Author: shctuser

Another Certificate of Thanks for long-serving volunteers who have helped Suffolk Churches Ride and Stride event (originally known as a sponsored Bike Ride) has been awarded by Suffolk Historic Churches Trust. 

The latest certificate was presented to Patrick Grieve for well over 30 years of supporting the Trust, first as a cyclist, then Area Organiser for Ride and Stride, as Chairman of the Suffolk Churches Ride and Stride organising committee and as a Trustee. The current chairman, Simon Ronan, made the presentation at Patrick’s church, St Peter’s at Cransford, near Framlingham.

Patrick was originally recruited by Helen Pitcher, the wife of the then rector of Framlingham, and says he has always loved churches. 

“My parents are buried here at St Peter’s and I have reserved my own little plot! St Peter’s is 800 years old, made of flint and mortar with no foundations. There is one small Saxon window and inside there are no aisles or transept. We have a huge Dutch dower chest that probably came from Cransford Hall.”

One exciting discovery was made.

“The pews didn’t come right to the back of the church but to make room for the baptismal font a few pews were removed. Revealed were two medieval carvings, little masks. William Dowsing (the Puritan) didn’t see them low down in the wall, covered by the pews so they survived his wrecking. One is sticking his tongue out and the other is grinning… with a bit of a snarl!” 

A highlight of Patrick’s time whilst involved with the Trust is taking part in the sponsored bike ride, some years ago, on a six-seater bike.

“It was a prototype, built by my friend Jeremy Wingate -Saul. It was called ‘a ‘sociable’ and was a very heavy thing,” he remembered. “We only used it for two or three years as it was very dangerous and, going fast down a hill, one person had to steer and the others put their feet down!”

“I am delighted to present Patrick with this certificate,” said Simon Ronan, current chairman of Ride and Stride. “The Suffolk Historic Churches sponsored annual event has been going for over 40 years, and is the sole fundraising event for the Trust. In 2025 we raised an amazing £212,020 in one day. This popular cross-county event funds grants to churches of all faiths for repairs and maintenance. The Trust relies on volunteers to help organise the event and to man the churches during the hours of the ride.”

The Trustees and the twenty volunteer Area Organisers across the county were asked to contact church organisers for their suggestions for worthy recipients of a Trust certificate for long-service or outstanding support. More dominations are welcome.

Hundreds of supporters, walking or cycling around their chosen route from over 500 churches that are open on the day, donate half their sponsorship to their chosen church, chapel or meeting house and the other half to the Trust, to be given in grants to help preserve church buildings. Anyone is welcome to take part, not just church-goers. 

The next Suffolk Churches Ride and Stride (and the Historic and Classic car rally, and steeple-to-steeple horse ride both held on the same day) is on Saturday 12th September 2026.

These are the nine grants awarded by Suffolk Historic Churches Trust Grants Committee on the 5th January 2026. The total awarded was £62,485. Congratulations to all – and good luck with your projects,

Assington, St Edmund             WC, kitchen and meeting room                    

Brettenham, St Mary              Re-tile and strengthen nave roof                     

Hundon, All Saints                  Roof leadwork, repointing, windows             

Lawshall, All Saints                 Supporting beams for the bell frame floor    

Moulton, St Peter                   Repair wall cracks, re-render walls               

Rushbrooke, St Nicholas         Roof and rainwater goods repair                  

Shotley, St Mary                     Chancel arch stabilisation                               

Whepstead, St Petronilla        Modernise WC, kitchenette                           

Yaxley, St Mary                       Renewal of drainage system                         

The money raised in sponsorship and donations to Suffolk Historic Churches Trust, from their annual fundraising day, held every second Saturday in September, can now be revealed. 

The cyclists, walkers, drivers and horse-riders together raised £212,020, beating last year’s amount.

Sponsor money is divided between a church, chapel or meeting hall of the participants choice, and the Trust who give grants towards essential church building repairs, conservation and to enable community use such as installing kitchens and toilets.

