News & Features

Welcome to the mini edition of the Benefice News as many of the contributors are away.

However we wanted to share our good news!  Following recent interviews we are very happy to say that The Revd Tori Venmore-Rowland has been appointed as Priest in Charge of the High Oak, Hingham and Scoulton and Woodrising, and Shellrock benefices, subject to a DBS check and safeguarding training.

Tori is currently Assistant Curate in the Mattishall and Tudd Valley benefice in our diocese.
 
Details of Tori’s institution by the Bishop of Thetford will follow in due course, but in the meantime please do keep Tori, her husband Luke and their family in your prayers.

An introduction from Revd Tori
I grew up in Norfolk, and even though I’ve left a few times, I’ve always managed to find my way back again. Following a time at Norwich School of Art and Design, I joined the Royal Air Force as a Weapons Technician, and then spent ten years in light blue. Eventually, God made it clear that there was a rather different purpose for me, and so I left the military to train for ordination. I was ordained Deacon in 2021 and Priest in 2022. My curacy started in Swaffham and Sporle, had a brief period in Dereham and then finished in Mattishall and Tudd Valley, where I have served for the past year and a half. Along with me and supporting me are my fantastic husband Luke, and our children: Cora, Lexi and John. We’re hoping to move to Hingham in the summer where I can start getting to know everyone and seeing what God has in store for the next chapter of my life!

For our June pop up café, the weather was a bit dull, but several people popped in for a warm welcome with coffee and cake. On offer this month was carrot and maple syrup cake alongside Charles’ cemetery buns!

At café church, our regular congregation was joined by family and friends of Lottie who was baptised, along with her Dad, during the service. Lottie and her family recently moved to Great Ellingham and it was lovely to meet them. They commented on the enjoyable service and the welcome they received.

During June, the Village Singers used the church for their 15th anniversary concert – a mix of modern, folk and choral pieces. This was the final show for their musical and production directors, Tina and Neville Moon. We wish them both well in their ‘retirement’ and hope the Singers will be back in the future under new directorship.

Heading into the summer we look ahead to a busy fortnight, hosting a number of Teddy Festival events. This starts off with the art preview party on Friday 28th June. The art exhibition is then open during the weekend Saturday & Sunday 10am -4pm and Monday 10am – 1pm. This is followed by a local history exhibition on Saturday 6th & Sunday 7th July. Both events have free entry and refreshments available. The festival finishes on Sunday 14th with a service of celebration and thanksgiving. Bring along your favourite bear and nibbles, so we can join together for a teddy bear’s picnic afterwards.

Our pop up café will still be open on Saturdays 13th July & 10th August. As always, the coffee machine will be on and fresh cakes will be available! We hope to see you there!

We had a very successful Flower Festival over the two days of the first week-end of June. The church was fabulously decorated out with arrangements that depicted ‘Summertime’, though the weather wasn’t exactly playing ball. We are very grateful to everyone who made this event possible and to those who came along and supported us; thank you. Refreshments were served throughout both days. The week-end was finished off with a splendid Songs of Praise service followed by more refreshments including jugs of Pimms!

Although we have no events planned for the next few months, we are very happy to welcome Bishop Alan, the Bishop of Thetford, to an Evening Prayer service on Sunday 14 July starting at 6.00pm. Everyone is welcome to join us in our worship with the opportunity to meet the Bishop whilst enjoying some refreshments which will be provided after the service.

Another month has passed, and we are still waiting for summer to arrive! Hopefully, by the time I write something for the August edition, the weather will have improved and we will be able to sit in the evening without having a blanket to keep warm!!

We are now gearing up at All Saints for the annual Flower Festival, which is taking place on the weekend of 13th and 14th July from 10.00 - ~5.00. We do not have a theme for our displays and all are anonymous…..we just fill the church with beautiful flowers which can range from elaborate professionallooking displays to simple bunches of wild flowers in a jam jar!! Every year, I am amazed at the talent of those who bring flowers to the church and I always think it cannot be improved – but am always proved wrong!! The smell as I walk in the church hits me every time….if only it could be bottled!

As well as the flowers, we offer refreshments in the old schoolroom……tea, coffee, cold drinks, homemade cakes, scones and sausage rolls, made-to- order sandwiches and even a barbecue at lunchtimes! We have a wonderful cake stall where you can buy delicious cakes and pies all at very reasonable prices. All money raised goes towards the upkeep of our beautiful quintessentially English little country church. We have recently had some work done on the Victorian schoolroom that was looking a bit worse for wear, all done with authentic materials by a couple of local builders and we are hoping to get a coat of paint on the walls before the festival weekend. Do please come and join us to support All Saints church. The flowers will still be on display on the Monday morning but unfortunately we do not have the (wo)man power to offer the same range of refreshments after the weekend! We look forward to seeing you there!

