A visit and an unexpected donation

On Thursday 16th January I  was able, along with Rev. Sam Winney, Jean Points and Sue Reeve to be at the church to receive the Earl and Countess of Verulam and two of their friends, who had requested a visit to St Lawrence Church,  with the intention of viewing the family monuments (Harbottle / Grimston).  We made use of the knowledge gained by the Friends history team to produce their family tree and a chart of the various monuments. We added the 3 photos from the vestry over the correct monument stones. We also owned up to the helmet being stolen, which he took well and was impressed with the model replacement. I also explained to him that his uncle the 5th Earl had, in the 1950s paid for the improvements to the choir area including the pews. The Earl sat in the front choir pew and touchingly stroking the wood said that this must have been one of his uncle’s last projects! We presented him with the Village and Church history books and some photocopies of documents regarding the helmet.

Following the visit The Friends have received a donation of £1000 to be used on a project agreed with the PCC. He thanked us for an interesting visit.

Norma Barrow Chairman of the Friends

Our final fundraiser of 2024 saw 19 teams from Ipswich, Harwich, Lawford and all places in between competing over eight rounds of questions. To keep the grey cells ticking over, the teams were served yet another great Ploughman’s Supper halfway through the evening. Following the break, we continued with a music round – -- sorry about the Bluetooth connection problems, but we got there eventually, thanks to Steve! It was a very close contest with the “Hungerdowners” from Lawford, pipping “The Team from Mars” actually from Bradfield by a quarter of a point! A big thank you to everyone who helped with this event, made donations or gave raffle prizes, but also to the wonderful teams who were very generous with their money resulting in £1,321 being added to the church staircase fund. Work on the staircase is under way and everything should be completed within the next two weeks. Watch this space for more information. Thank you for the wonderful support this year.

70s Retro Party

Retro 70s Party. Well , on September 6th  the party people were in great form in St Lawrence Church Room! They danced, they sang, drank cocktails and ate,  shared 70s memories, played silly games and generally had a good time! Thank you to the 70s team for all their hard work and  for preparing and donating the buffet food. The profit, together with some donations to the event, raised over £782. This excellent result has been added to the church staircase appeal fund.