Every year, from early September to late October, people from far and wide come to All Saints Church in Siddington to experience a traditional celebration of harvest time and to marvel at the unique display of over 1000 beautiful corn dollies.Corn dollies are ancient symbols, traditionally made from the last sheaves of a corn harvest which were supposed to contain the corn spirit. They were then kept over winter and broken open in the spring to release the corn spirit and ensure a good harvest for the coming year. Today they form a central part of the annual harvest thanksgiving.The Siddington dollies were all hand-made by the late Raymond Rush. Raymond was a local farmer and a stalwart of the church. He received Maundy Money from Queen Elizabeth 11 at Windsor Castle and in return he left behind one of his dollies. Fortunately, Raymond’s daughter Claire has developed her own skills in corn dolly making and so this spectacular tradition lives on.
If you have any names that you would like to be placed on the weekly pew sheet's prayer list, please would you email rural.daneside@gmail.com or leave a message on the vicarage answerphone on 01260 224447. It would be helpful if you could let us know which church you are with.It would also be very helpful if you could let us know when the name can be taken off the list. Thank you.
From the Youtube video description by James Balme, 'Welcome to episode 2 of our 3rd series of 'History Walks' filmed at the medieval St James' & St Paul's church in Marton, Cheshire. In this episode entitled 'A Medieval Treasure of Marton' see for yourself this wonderful timber framed church dated to 1343 and join me as I take a tour of this archaic religious site and show you the wonderful history and treasures within including the stone effigies of the 14th century Davenport family, the medieval religious 'Doom' wall paintings and two beautiful oil paintings depicting the Ten Commandments amongst other artefacts... We also fly high above the the church giving you a great perspective of this archaic religious site from the air and allowing you to see how it blends into the open countryside that surrounds the church. I would like to express my gratitude to the Rev. Ian Archer for his support in making this film and for allowing access into the church without which this film would have not been possible.'Click here to see the video.