During May we held our annual Big Breakfast raising money for Christian Aid. There was a range of cereals, toast with a variety of spreads and fresh fruit donated by Rookery Meadows. Freshly cooked bacon, sausage and/or egg rolls were available during the morning – 55 in total. It was a lovely event and raised just over £300 for the charity.

Our May café church service was a quiet event, reflecting on the story of ‘feeding the crowd with fish and loaves’, alongside the start of Christian Aid week. We hope to have a baptism at our June service.

The next St James Pop-up café will be on Saturday 8th June. The Village Singers also have their concert on 15th June - tickets are now available from Rocklands and Great Ellingham Village shops. Looking slightly further ahead, we will be hosting a number of events as part of the Teddy Festival including the art exhibition over 29th/30th June and the local history exhibition on 6th/7th July. Both events are free and refreshments will be available.

As the summer approaches we shall be holding our Flower Festival with the theme ‘Summertime’ over the week-end 1-2 June. There will be refreshments available during both days. Entry is free; donations only invited. Come along and delight your senses with what promises to be wonderful arrangements of flowers. The festival will be followed on the Sunday with a Songs of Praise service at 5pm. All are welcome to join us.

Bishop Ian has agreed to visit our church and preside at our monthly service of Evening Prayer on 14 July. We are looking forward to welcoming the Bishop to our service and everyone is invited to join us in our worship and to meet the Bishop.

The weather has improved somewhat since the last time I wrote….but the downside is that the grass grows really quickly and it’s a job keeping up with it! At All Saints we have decided again to allow some areas to ‘re-wild’, in order to help the environment, but we keep the front of the church and newer areas of the churchyard looking as tidy as we can; we hope this compromise keeps everyone happy!

On 30th June 9 (a fifth Sunday in the month) we are holding a different service from the usual pattern, as it will be an evensong followed by a shared picnic outside (weather permitting). There is an almost magical peace about the space at All Saints church, especially in the evening; a previous incumbent described it to me as a ‘thin’ place, which is apparently an old Celtic term for the place between earth and Heaven, where man and God are very close….apparently in other places, they are at least 3 feet apart! Whatever you think about that, we would love you to join us at 6pm.

Although Barbara’s Day had to be cancelled this year, the annual Flower Festival is going ahead on the weekend of July 13-15. On the Saturday and Sunday, there will be a beautiful display of flower arrangements in the church while in the schoolroom, refreshments and light lunches will be served. There will also be a cake stall and bric-a-brac for sale as well as books and some plants.(NB on Monday 15th only the church will be open – no food that day!) Do please book the date in your diary nowmore details next month! We look forward to seeing you!

Rev Leonard James was murdered
In 1608.
By the hands of Lowe
He did meet his fate.

A treacherous wife
Was burned at the stake
And Lowe was killed
For the lives he did take.

KYT Poetry - 2022

We were reminded of this poem, and the events that allowed it to be, as a relative of Rev. Leonard James has recently come forward to our Churchwarden, John Brown, to investigate their family history. Mr Brown has sent Ian Abel’s book to North Carolina for them to peruse. You will note that Rev. Leonard James lives on with us on our village sign with his church.

Rev. Leonard James’, to our knowledge, is buried somewhere in the graveyard but we know not where. If anyone is up for the challenge of finding it please contact the Churchwarden and you will be welcome to search the undergrowth.

Our Good Friday walk was undertaken by a small number of participants. As Rev Sue prayed with us before we set off, she used a Celtic blessing containing the words ‘may be wind be always at your back, may the sun shine warm upon your face, the rains fall soft upon the fields...’ We’d all seen the forecast and we looked up to the sky, and yes, amazingly, our walk to Rocklands All Saints was once more a dry one!

Our Easter benefice service was full of reasons to be thankful – the Easter candles were rededicated and we renewed our baptismal vows, complete with the sprinkling of water across the congregation. Rev Sue seemed to particularly enjoy that point! The service was followed by bubbly and cake to celebrate together.

The April pop up café was blessed with gloriously sunny weather and a decent turnout, including some new faces. It’s an event we hope will bring the community together to see that there is life outside a service. The cheese biscuits by Margaret and cemetery buns by Charles were particularly well received.