The one-day event includes Suffolk Churches Ride and Stride, for cyclists and walkers who choose their own routes, long or short, Pedal and Drive (for vintage and classic cars) and a new event, a Steeple to Steeple Ride for horse riders. These have allocated routes to travel.

”The Trustees are hugely grateful for the hard work of the volunteers who made it happen – the seven Pedal and Drive Committee members, 500 Area and Local Organisers of Ride and Stride, and the three organisers of the horse ride, plus the countless volunteers who sat in churches as welcomers,” said Geoffrey Probert, the Chairman of Suffolk Historic Churches Trust. “Thank you also to the hundreds of cyclists and walkers all over Suffolk (some of whom visited 30 plus churches), the 110 car drivers who took part, and the 27 riders who rallied to the cause, some quite saddle sore after 17 miles!”

A popular day amongst both church goers, people who love local history, and those who just like a challenge, next year the events will be held on Saturday 12^th September and all are welcome to take part. Details will be on this website.

Seventeen grants, totalling £95,350, were awarded to Suffolk churches by the Suffolk Historic Churches Trust at their October Grants Committee Meeting. 

The successful churches are in Bedfield,  Bildeston, Blythburgh, Brampton, Butley, Copdock, Fornham St Martin, Herringfleet, Holbrook, Ipswich, Linstead Parva, North Cove, Rede, Saxtead, Spexhall, Tostock and Wenhaston.  

” At its quarterly meeting in October the Grants Committee considered a record- equalling number of grant applications from five churches in West Suffolk and twelve in East Suffolk. Seventeen awards totalling £95,350 were made – a record for one quarter. The entire cost of the work in respect of which the grants were sought is in the region of £800,000 demonstrating the struggle of often small communities to preserve these glorious parts of our heritage.” said John Devaux, Chairman of the Grants Committee. 

The work that will be undertaken in the churches include work on roofs, gutters, windows, WCs and kitchens, but the grants included a number of enabling grants for bigger projects.  One was for a payment for archaeological work before building; assessment of a nave wall for movement before embarking on a major project; funding to appoint a fundraiser for a lottery grant and the first phase of a project for restoring wall paintings where they needed a preliminary report to define what had to be done.

This will help churches to get the initial work underway, which they find difficult to fund, before applying for major grants for the actual work.

The grant money is raised by the annual Suffolk Churches Ride and Stride Day and the Suffolk Churches vintage and classic car rally, Pedal & Drive, held on the same day. Next year it will be held on Saturday 12^th September.

There are four Grants Meetings scheduled a year and any church, chapel or meeting house, of any denomination can apply. 

There are more details of how to make a grant application, Ride and Stride or to apply to take part in Pedal and Drive: www.shct.org.uk.

Grants awarded in Oct 2025 were to:

St Nicholas, Bedfield  

 St Mary, Bildeston  

 Holy Trinity, Blythburgh  

 St Peter, Brampton  

 St John, Butley  

 St Peter, Copdock  

 St Martin, Fornham St Martin  

 St Margaret, Herringfleet  

 All Saints, Holbrook  

 All Hallows, Ipswich  

 St Margaret of Antioch, Linstead Parva  

 St Botolph, North Cove  

 All Saints, Rede  

 All Saints, Saxtead  

 St Peter, Spexhall  

 St Andrew, Tostock 

 St Peter, Wenhaston,  

The Building Stones of Suffolk and the people who worked them

by Tony Redman

A definitive guide to the stones of which our county’s buildings are made. The book is part history, part field guide, and seeks to tell the stories of how the stones found in our buildings might have come to be here. Over fifty stones have been identified, following the surveying of all the stone-built buildings in the county. It also covers the artificial stones developed in Suffolk, including the earliest identified use of pre-cast concrete. The second part is an alphabetical list of the stonemasons identified as living and working within the county down to 1999. Research included the analysis of the three known masons’ archives in Suffolk, two of them for the first time.

