Category: News

As Suffolk Historic Churches Trust prepare for their annual and only fundraising event, Suffolk Churches Ride and Stride and Pedal & Drive, walkers, cyclists and drivers across Suffolk are preparing for the big day. Most will not be wearing clown costumes on Saturday 14th September though!

The volunteer Area Organiser for the Colneys Deanery (Felixstowe and Woodbridge), Ian Angus, has persuaded a team of six cyclists to dress up for their cycle ride. Two of them, Anton Zinchuk, from Levington and Patrick Angus from Shropshire, surprised Ride and Stride chairman, Simon Ronan, as they took a training ride near Hemley Church.  

“I thought it would be an eye-catching bit of fun on the day and wanted to show Simon in advance what we are planning,” Ian laughed. “The clowns are planning to ride to all the Colneys Deanery’s churches, and they are raising money for all the churches, who can sponsor the clowns. 50% goes to the Trust but the other 50% goes back to the church which donated it.” 

Many of churches that will be open on the day to welcome people don’t have anyone to take part in Ride and Stride, and Ian has found a way so that churches in his area in that situation can also benefit financially as donations can be made to the team of clowns.

Over 500 churches across the county will be open to welcome walkers, cyclists, and vintage and veteran cars. Last year, the September event raised a record £200,312.70, which is being given in grants to Suffolk historic churches, chapels and meeting houses who need to make urgent repairs or improvements to their buildings.

“Ian has persuaded me to join in his mad idea,” said Simon Ronan, Chairman of Suffolk Churches Ride and Stride. “And my wife insists there is a suitable costume for me in the family dressing up box. I want to reassure anyone who is planning to take part in our event that fancy dress is definitely optional!”

On Suffolk Churches Ride and Stride Day, half the money participants raise goes to the Trust, and half to their chosen church, after they get sponsored on their journey around some of Suffolk’s churches, choosing their own route, long or short. Those on mobility scooters and electric bikes are also welcome. 

On the same day, Suffolk Churches Pedal & Drive, a vintage and classic car rally, is held with cars travelling a provided route, around a selection of churches, meeting up in the afternoon in Lavenham. 

Details of how to take part in Ride and Stride and Pedal & Drive are on the Trust website, including sponsor forms and a list of participating churches. 

Donations and sponsorship can be collected via Just Giving. A photography competition for participants is also held and details are also on the Trust website. 

The annual ride, began in Suffolk in 1982 but has now spread across England, appeals to families, local history lovers, keen cyclists and walkers, church supporters and those who just enjoy a day out around the villages and towns of Suffolk. 

To take part in Suffolk Churches Ride and Stride click here

To take part in Pedal & Drive click here

The first set of outstanding service certificates for church volunteers who have helped Suffolk Churches Ride and Stride event (originally known as a sponsored Bike Ride) have been awarded by Suffolk Historic Churches Trust.

The twenty volunteer Area Organisers across the county were asked to contact church organisers for their suggestions for worthy recipients. Tessa Forsdike, the current Area Organiser for the Ipswich area and a member of the Ipswich Unitarian Meeting House, arranged an afternoon tea at the Meeting House, where three certificates were presented by Simon Ronan, Suffolk Churches Ride and Stride Chairman. 

The certificates were presented to Linda King from Ipswich Unitarian Meeting House, Sue Adair from St Mary-le-Tower church and Andrew Leach and his wife Jackie Leach from St Mary at the Elms church, Ipswich.

“The Suffolk Historic Churches sponsored Ride and Stride has been an annual event for over 40 years,” said Simon Ronan. “It is the sole fundraising event for the Trust. The donations from this popular county event fund grants to churches of all faiths for repairs and maintenance. The Trust relies on volunteers to help with the fundraise and man the churches during the hours of the ride. As chairman of Suffolk Churches Ride and Stride, it gives me great pleasure to award certificates of long service for their dedication and kindness. It is a small token of our gratitude, but also an expression of the importance they are to our charity. Our churches are houses of prayer, but they also have a historic significance in our villages and towns, and are an important part of our fabric.”

The 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. Suffolk Churches Ride and Stride 2024 is on Saturday 14th September. Click HERE for more details.

More Outstanding Service Certificates will be awarded by the Trust as nominations come in from Area Organisers. 

The nominations this time read: 

Linda King, from the Unitarian Meeting House, nominated by the Meeting House trustees – Linda has supported the SHCT Ride and Stride since even before the ‘stride’ part was included and every year raises funds. One year, having already visited the Ipswich churches several times, she took the train to Norwich and visited Norfolk churches … but the funds came back to Suffolk! It is difficult to estimate how much she has raised, but definitely in the £1000s.

