St Peter's Church

Church Services

1st July          Morning Prayer 11.00am

8th July          Morning Prayer   9.30am

15th July        Morning Prayer 11.00am

22nd July       Holy Communion  9.30am

29th July        At Billingford Holy Communion 10.30am

5th August     Morning Prayer 11.00am   

12th August   Morning Prayer  9.30am

19th August   Morning Prayer 11.00am

26th August   Holy Communion 9.30am

Contacts:

Rector: Revd Nigel Tuffnell - 01379 308905

Email: rector@7churches.org.uk

Website - www.7churches.org.uk

Facebook - www.facebook.com/7churches.org.uk

Administration - 01379 851148

Email admin@7churches.org.uk

Church News

The wall at the front of the Church has now been repaired and we are just waiting for a date for the Church pathway to be resurfaced.

The PCC would like to say a Big Thank You to Lenny Whymark for volunteering for a number of years in keeping the church yard all neat and tidy, unfortunately Lenny has had to give up due to personal reasons. So once again - Thank You, Lenny. 

    

Gill Powell

Needham Action Group

A green field at last!

Have you seen it? Although there is much work still

to be done, with a little imagination...and a lot of

mowing, our Village Green stands before us – at

last, Needham has a green field for the community!

Seeded in May after a very dry spell, the grass has slowly but surely taken, and although it is still fragile, work can resume to preen and tidy it, preparing it for mowing, mowing, mowing, and (fingers crossed) rain, rain, rain!

Meanwhile we must remove the large stones and flints from the surface to make it possible to mow. Our great thanks go to those who have already made a start on this task: both the kind passers-by who have taken a few moments out of their day to gather rocks into a mound or pull up weeds ready for removal; and the amazing gang of locals who gathered for a ‘stone picking party’ last Friday afternoon. Fuelled by elderflower presse and sweet treats, we made some excellent progress together, and felt truly inspired by the team spirit and the willingness to get involved: our great thanks go out to all those who came and participated in what was a very enjoyable community afternoon. Transforming this field is a huge task and every little bit of help makes an enormous difference.

Garden Work Party Saturday 14th July at 2pm 

And finally...the moment we have all been waiting for: a name! Thank you to all of you who got in touch to make your vote.  With votes still to come in, we have decided to hold a ballot at the village barbeque. Please look out for it and cast your vote on the day to have your say! The names are as follows (with two late entries added in):

The Village Green, Gnarly Green, The Glade, The Needham Nook, Needham Playing Field, Needham Village Garden

Village Green Work Party

Village Green Garden Work Party Sat 14th July 2pm

Please bring ... you guessed it: a pair of gloves and a wheelbarrow if you have one!

Refreshments provided. All welcome.  We hope to see you there!

Puppy Power

Meet Bella, Daisy and Oscar. Apart from being three beautiful pups, they have a serious mission in life: to transform the lives of visually impaired people by training as Guide Dogs. They are being sponsored by the Coffee Morning Team at the Red Lion who have already raised £312 for them through their monthly coffee mornings. In addition, they have also raised £168 for Needham Village Church; £50 towards the Needham/Brockdish Heritage Centre; £50 for the Ladies Pink Tractor Run; £450 for the Christmas Appeal for underprivileged children in the area; and £500 for Macmillan Cancer Research. A truly remarkable achievement!

Needham's Mr Rotavator : George Vickers

I’ve lived in Norfolk now for nearly 58 years and Needham itself since 1963. When I came to the area a government initiative had just been introduced to boost employment in the region, which had been hit by the closure in 1958 of the RAF Maintenance Unit at Pulham – the old airship site. It resulted in Howard Rotavators moving to Harleston from their previous location in West Horndon, Essex. One hundred feet of the factory was constructed with parts which we brought up to Norfolk and the remaining structure was built with local labour, employing some 200 people from the area, some from Needham.