The author, Tony Redman MA FRICS IHBC, is a conservation accredited chartered building surveyor who spent most of his working life repairing Suffolk buildings. He has been a member of the council of SIAH, is a trustee of the Suffolk Historic Churches Trust and a liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Stonemasons.

What people are saying:

“Never mind The Stones of Venice. This is the true story of the Stones of Suffolk. John Ruskin might be surprised to know that this rich and important trading county in the East of England didn’t have any – so when the medieval community wanted to celebrate their commitment and their God they had to get to work. From split apart, fossilised sea animals (napped flint) to solidified mud dredged from estuary beds (septaria) to sawn slices of chalk, the stone masons of Suffolk improvised. More durable corner stones came across from Caen or Belgium by boat. The heady mix became exquisitely solid and lasting. I was very impressed with this book. Equip yourself with the ability to read walls and assess towers with this endlessly fascinating book written by a real expert. An essential and revelatory guide for anyone who treasures the beauty and majesty of Suffolk’s great church buildings. “  

(Griff Rees Jones, president, Victorian Society)

“I’ve been dipping in and out of Building Stones of Suffolk and only just noticed that you’ve inscribed my copy. Thank you very much. It’s a terrific achievement, going off in all sorts of stone-related directions that I’d never have expected (e.g. lignacite), so that it will be useful as a book of reference beyond Suffolk. In fact it will now be my first port of call for stone rather than Alec Clifton-Taylor. The only down side is that every time I look at it I’m afraid it’s going to reveal something I got wrong (or at the very least could have done better) in Pevsner. But if that ever achieves a fourth edition, or goes online, it will benefit enormously from your book, as will almost anyone who writes about Suffolk buildings from now on.” 

(James Bettley, editor, Buildings of England (Pevsner), Suffolk, 2015)

“Book received safely and many thanks. I’m much impressed. Well done!”

(David Bone, chair of West Sussex Geological Society, fellow of The Geological Association )

“Thank you so much for sending us your “Building Stones of Suffolk”. I have been poring over this and enjoying all the illustrations and details. Chapters 5 and 6 are particularly interesting. The story of Lignacite and its founder is most fascinating and surprising. The references have come in useful already, notably one on Saxon stone use. You must be very pleased (and relieved) that you have now achieved this valuable work. We shall keep this close by for reference. 

(Ros and Ian Mercer, chairs of Essex geological society editor of Essex Rock”)

“What a wonderful item to receive in the post. Beautifully illustrated, full of information, you must be very pleased with it; I am. As I dip into books rather than read through, it will keep me going for a long time. Also I am in the middle of eye operations so things will not be properly in focus for a week or two. I have already enjoyed learning much new.. The main part of the book is good science as much is repeatable (you’ll no doubt have comments for the second edition!).  The stonemasons info is valuable in many ways – I am sure many historians and architects will want this.  We will advertise it in late July in GeoSuffolk Times and I am sure Caroline will note it in the Ipswich Society newsletter later in the year (the next one is about ready to publish so is full). It should be a standard reference work in many bookcases, and an example for many to follow.”

(Bob Markham, chair of GeoSuffolk)

We have heard from Martin Males from Gt Finborough, with a lovely bit of bike ride history….

“I know from the papers about the Suffolk-wide bike ride’s inception in 1982 that the founders Lady Julia Henniker and Judith Foorde discovered the idea, but there was already a similar bike ride running in the Stowmarket Deanery. It was the Reverend Hugh Wake who started the whole thing off in 1975.

Our challenge is to celebrate the Great Finborough event, staged 50 years on from the first event there, as a precursor of the Suffolk-wide bike ride happening on the same day this year.

At the Finborough start we should have, including ourselves, four cars, a tractor, two horses then all of the cyclists, runners and walkers. The runners, by the way, are planning a route equivalent to the distance of a marathon!” 

