Wereham Newsletter

Pammie delights in the reeturn of the church clock to St Margaret's Wereham

Dingdong Merrily on High

I would like you to have been there to witness the delight and pleasure and anticipation on the faces of four members of the Clock and Bell Committee as the newly restored clock and bell arrived at the gates of St Margaret's last Wednesday morning. Mingled with the pleasure was certain amount of amazement that it had all happened so soon, and without doubt it, was not only the energy of the fund-raising committee but also the support they had from Wereham and our sister villages too that made it all come true.

The brass bell which dates from 1664, is one of three built by Augustus Sutton -another can be found in St Andrews Church in Barton Bendish. The mechanism, which dates from the mid-1700s rests in a frame known as a bedstead (the size of a large baby's cot) and it was no easy task to return it to its original resting place up three sets of ladders in the bell tower. The clock face, too, has been cleaned and freshly painted in blue and gold and looks magnificent. Putting it all together again was fully the work of three days.

The committee are sure you will be pleased to know that the restoration of Clock and Bell is now complete and everything is now fully reinstalled in the church tower. They are extremely grateful for the generous and regular financial support received through donations, raffles, concerts, carol singing, and grants from various charities .

They would like to thank everyone once again for their enormous help in achieving this goal. Finally they send you all their best wishes for Christmas and New Year and invite you to join them to hear the bell ring in the New Year on the 31st of December!

News from St Margaret's

Once again Ivy and Sheila donated their time, inventiveness and skill to create a really festive look in St Margaret's . This time they were delighted to be supported by Angie and the mothers of the Wereham Tots. The tree ,which was donated by Caroline and Tom Sanderson, was charmingly decorated with decorations made by the Tots themselves. Such a lovely idea- and the tree is definitely the focal point of the Christmas decor this year. Thank you so much all of you.

Pammie Walker.