Great Wymondley Village Fete & Art Exhibition

Our annual Village Fete is being held on Church Green as usual, at 2pm until 6pm on Sunday 14th June 2009.

Bellringers will open the Fete at 2pm with welcoming peals from the tower of St. Mary's Church, and we hope everyone will take the opportunity to visit this very special old church, which has been extensively restored with funding from a major appeal last year. (The funding for this work was also bolstered by the contributions of many previous visitors to the Fete over recent years...).

The Great Wymondley Fete is a traditional, family-friendly occasion with something for everyone, from Splat the Rat and Maggot Racing, to guess the Name of the Doll and Tossing the Bale. Our teas, with home-made cakes and scones are legendary! - as are Cherry Carter's amazing fudge and elderflower cordial, and very special home-made jams.

New events this year - or back from the past - include Pony Rides and a Nature Trail and Quiz. Old favourites include a Bouncy Castle, Coconut Shy and Chocolate Fountain. There will also be a Fun Dog Show (does your dog have the waggiest tail?) and Clog Dancing.

Also for the first time this year in conjunction with the Fete we are holding an Art Exhibition in the Village Hall (almost opposite the Green) with a range of pictures and images available to see and buy. This will include a demonstration on using pastels, given by Beryl Perriman, who teaches pastel drawing at Tim's Art Supplies in Hitchin.

Car parking is conveniently provided in the centre of the village in the field next to Church Green.

Although we are a very small village, the Great Wymondley Fete has a long history of success, and is open to everyone who'd like to join in and enjoy with us.

Talk and Buffet with BBC's Michael Wood

Great Wymondley: 2000 Years of History

Thursday 13th March at 7.30 pm

The Priory Barn, Little Wymondley

In aid of the Great Wymondley Church Restoration Appeal

For more than 20 years, historian and broadcaster Michael Wood has made compelling journeys into the past, which have brought history alive for a generation of readers and viewers. He is the author of several highly praised books on English history including In Search of the Dark Ages, The Domesday Quest, in Search of England and In Search of Shakespeare. He has over 80 documentary films to his name, among them Art of the Western World, Legacy, In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great, Conquistadors and In Search of Myths and Heroes. His most recent work is the epic 6 part television series The Story of India which aired on BBC2 in August 2007.
Michael was born in Manchester and educated at Manchester Grammar School and Oriel College Oxford, where he did post-graduate research in Anglo-Saxon history. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

Book online at www.art-amis.co.uk

Series of Lectures/Talks

In aid of the St Mary’s Church, Great Wymondley, Restoration Fund

On Sunday 2 December 2007
Prosecutions: the Anatomy of a Crime – “the Soham murder case”
- a talk by Charles Ingham, Chief Crown Prosecutor, CPS Hertfordshire and Marion Bastin OBE, District Crown Prosecutor, CPS Cambridgeshire.

On Sunday 20 January 2008
How to Choose and Buy Wine
Speaker Rhiannon Chapman ran a 'hobby' business for 10 years importing & selling wine, which was featured in the 'Which Wine? Guide'. Throughout her career she has been a popular speaker at conferences on a wide range of business management issues - her radio and television appearances have included 'Question Time', 'Any Questions', Women's Hour, Business Breakfast and being interviewed by Jimmy Young about business ethics.

On Sunday 24 February 2008
A Teenager in War Time Belgium
- A very popular talk from Mrs. Madeleine Phillips about her own experience.

All the lectures/talks will be at 7pm in Great Wymondley Village Hall. Tickets are £5 and this will include a glass of wine. Tickets must be bought in advance!
Please telephone Sharn on 01438 311974 for tickets

RESTORATION UPDATE

St Mary’s Church Great Wymondley

Restoration update

We started our campaign to raise vital funds for our church restoration just 9 months ago with a challenging target of raising £75,000 by Christmas to enable us to achieve our Stage 2 funding from English Heritage and start work in 2008

We are delighted to be able to report that with the great support we have received from everybody we have submitted the full set of documentation by our deadline of the 19th December

Even though tenders received were above the original estimates we have been able to provide confirmation that we have the money in place- a great achievement as well as full specification of the works tendered prices and a preferred contractor

We now await English Heritages confirmation that all is in order for a late spring /early summer start on site

The PCC and Fund raising team are very grateful for the generosity and support we have received from personal donations, support for our many functions (some 25 in total) and other grant bodies such as Herts and Beds Churches Trust in helping us reach this milestone.

The last month has seen further grants, personal donations as well as successful events –the promises auction raised over £6,000, the Orpheus Choir, Quiz night and further autumn lectures

We planned to raise funds for a year and our remaining programme is both exciting and necessary to provide additional funds

More information later but dates for the diary include

9th Feb St Mary’s Hitchin for a concert by the Royal College of Music

13th March for a talk by Michael Wood famed BBC historian on 2000 years in Great Wymondley

Our Lecture series continues

Rev’d Ann is seeking 100 people to pay £1 per day for a prayer a day for our church for the 31 days of January

With Many thanks for everybody’s support in helping us reach this key milestone in our restoration project and Best Wishes for Christmas and The New Year



St Mary’s PCC and the restoration fund raising team

Classical Music Concert at St. Mary's Church, Hitchin

ST MARY’S CHURCH, GREAT WYMONDLEY
RESTORATION FUND APPEAL

An Evening of Popular Classical Music by musicians from the Royal Academy of Music
On Saturday 9th February 2008 - 7.30pm, St Mary’s Church, Hitchin

Including pieces by J S Bach, Samuel Barber (Clarinet Concerto - 1st movement) Mozart (Clarinet Concerto – 2nd movement), John Williams (theme from Schindler’s List), Rimsky-Korsakov (Flight of the Bumblebee) and Tchaikovsky (Nutcracker Suite)

Tickets: £10 with a glass of wine. Children under 16 accompanied by an adult free

Tickets available from:
HITCHIN INITIATIVE, 27, CHURCHYARD, HITCHIN
CHERRY CARTER: 01438-724919
CHARLES INGHAM: 01438-727814

Christening in St. Mary's

Fifteen months' ago after closing its doors St. Mary's has re-opened with a baptism.

Chris and Michelle Stokes, who were the last couple to get married at St. Mary's in April 2006, were the first to use the re-opened church to have their baby Emily baptised.

The building had been closed for repair work and villagers have been working hard for the last 14 months to raise the money to finance the work.

Around £16,500 has been raised so far but the current repairs are only TEMPORARY and approximately £58,000 STILL NEEDS TO BE RAISED for the church to be eligible for a top-up grant from English Heritage.

Great Wymondley Parochial Church Council would like to thank those who have supported the church and who have made donations or helped with the various fundraising activities.

Open Gardens - Sunday 8th July 2007

This year's Open Gardens was a great success and raised £2025 on Sunday thanks to the great weather!!!.

Well done to everyone for their help and consideration. I know many people stayed helping in the kitchens much longer than they had anticipated and I am not sure how we would have managed without you - many many thanks.

All the visitors were very complimentary about the gardens, the teas and lunches especially the cakes and the variety of people presenting things on the green. This was a very big effort by the whole village. We hopefully will be updating the board on the Green - we can move up another box.

Well done everyone!