Sue Adair from St Mary le Tower church in Ipswich has been involved and supporting the event for over 30 years, raising an estimated over £10,000 in that time. She was nominated by Bridget Hanley.

Andrew Leach and his wife Jackie Leach  – from St Mary at the Elms church, Ipswich. Both have been involved since the start, so over 25 years  – nominated by Sarah Beeston and Fr John Thackray. Sarah wrote – ‘There are two people who certainly deserve recognition for their stalwart contribution to Ride and Stride over many many years, they are our organist Andrew Leach and his wife (and one of church wardens) Jackie .  Every year, come rain, shine or torrential gale Andrew will be cycling around the county visiting lots of churches.  There have been many occasions when Andrew has had rehearsal commitments on the Saturday afternoon when Ride & Stride is taking place, but he still goes out early in the morning on his bike to raise money for our church and Suffolk Historic Churches Trust. Most years Jackie does join him, but even if she isn’t cycling she is tireless in getting sponsors and then collecting the money.  I cannot think of a year since its inception where Andrew and Jackie have not actively been involved in this event, and I have been our local co-ordinator for over 12 years. So if both Andrew and Jackie could be recognised it would be a wonderful mark of appreciation for what they have done and the money they have raised.’ Each year they have raised at least £250 and this last year it was £400.

Nick Robinson, BBC political broadcaster, interviewed by Rachel Sloane, at the Launch of Suffolk Churches Ride and Stride /Pedal & Drive at St Bartholomew’s Church, Orford on Saturday 27^th July, 2024. 

First of all, thank you so much for coming along. How did you end up with a home in Orford, Suffolk?

We came to this part of the world because we live in Highbury in north east London, and we used to come here for lots of holidays. 

One year we rented a place in Iken in an absolutely glorious summer. A perfect summer when, looking out on the water  I fantasized about sailing, because although I’m not a sailor, I like the idea of sailing. Although you try convince yourself that it’s not actually going to be weather like that most years, you kid yourself. Some friends of ours, who live down the road from us in London, had a property here, and as we drove home, they said that the one opposite had come up for sale. We’ve been here ever since, so 12 years.

The pace in London is so different to Suffolk generally, never mind here in Orford….

Well, that’s the joy of it! Pippa, my wife, often drives me up here and I work in the car, and the second we drive off the A12, everything goes…. phone down, laptop down, and suddenly all the worries of the world go,  and it’s lovely.

This is your local church? 

Yes, it is and the joy of the church is that it’s used, I mean, in the sense of not just used as a church, but it’s also a lovely concert venue and we’ve seen a lot of concerts here, which we’ve loved.

It is really genuinely at the heart of the village. Funnily enough, if you said to me ten years ago, that I would wander around looking at old churches, I would have thought you were completely stark raving mad! Then, last year, we bought the Simon Jenkins ‘Thousand Best Churches’ book and we started to explore. The great joy of churches is the history is so fascinating. Whether you find a gravestone or some plaque on the wall, or an empty niche, a new thing, it’s absolutely fascinating.

But churches can be daunting to people, can’t they?

Yeah, they think that they’ve got to know the terminology. Do they know their nave from the apse, but, in the process of exploring, you learn it.

But the joy is it’s a history of people. In the end, churches are a history of the area. It’s a history of wealth and the loss of wealth, and that’s what makes them endlessly fascinating.

My mother’s Jewish, my father’s C of E, but never really practiced, and I married a Catholic, so I’m completely confused, ecumenically!

I’m not religious, but you don’t need to be. Know the history of your country, the history of your culture, history of society….

And people who never set foot inside their local church for a service, still value it as part of the history of their community… 

Absolutely.  I mean, literally, geographically, they are often at the centre of the community.They’re a place that brings people together for births, deaths, marriages and they are a reminder of your roots.

It is something, at least, that ensures that people like me, who will still be seen as an incomer in 20 years time, have some sort of sense of place, that’s the joy of it.

Can I briefly ask you about the day job?  I called you a political broadcaster, but what would you say you were?

I just usually describe myself now as a Presenter on BBC Radio Four and now also a programme called Political Thinking, which is a conversation with a politician rather than a kind of newsy interrogation, often looking at their life. I’m a political journalist by trade. I was a producer for ten years, then a reporter, political editor, and then went into presenting but, you know, politics has always been my main thing.

It was very exciting to hear you this morning on the Today programme saying ‘…and from Ipswich, Nick Robinson’.

