News & Features

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

Agape

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

Cheese and Wine
Thank you for all those who came to the cheese and wine evening on the 22nd March. Thank you to the Roskettes, lovely as always. Thank you to everyone who brought food for the event.

Graham Cole
Dawn Thacker captured a few photos to share with us. This event raised £247.50 for each church in the village. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Rockland All Saints Church for choosing to support us by kindly donating their half to Rockland St. Peter’s Church. We cannot thank you enough and are ever so grateful.

Agape
On the 17th of April we will have an Agape meal and hope to see you there.

Celebration of Spring
We will be having a joyous celebration of spring with lunch, tea and cakes where the church will be decorated with flowers to show our celebration of Spring. If you wish to decorate the church and have a section yourself please contact us and we can organise this. If you cannot offer this, do not dismay! Come along and have a look at what has been done and treat yourself to a slice of cake!

VE Day
We will be having a celebration of VE Day from 10:30am at the Memorial Flower Bed on the 4th of May.

Chris Riddell
We hope you are looking forward to our fundraiser with Chris Riddell. See posters for more details on ensuring you have a slot for a portrait.

Future Entries
If you would like to share pictures from our events, you can submit them to: rsprocklands@gmail.com. We will then include them and credit you in our entries

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 hope the March Newsletter finds you well. We have noticed the snow drops have appeared and the daffodils are teasing us with the hint of spring to come. Farmers will be preparing for their loveable lambs that graze our beautiful countryside in no time.

Shrove Tuesday

The 4th of March 2025 will be Shrove Tuesday or Pancake day and lent will start on Ash Wednesday. Traditionally, pancakes were made as it helps use up the extra ingredients before lent begins.

Joel 2:12-13 - “Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.”

Cheese and Wine

We have a cheese and wine evening on the 22nd of March at St. Peter’s Church and the Roskettes will be there! Tickets will go on sale shortly. We look forward to seeing you!

Graham Cole

Thank you to everyone who attended the evening at Graham Cole on the 22nd of February 2025. We hope you enjoyed it! I am sure we can find some pictures for the next issue!

Chris Riddell

We are hoping to have a portrait day with our village’s much-loved author and illustrator of The Goth Girl as well as other beautiful titles. If you have not read Goth Girl we recommend you do; there is some great word play on character names adults will appreciate! If you have a child, then it is the perfect book to read and enjoy together. Whilst no date has been confirmed as of yet, this event will help raise money for the church which Chris has kindly helped out with in the past. We hope for your continued support through the year when more events will appear.

Christian Books

We have been listening around for book recommendations with regards to Christian fiction and non-fiction. If you have been listening to UCB radio recently, you may have picked up some new books to read:

An email from Paul by 17 year old, Krystal Cambell Aldred When Courage Calls: Josephine Butler and the Radical Pursuit of Justice for Women by Sarah C. Williams

Maybe you want to focus on Christian literature for your lent and so Kathryn (on our PCC) would like to also offer up the option of Lord Foulgrin’s Letters by Randy Alcorn. All three are available on Amazon as too is Chris Riddell’s Goth Girl.

We shall be holding a ‘Vision Day’ in Little Ellingham village hall on Saturday 1st February for all the churches associated with Tori’s Role as Priest-in-charge. This event is primarily to identify how we are doing now and what the future is to be as we move towards becoming one benefice. This will be an opportunity for individual members of our churches to have their voice. To put forward ideas, concerns, hopes and expectations.

Although maybe not the most important consideration, one question that needs to be answered is ‘What do we call our combined benefice?’ Currently it is ‘Gt and Lt Ellingham, Hingham, High Oak, Rockland All Saints, Rockland St Peter and Scoulton with Wood Rising’. Quite a mouthful, so if you have a better suggestion, please bring it with you.

Coffee and Tea will be available on arrival and throughout the session. There will be a break for lunch of soup, rolls, cheese and cake around half way.

If you cannot make this session but feel you have something to contribute, please inform Tori or Sue. Their contact details are at the end of these Ramblings as usual. Alternatively they both will be at the Benefice service on Sunday.

Happy New Year! It feels a little strange saying this in February because January has come and gone so quickly. In the Church calendar we are in what is called Ordinary Time; we are not in the major seasons of Advent, Christmas, Lent or Easter (but we are sure they will all come around again soon enough).

Santa’s tour this year was wonderful. We paid a visit to 8 acres this year as an extra venue. With the help of carols outside the shop, we raised £426.00 for E.A.C.H. Santa must say a huge thank you to Richard Baker. Without him Santa’s tour would not be possible; he supplies the tractor and trailer as well as giving his time and a very generous donation. Thank you again, Richard.

We have ‘An evening with Graham Cole O.B.E’, aka Tony Stamp from the much loved ‘The Bill’, on Saturday the 22nd February at 7pm at Rocklands Village Hall. There will be a licensed bar and snacks. Only £5 a ticket! Please phone: 07802 433 611