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Category: Friends of St Mary’s

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Who Was Constable William Raven?

Find out about William Raven, Buried in Old St Mary’s Churchyard

Constable William Raven
Constable William Raven

William Raven, a resident of West Bergholt, was born in Coggeshall in 1817, joined the Essex Constabulary in 1844 and died in 1911. You can now visit his, & his wife’s, grave in (Old) St Mary’s Churchyard but what happened in between those years?

Find out when Professor James Raven, from the Universities of Cambridge & Essex, gives a talk about his ancestor. He will touch on a number of topics that bear comparison with today such as:

Continue reading “Who Was Constable William Raven?”
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Remembrance & Old Church Update

Old Church Renovations YouTube presentation

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 Continue reading “Remembrance & Old Church Update”

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Lockdown Strikes – No Cakes!

One of 2020 Xmas Cards - features Old Church Organ - but no cakes

Lockdown Strikes – No Cakes!

Last week’s news roundup spoke of fundraising ideas from the Friends of St Mary’s Old Church but there will now be no cakes.  Unfortunately, Lockdown restrictions have made it very difficult to organise the sale of cakes, Cards & books on Saturday as had been planned.  There is a slim chance that they may be able to rearrange for December but this is likely to be too late for Xmas post.

Gift Idea?

Continue reading “Lockdown Strikes – No Cakes!”

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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”