Initially, I was allocated a council house in Dickleburgh. but I wanted to build my own house. The local district council suggested a piece of land in the middle of Needham which had been abandoned for some time. I bought the land and moved my family to a bungalow in Harleston while we set about developing the plot. I submitted my design for a new bungalow and cleared the site of brambles, weeds, the ruins of a pair of clay lump cottages – and some chicken carcasses! I dug the foundations and with the help of my wife Eileen (sometimes in charge of the cement mixer) the bungalow took shape and in 1963 we moved in. Over the years I’ve planted over 70 trees, built greenhouses and outbuildings, designed a rockery and pond area and grown lots of my own vegetables.

With the success of Harleston Industries and the subsequent factories at Halesworth and elsewhere, I joined the Board of Howard Rotavators and became Group Plant and Service Director, looking after 7 factories which employed hundreds of people.

My life here has been a good one and I hope I’ve been able to give back to the area some of the benefits that living in East Anglia has given to me.

What's On

HARLESTON CINEMA:  FILMS FOR JULY – AUG  2018

THURSDAY, 26TH JULY 2018 – THREE BILLBOARDS

OUTSIDE EBBING MISSOURI

Crime/Drama (PG) – 1hr 55mins (Director – Martin McDonagh)

The film tells the story of Mildred Hayes, a woman frustrated by the lack of police activity into finding the culprit of her daughter’s murder, takes action into her own hands. The divorced mother decides to rent three derelict billboards on the outskirts of her town of Ebbing to declare war against the local police.

 

Venue: Masonic Rooms, The Thoroughfare, Harleston

Tickets: £4:  for further information and to book please ring Harleston Information Plus on 01379 851917.

Matinee:  Doors open 1.30pm, film starts at 2.00pm.

Evening:   Doors open at 7.00p, film starts at 7.30pm.

U3A TALKS IN JULY - AUG 2018

WEDNESDAY 18th July  2018

Stephen Poulter – To the Hammer Born: Confessions of an occasional auctioneer. As an auctioneer and online dealer in antiques, vintage items and collectables Stephen reveals the insider secrets of how to make a living in the trade. Using examples from the wide variety of items, pictures, furniture and ceramics he sells, we learn the fascinating stories behind all sorts of historical objects dating back over the last 250 years

WEDNESDAY 15th August 2018

Pat Alker - Project Dukem: Pat will take us on her amazing journey through the historic routes of Ethiopia, Lalibela and its rock hewn churches, Axum and the Ark of the Covenant, Lake Tana, Simien Mountains, its people animals, history. Any money raised will contribute to Project Dukem, to help feed HIV/Aids orphans at a small school in Ethiopia and thereby break the cycle of poverty that exists in that area.

Meetings are held at the Masonic Rooms, Harleston, Norfolk IP20 9EN at 2pm. For details phone Kim on 01986 788149 or contact:www.u3a.org.harleston

Please note that our local U3A Group has been renamed as Harleston & District U3A to reflect more accurately the area it serves

Needham People Remembered

When Walt Disney bought a Needham lady a drink

Born in Aarhus, Denmark in 1930 Kirsten Inge Partington was largely brought up in Brazil where her father, a civil engineer had moved to from Denmark during the Depression years. She and her family were interred in Denmark after the German Invasion in 1941 and with the end of hostilities her father returned to continue his career in South America. She and her mother followed him back to Brazil in 1948 on a very slow steamer (the SS Cruz).  On board she met a young Englishman, Peter an engineer with Shell International, who soon became her husband, being married in Rio de Janeiro a year later. She had two sons (Colin and Bryan) in Sao Paulo and Rio and finally left Brazil in 1956. Peter was posted to Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, in 1960 and the family remained there until 1964 when the Sri Lankan Government nationalised the foreign oil companies, forcing a repatriation to the UK before a further posting to Central Africa (Northern Rhodesia as it was known then). There followed a further posting to Thailand until 1968 when the family returned to the UK permanently. Peter retired from Shell and took up a teaching post in London and they acquired the Cottage in Needham. After enlargements had been made, Peter finally retired and they lived happily in Needham until his passing 26 years ago. Kirsten never lost the passion for travel and spent a lot of time on cruises to far off places including the South Pacific, East Asia, the Mediterranean, The Caribbean and Hawaii. She was very frustrated that her increasing debility prevented more travel. Fluent in Danish, English, Brazilian Portuguese and some German, she had trained as an interior architect, but never really managed to practice her profession due to the variable overseas postings. Despite her “wonder lust” she always felt at home in Needham. She is survived by her two sons and was always very supportive of them and their families.