We held our APCM this week and are delighted to report that Charles has agreed to continue as churchwarden for another year. We also have two new members on the PCC, Caroline and Richard, to whom we are hugely grateful and we look forward to them being part of our team.

The Christian Aid Big Breakfast is coming up on Saturday 11th May, 9 – 11am. Everyone is welcome! Offers of assistance with the washing and drying up will be gratefully received!

For your next diary dates, the next St James Pop-up café will be on Saturday 8th June.

The Village Singers have their concert on 15th June - tickets are now available from Rocklands and Great Ellingham Village shops.
KD

The Easter services in the Benefice gave us, as always, a variety of experiences. We enjoyed making our own palm crosses at St Peter’s a week before Easter Day (some more successfully than others, it has to be said!). On Maundy Thursday we had a moving Agape service, again at St Peter’s where we shared a meal of bread, wine and cheese together remembering the Last Supper before we went into quietness after all the chat and laughter, stripped the church of all the decoration and left the building in silence. On Good Friday we met again at All Saints and welcomed the brave souls who had carried the heavy cross from Gt Ellingham on a Walk of Witness. The service was sad and somewhat emotional due to the storyline as we followed the Stations of the Cross as they were read by members of the congregation. Then came the contrast with the joy and jubilation of Easter Day at St James, GE when we celebrated the Resurrection with the choir and organ in full volume! Simnel cake at the end was an added bonus!

As I write, we have still received no applications for the position of church warden even three years after John retired, having served many years more than the regulations officially allow! With a small congregation that is not getting any younger, we are struggling to keep up with the maintenance of the churchyard, so we are so pleased that two female villagers have offered to do stints to help with grass cutting and strimming the rapidly growing nettles! It would be such a shame if our loved ones in the churchyard are left untended……we have increased the area of the wildflower areas where there are no recent graves but there is still a lot of grass to cut each week. We have appealed to the people who come and tend graves regularly to perhaps bring some shears or a strimmer to clear a small area round their loved ones’ graves and have everything crossed that we will have a positive response! Every little helps as the advert says!

Unfortunately, it is not possible to hold the usual Barbara’s Day this year but there will be a Plant and Book sale near the school on the mornings of 22nd, 23rd and 24th May for you to stock up your bookshelves and gardens for the summer! It will be cash only……but you can pop up to the shop to get some out of the PO and maybe have a coffee up there at the same time! We look forward to seeing you there!
CJ

The May Magnificat

May is Mary’s month, and I
Muse at that and wonder why:
Her feasts follow reason,
Dated due to season—

Candlemas, Lady Day;
But the Lady Month, May,
Why fasten that upon her,
With a feasting in her honour?

Is it only its being brighter
Than the most are must delight her?
Is it opportunest
And flowers finds soonest?
Ask of her, the mighty mother:
Her reply puts this other
Question: What is Spring?—
Growth in every thing—

Flesh and fleece, fur and feather,
Grass and greenworld all together;
Star-eyed strawberry-breasted
Throstle above her nested

Cluster of bugle* blue eggs thin
Forms and warms the life within;
And bird and blossom swell
In sod or sheath or shell.

All things rising, all things sizing
Mary sees, sympathising
With that world of good,
Nature’s motherhood.

Their magnifying of each its kind
With delight calls to mind
How she did in her stored
Magnify the Lord.
Well but there was more than this:
Spring’s universal bliss
Much, had much to say
To offering Mary May.

When drop-of-blood-and-foam-dapple
Bloom lights the orchard-apple
And thicket and thorp† are merry

With silver-surfèd cherry

And azuring-over greybell makes
Wood banks and brakes‡ wash wet like lakes
And magic cuckoocall
Caps, clears, and clinches all—

This ecstasy all through mothering earth
Tells Mary her mirth till Christ’s birth
To remember and exultation
In God who was her salvation.

G. M. Hopkins
This poem is linked to the Roman Catholic Church and their Marian prayers and worship.

Spring Clean
We had a spectacular spring clean in April and it has set us up on a good foot for the rest of the year. Thank you to everyone involved!

APCM
The Annual Parochial Church Meeting will take place on the 5th of May. All are welcome to join us and see what we have been up to!

New Carpet
The good news is, we have got a lovely new carpet for the centre aisle so that the tired, old one has been replaced. Sadly, we have not received any monetary donations as yet so, if you have a few pennies laying around any donations would be greatly appreciated.
KT