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| Thorpe Market |
| A small village in North Norfolk |
News
Calling all film fans!
On
May 11th at 7.30pm there will be a meeting at the church to further
discuss the formation of a Film Club. The church owns a quality
video projector, sound equipment and large screen. There is
already a core of film buffs waiting in the wings and this meeting will
discuss, over a glass of wine, how best to utilise these facilities and
create a friendly, community-based village activity. Anyone
who feels able to contribute ideas or experience, please do attend!
Cantamus Community Choir Spring
Concert
Samson
might have brought the roof down upon the Philistines (Judges chapter
16), but the 45 strong Cantamus Community Choir are celebrating the
roof going back on St Margaret’s Church, Thorpe Market with a
performance of Handel’s oratorio “Samson”. It was
written immediately following the more famous “Messiah”,
with a libretto by Newburgh Hamilton, after John Milton’s “Samson Agonistes” and was first performed at the Theatre
Royal, Covent Garden on 18th February 1743.
This rarely
performed work has meant that library copies have had to be acquired from around
the country thanks to the support of Norfolk Library Services. The
work, in the style of an Italian opera, contains a number of lively choruses and
is proving extremely popular with members of the choir.
The soloists will
be Jan Bird (Soprano), Elizabeth Knight (Contralto), Eric Forshaw (Tenor) and
Clive McCombie (Bass). The organist will be Alan Morris. Cantamus
Community Choir will be performing this work on Friday 30th April
2010 at 7.30 p.m. at St Margaret’s Church, Thorpe Market. Admission by programme
£6 (seats bookable on 01263 833252)
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.
ST MARGARET'S CHURCH
UPDATE - Easter Day
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.
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.
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.
The website has been created with data provided by St. Margaret's Church,
Thorpe Market. |
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