Why have a 'Friends' group?
Fall
ing
Down and . . . . . . . . .
So is St. Mary’s Church, Feltwell. During a wedding ceremony last year, a large piece of the roof crashed to the floor, thankfully missing the bride, groom and minister.
Examination
of the offending piece showed sever rot over decades had made the beam support
decay through water entering from the slated roof. Unfortunately the problem is
so advanced that major works, ultimately meaning the entire roof must be removed
and replaced, with new timber where necessary.
The
price of this work is estimated to be at least £225,000. Grant applications
are already in the system with English Heritage and other bodies who help in
historic building restoration, however, they all expect a contribution from the
parish, and that is a challenge St. Mary’s finances cannot afford.
This
raises a number of issues, we could ignore the decay and wait until the building
is considered unsafe and closed, hoping that no serious injury occurs in the
meantime; we could try and make a repair in the short term, knowing that in no
time, the same problem will be there again; or we could make every effort to do
our bit and in so doing, encourage the grant application to be approved.
Many
of us will, at some time in our life, be it, beginning, middle or end, go
through the doors of St. Mary’s, but for future generations that may not be an
option, if we make the wrong decision now.
Why
is St. Mary’s so special? It is a fine example of historic architecture from
the reign of Edward 1st (Longshanks), the oldest part being 600
years, and is a Grade 1 listed building. A great deal of money has already been
spent on the tower and belfry. You may remember the scaffolding around the
outside in 2001. We have the only set of nine stained glass windows in the UK,
and with a special red coloured glass, made in France, and found in only to
cathedrals in Europe, no other church in Britain has the same red coloured
glass.
It
seems our stained glass windows are of special note in other ways as well. The
fine east window of five lights was donated by the inhabitants of Hockwold, to
the villagers of Feltwell because a Doctor administered to the people of
Hockwold during a plague. This window was removed in 1851 and exhibited at the
Paris Exhibition, so the church is a priceless heritage in many ways, and the
very best of modern technologies could never replace it.
To meet the challenge, we have formed ‘Friends of St. Mary’s Church, Feltwell’, with the express purpose of raising money to preserve and improve our village ancient church. Involvement is not exclusive to regular worshippers, and we will not be recruiting for attendance. If you want to discuss a fund raising idea or learn more about our plans, please contact a member of the Friends Committee: Vanessa Cock (Chairman), Chris Carr (Treasurer) Susan Withers (Secretary), Barrie & Jackie Reeves, Mick Murfitt and Christine Dare with Marion Lucas as the P.C.C. representative.
Over
the coming months you will be hearing about, and asked to support and
participate in a number of fund raising activities, in an effort to raise our
contribution towards the restoration that is so badly needed.