(On the day….The Finborough Runners managed 27 miles and visited 15 churches. Even the rain showers couldn’t dampen spirits!)

Congratulations to all and thank you for a wonderful idea – and a great drone shot of the celebrations!

Many thanks to everyone who took part in the inaugural Steeple to Steeple Fun Ride and also to those who sent in photos of a happy day in the saddle!

We are adding them as quickly as possible but it will take a few days. Some captions need to be confirmed – please email mail@rachesloane.co.uk with anything missing or incorrect. It was a bit crazy as everyone arrived!

Now a set taken at the rally’s end Lavenham – where it got very stormy (Photos by Rachel Sloane)

And more lovely pics are coming in…

Congratulations to the winner of our Ride and Stride photo competition for a set of three images (A church or church architectural detail, a favourite photo. and a selfie of you celebrating when you complete your journey.

The winner is William Armitage who will receive a £50 voucher.

“The first photo is of the rood stair at Whepstead, the second is of my friends looking at the monuments at Little Saxham, and the third is of all of us in the stalls at our final church of Rushbrooke for whom we donated 50% of our sponsor money to”.

Thank you for your wonderful photos… we will add more as we get them. (Please contact us if any are mislabelled : mail@rachelsloane.co.uk… it was a busy day!)

We featured the Haughley church choir in our pre-publicity for Ride and Stride (they sing their way around) … so how did they get on, on the day?

Well, it hailed…. but they did get presented with a certificate of thanks from our Chairman Geoffrey Probert!

Plans for Haughley Church Choir for this year

A total of eleven Haughley cyclists will be taking a circular route of about 20 miles, leaving Haughley at 10.00 and visiting churches at Harleston, Onehouse, Buxhall, Rattlesden, Felsham, Gedding, Drinkstone and Shelland. My best guess is that cyclists will arrive back at Haughley around 16.30.

Four of the eleven cyclists are Haughley choir members and will join with the choir at the four churches where the choir are singing.

Cyclists and non-cyclists will meet up at Buxhall Church at 11.00 where the choir will have its first “sing”. The choir will also be singing at Rattlesden, Felsham and Gedding. The choir will sing for about 20 minutes in each church. We sing, mainly unaccompanied, a variety of hymns, anthems, Taize. We will also this year sing to recorded accompaniment Faure’s Cantique de Jean Racine and a couple of Gospel Songs.

We shall be having a light pub lunch in Rattlesden to lubricate our voices in preparation for the afternoon singing.

How it started

It all started in 1998. We were younger then! Haughley choir has participated in what is now called the “Ride & Stride” almost every year since then. We even continued during the Covid years when we weren’t allowed to enter churches. Instead we sang, suitably socially distanced, outside each church we stopped at. 

Back in 1998 when we started, the majority of the choir were on bikes and the remainder travelled by car from church to church. With the  advancing age of choir members we now have more travelling by car than cycling between churches. Over the 28 or so years we have sung in over 40 different churches within a 10 mile radius of Haughley.

We have sung in smaller, beautiful, remote churches such as St Mary the Virgin Langham (accessed across rural fields) and St Mary’s Badley (half a mile or so off the main road). The acoustics at Badley were so good (no traffic noise just the sound of a few birds) that we revisited the church to make a recording of several Taize songs.

And, of course we have cycled to and sung at several of the impressive larger medieval churches such as St Andrew’s Great Finborough and St Mary’s Woolpit.

The Experience

For those cycling we have had wonderful days cycling across our beautiful Suffolk countryside, usually in fine September weather. Cycling in the knowledge that we are helping to raise funds for the Suffolk Historic Churches  Trust and our own local church.

And, what a privilege it is for our choir to have the opportunity to sing in these beautiful churches.

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From David Fleetwood , longstanding Haughley choir member and local bike ride co-ordinator.

(We love to hear your stories of Ride and Stride past and present. Please email them to mail@rachelsloane.co.uk)