Old Church Renovations YouTube presentation
Posted on by dave

Remembrance & Old Church Update

Old Church Renovations YouTube presentationRemembrance & Old Church Update

Last week we announced the plans for a Remembrance Service partially in St Mary’s (socially distanced and limited numbers) with Zoom.  The new Lockdown has thwarted that and plans have changed.  We also have an update report from the Friends of St Mary’s Old Church with a video presentation to the parish council.  First, Remembrance:

Remembrance Day Events

With the new Lockdown rules, the village can now only commemorate the fallen together in a church service by virtual means.Updated Remembrance 2020 Poster St Mary’s will be hosting a Zoom Remembrance Service on 8th November which will be led by Rev Ian Hilton and to which all are invited.   You can join the Zoom session from 10:30 am with the service due to start at 10:45 am; the meeting ID is 844 6583 7348 & passcode  600763.  The church bell will ring at 11 am for those at home wishing to take part in a doorstep 2-minute vigil, and then again at the end of the 2 minutes.

Other ideas that have been suggested to help with this commemoration include:

  • Paint a poppy for your window. As we thanked the NHS, perhaps we could also thank the fallen this way?
  • Paint a pebble. It seems to be an increasingly popular activity to leave painted pebbles alongside footpaths in the countryside, even streets.  Maybe, if you have a relative who you would like to remember, you could paint their name on a pebble and leave it somewhere to be found?

As ever, there will be wreaths to be laid but, this year, without the usual ceremony.

Old Church Update

The newly decorated Old Church re-opened in August looking much brighter and inviting than it used to.  The current state of play with the re-decoration is that it has mostly been finished, but the wall paintings of the South wall (the side of the porch) have yet to be investigated and conserved by an official conservator, so this wall has been left untouched for now.   The church remains open subject to Lockdown rules.

We hope the conservation work will take place in early Spring 2021, along with any repainting of the ceilings which are reacting unfavourably to their new paint and are peeling.  You can view a presentation recently given by the Friends to the Parish Council below.

Costly Works Remain

This will probably all cost us more than expected, so the Friends hope you will feel able to keep supporting the Friends’ group, you can do so by buying Old Church Xmas Cards and local history books by Jon Lander.  If you would like to buy one of the books as a Xmas gift and send it together with one of the Old Church cards then please contact Jane 01206 240167 or Gill 01206 240512 for information on how to buy them.  They can deliver around the village.

  • Christmas Cards featuring the Old Church – pack of 6 for just £3.50 or SPECIAL OFFER – 3 packs for £10.
  • Jon Landers’ books:
    • “People, Priests and Problems of a Country Parish”.  This describes 1,200 years of West Bergholt’s history. A bargain at just £3.
    • “The Queen’s Champion”.  This tells the story of Thomas Abell who for part of his early life lived in Cooks Hall Farm. In 1527 he was appointed Queen Catherine of Aragon’s chaplain and sealed his fate defending her claim to the throne.  Just £5 for this insight into Tudor ‘politics’.

Please have the exact money, no change will be carried.

 

 

 

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