And the story about Walt Disney is true – she met him in Copenhagen when he was visiting Tivoli to get ideas for Disneyworld and he bought her a drink.

Kirsten Inge Partington (1930 – 2018)

               Colin Partington

Saved by the Bull

Many local people probably know that the ancient

stone tower of our village church of St Peter dates

back to the period following the Norman Conquest

of 1066 when there would have been a tiny chapel

attached which was probably about half the size of

the present building. What is perhaps lesser known

is the remarkable act of religious protest which was

planned there by the parishioners of our tiny rural

community during the early part of the 15th century.

The tiny hamlet of Needham or ‘Nedham’ was originally part of the Parish of Mendham and therefore the small chapel here was under the authority of Mendham Priory. But in 1329 an agreement was made with the Prior of Mendham which allowed the Needham congregation to use their Chapel as a fully functioning Parish Church instead of having to drag all the way over to Mendham for services, as they had been for centuries past. For this privilege they agreed to pay 18 pence per year (7.5p in today’s money) on Easter Day towards the repairs of Mendham Church and presumably for the provision of a Priest to administer the essential religious rites.  

Almost a century later this arrangement appears to have broken down and in 1411 the parishioners of Needham were up in arms because, according to Francis Blomefield’s History of the County of Norfolk (1805), “their chapel was not well served, though the Prior of Mendham was well paid his tithes.” Since religion was the defining issue in the lives of every Medieval person, especially the fate of their immortal souls after death, the lack of proper spiritual provision was a matter of huge importance.

Remarkably the residents of this small hamlet were not prepared to let this situation continue and having, presumably, complained to the Prior at Mendham and his superior the Bishop of Norwich it appears they were getting nowhere. So they decided to take their righteous protest all the way to the top and ask the Pope himself to help them.

To risk annoying your local highest ranking religious official was an exceedingly risky strategy at the time when the church was second only to the Crown in power and wealth. Then there was the additional issue of paying for a carefully worded letter written on expensive parchment by a professional scribe in Latin and then being able to afford to have it sent half way across Europe by courier.  

We can assume that a rich and influential local aristocrat or the Lord of one of the five Manors covering the village must have been backing this extraordinary altercation - possibly as part of an ongoing power struggle between a noble family and the local senior clergy.

There was, however, one major flaw in this bold plan – which Pope should be approached, as there were currently three men vying for the title? This was the period known as “the Western Schism” which had begun in 1378 when two competing popes emerged: ‘Antipope’ Benedict XIII in Avignon supported by France and Spain, and Pope Gregory XII in Rome supported by Italy, Germany and England.  In an attempt to resolve this intolerable situation, seven Cardinals convened the Council of Pisa in 1408 where they deposed both incumbents and a new Pope, Alexander V, was then elected in 1409. But Gregory and Benedict ignored this decision, so that there were now three simultaneous claimants to the Papacy.  Alexander V died soon after, and in 1410 Cardinal Cossa was consecrated as Pope John XXIII having become an ordained priest only one day earlier. And so it was to the newest appointee that the good folk of Needham sent their plea for help.

Under normal circumstances a letter from a bunch of whingeing nobodies in some obscure place called ‘Nedham’ in faraway England would probably have ended up at the bottom of the papal In-Box. But, obviously keen to show the world he was the only legitimate representative of Christ on Earth when he read this heart-rending complaint, Pope John sprang into action and issued a Papal Decree – known as a Bull. This was duly dispatched to Alexander De Totington, Bishop of Norwich. According to Blomefield’s book, the Bishop was instructed “to oblige the Prior of Mendham to find, and give security to him, that that convent would always find a parochial Chaplain resident in Nedham, well and duly to serve the chapel there.”

We can only imagine being a fly on the wall and seeing the look on the Bishop Totington’s face fall a mile as he read through this unexpected piece of correspondence from the Holy Father. I find it inspirational that even 500 years ago our ancestors in this small community didn’t just sit around moaning to each other, but were prepared take on the inertia of an entrenched bureaucracy only to be finally rewarded for all the risk and effort involved.

