News & Features

January started cold – but we embraced the first Sunday in the month by celebrating Epiphany and marking the door with chalk at our Morning Prayer service.  20 + C + M + B + 26  Christus Mansionem Benedicat – Bless this House.

We continued the theme into the second weekend with a Messy Church on Saturday.  The children that attended enjoyed the activities on offer – decorating a crown for the kings (plenty of opportunity here for glue and jewels), baking and decorating star shaped biscuits (for the star in the Nativity story) and making calendars for the start of the new year.  Thank you to our volunteers for running this session.  There isn’t another date planned yet, but we’re hoping to have an Easter theme – if we can fit it in!

Alongside Messy Church, was pop up café.  The numbers were small, but the cakes were splendid!  Charles tried out a new recipe – Eccles cakes.  There were several second helpings!  Our next pop up will be on Saturday 7th February.  Do stop by. 

Our second Sunday was Café Church – again with the Epiphany theme.  The talk centred on stars and included a hunt for stars hidden around the church.  We also used the opportunity to move the kings from the east window above the kitchen to join our stable scene.

We received six completed Christmas quizzes in our box – the draw for the winner is to follow....  Thank you to everyone who bought a copy (or who purchased Christmas cards) and supported us with our fundraising.  We will be planning our next event dates soon so watch this space....

FOODBANK – Did you know we support Thetford foodbank with a collection space in the church?  There are desperately in need of tinned tomatoes, tinned fruit, sponge puddings and instant mash.  Donations can be dropped off at church, or at either Rocklands or Great Ellingham village shops.

VOLUNTEERS WANTED!  We are desperately in need of some help with cleaning in church or with running coffee at our services.  Can you spare an hour?  It doesn’t have to be regularly, but our regular band of volunteers are struggling to manage on their own.  We have some who need to take a step back for health reasons.

Rain through our roof is becoming a challenge.  If you are interested in fundraising for St James, we’d love to hear from you!  Perhaps you could help organise an event – or have a suggestion.  Do let us know.

Happy new year to all! May it be a blessed and peaceful one.

Are you looking for a new resolution? We have the perfect idea! We are desperately in need of some help with cleaning in church. Can you spare an hour or two on the second Sunday in the month? It doesn’t have to be each month, but our regular band of volunteers are struggling to manage on their own. A whizz round with the hoover or duster would be amazingly appreciated – and there is the reward of a fresh home-made cake too. The next date will be Saturday 10th January, from 8.30/9am.

If you are reading this before the end of December, there is still time to get your Christmas quiz in! These have been available at £1 each (with the chance to win £20) and contain a mix of fun questions on carols, pantomimes and Christmas characters. There’s been quite a bit of rivalry from some of the congregation. This may become an annual fundraiser!

In December we had a Christingle café church with several young people attending. All made their own Christingle with a mix of raisins and fruit pastilles. It was a lovely service, led by Sue, who told us all about the history of the Christingle. We hope the candles were re-lit over Christmas to remind us of Jesus, the light of the world.

Our next Messy Church is on Saturday 10th January at 10am. This will be themed on Epiphany –the arrival of the kings. There will be craft and cookies to make, alongside our bible story. Everyone is welcome and this is especially suited to families with primary age children. Adults need to stay with their child/children. Refreshments are available as this runs in the chancel at the same time as Pop-up café.

Our monthly cafés have been well attended and we look forward to continuing these on the second Saturday. Cakes are all homemade, mostly dairy free, and we usually also have gluten free options available (shop bought though). Donations are welcomed for this, card or cash. Anyone can drop in, and well-behaved dogs can come too! Our next will be on Saturday 10th January, 10am-12noon. If you’d like to help with these, do let us know.

Rain through our roof is becoming a challenge. If you are interested in fundraising for St James, we’d love to hear from you! Perhaps you could help organise an event – or have a suggestion. Do let us know.

As this is being typed, the busyness of the Christmas Fair weekend is fading! The weekend was not without its challenges as Storm Claudia brought rain – which found its way through the roof. With water dripping down the tower for several hours, it unfortunately made its way into the electrics and created some hastily amended plans for lighting on the Friday night. It also led to a pond underneath the kitchen area – again requiring changes to powering the hot plate for the mulled wine. We got there though! (Luckily, Saturday proved to be drier with only a momentary power cut!) So, thanks must go to everyone involved in the Fair. We couldn’t put on the fair without support.

• Thank you to those who braved the elements to support it (particularly on Friday evening)!
• Thank you to our stallholders for bringing their creative wares and beautiful gifts!
• Thank you to the cake bakers, sausage roll cookers and bacon roll fryers!
• Thank you to the volunteers drafted in to run the ‘church’ tables – tombola, raffle, games and refreshments.
• Thank you to Charles for rigging some lighting, to those who helped move chairs and tables.

It was a successful event raising over £1000 for church funds. To put this in context – that is slightly over a third of our annual insurance premium or covers 60% of our gas bill or pays all our electricity with a little left! It costs approximately £18/day to pay the basic bills and keep the doors open to the church - without considering the maintenance and upkeep of the building.

With November being the month of Remembrance, St James was the last stop on the route this year for Remembrance Sunday, which started at Little Ellingham and went onto Deopham. With the weather warmer than previous years, the service was held outside in front of the tower, where a stone commemorates villagers lost in WW1.

In December we look ahead to Christmas! We are selling Christmas cards – with designs by Christine Fuller – at £5 for a pack of 12. This is alongside a fun Christmas Quiz, just £1 (you have until the end of December to complete it). This goes towards our church funds. Both will be available at events and services at St James throughout December.

Look out for your Shellrock benefice Christmas card which will be delivered through your door – it contains all our December services. If you aren’t on a delivery route, stop by at Rookery Meadows Farm Shop or Great Ellingham Village Stores where you should (hopefully) find a spare one or two.

We also have pop up café on Saturday 13th December, with the jigsaw puzzle and preloved toys returning, alongside jams and chutneys by Margaret, the Quiz and Christmas cards! Our Café church service on Sunday 14th December will be a Christingle service. Breakfast from 9.30am and Christingle making from 10am. Do come along!

If you enjoy singing, don’t forget our popular Carols around the tree on Thursday 18th December at 6.30pm.

Finally, if you are interested in fundraising for St James, we’d love to hear from you! It would be great to put together a plan towards roof repairs. Likewise, if you are free on Saturday 13th December (or any second Saturday) and could assist with some cleaning (1/2 – 1 hour will be sufficient), then call in. The church is a parish building and the PCC are a small band of willing volunteers, but they are in need of a boost!

Wishing you all a very happy and peaceful Christmas and New Year from St James’ Church.

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!