MUISCAL MISCELLANY

Chris reports on the success of the recent West Dereham Music Miscellany

The recent Musical Miscellany on the Friday of our Harvest weekend raised £40.

Although some of our regular contributers were not able to be with us,we still had a most enjoyable programme of readings and music. Bronwen Brewer and Robyn Walkey both played piano solos. Janet Gough, John Sullivan , Desire Pennington and Keith MacLeod gave us humorous readings and poems, Franz Reinbold performed two parts of the humorous

tale of "Albert and the Lion" accompanied by Chirs Young on the keyboard,Timmy Pennington played some beautiful trumpet solos, and Galen and Frazer Reich played two electonic-music compositions with a computer generated visual backdrop and recordings of famous scientists' voices. Frances Pennington played a beautiful and

inspiring self-composition called "Felicity's Tune". We also heard Ravel's "Pavane on the death of an Infanta"

The items which involved most of those present were the do-it-yourself handbells brought over from heacham by enthusiast Christine Dean. Christine uses these bells, a large set worth some seven-thousand pounds, to introduce hand-bells ringing to mere novices, from age three upwards, to play or conduct the hundreds of tunes she has

annotated numerically. Starting with just a group of six players, Christine gradually involved most of us.

The programme began with the rousing hymn "Jerusalem" and ended with the National Anthem: We then adjourned to the tower-room for refreshments ably provided by our stalwart church-warden, Graeme Pressley, and more lively chat, before packing up and spilling out into the darkening night after a most enjoyable evening.

AUTUMN FRUITS

There can be no sight more evocative of Autumn than that of a cluster of blackberries: Some still quite red, others filling out, and those luscious, ready-for-picking fruits , with the light glinting off every single, fat globule of juice: These just fall-off at the touch of your

fingers and are just as likely to end up in your mouth as in the bag. All this beauty against a back-drop of darkish green leaves, is, for me, just perfect, reminding of so many happy family occasions of childhood when we would roam the old quarry tips to search out these precious fruits. Brambles grow just about everywhere, birds having

left behind the seeds in their droppings. Once established they spread and spread, having little to challenge them. Even the occasional hedge-trimmer only serves to stimulate new growth as the old is whizzed into fragments.

In the uncertain years ahead we shall need to take more care of all that nature provides so bountifully: The apples and pears, now so disdained that they fall over our roads and pathways, the bullaces in the hedgerows, which make such excellent jam and wine - and the blackberries. Millions of tons of free fruit which goes unpicked and

unused, except by birds and smaller creatures, which we choose to pay for in other, perhaps more convenient ways, from our supermarkets, which could be ours for free and a little investment in time.

In the same way, the Christian faith teaches that God, our loving Heavenly Father, has waiting an absolute bounty of His good gifts, uniquely planned for each of us: We can access them and benefit from them, or, as with our hedgerow bounty, ignore them, seeking instead some other convenient satisfaction in the world's supermarket.

Jesus advised, "Ask - and you WILL receive, Seek - and you WILL find, Knock - and the door WILL be opened to you. This benefit is free for EVERYONE!"

HARVEST FESTIVAL

Sunday 13th September saw our harvest weekend conclude with a Harvest Evensong in a beautifully decorated church. Many people came along to sing the harvest hymns, listen to the relevant Bible readings by local farmer, Mr Peter Shropshire, and by Graeme Pressley, our church-warden, and to hear our vicar, the Rev'd Judith Grundy, speak

about the ways we can share our bounty with those less fortunate in other parts of the world - clean water, tools for self-help and sponsoring children through school. The evening ended with very ample refresments being pressed on all present and the harvest produce being distributed to raise extra cash for the third world.

BUILDING WORK

After intial inspections by building contractors, tenders for the specifications are now in hand: Work is not expected to start untilabout March 2010: The replacement North window tracery and the complete renovation of the South Porch will take about three months during which time St Andrew;s Church will have to close, due to the dust involved and the need to sheet everything down. The congregation are considering options for holding services elsewhere in the village and also joining other congregations in the area.

Best wishes

Chris Young