As part of the current Needham & Brockdish Community Heritage Project I’m hoping we can track down the original Papal Bull and get it transcribed into modern English by an expert. So watch this space…

Local Announcements

Pink Ladies Tractor Road Run

"Thank you to Needham villagers who sponsored me in this year's Pink Ladies Tractor Road Run. At the time of writing thanks to you, friends & family I have raised almost £700 which is amazing. Of course, I'd like more! It's not too late so if you would like to donate please visit my JustGiving page at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/helen-major7

Once again, thanks to those who have already sponsored me - it really is greatly appreciated. "                                           

 Helen Major

I would like to thank all the kind people of Needham who sent me lovely flowers and beautiful Get Well greetings following my recent stay in hospital. They were greatly appreciated. 

                     

Ellen White

Allotments Available

I am the secretary of Brockdish and Thorpe Abbotts Allotment Association (BATAAA). The allotments were established in 2011, with help from our Parish Council and South Norfolk Council and are run by volunteers from the local community for the community.  The allotments are situated at the end of Church Road in Brockdish, just before the bypass.

We currently have a few full and half plots available and would welcome plotholders from Needham but suspect that most people there don't know that the allotments exist.

If anyone is interested in an allotment do please ask them to get in touch with me, Rebecca Abrahall, BATAAA Secretary, at bataaa@hotmail.co.uk or David Young, our Treasurer, on 01379 668556.

Open Farm Sunday

A Great Day Out for All the Family! 

Celebrate British Farming & Learn where your food comes from

Shotford Hall Open Farm Sunday 

Sunday 10 June

11:00am to 5:00pm

Milking Demonstrations, Machinery, Riverside Walk, 

Sheep Shearing, Refreshments, Tractor & Trailer Rides, 

Children's Activities

Pink Ladies Tractor Road Run 2018

After a 'sabbatical' last year, on Sunday 1 July the Link's ex-editor, Helen Major, is being reunited with her lnternational McCormick B250 tractor to undertake the 20 mile Pink Ladies' Tractor Road Run to raise money for Cancer Research UK.  In the two years since her last run a long standing friend and the 31 year old daughter-in-law of another friend have died from cancer and two other of Helen's friends have been diagnosed with cancer.  Another has just completed a course of treatment at Adenbrookes Hospital.  We think everyone knows at least one person whose life has been touched by cancer.

Once again, Helen will be riding on behalf of Cancer Research UK, so we hope you will donate to this very important charity.

It's easy to donate through www.justgiving.com/fundraising/helen-major7

Harleston & Waveney Art Trail

Needham artist, Rose Martin, will be opening her studio again this year as part of the Harleston & Waveney Art Trail (HWAT) 

Roses's studio is at Skeetsmere House, Upper Burnt House Lane, Needham, IP20 9LL.  

Not only will you see Rose's lovely work but you  may also get a cup of tea and if you're very lucky a piece of cake!

Also open on the Art Trail is Chris Mound in Brockdish at Hill Farm, Syleham, Eye, Suffolk IP21 4LL

Dates: 19/20 May, 26/27/28 May (Bank Holiday Monday)

Open: 11am - 6pm
www.hwat.org.uk

May/June

There's a slight delay in the posting online of the May/June issue of the Link.

DANGER!

DANGER! Be very careful when walking along the pavement at the junction of the High Road & Mill Lane. A manhole cover has collapsed leaving a deep hole. There are cones round the hole but it is still a hazard. The council was informed almost 2 weeks ago.

Clean up Needham!

Village litter pick.
Meet at Red Lion on Saturday 14 April at 9:30am

Daffodil Open Garden

Well worth a visit to lift the spirit after a cold few weeks!

Over 2 acres of woodland and gardens leading down to the banks of the river Waveney

Sunday 25th March

10am to 4pm

The old Coach House

The Street Brockdish

IP214JY

In aid of EAAA,  EACH,  Prostate Cancer, St Elizabeth Hospice and local charities

Adults £2.50

Children Free with an adult

Teas, Cakes, Jams, Crafts, Raffle, Tombola.