News
St
Margaret's church is on a shortlist of 6 in a nation-wide
competition to find a village church that has best been adapted
to provide a venue for community events.
The competition, organised by "Country Life" will be judged in June by a panel of judges including Sir Roy Strong.
We're lifting the roof!!
Seriously, this April will see the start of a major project
to
re-roof St. Margaret's church. Rain has filtered through for several
years and the ornate ceiling is now at risk. English Heritage are
giving us £24,000 towards a total cost of £115,000.
During
2008 investigations will take place to ascertain the condition of the
roof timbers and other unseen areas. The repairs will commence in
2009.
Like many churches, we have resident bats. They live in
the roof void so do not cause us any problems. Natural England
have granted consent for work to take place in those months (April and
September) when they will be least affected.
This means that our programme of community events in the church will have to be curtailed during this work.
Matters financial...
The parochial church council budgets prudently and has reserves in
place for most of this work, however, it will be necessary to raise a
further £25,000 over the next 12 months and an appeal will
shortly be launched.
WILDFLOWER WALKABOUT DAY
For
a number of years we have welcomed visitors to our church and
churchyard to view the snowdrops and aconites and this year we had over
1000 visitors. We have now designated Sunday June 8th as "Wildflower
Day", visit us between 2.00pm and 5.00pm and you can expect:
A friendly
welcome
Hot drinks and
cakes
Live music from Village Folk Band
A good
selection of 2nd hand books.
The conservation areas will then be looking their blooming best, along with the Hazel Grove Green Burial area.
All proceeds will go to our roof appeal fund.
St. Patrick's Night Party
This
took place in Southrepps Village Hall. 120 guest sat down to a 3 course
meal followed by singing and dancing accompanied by our Village Folk
Band. A total of £767.00 was raised for the National Association
for Crohn's and Colitis.
Churchyard Conservation
The
churchyard is maintained by volunteers. Since 1998 it has received many
awards and accolades. This February we recorded over 500 visitors
viewing the snowdrops and aconites, who also joined us in the church
for refreshments and music.
Our churchyard team has 4 regular mower
persons, who cut all the short areas weekly between March and November.
Other volunteers take on specific tasks such as the flower borders.
This June we hope to welcome a team from the Unpaid Work Unit who
will provide younger muscle to do those jobs that are currently left
undone! (Painting gates, repairing the car park, removing ivy from
walls, lopping overhanging trees etc.)
The longer conservation areas are cut and raked in July/August, in order to allow butterflies an extended breeding season
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.
We welcome new members to our team and any offers to undertake a specific task are gratefully received.
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.
Lighting Upgrade
The 1960s fluorescents have reached the end of their lives.
The need is for sufficient illumination for the varied activities
that take place in the building, whilst recognising the importance of
conserving energy. The goal is for a low-energy, high-lumen potential,
with a versatile dimming facility. This work will take place in the near future.
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.
Demountable Stage Now Available!
Thanks to the generosity of: Awards for All,
Garfield Weston Foundation, Norfolk Rural Community Council,
Paul Bassham Trust and Fishmongers' Company, Thorpe Market now owns a "state of the art",
demountable stage that is available for community use.
Visit the "Downloads" section to see a picture of the stage set up for a performance.
This website has been designed to provide a source for visitors, residents
or indeed anyone seeking information about the village of Thorpe Market.
The website has been created with data provided by St. Margaret's Church,
Thorpe Market. |
