On Saturday 20th July between 1pm and 5pm we held the St Andrews annual afternoon tea ,this year a very generous resident of South Thoresby allowed us to hold it on their lawn at the centre of their lovely garden The tea was held to raise funds for the church and attracted people from the local villages and from Louth and the Skegness area It was a perfect day ,the weather was excellent as were the sandwiches ,cakes and scones and everyone said they thoroughly enjoyed it Thanks to the great team at St Andrews that made it all come together on the day
Villagers all, this frosty tide,Let your doors swing open wide,Though wind may follow, and snow beside,Yet draw us in by your fire to bide;Joy shall be yours in the morning!This is the first verse of the carol that the field mice sing when stood outside Mole’s front door one Christmas time in the Wind in the Willows.As I write this at the beginning of July, it does seem strange to hark back to winter but one of our discoveries soon into the new year was that St Andrew’s had sheltered in that “frosty tide” a few mice.As well as our church mice, we also give sanctuary to butterflies and ladybirds, who grace us with their presence in spring. Occasionally, a bumblebee will make a devotional visit and of course there are spiders who play the never ending game of “chase around” with the duster.The earliest known use of Church Mouse as a noun is from the mid-sixteenth century in the writing of the English theologian John Barthlet (f 1566). However mice have lived in our churches from the beginning. A legend has grown up around the Michaelmas mouse present at Christ’s nativity and of course the medieval carvers relished in depicting the mouse as companion to the cat or owl on the choir stalls of Cathedrals, Minsters & Churches One of the most familiar phrases concerning mice is “poor as a church mouse”. It is allegedly derived from the fact that unlike their prosperous cousins who were able to live in the granaries and larders, churches were never a place where food was stored as after communion has been given, the bread and wine are completely consumed by the priest“leaving no crumbs”.Such is the affection for church mice that they have entered our literature and our art, often in beautifully illustrated works for children such as The Church Mice story books by the children,s author Graham Oakley (1929-2022). Other examples include the much loved poems of John Betjeman (The Diary of a church mouse) and the Irish born poet Joe Hughes (The Church Mouse).Inspired by the devotion of our real church mice, we are currently displaying in St Andrew’s Church a wonderful but small collection of Church mice created by the sculpture Nick Hunter and produced by Oak Apple Designs.Why not come along to South Thoresby and see them yourself ? You may not necessarily find them all, as with the real life ones, they can be very illusive.
A new display is now on show at Saint Andrew’s Church at South Thoresby. The exhibition is in two parts: it records the history of the church and some of its unique features; it also displays the History of Saint Andrew who was the first disciple of Jesus and who was eventually crucified for his faith on a X shaped cross ( saltire) now called Saint Andrews cross.We are familiar with St Andrew as the patron saint of Scotland. The exhibits also explore St Andrew’s unique relationship with, and veneration by, other Nations.
In March 2024 St Andrews hosted a exhibition called “Angels at South Thoresby”The exhibition featured items from a private collection showing how Angels have been viewed through history and by different culturesThe picture at the beginning of this article shows part of the art work called “Archangel Uriel” created by local artists for the exhibition The work can now be viewed in the Louth museum as part of their exhibition called “Angels from the Realms of Grimoldby “In April 2024 St Andrews hosted a very well attended lecture given by the historian Jean Howard The subject of the lecture was Sara Jesse Stephenson a renowned suffragette and resident of South Thoresby In May 2024 St Andrews held its annual plant fair along with an exhibition titled “ the Noble Savage”This exhibition was a brief look at the animal myths in the religions of the First Nations and Precolumbian cultures of the America with exhibits from the Artic to the Amazon Details on all past and future events and exhibitions can also be see on our Facebook page Angels at South Thoresby
