News & Notices

Gt. Massingham
Mary & the Angel Gabriel

"I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people." Luke 2.10

From this month's Church Registers

An archive of previous month's entries in the Church Registers is on the  "From the Church Registers" page

Red Notes ..........................

OPEN CHURCHES WEEK 5th - 13th August. - All our Churches will be open including St Andrew's, Congham which is normally locked. It will be participating in Open Churches Week in August along with other churches across Norfolk following the theme of 'Our Church and the World'. The church will be open each day from 10 am until 4.30pm and there will be a range of activities and displays.   Congham church has well established links with the Nakwero project  in Uganda which provides vocational training for young people and we will have a display illustrating the work there. In addition there will be various art and craft exhibits and activities, a Coffee Morning and Afternoon Tea, and the week will be rounded off with a Glorious Songs of Praise service on Sunday 13th August at  6pm. Make a note in your diary to pop in to Congham Church during the week of 5th - 13th August, and look out for posters nearer the time giving more details. More information from the Churchwardens, Hilary Scase 600650, Helen Lilley 600153 or PCC Secretary Margaret Hope 600617.

Lent News.  St Lawrence, Harpley. Raising funds to provide a car for Hospice Ethiopia. A total of £543.10 was donated over the 6 weeks of Lent by those attending the soup lunches. A further £135.78 in Gift Aid will be added to this which means
that the Bishop’s Lenten Appeal will benefit by £678.88. Thank you to all those who prepared soup and hosted, and to all who came along and soupported..

All Saints Church, Ashwicken. Norfolk Wildlife Trust have started to survey the Wildflowers in the Churchyard and an area has been set aside for conservation studies. More to see click here.

St. Andrew's, Little Massingham Roof Appeal. St. Andrew's Church has been targetted by lead thieves, once again, and is appealing for support in raising funds to replace the roof. The roof was replaced back in 2006 and was first attacked by lead thieves back in 2014. Since then there has been a further attack and then this January 2017, another attempt was made to steal the lead from over the North Aisle. The thieves abandoned the building but completely damaged the roof. The lead is there and can be sold but the cost of replacement is huge. Thanks go to all those involved who helped to secure the building and prevent further damage. Special thanks to Neil from "Top Speck" who was just wonderful. He called in "favours" and between them all they got the rolled lead down and in his trailer and off to the scrap merchants. They managed to get tarpaulins on both roofs to make it as watertight as possible.
 Pictures of the damage are courtesy of Stephen Hudson.

The cost of the repairs is frightening but every penny will help. You can see various ways to donate via the web site click here. If you use BTdonate, then add LM Roof in the message area and that donation will be allocated specifically to the roof appeal.

A special service for the Benefice to support St Andrews Church is being planned and there will be further fund raising appeals. The work needed gets ever more urgent and your help will be much appreciated. Thank You.

St Andrews. Congham. Exciting new plans are in hand for the Church to be brought up to date and more available for village use with the addition of kitchen facilities in the tower. It is very important that the Church adapts yet still remains true to its original character and history. A great deal of attention has been paid to this and plans have been drawn up sensitively with this in mind. At the same time the PCC are intending to alter the pew arrangement in Church and the public notice and plans are available to be viewed click here.  Notice    ...  Pew plans ...... Kitchen Plans

As a result of the changes planned Congham Church now has 4 oak choir pews which are in need of new homes.After receiving approval from the Diocese of Norwich, these 4 choir pews have been replaced by 4 pews taken from the back of the church giving a large area suitable for social events. All the pews which now remain in the church were commissioned by the Everard family in memory of loved ones killed in the Great War.If you are interested in the choir pew(s) please contact the Churchwarden, Helen Lilley on 01485 600153, for more information and to arrange a viewing. All reasonable offers will be considered

St Mary's, East Walton. Congratulations everyone in East Walton. We are delighted to inform you that we have been awarded a huge Heritage Lottery Fund grant to enable urgent work to be undertaken to preserve our Church for generations to come. To launch this new project there will be a walk-in event at St Mary's on Saturday 20th May between 3pm and 6pm.
Everybody is welcome to come along. There will be people explaining and displays showing the work to be done plus the inevitable tea and cake. There are a number of events (some fundraising - some just 'fun') in the planning. Come along and find out what's going on in your village! Perhaps you could even lend a hand or support some of them.

Don't forget our own village Lottery. There have been lots of monthly winners. Rachael, Rachel, Laurence, Anne, Chrissie and Rosie. A great way to help towards the Church for £5 a month. See Maureen for details. 

St Botolph's, Grimston  We continue to thank Friends of St Botolph’s for all the money raising and work they do for the upkeep of our church and churchyard. The internal plaster repairs are completed and the leak on the south aisle is repaired.  The re-leading of the Clearstory windows is being carried out and they are getting quotes to repair the hinges on the North door, which is proving to be a bigger job than anticipated.  You can read  about all the events planned byThe FoSB for 2017 by  clicking here.

" Vacuumers Wanted Urgently"  St Botolphs Church  needs volunteers from the community to assist in keeping the church vacuumed and clean.  The current church population is now mostly elderly and there has been attrition because of illhealth. The church is a very valuable asset to Grimston so I m hoping that a few people could find an hour every 2-3 months to give a hand with the vacuuming roster. The more people that volunteer, the less the work. Please phone Judith Gough 01485 609217 or email goughpj@btinternet.com

St Lawrence, Harpley. A representative of the War Memorials Trust inspected the War Memorial on 31st Jan. and confirmed that our grant application wass uccessful and details would be in the post. This is wonderful news but still leaves about £500 to be raised to complete the work.