Well, it was a great favour of letting me broadcast from so near to home, but I’m doing them a favour as well. The director said, rightly I think, that one of the things we should all have learned post- Brexit, is that people in the big cities, London in particular, did not have enough of a sense of the mood outside the city. One small way of remedying that was to broadcast more often from outside Broadcasting House, so I quite often broadcast from Salford. My family is from there.

There was the odd listener who started to write in and said, ‘is it a coincidence that Manchester United home games seemed to coincide with Nick Robinson presenting from Salford!’ But there’s a serious point as, being in Ipswich this morning, meant we could do something about the controversy around the pylons coming from Norwich down to Tilbury.

We’ve just had such a busy time for you, with the General Election… Were you surprised when suddenly an election was called?

It completely took me by surprise because, although I could use this formula about ‘second half of the year’, which technically allowed July 4th, nobody I knew thought they were going to do it because the Tories were so far behind in the polls, and because there were things that might get better for him and all these opportunities. We’ve seen Keir Starmer at the summit of Blenheim Palace, the NATO summit in Washington, the Olympic Games opening ceremony, and Rishi Sunak could have been at them… and he chose not to do it.

So it took me by surprise and made it quite stressful because we didn’t know, when the election was called, whether all the leaders would agree to be interviewed. There was quite a lot of faffing around with

‘I’ll only be interviewed if he’s interviewed first’, etc. so it meant that, just to add to the stress, we had to effectively prepare seven half hour interviews simultaneously, but it was fun to do.

Okay, there’s great expectations now for what’s going to happen now. Any predictions of the big challenges ahead? 

Yeah. How do you turn change expectations into reality?

This one word ‘change’ on his manifesto. The reason he did it, is it’s what everyone can project onto that word… what change they want.

But, you know, one of the oldest cliches in politics is ‘to govern, is to choose’. Take that electricity pylon story I was describing. People on the one hand want green power and they want it fast, and they want to be less dependent on Vladimir Putin, but also people don’t want pylons going through their beautiful scenery. He has to choose and so the big question is, does he disappoint those people who want to change, because they don’t like what’s being delivered? Or, in the end, can he take people with him? And nobody knows.

How many prime ministers have you interviewed in your career?

Well, let’s see… I was a producer when Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister and when John Major was Prime Minister so really I interviewed  Blair and Brown, Cameron, May, Johnson and Truss. So seven now …and 11 elections.

Oh, that’s a lot! Thank you so much for giving up your time today, Nick Robinson. 

Ride and Stride and Pedal & Drive will be held on Saturday 14th September and is open to all.

A Radio Four presenter, a vintage car, and a bike came together on Saturday 27^th July at an historic Suffolk church to launch the 2024 Suffolk Churches annual fundraiser, Ride and Stride and Pedal & Drive, to be held in September. 

From the Radio Four ‘Today’ programme, presenter Nick Robinson, and a 1953 Rolls Royce Silver Dawn,owned by Jono Benson, joined Suffolk Historic Churches Trust volunteers at St Bartholomew’s church in Orford, as the Trust prepares for the one day event to be held on Saturday 14th  September. Over 500 churches will be open to welcome walkers, cyclists, and vintage, veteran and classic cars. Details of how to take part are available in most churches, chapels and meeting houses, and on the Trust website, including sponsor forms and a list of participating churches.  The one day event of Ride and Stride, with Pedal & Drive, is the only fundraiser held for the Trust. Half the money participants raise goes to the Trust, and half to their chosen church. 

“If you said to me ten years ago, I would wander around looking at old churches, I would have thought you were completely stark raving mad,” laughed Nick Robinson, who has a house in Orford. “But last year we bought  Simon Jenkins ‘Thousand Best Churches’ book, and we started to explore. The great joy of the churches is the history is so fascinating, whether you find an interesting gravestone or some plaque on the wall. The joy is it’s a history of people and a history of the area, of wealth and the loss of wealth, and that’s what makes them endlessly fascinating.”

Last year, on the hottest day of the year, the event in September raised a record £200,312.70, which is being given in grants to Suffolk historic churches, chapels and meeting houses who need to make urgent repairs or improvements to their buildings. 

“After last year’s record fundraise, this year is going to be even more exciting, but it’s going to be harder work, I think. If we beat last year, that would be quite extraordinary,” said Simon Ronan, Chairman of Ride and Stride. “We appeal to walkers and cyclists, families, and a younger audience, to come and join in. Last year on the hottest day, the churches that were open were incredibly generous with keeping us going with refreshments and cakes. We are very grateful to our hundreds of volunteers. It is such a fun day out whether with family or friends.”

