NEWS
Following a funeral at St Bototolph’s Grimston, memorial services for Bob McNeil-Watsonwere held at The Players Theatre, Lowestoft and on 30th October at Barsham, the latter attended by almost 70 people. Bob’s invaluable service as organist at Barsham was just a small part of an extensive and distinguished career in music. Bob graduated in Music at UEA, studied composition under Benjamin Britten and became a schoolteacher – of modern foreign languages as well as music. In due course he became a freelance musician, teaching piano, keyboard, flute and singing; and he became a prolific and popular musical director. His contributions to and leadership of community performances – in musical shows, pantos, plays, choirs and orchestras – in Norfolk, Suffolk and beyond, became legendary. In Lowestoft he was Musical Director of The Lowestoft Players for over 26 years. Bob touched many lives and he will be remembered with much fondness and gratitude. We offer our sincere condolences to Sheila, his wife. The Lowestoft Journal’s fine tribute to Bob is available online at: https://www.lowestoftjournal.co.uk/news/obituaries/touching-tributes-bob-mcneil-watson-lowestoft-9346546.
The PCC hosted the annual clergy lunch on the 2nd November to express our appreciation and thanks to the team of clergy who enable us to maintain regular Sunday services at Barsham.
The annual Service of Remembrance took place at the village hall on the Friday 11thNovember, followed by a further act of Remembrance in the church on Remembrance Sunday, when Neville Smith called the names of the Fallen.
William Lindley’s fabulous Light Show returned to Barsham on the evenings of 18th and 19th November. At the time of printing we have only had the first evening, which was attended by 87 visitors, many of them returning after last year’s show to enjoy again this wonderfully atmospheric and immersive experience. Full report to follow next month.
There will be no Wednesday Matins services during December and January.
There will be a regular benefice bring-and-share lunch at 1pm in Mettingham Village Hall on the fifth Sunday of those months with five Sundays. 29th January is the next occasion. All are welcome.
The Rectors and Patrons board has been updated and rehung.
A super 248 items were donated to the Foodbank in October, including 78 items at Harvest Festival: thank you for your generosity. Following Sarah-Jane’s suggestion of donating teddy bears with chocolate coins to the foodbank in December, foodbank gifts of chocolate coins would be much appreciated.
Collections at Sunday services in October amounted to £1,187 and the collection at Bob’s memorial service raised £152 for the church, for which we are grateful. The sales tableorganised by Chris Bardsley raised an impressive £183, a sum enhanced by the sales of her beautiful Christmas decorations. Thanks are also extended to Doreen Springall for the proceeds of her produce stall, which during the course of the year has yielded a remarkable £316.
Barsham with Shipmeadow PCC very gratefully acknowledges donations of £200, £80, £625 and £125, the last being a contribution towards the cost of refurbishing the lychgate.
FORWARD PLANNING
The Christmas Carol Service will be held at 5.30pm on Sunday 18th December.Refreshments will be served afterwards – mulled wine, sausage rolls and mince pies!
Our Eucharist Service on Christmas Day will start at 10.30am, not the routine time of 11.00am.
The Archdeacon of Suffolk, the Ven Jeanette Gosney, will be preaching at morning Eucharist on Sunday 1st January.
SNIPPETS – The Rede Communion Set
Christmas Day this year marks the bicentenary of the gift to the church of the Communion set (pictured front) by the Rev’d Rede Rede of Ashman’s Hall, Barsham. The patten is in regular use and the cup will be used throughout December to mark the 200th anniversary. The legend around the base of the cup reads: Presented to the Parish of Barsham by the Rev’d Rede Rede, the 25th December 1822. The gift was made in memory of the Rev’d Rede Rede’s uncle, Robert Rede, who died on 13th August 1822 and whose remains lie with those of his wife Charlotte in the vault under the once imposing and now crumbling table tomb that is such a familiar landmark in our churchyard.
Robert Rede (1763-1822) was a lawyer who built Ashman’s Hall between 1814 and 1820 on the Roos Hall estate, which had been bought by his father Thomas Rede in 1805. With no children of his own, Robert Rede left the Hall to his nephew, the Rev’d Robert Rede Cooper (1794-1852), son of his sister Sarah Leman Rede. Upon inheriting Ashmans, Robert Rede Cooper assumed by Royal License the name Rede Rede.
The Redes were originally a Norwich family and several generations had been Mayors there in the 15th and 16th centuries, but by the mid-16th century they were established in Beccles. A Rede daughter, Ursula, married Thomas Colby, who built the present Roos Hall in 1583.
A daughter of the Rev’d Rede Rede, Louisa Charlotte Rede, married Frank Fowke, an officer in the Royal Engineers, who was a notable architect and engineer, much favoured by Prince Albert. Fowke designed various important mid-19th century public buildings, amongst them the Royal Albert Hall and parts of the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Museum of Science and Arts in Edinburgh, the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin, and the exhibition hall for the 1862 International Exhibition in London. He also won the competition to design the Natural History Museum but died before it could be built and his designs were altered and finally realised by Alfred Waterhouse.
The Rev’d Rede Rede of Ashmans had an uncle, Sir Astley Paston Cooper, who was a pioneering surgeon in the early 19th century and founder of the Medical and Chirurgical Society. He was Professor of Comparative Anatomy to the Royal College of Surgeons, President of the Royal College of Surgeons and surgeon to George IV, who created him 1stBaronet. His statue graces St Paul’s Cathedral.
December Diary
Sunday 4th December – Second Sunday of Advent. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). RevJonathan Olanczuk.
Sunday 11th December – Third Sunday of Advent. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Rev Canon John Fellows.
Sunday 18th December – Fourth Sunday of Advent. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Rev Josh Bailey.
Sunday 18th December – 5.30pm Carol Service.
Sunday 25th December – Christmas Day. 10.30am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Rev Josh Bailey.
Sunday 1st January – The Holy Name. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Rev Josh Bailey. Preacher: The Ven Jeanette Gosney, Archdeacon of Suffolk.
Church correspondent: Robert Bacon 07867 306016, [email protected]