Cheese and wine evening 20th May

Wine, cheese and chat was promised and that is what was enjoyed by over 40 people. Many thanks to the usual crew Christine, Barbara and Sheila for setting up and helping to prepare the food. To Sue R for running the raffle and John the drinks. A special thank you to those who helped clear up. I think we all had a really enjoyable evening whilst raising £467 for Friends funds.

January News

As we head into 2023, I thought it would be a good time to remind people of who the Friends are and what they do. The Friends are a charity separate from the church, but who work with the Church Council on agreed projects to maintain the ancient building in good condition, by providing grants for necessary works.

The Church architect has completed his five-yearly inspection of the building. In his report he states:

“The church is generally in sound condition and both the PCC (Church Council), and The Friends should be commended for their hard work.”

There are several items that will need attention over the next five years, which is to be expected in such an ancient building. The Church Council are grateful for the Friends support and in turn the Friends would like to thank our members and the village for supporting our fund-raising events.

I am pleased to report that the emergency repair of the soffits and nave wall together with replacement transept guttering is now complete and the Friends have given the PCC a grant of £6,860 to help cover the cost.

We were delighted to welcome three new members during 2022.If you would like to become a member of the Friends, details can be found at www.foslbradfield.org or contact me norma.barrow@keme.co.uk (01255 870681).

Please see the events tab for our programme of events for 2023. We are also hoping to have some kind of fun walk/social activity around August/September.

Allotment Plot Murder Mystery Evening / and Church project

Well, it was hard work, but after two and half years we finally made, it minus Oni, who unfortunately tested positive for Covid the day before the performance. We did miss her and it was a bit of a shock to find myself acting as understudy as well as directing and stage managing, but the rest of the cast did a great job keeping me on the task, as well as giving their own great performances! But what a great audience! Thank you for cheering us on and for the grand clear up job done at the end.

Thank you also to the stage crew, the members who set up the room, the refreshment and raffle groups. Our thanks also to Steve and the hall committee for their help and co-operation throughout this event.

We have had lots of fun preparing the play and it seems from the many emails, messages and phones calls that the audience also had a good laugh.  There are a few pictures from rehearsals and thanks to Dagmar, some from the performance which can be found on the gallery tab of the website foslbradfield.org  All proceeds are held by the Friends of St Lawrence Church and used to help the PCC with ongoing maintenance of Bradfield’s Village - Church St Lawrence. The Murder Mystery made a profit of £675.

The current project is the replacement of damaged soffit work and replacement of plastic rainwear with cast iron. The Friends have given a grant of £6000 to the PCC to cover this work.

Norma