News & Features

Many thanks to all who attended the Advent Carol service at All Saints on the last day of November (St Andrew’s Day) from across the whole benefice. Somehow, we managed to fit everybody in, and all cars were parked safely. As always, it was a very powerful service to ‘kick off’ the new church year and to start the preparations for the birth of Jesus. It was lovely to meet so many lovely folk from the Hingham and High Oak benefices.

Just a week later, the church was packed again for a very different service- the annual Christingle. This year, 48 children and their families made Christingles in the old schoolroom (many many thanks to Emily Donald for helping to create the individual packs of materials in the morning) and made their way safely in the gloom and heavy rain across to the church where the Shellrock music group led some lively singing and clapping before the mood changed, the candles were lit on the Christingles and the children all sang ‘Away in a Manger’ a cappella. It was a magic moment……then we had a communal blowing out of the candles and the adults breathed again!!! We were very pleased to welcome children from the Rocklands School choir who sang beautifully for us- thank you! The youngest children present helped to set up the crib and a mental note to self was made to try and make the camel stand more firmly next year!! Once again, the service helped to remind us that even though the world can be a horrible place, there are pockets of hope if we know where to look, and our children are a good place to start the search!

Sadly, a third funeral in recent weeks took place at All Saints on December 5th when we said goodbye to Marshall Skitmore. Our love and thoughts go to his family at this sad time.

The PCC join with me to wish you all a very happy Christmas….see you next year!

The Harvest Supper was another successful event for All Saints, with nearly 70 people enjoying a lovely meal, followed by entertainment from the Roskettes. Very many thanks to all who bought tickets, provided a contribution to the loaded food table, helped set up and clear away, washed up, returned various bits of crockery and cutlery to their rightful place or did anything else to add to the enjoyment of the evening!

We have had two funerals in the last couple of weeks, one of which was exceptionally large, but we managed to squeeze almost everyone inside, out of the rain. Again, thanks to those who came to help with parking (we were grateful to a local farmer who offered the use of his farmyard for overflow parking). Both services were a lovely memorial to men who were obviously well-loved by their friends and family, who had both expressed the wish to be buried in All Saints churchyard near their parents and other family members, even though they themselves did not live in Rocklands. RIP Mick and Paul.

As you know, the ‘Big Benefice’ Advent carol service is being held at All Saints on November 30th at 10.30. This is always a lovely service, and we look forward to welcoming you all. Please be reminded that parking is VERY limited along the lane to the church, so please car share as much as possible. Those who are able, may prefer to park in the village and walk (it’s about 10-15 minutes and can be wet underfoot).

The following Sunday, December 7th, is our annual Christingle service which is always a magical service held as the light fades and only the candles on the Christingles light the way home! A more traditional ‘Midnight’ Mass is held on Christmas Eve at 10pm, which is also candlelit. Looking at my calendar with all the events and services taking place over the next 6 weeks or so, I realise how busy we will all be, so RAS PCC join me in wishing everyone across the Benefice a blessed and happy time…..especially Rev. Tori and the rest of the ministry team who will be completely exhausted by the end! Happy Christmas everyone!

As I write, Autumn is well and truly upon us, with blustery winds, misty, moisty air and leaves falling from the trees. So far, the temperature is generally mild for the time of year but it will soon drop, so we have put the portable gas heaters back in the church ready to keep congregations from freezing! About a month ago, we held the annual Pets and Harvest Thanksgiving service ‘up the hill’. This year, the rain was a very close threat, and we nearly decided to move everything inside the church, but then we saw a patch of blue in the sky ‘enough to patch a sailor’s trousers’ and we made the call to stay outside…… and our prayers were answered as it stayed dry until we had finished. The music was led by the Benefice Music Group, with Colin on guitar and Kathryn on flute, with the usual singers helped by Julie Dekker and Monty and Ottilie (dogs!) We were delighted so many joined us in spite of the inclement weather, and we all enjoyed playing ‘Who Am I?’ as well as singing traditional Harvest hymns alongside more modern songs. The collection went to the Leprosy Mission as usual, and donations of ambient food were taken to the Food Bank after Kathryn explained what a standard food parcel would be likely to contain for those in need. Our annual Harvest Supper takes place on 8th November in Rocklands Village Hall at 7pm. Tickets are selling well but if you would like to come and haven’t yet booked, if you contact me on 01953 483542 before 5th November, we may be able to squeeze you in. Tickets are only £10 for a two course supper+ tea and coffee (bring your own alcohol and glasses if required) and is followed by a performance by the Roskettes as usual. There will not be an Advent Lunch this year.

In November, we have our usual service on the 3rd Sunday, but then on 30th November, we welcome friends from all 12 churches in the new combined benefice to join in the Advent Carol service at 10.30am. This heralds the start of the Anglican new year and is a time of waiting and preparation for the birth of Jesus and is always a very powerful service. It is not the easiest of churches to find, but if you follow satnav, the nearest postcode is NR17 1XW…Google maps calls the lane ‘St Andrew’s Lane’ for some reason but if you ask a local they will say ‘Church Hill’ or maybe Stowlay Lane!!? If you find Rectory Rd and go past the houses, you can see the church on your left so follow your nose after taking the next left!!! An important date for the diary is 7th December when we will be holding our Christingle service at All Saints at 3pm. The children arrive from 2.30 onwards and make their Christingles in the old schoolroom, then we have an informal fun service in church…..which is so meaningful and powerful as children celebrate Christmas without any of the commercial hype that threatens to take over its true meaning. Rocklands School choir will again be singing at the service, which is always a delight to listen to. More in the December issue, but please book the date in your calendar now!

There has been a lot of discussion about the repair of the vandalised stained-glass window at All Saints church and it has now been agreed that we will have the conservation job done on all three panels on the east window, including the installation of a protective guard so that it doesn’t happen again! The professional company who will do the work have advised that as the lead matrix is stretching on all panes, the window is vulnerable to water ingress which would cause even more problems with the structure, so we need to future-proof as much as we can. We are very grateful to villagers who have pledged support and made donations already; if anybody else would like to contribute towards the approximate £20 000 that the repair is likely to cost in total, please see Cor Dekker, the church Treasurer.

Voice Junction, the youth group who practice their singing in the VH on Mondays, have also offered to put on a concert to raise some funds so look out for details of this event too and get a ticket! A very small proportion of the cost should be covered by our insurance policy but the bulk still has to be found by us. The PCC has agreed that a bequest by Evelyn Harrand will be used to cover the shortfall as we think dear Evelyn would have approved of that!

When you read this, our Pets and Harvest Thanksgiving service will be over (we have everything crossed for a dry day so that it can be held outside as usual). The collection from this will be donated to the Leprosy Mission.

Our next fundraiser is the Harvest Supper which is on November 8th at 7pm in the Village Hall. (OK, harvest is well and truly over by then but we had to delay it for reasons beyond our control and we couldn’t think of a suitable alternative name that people would recognise as an event they like to come to!) There will be the usual delicious homemade supper with two courses followed by entertainment by the Roskettes. Tickets will be available in October so watch this space (or ring 483542 to reserve your ticket in advance) It is always a lovely event.

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.