St Peter
SUCCESS! We are delighted to reopen St Peter's Church following the restoration work which started in November 2024 and was completed in March 2026. St Peter's is now off the Heritage at Risk Register. Many thanks must go to the National Lottery Heritage Fund and other funders listed below who have helped so much. The work included re-slating the nave and chancel roofs, repairing/replacing rotten roof timbers, rebuilding damaged flint and stonework and improving drainage systems.
A wonderful Grade 1 listed jewel nestled in the heart of Forncett, St Peter's is one of 7 churches in the Upper Tas Valley All Saints parish. Its Saxon round tower, built circa 1000 AD, is considered to be one of the best in the country and there are other Saxon/Norman features. Much of the main building is of later, mainly 14th and 15th century date. Look out for: the 1485 Drake tomb, carved pew ends, a unique ancient staircase in the tower (access by appointment), fine ledger slabs in the chancel and nave, the memorial to Dorothy Wordsworth’s cousin, good examples of Victorian coloured glass windows and the ring of six bells.
The Friends of St Peter’s Project Committee is a group of village volunteers who coordinated the fund raising and restoration project. The main Committee is supported by three sub committees: Steering Group, Publicity, Activities. Friends' activities in the village such Saturday Markets, BBQs and quizzes have raised over £50,000 and many other supporters have contributed generously:
- National Heritage Lottery Fund and the Lottery players
- Round Tower Churches Trust
- Historic England
- Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme
- The Norfolk Churches Trust
- The Headley Trust
- The Paul Bassham Trust
- The Geoffrey Watling Charity
- St John's College Cambridge
- The Aurelius Charitable Trust
- Pennycress Trust
- Bishop of Norwich Fabric Fund
- Garfield Trust
- The Benefact Trust
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- Written by: Richard Ball
Following the success of Bloomin’ Jars in July, we’re excited to be staging ‘Sparkly Jars’ at St Peter’s on 9-10 December 10am – 4pm. This is a free event and there will be refreshments. The church will be filled with festive lights and decorations in jars. If you would like to bring a jar, we will be setting up at the church any time on Friday 8th. Bring your jam jars or small bottles filled with Christmas decorations, garden flowers, foliage, berries or seed heads to make the church really sparkle. If you are including tea lights, please make them battery ones and if your jar needs water, please bring some as there is none at the church.
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- Written by: Peter Schmidt-Hansen
This public service has been running for several years now, and for the benefit of anyone who doesn’t know what it’s all about, here is a recap:
Every so often I send out an email to a list of about 200 people in the locality with news, or reports, for sales, and lost pets. Anyone can elect to be added to my list of recipients at any time, and similarly may ask to be removed from the list – this I do immediately without question. All the emails are sent out as blind carbon copies, so your email address is not distributed to all and sundry.
See below the sort of subject matter I have dealt with over the past few months.
Apply to
BUT PLEASE NOTE:
To save any misunderstanding, please make very clear if you are sending an email just to me personally, or for posting on the E-notice board to a couple of hundred local people.
Firstly, one or two people have accidentally ‘unsubscribed’ themselves; probably by clicking where they shouldn’t be clicking. Unfortunately I cannot re-subscribe them as the ‘Mail chimp’ organisation abides by the Data Protection Act, and when someone says ‘no more!’ I cannot send any more to them. So watch that clicker-finger!
Secondly, I don’t want to use the system to sell unwanted goods: giving stuff away is fine (vis, my jam jars, astrantia plants and dog cage – all of which found new homes); also asking if anyone has a spare … whatever … is not a problem; but I don’t think the majority of recipients will want to be plagued daily by offers of second hand items, however lovely. But I am happy to send out notices about sales and car-boot events along with quizzes, fetes, and coffee mornings and new regular events at the Village Hall .
Thirdly, second-hand emails will no longer be sent out: by this I mean I can’t send out an email that is forwarded to me from someone else; it must come direct from the individual involved and they must specifically ask me to send it out.
Fourthly, it is important that you word the email yourself; I am notorious for getting things wrong (especially dates and times), so if you write exactly what you want to say, we can’t go wrong, can we?
And lastly, please be very precise about how much personal information you want to include. If you want to be incognito, please say so – every time. If you just want a phone number shown, include it in your message. As long as I know where the message originates, that’s usually fine. I can filter the replies and forward them to you: I may not have time to include a cheery greeting though.
The sort of subject matter I have dealt with over the past few months.
Events at the Village Hall, including the new yoga classes
Events at all four churches including gigs and concerts at Forncett St Mary Church
Crime surveys sent out by Long Stratton police
Petitions of interest
Warnings about Spam, Spoofs and other cons going round
A lost coat
Two escaped dogs
A lost bunny
A found red parrot
Someone wanting old blankets
Someone else wanting a shed
Someone offering a microwave
Someone else offering grazing for horses
Planning permission applications, where of public interest
Abandoned kittens
Flu jab dates
Road closures
Last post for Christmas dates
Local Wymondham Lions activities and fund raisers
Local walks
W.I. meetings
Bunwell Village Screen Cinema
Sport events
A swimming-at-Ashwellthorpe vacancy
And probably more that I can't call to mind right now. As you can see, it is for everyone to use and there is no charge. I won’t attach any personal details / phone numbers or names if you want to remain anonymous.
Welcome aboard anyone who isn’t already – and tell your friends.
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- Written by: Su Leavesley
