News

All are welcome to come to our traditional country fête, 2pm Saturday 6th July.

St Helena’s is a very friendly and active church and we welcome visitors to join us for our special events. Don’t forget to check our Events page for details of all the latest events.

Dear Residents & Friends of Thoroton Church,

A big thank you to everyone who came to support our Open Evening on 3^rd July. Whether you came just to view the finished works and see the new facilities or to sign up for the forthcoming projects, your support was hugely appreciated and we hope you enjoyed the evening (and refreshments!) and found the occasion informative.

If you were unable to attend but are still interested to be kept informed or take part, below is a list of forthcoming events starting with Graveyard Recording on Friday 14^th July. This will go ahead whatever the weather and other than suitable clothing and maybe a notebook and pen you don’t need to bring anything special. Tea/coffee & biscuits (and maybe cake!) will be provided. There will be a lunch break when people can either pop home or bring a packed lunch to eat at the church if they wish. Feel free to leave early if you have other commitments but of course if people can stay until the end the more we will get done.

Graveyard Recording Training, 14th July, 10am-3pm at St Helena’s Church. Please book your free place by contacting our activities coordinator Ian Marshman on 01529 461499 or ian.marshman@heritagelincolnshire.org ( Or Nick Finlay, Church Warden 850912)

Festival of Archaeology and the Diocese of Southwell & Nottingham’s Open Churches Weekend 22nd-23rd June 10am-5pm. Thoroton church will be taking part  in this weekend with different activities taking place each day. The church open with refreshments available for visitors throughout the weekend.

Saturday 22nd will be a Graveyard Recording Drop-In which is op

en to anyone and will be great for families, with our archaeologist on hand throughout the day to show you what to do.

Sunday 23rd you can Discover Our Medieval Graffiti by borrowing a torch and exploring with the help of volunteers from the Derbyshire & Nottinghamshire Medieval Graffiti Survey.

For details of all 170 churches taking part across the Diocese visit the festival website.

Nottinghamshire Archives Workshop, 1st August 1-4pm. A rare opportunity to visit the county’s archives and view historic documents and materials relating to Thoroton and its church. An archivist will also be on hand to help interpret the documents and will provide advice on how to search the collections and how to go about locating particular information. Booking is essential as places are limited at the Archives. To reserve a place contact our activities coordinator Ian Marshman on 01529 461499 or ian.marshman@heritagelincolnshire.org (Or Nick Finlay, Church Warden 850912)

Everyone is very warmly invited to our Heritage Open Evening on Monday 3^rd July at 7.00pm.

This will be an opportunity for anyone who hasn’t done so to see the completed works inside and out, ask questions and hear about what was involved and learn about what is still to be achieved.

As you will be aware from previous updates the major works to repair and improve the church were finally completed at the beginning of March this year. All this was made possible by a Heritage Lottery grant of £124,000 and five smaller grants amounting to £13,000.

Completion was just in time for our hugely successful ‘Service of Thanksgiving for the Life and Legacy of Ethel Gordon Fenwick‘ on 12^th March. (On which note an enormous thank you again to everyone who helped clean and decorate the church with the beautiful flowers and provide the much talked about refreshments!).

However the project is far from over. Under the conditions of our Heritage Lottery Funding the next stage is due to start involving the use of the church as a ‘heritage resource’. The Open Evening will be a chance to hear more about this and if you wish to, how to get involved, especially those of you who were kind enough to respond to the survey we put round some months ago.

Getting involved though is not compulsory! Please feel free to come just for a look round and hear the progress on what is happening. We are always tremendously grateful of the village support we receive from people who are not regular church goers but non the less see St. Helena’s as an important part of village life and wish to see the future of the church safeguarded for many years to come. So please do join us if you can.

If anyone can’t make the evening but would like to know more please contact Nick Finlay 850912 (Church Warden) or Rob Knight 851264.

We look forward to seeing you on 3^rd July.