Greg Spray was also at the launch with his bike, having taken the ferry across from Orford Ness where he’d been volunteering for the National Trust.

“I’m an area organiser for Saxmundham and Woodbridge deaneries and I have 82 churches that I look after, with a load of very, very lovely organisers, one for every church. They’re a fantastic bunch of people, and without them, we wouldn’t get where we are today.”

On Suffolk Churches Ride and Stride day, cyclists and walkers get sponsored on their journey around some of Suffolk’s churches, choosing their own route, long or short, and it can be a handful or churches, or a full day exploring many. Those on mobility scooters and electric bikes are also welcome. 

On the same day, Suffolk Churches Pedal & Drive, a vintage and classic car rally, is held with cars travelling a provided route, around a selection of churches, meeting up in the afternoon in Lavenham. 

The wonderful car was brought to the launch by its owner Jono Benson, who bought it for himself for his 21^stbirthday. 

“It’s a 1953 Rolls-Royce Silver Dawn. They only made nine of them and it’s done the Pedal and Drive since the beginning, so we’ve seen some wonderful churches, and it has never missed a beat. I think the greatest joy is seeing churches that you would never normally go and peer into and Suffolk is absolutely teeming with them,” he explained. “I have had it for 17 years and it has visited many a Suffolk church, She’s called Mrs. Barclay because she’s Barclay Blue, retailed by Jack Barclay of Berkeley Square!”

Donations and sponsorship can be collected via Just Giving. A photography competition for participants is also held, and details are on the Trust website. 

The annual ride began in Suffolk in 1982 but has now spread across England. It appeals to families, local history lovers, keen cyclists and walkers, church supporters and those who just enjoy an annual trip around the villages and towns of Suffolk. 

We would like to thank the church warden, Jacki Maslin, for allowing us to take our photos at St Bartholomew’s on a busy day of visiting tourists and a wedding. 

Now we get ready for the Big Day – Saturday 14^th September – so start planning your route and getting sponsors or donations. 

Click HERE for Ride and Stride and HERE for Pedal & Drive.  

Will be at the beautiful Holy Trinity church in Long Melford on Sunday 7th July at 6.30pm. All are very welcome!

Twenty-two counties in England held a Ride and Stride church fundraising day in September 2023, and Suffolk raised the most with £200,312.70, followed by Norfolk at £129,481.05. The total raised nationally to help preserve and repair churches buildings was £1,208,115 with Suffolk contributing 16.5%. and three counties raising 39% of the total. 

Suffolk Churches vintage and classic car rally, Pedal & Drive is also held on the same day, with the cars travelling a provided route, around a selection of churches, ending at Lavenham. From the two events Suffolk Historic Churches Trust raised a record £252,133 in September 2023.

The national Ride and Stride event started in Suffolk as a sponsored bike ride and then spread across the country.

Thank you to all our volunteers, riders, strider, drivers and supporters. Well done to the other counties too… very pound helps to keep out wonderful church buildings going.

Organised by Suffolk Historic Churches Trust (SHCT), Suffolk Churches Ride and Stride, and Pedal & Drive car rally, each year sees several thousand cyclists and walkers of all ages, (and drivers of vintage and classic cars) taking part in the fundraising event that will be held again on Saturday 14^th September 2024 .

Suffolk Historic Churches Trust Grants are awarded to churches at four meetings a year and at the June Grants Meeting over £43,000 was agreed to be shared between eight churches. Six were to churches in the East of the county, two to churches in the West. They went to Alderton, Bradfield St George, Framlingham, Freston, Horham, Ketteburgh, Sylham and Cowlinge.

The work for which the grants were awarded includes masonry repairs to an unstable buttress, buttress and porch repairs, replacing of vestry floor, plasterwork repairs to chancel, nave, porch ceilings and walls, repairs to roof tiles, eaves, gutters, gable and buttress, One church needs to replace its boiler, while Cowlinge needs to fund project planning for serious roof and ceiling problems.

“Whereas at the Committee’s meeting in April the total costs of the projects exceeded £1.2m, on this occasion they total £107k. However, this figure can be misleading,” explained John Devaux, SHCT Grants Committee Chairman.“One of the two churches in the West, St Margaret, Cowlinge, was placed on the At Risk Register in 2023. There are serious problems with the roofs of the chancel, nave and porch. Daylight can be seen through the ceiling and roof above. Rooks have regained entry. The cost of the work is likely to exceed £200,000.  At this stage £31,000 is needed to fund the project planning mentioned above.” 

