A breath-taking new video giving views both inside and outside of St John the Baptist Cathedral in Norwich not seen for 120 years has been released by its creator Brian Lafferty of Eastern Counties Drones. Videographer Brian flew one of his drones high above the 120-year-old cathedral giving rarely-before seen views and then went inside to record stunning new footage.
Brian said: “The Cathedral is such a wonderful building both inside and out. I was asked to do some minor roof work for the Cathedral by the architect Suzi Pendlebury during the re-roofing of the Cathedral, this came after the drone work I had done for our own roof project at St Mary’s Church, Great Yarmouth. The drone work helped to obtain two grants to re-roof the church. “When doing the roof project, permission without restriction was granted to fly inside the Cathedral to inspect some windows. “It was such a remarkable experience to get views that were last seen 120 years ago by the builders, I am so grateful to have contributed to the history of the Cathedral and look forward to more projects.”
You can watch Brian's remarkable video on YouTube by clicking here.
We are intending to reinstate the church cleaning rota, and are looking for volunteers who will be able to help support this. The time involved will be in the order of 2 hours per month, although this would be reduced by more volunteers coming forward and thereby reducing the overhead on individuals. If you can help, please speak to Linis Dolby, use the contact form or email her.
For over 30 years, Families in Need (FIND) Ipswich has offered a lifeline to people in Ipswich and the surrounding areas who are experiencing poverty and despair.
FIND provides free food parcels and personal care items to help people get through a crisis, as well as furniture, bedding and other household items where the person or family has none.
An army of over 80 volunteers regularly give their time freely to check and sort the donated food, collect items from local stores and churches, make up food parcels and deliver them. It's a six day a week operation.
Every year the number of food parcels distributed increases; in 2020 and 2021 the figure was 7,600, an increase on the 6.000 or so parcels in 2019. Some of the people in crisis who FIND supports with food parcels need help for many weeks until their benefits, wages or health are restored.
The following are some of the items you can donate:
Long grain rice; soups; tinned vegetables, meat, fruit and desserts; long life whole milk; jams; pet foods; sugar; and toiletries for men, women and children. Any such non--perishable items can be deposited in the FIND collecting bin in the church porch. Additionally donations of fresh foods like butter, cheese, fruit and vegetables will be welcome but these should only be donated direct to FIND and not left in collecting bins.
Sometimes people have nothing and FIND regularly steps in to help individuals with no money for even the most basic personal and household items they need. FIND has a furniture store and every week its volunteers will pick up items from the store and deliver them to individuals and families in need. To continue to offer this service, donations of furniture and other household items which are in good condition, are needed. Such items include:
Children's shoes and school clothing; cookers and kitchen equipment - saucepans, crockery, cutlery; beds and bedding - blankets, sheets, pillows, duvets; living room furniture - tables, chairs, settees, chests of drawers etc; whitegoods such as fridges, washing machines and curtains and blinds.
FIND also provides support for rough sleepers. There are many ways in which FIND helps such people - it provides footwear, clothing, warm coats, sleeping bags; it helps pay for prescriptions, helps with travel and provides food parcels. It also has a small emergency fund to help in paying for emergency accommodation for rough sleepers. To enable this service to continue, donations of warm clothing, sleeping bags, coats, footwear are always needed.
Cash donations can also be made and will always be very welcome. You can donate by cheque made payable to "FIND (Families in Need ) Ltd" for donations to the central fundraising account or to "Food Bank FIND" for donations to support the food bank. Cheques can be sent direct to FIND at PO Box 1029, Ipswich, IP1 9XJ or you can drop any donations clearly marked for FIND in the collection plate at church. Finally, you can also donate on line via FIND's LocalGiving page by clicking here.
The East Anglian Daily Times recently published an article about FIND, a charity which we have supported at St Mary Magdalen's for many years. In the article Maureen Reynel appealed for more donations to help meet the increasing demand for FIND's services, as well as an appeal for volunteer drivers to help deliver the food parcels. If you can help with the former, don't forget our FIND tub, which is always in the church porch, to accept your donations. If you can sparer 2 or 3 hours regularly to help with the latter, please contact FIND direct - you can find details on the FIND website or ring Maureen on 01473 833351. You can read the full EADT article here.
You will have noticed the line on the top of the parish newsletter which says "Everyone is welcome - without exception" - well somebody may have been reading our newsletter and taking us at our word as we had a surprise visitor in church today.
After a brief visit to St Joseph to say his prayers, he was called away by his mate who must have clearly been of a different denomination as she waited for him outside!
Photograph credit - Chrissie Riches
The Diocese of East Anglia Ignite Youth Team have recorded a song, as a prayer for peace in Ukraine, set to the traditional Irish melody Londonderry Air.
Director of the Diocesan Youth Service, Hamish MacQueen, recorded A Prayer for Peace In Ukraine, set to the traditional Irish tune Londonderry Air, which many people know as the song Danny Boy. Hamish, who wrote the words, said: “I’m sure I’m not alone when I feel helpless at seeing the horrific suffering in Ukraine – but one thing we can do is pray! We hope this song helps people – young and old – to pray for peace in Ukraine.” Hamish was joined by his teenage daughter Trinity, a student at Notre Dame High School in Norwich and a member of St George’s Parish on vocals and on piano by Ray Travasso from St Mary’s, Woodbridge Road, Ipswich.
Click here to listen to the song.
LIFE is a UK-based anti-abortion charity. It was founded in 1970 by Professor Jack Scarisbrick and his wife Nuala in response to the Abortion Act 1967, which greatly extended access to legal abortion in the United Kingdom. It exists as a charity to help women with unexpected pregnancies to be positive about the alternatives to abortion and deal with their fear of the unknown. LIFE gives the family hope and a future where they can see none; it helps women who have run out of options towards a brighter future; it enables children to get a better chance in life; it brings joy to women in despair.
Please take a minute to read the stories of hope and thankfulness in the annual review document - click on the image to the left. Hopefully these stories will warm your heart. And if you feel it is right to express your thankfulness by supporting LIFE's work, then please click here to make an on-line donation.
This is a story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody. There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody's job. Everybody thought that Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn't do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.
There are a number of lists in the narthex asking for names of volunteers for various things – to help with church and hall cleaning, to help with food for the proposed parish Christmas party next week, readers and Eucharistic minsters for the Christmas services, vacancy for the position of parish treasurer etc. At the last check these were all woefully blank! Don’t be a Nobody.
We are very grateful for the new church notice board, which has been donated by the Campbell family in memory of their son Jamie who passed away in March 2021. This was erected at church this week. Designed by professional graphic designers, the new notice board makes a striking impact on people passing the church on Norwich Road and provides detail of parish contacts and a sealed notice board for posters. The lettering is replaceable should changes need to be made, for example a change in service times can be made without having to replace the complete notice board.
A new section has been added to this web site – a photo gallery showing a series of pictures of our church over time. If you have any pictures of the church, the hall or parish life over the years, and would like them added to the collection, please contact webmaster using the contact form.
The photo gallery can be found in the About Us section of the main menu - click here.
If you have any feedback in regard to this site or its content, especially any suggestions on improvements or enhancements, we would be pleased to receive them. We would be particularly interested if there was any information about our church or parish that you were unable to find. Please use the Contact Form to let us know, addressing your comments to the webmaster.
