Home
Events diary
St. Margaret's church
Worship
Venue for cultural events
Music and the arts
Cantamus community choir
Churchyard conservation
Woodland burials
Village history pre WWII
Village history later
Genealogy
Contact us/find us
Download photos
Anthony Beck's diary
Thorpe Market
A small village in North Norfolk
News


Cantamus Community Choir

Friday May 17th 7.00pm St James Church Southrepps

Vivaldi's Gloria and English part-songs and folk-songs.

As well as Thorpe Market, our members come from Sheringham, Mundesley, North Walsham and towns/villages in between.  If you would like to join Cantamus but transport is a problem, please contact David 07785 782 498 as a lift may be possible.  No audition is required.  We look forward to singing with you.

  

 If anyone wants to be involved with a choir but does not actually wish to sing, support in the form of helping with refreshments on rehearsal nights, or selling tickets and stewarding duties at concerts,  is much needed.  We do not meet in the summer, so if winter t.v schedules are boring come and join our friendly group and enjoy "live" music.

 




The Re-roofing Project
The church was closed in August 2009 in order that major work to the roof and interior could take place.  Broken slates had allowed water to  damage the decorated ceiling with potential health and safety issues looming action needed to be taken.
In 2007/8 a two-stage project to investigate and repair was instigated by English Heritage.
 The project has cost in excess of £160,000.00, with funding being provided by English Heritage, The Joyce Mayes Trust, Norfolk Churches Trust, Historic Churches Trust, Wolfson Foundation, Garfield Weston Foundation, The Mercers, Allchurches Trust Ltd., and PCC fund-raising events and individual donations.
The church now has new slates, improved churchyard drainage, repaired ceiling and total re-decoration.
The main contractor for the project was Pikestaff Traditional Roofing and Ruth Blackman of Birdsall, Swash and Blackman was the architect. 

Easter 2010 saw the long-awaited re-opening of St. Margaret's Church.   On Good Friday Cantamus Community Choir  performed Stainers "Crucifixion".  Easter Day was celebrated with our first service "back home" led by Rev. Janet Stewart.  In the course of the afternoon more than 150 visitors viewed the newly decorated and re-roofed church, enjoyed music by Village Folk Band and sampled our home-made cakes and tea.  The Village Library facility has returned with an enormous supply of good quality books.


Upkeep of Churchyard
The churchyard is maintained by volunteers. Since 1998 it has received many awards and accolades for its conservation work.

The Hazel Grove area is now used as a Green Burial area for the interment of ashes. (See "Woodland burials").
We encourage visits by conservation-minded people. May and June are particularly colourful months, especially in the Hazel Grove.

In 2010 the PCC took the decision to no longer maintain the conservation areas under the direction of Norfolk Wildlife Trust but instead to opt for a more manicured appearance.

Recycling
We now have 2 bottle banks as well as the paper skips on the church car park. The paper skips already earned  £1300+ in 2007/08 towards the church's £7000 running costs - so please bring all your bottles and paper to Thorpe Market!

Book Recycling - Our Village Library
The back pews are now occupied by a large shelf. The books thereon have been donated and may be borrowed, read,  and returned, or taken for "keeps" in return for a small donation in the wall box. There are modern novels, classics, biographies and special interest books. We hope that it may provide a resource for avid readers between village visits by the county library van. Bags of unwanted books to refresh the selection may be left at the back of the church.


Village memories
The intention is to create an archive of historical village photographs and memories. We have posted Anthony Beck's diary of life in the village during WW2 on this site. We always welcome any archive material and photos may be e mailed to us.  We receive queries from around the world and are always delighted to respond if able.




This website has been designed to provide a source for visitors, residents or indeed anyone seeking information about the village of Thorpe Market.