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Category: Friends of St Mary’s

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Cakes, History, Remembrance & Fitness

Remembrance pebbles

Remembrance pebblesCakes, History, Remembrance, Fitness & St Mary’s Update – Updated for Lockdown

This news update covers several topics, starting with Cakes, History & Xmas, then covering:

First let’s find out what Cakes, History & Xmas have in common:

Cards, Cakes, History & Xmas – what’s not to like?

Continue reading “Cakes, History, Remembrance & Fitness”

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Old Church Redecoration Ends at Last

Newly redecorated Old Church

Old Church Redecoration Ends at Last – Now Open Daily

Redecoration of the Old Church comes to a close
Looking pristine!

Having resumed work at the end of lockdown on 26th May, Bakers of Danbury are now completing the interior redecoration of the Old Church.  The Friends of St Mary’s are looking forward to seeing more visitors to the restored interior.

The Friends have given the church a good clean, and Continue reading “Old Church Redecoration Ends at Last”

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Day 63 of (un?) Lockdown – the Old Church edition

Old Church circa 1880

Tower of JewelsDay 63 of (un?) Lockdown

The main news item for day 63 is an update on the Old Church renovations followed by a few updates from our government, and some fun at the end.  But first, we have a tall story from Annie Neish.

For those of you who are unable to cruise the village she thought you would like to see the Echium Pininana Tower of Jewels flowering beside the fence of the allotment on New Church Road.  Several years ago John had one on the plot next to her so she knew it might be possible.

A quick search on Wikipedia reveals this plant is native to La Palma in the Canaries where it is endangered due to habitat loss (Laurel forests).  Fortunately, it is being cultivated quite widely in the British Isles and Northern California so should have some resilience.

St Mary’s Old Church

Agreement about the best way forward following the discovery of the wall paintings was reached just as the Coronavirus put us all into lockdown. The work can now continue. Continue reading “Day 63 of (un?) Lockdown – the Old Church edition”

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Blame the Plantagenets for delays reopening Old Church

Woodturning

Mediaeval wall painting of a lady's head from Plantagenets eraBlame the Plantagenets

If the Old Church mediaeval paintings are, as believed, around 700 years old, then we can blame the Plantagenets for its delayed reopening.  Apparently, deciding how best to preserve them has become a bit of a headache which is delaying the internal redecoration.  Accordingly, the Friends of St Mary’s have revised their event plans for 2020 as follows: Continue reading “Blame the Plantagenets for delays reopening Old Church”

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Mediaeval Wall Paintings Uncovered – Old Church

Mediaeval Wall Paintings Uncovered

Mediaeval wall painting of a lady's head
The Lady’s Head

The Churches Conservation Trust has made great progress on internal redecoration work at the Old Church.  Mrs Yvonne Henderson’s legacy provided much of the funding for this work. Workers discovered fragments of 3 mediaeval wall paintings; they called in official conservators to assess the paintings which delayed work.

Work has now resumed and this will leave a lady’s head visible (see right) Continue reading “Mediaeval Wall Paintings Uncovered – Old Church”

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Decorating Won’t Stop Christmas Events

Christmas Events at Old ChurchOld Church redecorations - they will not stop Christmas events taking place

The Friends of St Mary’s are pleased to report that their regular Christmas events will still go ahead this year.

As you may have noticed, work started a week ago on the redecoration of the Old Church.  The Friends’ Keep the Bell Ringing appeal of 2016 raised money towards the repair of the roof and tower to make the structure watertight.  The Churches Conservation Trust, of course, also helped a lot with that project.  Now the internal redecoration work, using Continue reading “Decorating Won’t Stop Christmas Events”

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Art Lovers Help Raise Hundreds – 320 visitors!

Art Lovers in the Old ChurchArt Lovers Help Raise Hundreds

Art lovers turned out in their hundreds to visit the Art Show in the Old Church.  In just 10 hours over the weekend of 15th – 16th June 320 visitors came to enjoy an art exhibition.  Local artists had produced 185 works of art for the exhibition.  The artists had used a variety of mediums to produce paintings which ranged in size from small to supersize.

The Friends of St Mary’s Old Church received Continue reading “Art Lovers Help Raise Hundreds – 320 visitors!”