A year at St Mary's

As the date of the Annual Church Meeting approaches, it is the moment to review last year's activities at St Mary's church.

At the centre of our church life is our worship and this continues to take a variety of forms on a regular cycle; from the traditional Communion Service following the Book of Common Prayer, to the more family friendly All Age Worship. While our rector officiated at the Communion services, many of the others were led by a dedicated team to whom we are most grateful. Without their help there would not be a service here every Sunday. Our church is one of a group of six served by Nicholas, our rector, and on the fifth Sunday of the month there is a group service, held in rotation round the churches in the Group. We are very fortunate in having two talented organists in Jonathan Dodd and Martin Budgett. The quality of the music adds much to the spirituality of our services. We would like to thank both of them for the part they play.

Highlights of the year are at the great religious festivals of Christmas and Easter. As well as Carols by candlelight followed by hot spicy drinks and mince pies, our Christingle service on Christmas Eve was the best attended service of the year. One hundred children processed with oranges decorated with sweets and a lighted candle.

At Easter we once again held a sunrise service in the ruins on the site of the Saxon cathedral – a place of worship well over a 1,300 years ago. Sadly the sun did not show itself from behind the clouds, but nevertheless, as always, it was a very special occasion.

As well as the church services, the Bible Study group meets regularly during the year. For details see the notice board at the back of the church. During Lent, a service of Compline was held every Wednesday, followed by a discussion group.

Other events organised by and for the church but which involved the wider community included the church Fete in the grounds of Elmham House. The weather was not so kind this year. Although fine to begin with, the skies opened later, resulting in a rush for the tea tent where there was standing room only. We are very grateful to Jo and Tom Fitzalan Howard for opening their garden for the day.

The main fundraising event was the Elmham Festival, held over the August Bank Holiday weekend. The focus of the weekend were the flowers so beautifully arranged in the church depicting great journeys varying from Winnie the Pooh's expotition to the North Pole to the annual migrations of the little tern. There were the usual, tombola, bric-a-brac and book stalls and of course the splendid lunches and teas. This year there was also a Memorabilia Exhibition which brought back many happy memories for the older long-standing residents of North Elmham as well as teaching the younger generation something of life in the not-so-distant past. The running of the event involves a dedicated committee as well as over 100 others who help over the weekend.

Much of the money raised at the Festival is earmarked to help maintain the fabric of the church- a building of which we are all justly proud. The day-to-day cleaning and flower arranging in the church is undertaken by volunteers and there are often comments in the visitors' book which show how much this is appreciated. Our major project last year was the re-roofing of the south aisle. This could not have been undertaken without generous grants from The Norfolk Churches' Trust, English Heritage, The Geoffrey Watling Charity and the Garfield Weston Trust. As the final bill came in under budget, we were able to expose and restore a 15th century wall painting which was probably executed at the time the rood screen was erected. This sumptuous piece was later white washed over after the Reformation and replaced by religious texts.

We are already thinking of our next project to make our church a more welcoming place. Encouraged by answers to the village questionnaire and with the support of the Open Churches Project, we are looking towards improving disabled access, creating a meeting room, installing a small kitchen and W.C.as well as an exhibition about the history of the church and chapel on the cathedral site.

We continue occasionally to work with Victory Villages. We shared a Harvest Lunch and attended each others' carol services, with Tony Field of Victory Villages reading one of the lessons in the church.

The smooth running of the church relies on a small group of dedicated people working alongside the rector, for all of whom we are very grateful. We always welcome new members of the team, so if you would like to be more closely involved in the work of the church in Elmham, do come along to our activities, all of which are announced in Elmham News or on the notice board at the back of the church.