January at St Andrews Dear Supporters Well, we are all sad that services in our lovely church have had to be suspended while we sit out the lifespan of this virus. But the church is still open and we know from the visitor records that many of you do visit the church to enjoy the peace which revives spirits. And Revd Mark is recording Sunday services in each of the Benefice churches. You will find details on the website www.aldringhamparishchurch.co.uk. This week we received the news that Revd Mark will retire at the end of August this year. Mark of course will be very much missed and his departure will leave a massive space. Time will tell how that space will be filled but anyway we wish Mark and Ro well and luckily we still have them for several months while we emerge from lockdowns. The PCC met yesterday to discuss the next few months. Of course it is difficult to predict when it will be safe to hold services in the church again but soon the weather will warm up and we can consider holding services outside once more. Make a diary note and keep your fingers crossed for the Easter Sunday sunrise service on the beach, 6.30 April 4th. In the meantime, and courtesy of St Andrew’s choir, we offer this piece of music VID-20210113-WA0 015.mp4 Our Treasurer, David Gordon also had some good news for us. David says: I had been worrying about a big deficit for 2020 but thanks to you, the loyal supporters of St Andrew’s church, with just a few bills yet to come in, the deficit looks like only a couple of hundred pounds. The bedrock of the church’s financial support is the 40 people who make a contribution by bankers order. Nobody cancelled and several people increased their bankers order so that the total at £13,340 was nearly £700 up on the previous year. When giftaid is added this covers half of our annual expenditure. Many thanks, everyone! While the church was closed from March to June and again in November we had no collections and so the collection figure for the year is down by £3,400 on the previous year. But many people whose donations are through the collection plate rallied round with contributions in lieu, some of them very generous indeed. And so we have recovered most of that loss. Thank you everyone for your support! Not being able to hold fundraising events was another impact on the finances. The Friends had to cancel the planned fundraising events but it was nice to see a Friends stall in the churchyard at the Battle of Britain service. And the bike ride gained more support this year both in riders and in those who sponsor them so we received nearly £300 from that very enjoyable form of fundraising. Thank you so much and I am sure the riders enjoyed the churches that they visited. Many charities have suffered major financial losses as a result of the lockdowns in 2020. The fact that St Andrew’s has not reflects the wonderful community spirit in our little church that has kept us going and indeed delivered some memorable events during the year. My grateful thanks to you all for making the Treasurer’s job less stressful and also for your wonderful support in so many non financial ways. David Gordon Apart from being our Treasurer and the architect of many good things which happen at St. Andrew’s, David has done much historical research which has a bearing on the history of our church. Here is the result of some of his research. The 850th anniversary of the murder of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, in Canterbury Cathedral was marked on 29 December 1170 Had it not been for Covid restrictions we would probably have held a service in Aldringham church to mark this anniversary, given that it is a most significant event in the history of Aldringham church. The catholic church, headed by the Pope in Rome, had authority separate from that of the state and King Henry II wanted to change this. He wanted the power! When he appointed Thomas in 1162 he thought that he had the man to change things and to bring the church under the king’s control. But Thomas had other ideas. As Archbishop he saw his duty as being to protect the church from any earthly authority. Matters came to a head in 1170 when Henry, in France at the time, lost his temper and said ‘who will rid me of this pestilential priest.’ Four of his knights took him at his word, travelled back to England and did the deed. But this was not good news for Henry. People regarded Thomas as a martyr for the rights of the church. Pilgrims started to visit his tomb and the Pope put further pressure on Henry when he declared Becket a saint in 1173. And Henry’s enemies took advantage of the situation. Even his wife plotted against him and encouraged their two sons to rebel against him in an alliance with his enemies, the kings of France and of Scotland who launched invasions of his lands. Henry decided that he had to make penance for the murder of Becket and in July 1174 he walked barefoot into the city of Canterbury, prostrated himself before Becket’s shrine and spent the night in prayer. Henry was thus preoccupied and had to send his trusted knights to deal with the Scottish invaders. The English force of 400 knights was led by Ranulf de Glanvill and the Scots were defeated at the battle of Alnwick (in Northumberland) on 13 July 1174. The very day that Henry was in Canterbury praying. Now Ranulf was a local lad. Born at Stratford St Andrew, he married a local lass, Bertha, daughter of the lord of the manor of Parham. And with the marriage came a marriage dowry of land at Butley. Another consequence of the murder of Thomas was the practice of founding monasteries. And Ranulf founded Butley Priory on his land at Butley in 1171. The defeat of the Scots started the end of the rebellion and Henry had a great deal to thank Ranulf for! So he gave him a present. A vast tract of land in Suffolk - the manor of Leiston - stretching up the coast from Thorp to Minsmere and inland to Theberton and Leiston. And it included Aldringham church. So the advowson of our little church passed to Ranulf. At that time it was probably more a chapel than a church, likely a modest wooden building. Ranulf immediately passed the advowson to his newly founded priory at Butley and so, very briefly, Aldringham was in the care of Butley priory. Ranulf decided that he would use Henry’s present to found another monastery and so in 1183 he established Leiston Abbey, not on its present site but in the marshes at Minsmere. And he gave the whole of the manor of Leiston to the Abbey including the advowson of Aldringham church which was transferred from Butley priory in 1185. Thus started a period of 350 years during which Aldringham church was in the care of Leiston Abbey and during which time the present church building was built. This only came to an end with the dissolution of the monasteries by king Henry VIII. Murdering an archbishop has unexpected consequences! David Gordon Keep safe. Get the vaccine. And look forward to sunny times ahead. And if you need any assistance, do call me or Chris. David Copp 01728 635816 Chris Burrell-Saward 01728 833395 Churchwardens .