The eight churches are: 

St Andrew, Alderton

St Michael, Framlingham

St Peter, Freston

St Mary, Horham

St Andrew, Kettleburgh

St Margaret, Syleham

St Margaret, Cowlinge

Bradfield St George

There are two more Grants Meetings scheduled this year and any church, chapel or meeting house, of any denomination can apply. Click HERE for how to apply.

Organised by Suffolk Historic Churches Trust (SHCT), Suffolk Churches Ride and Stride, and Pedal & Drive car rally, each year sees several thousand cyclists and walkers of all ages, (and drivers of vintage and classic cars) taking part in the fundraising event that will be held again on Saturday 14^th September 2024 

Cyclists and walkers get sponsors or donations for their journey around some of Suffolk’s churches, choosing their own route, long or short. The money they raise has half going to the Trust to give out as grants for church buildings, and half to the participants chosen church.  Click HERE for more details of Ride and Stride and HERE for Pedal & Drive.

Twelve Suffolk churches and one chapel are celebrating receiving grants from Suffolk Historic Churches Trust in the latest of four annual allocations. 

At the latest grants meeting a total of £59,275 was agreed to be shared between seven churches in the West of the county and six to five churches and one chapel in the East. with money awarded between £3,000 to £12,000 per church.

The churches and chapel are in Middleton, Rattlesden , Little Thurlow  Shimpling, Westerfield, Swilland, Sibton, Great Thurlow, Stanton, Haverhill, Shelley, Campsea Ashe  and Walpole. 

“The Suffolk Historic Churches Trust is pleased to report the awarding of recent grants to twelve churches and one chapel totalling £59,375, explained  John Devaux, Chairman of the Grants Committee. “The Trust, using money raised from the annual Ride and Stride sponsored event and from very welcome legacies, carefully considers all those places of worship that apply to us for help. The need of the recipients to raise in excess of £1.2m gives some idea of the huge cost of caring for Suffolk’s precious historic places of worship.”

The work that will be undertaken in the churches include tower roof repairs, new flooring, releading windows, repairs to stonework, and repairs to buttresses, quoins, and flintwork. Two of the churches are also installing toilets and food serveries which the Trust grants will go towards. 

The churches that were successful this time were: 

St John, Campsea Ashe.

Holy Trinity, Middleton 

St Nicholas, Rattlesden  

St Peter, Little Thurlow  

St George, Shimpling 

St Mary, Westerfield  

St Mary, Swilland  

St Peter, Sibton  

All Saints, Great Thurlow  

All Saints, Stanton  

St Mary, Haverhill  

Walpole, Old Chapel  

All Saints, Shelley  

There are two more Grants Meetings scheduled this year and any church, chapel or meeting house, of any denomination can apply.

The next Suffolk Churches Ride and Stride Day is on Saturday 14^th September 2024 when the Suffolk Churches vintage and classic car rally Pedal & Drive is also held, with the cars travelling a provided route, around a selection of churches, ending at Lavenham. 

For more details of how to make a grant application click HERE

Lovely to see our plaques when out and about in Suffolk. Here at Trinity Methodist church, Felixstowe and …..

at St Mary’s, Boxford.

Thank you for displaying them.

Every Suffolk church, chapel or meeting house that has had a grant from us in the past ten years should have received one. (It’s all part of 50 years of Suffolk Historic Churches Trust celebrations.)

It’s an ongoing project and new grant receivers will receive a plaque too.

More photos please!

The money raised by the Suffolk Historic Churches Trust from fundraising and legacies is awarded to churches at four meetings a year and at the January Grants Meeting over £33,000 was agreed to be shared between eight Suffolk churches, six in West Suffolk and two in East Suffolk.

The churches awarded grants in January were to All Saints, Gazeley, St John the Baptist, Stoke by Clare, SS Peter & Paul, Lavenham, St Mary, Brome, St Mary, Walpole,  St Mary, Kersey, St Mary, Great Bradley  and St George, Stowlangtoft.

“At its January meeting the Grants Committee made awards totalling £33,250,:” explained John Devaux, SHCT Grants Committee Chairman. “These churches have to find over £300,000 in order to undertake various projects. To date approximately half this sum has been raised. Building costs have risen rapidly and some work is urgent. An example is the re-tiling of the chancel roof of All Saints, Gazeley. At present water is seeping in and damaging a precious ceiling embellished with over one hundred medieval carvings. The collection has been described as “unique and of national importance”.

At All Saints, Gazeley, even after the SHCT grant is taken into account, the church has to find a further £58,450 and an appeal has been launched. The other churches also have to raise more money to complete the work that is needed. There are three more Grants Meetings scheduled through the year and any church, chapel or meeting house, of any denomination can apply. Details are HERE