Branchlines AGM this Friday

Sudbury Water Meadows, a chance to learn more.

Branchlines, the organisation that created and now looks after the Old School Wood Community Woodland in Great Waldingfield, is holding its Annual General Meeting in Great Waldingfield village hall at 7 p.m. this Friday, 16th October.

All are welcome to attend and the added attraction this year is the opportunity to hear Adrian Walters, who is the Ranger for the Sudbury Common Lands Charity, speak about the History and Conservation of the Sudbury Riverside.  Given the unique nature of our riverside in Sudbury this should be a most interesting presentation.

After the talk all are welcome to stay to hear about the plans that the committee have for the community woodland in the year to come.

The Angel Roofs of East Anglia, a review

Angel from Bury St Edmunds

 I am grateful to Andy Sheppard for sharing with readers of the blog his review of Michael Rimmer's recently published book, The Angel Roofs of East Anglia.

This book is a must for anyone interested in the wonderful ecclesiastical heritage that we enjoy in this part of the world! 

Copies of the book can be purchased from the Lutterworth Press in Cambridge. Tel:01223 350865 or e mail: 

orders@lutterworth.com

Andy writes:-

As a representative of Little Waldingfield History Society I was offered the chance to review this book (by Michael Rimmer), which the publisher’s accompanying letter advised was “the first detailed historical and photographic study of the region’s many medieval angel roofs”. Knowing nothing of this subject but loving the architecture of old buildings and particularly of old wooden roofs, my interest was naturally aroused.

The associated material also included an estimate that “over 90% of England’s figurative medieval art was obliterated in the image destruction of the Reformation”. It then went on to say that “angel roof carvings comprise the largest surviving body of major English medieval wood sculpture” and that “although masterpieces of sculpture and engineering, angel roofs have been almost completely neglected by academics and art historians”. At this point in the narrative I was hooked and most eager to review the book for myself.

I am delighted to advise that Angel Roofs of East Anglia does not disappoint; the beautiful photographs of the roofs and close ups of individual angels, all of which were taken by the author, are simply stunning; equally, the skill and artistry demonstrated in the composition, exposure and overall photographic layout is nothing short of a tour de force. I am certainly going to use the book as a reference for visiting as many of the regions angel roof churches as I can over the next few years, in order to see for myself these incredible unseen and beautiful masterpieces of the middle ages.

There is however more to the book than just a collection of magnificent photographs; I particularly appreciated the second appendix, where the author presents six black and white images of varying architectural roof types with annotated names for all of the major component parts thereof. This is simple when you know but impossible otherwise; I was aware of the major roof styles, including “tie beam with arch braces”, ‘single hammer beam’ and ‘double hammer beam’, but ‘false double hammer beam’ was completely new to me and quite astonishingly wonderful.

Thirty-six churches feature in the book, each with a good deal of historical narrative to accompany the mostly full-page photos of their glorious angel roofs. Quite deliberately and properly, each church features as a double page spread, whilst happily some of the more magnificently decorated churches feature over four or even six pages. Together this section comprises about 70% of the book and will be the part to which reference is likely to be made again and again, as I intend to do - readers won’t be disappointed.

Although less likely to be read over and over, Michael Rimmer correctly begins with a historical consideration of angel roofs, which includes, for example:

§  What they are?
The author believes angel roofs are “some of the most impressive and complex examples of English structural and decorative woodworking that attain an outstanding level of skill and sophistication”, and I for one most certainly agree such sentiments.

§  Why they matter?
The reader is advised there are an estimated 9,000 medieval churches in England and that only about 170 angel roofs survive in England and Wales, with nearly 70% in East Anglia.

§  Why most such roofs are in East Anglia?
I won’t spoil the surprise by telling readers Michael Rimmer’s theories, just that I agree with his clear, detailed and logical analysis.

§  When they were constructed?
Over a surprisingly short time span of roughly 140 years from 1395.

At around 130 pages and 10 inches by 7.5 inches this paperback book is priced about right at £19.95, primarily because of the many wonderfully glorious and simply astonishing images he has created; however, all royalties from book sales will be donated to The Churches Conservation Trust, which is also a nice touch. It’s a shame the book is not available in hardback form, which I personally would prefer, though I understand the cost implication why not; however, slinging a copy in the back of a car for reference when visiting churches could easily damage paperback covers and possibly the book itself.

All in all a fascinating book that will readily appeal to lovers of old churches, of wooden architecture or of English history; separately, casual readers may well also become hooked on the subject and want to see some angel roofs for themselves, as I most certainly do. I recommend the book as the ideal Christmas or birthday present for anyone with the aforementioned interests - they are likely to be both astonished and delighted.

