church

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.

 

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June news from Rockland St Peter's Church

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

 

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May news from Rockland St Peter's Church

Agape

Our Agape meal is an important part of church where we share a meal in love. It took place on the 17th 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 10th 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 18th 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.

 

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Cath

May news from Rockland All Saints Church

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 10th 

 

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Kathryn

May news from St James' Church

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.

 

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