Angel Roof at St Mary's Church, Bury St Edmunds.

A government raid on local government pensions?

For much of the time that I have been at the county council I have sat on the Pension Fund Committee.  This is an interesting job, and the performance of the £2bn fund has much improved in recent years.

I was interested to read therefore, just a day after returning from holiday, that it is George Osborne's declared intention to abolish local authority pension funds and pool them into six National Wealth Funds each worth around £25bn.  It is interesting that the Chancellor has chosen to make the announcement now since a consultation on the future of local authority pension funds is currently underway and does not close until later in the year.  It seems that once again therefore we are witnessing  the normal pattern of a faux  government consultation taking place when a decision has in fact actually already been taken.

But this is not really the thing that is vexing me about the announcement.  It seems that  the intention of central government is to encourage the use of some of these funds, which, remember, represent the pension pots of our public servants, for investment in  'infrastructure'.

The Pension Fund Committee recently went to London for a training day and we met some of our fund managers.  One of these was a company that specialises in global infrastructure investment.  We were very impressed by their approach.  This was because their principal message to us was that only infrastructure projects that give an investment return equal to or, preferably, higher than other investment vehicles would be considered by them.  To be eligible a project had to enjoy the prospects of good positive cash flow in politically safe parts of the world.

While the UK is probably a safe enough place, I am not sure that the infrastructure projects that our Government has in mind will benefit from the same positive financial characteristics. In fact,   I am afraid that all this really amounts to is a form of deferred borrowing for which the tax payer will pick up the tab in years to come. ( The pensioner will be unaffected since being a defined benefit scheme he or she is entitled to their pension in any event.)

Monks Eleigh reaches out to refugees

Residents of Monks Eleigh are spearheading an initiative to collect much needed supplies to ease the hardship and suffering that are being experienced by refugees from the war in Syria.

The community will be organising a central point for the collection of warm clothes, bedding, books, toys and any other items which displaced families sorely need.

Please contact Kathy Haddow (01449 741331) kathy_haddow@hotmail.com

or Sharon James (01449 744122) sharon_james1@hotmail.co.uk

Or please leave your contact details in the book available in the Monks Eleigh shop.

Busy Saturday in Lavenham and Kersey

On Saturday morning I went down to Lavenham Library to present  the certificates to the children who completed the 2015 Summer Reading Challenge.   As usual there was a warm welcome from Debbie Roots and her team, pictured above.  The library is looking forward to supporting the Lavenham Literary Festival on the weekend of 14th and 15th of November.

After an appointment in Sudbury,  I went on to Kersey where I was very honoured to be asked to present the prizes at the 51st  Annual Flower and Produce Show.  There was a large number of entries in a wide range of classes encompassing crafts and cake making as well as horticultural pursuits.



























The array of silver cups and some of the exhibits are pictured above.   The first prize flower and fruit arrangement was particularly fine, looking a little like a Dutch painting!

A new approach to helping the vulnerable in and around Sudbury

A 'person centred' approach

Vulnerable people who live in and around Sudbury (including villages such as Lavenham, Long Melford, Chilton, Acton, the Waldingfields and Monks Eleigh) will be benefiting shortly from the introduction of ‘Local Area Co-ordination’.

It is hoped that the new scheme will create a much more joined up approach to helping people access the services that they need. The improved way of operating should both reduce demand for public services and provide a more ‘tailor made’ approach for individuals.

It is believed that at present people find accessing the services that they need complicated and confusing. To try to make life easier two local area coordinators are now being recruited to work with the elderly and other vulnerable people, together with their families, in finding the right service solutions for them.  The co-ordinators will help people to access the right information.  They will listen to their preferences and help them to choose the right options.  They will help to find new ways of doing things which may mean that public service provision is not actually necessary.  They will help people who feel isolated or lonely to build up social networks and community support systems.

This is a new way of doing things which has had significant success in other parts of the country. The new posts for the Sudbury area are being advertised currently here, and the job descriptions give a good idea of what is involved.

If you would like further information about this new way of doing things please contact me.

Chilton - the First 3000 Years

Local historian David Burnett has written a comprehensive history of the Parish of Chilton which has been published by the Sudbury Museum Trust. The book is edited by Valerie Herbert who used to live in Chilton Hall.

Chilton is a parish of much interest as anyone who has visited the church and contemplated the fine monuments, or walked past the wonderful moat at Chilton Hall. will have begun to understand.

The book is being launched next Saturday, 19th September, at Sudbury Library.  The author will be present to sign your copy!