Rattlesden Village Website
bringing the community together
bringing the community together
bringing the community together
Rattlesden Church is a mediæval building, Grade 1 listed since 1954 dating mainly from the 14th and 15th centuries with some 13th century features.
The building is a village asset which is open for everyone, even if some only attend for christenings, weddings, funerals and the occasional concert.
Regular worshippers have faithfully maintained the building but it is becoming difficult to raise the amounts needed as there is little or no help from the Church or the State.
The Friends of Rattlesden Church (FORC) is non-religious and was set up in 2012 to do two things:
Fundraising, to make grants for the restoration, preservation, repair, upkeep and enhancement of the fabric of St Nicholas’ Church, its contents, churchyard and ancillary buildings.
Maintain a “Time and Talents” register, to bring together people who are willing to be called upon, when and if available, to help with the practical side of maintenance and similar work
You may have noticed the ongoing work on the windows of the church and FORC is happy to have been able to make a grant of £2,000 towards the cost of the window repairs.
We have been keeping a low profile while the lockdown is on, now things seem to be easing up, FORC, too, is coming back to life. It is likely, though, that fundraising events will be severely restricted for a considerable time. So the FORC members are working with the Churchwardens to try and come up with a new project suitable for our support and how funds might best be raised for it. More news on that will follow.
FORC exists to raise money to help with the maintenance of the historic mediaeval church building in the heart of our village. With a building of this age, there is always lots to do, some things being urgent, some less so. Owing to the generosity of past and present members of the congregation, the church is able to fund some of the needed work but there is never enough. Help from FORC and others is likely still to be essential if this village asset is to be kept in good repair.
More news soon.
This annual event will still be taking place on SATURDAY 12th SEPTEMBER 2020 but under Covid rules.
The cycling / striding is “taking exercise”, but participants will have to complete their own logs and sign themselves in at the places of worship that they visit. There will not be any need for volunteers to be in the church to do this.
Every participant from the village will be raising an immediate contribution to our parish church as well as adding funds to The Suffolk Historic Churches Trust which can make grants to our church for essential works.
If you are willing to participate, and want to increase your lockdown exercise time, please contact David Gooderham (736631) for a sponsorship form.
This was a successful evening and well enjoyed. The total raised for the evening was £189.00
As well as a good three course meal, the live music and dancing went on well until midnight.
Many thanks to all who attended as well as Dave and Pat for the organisation, the piper, Pluck and Squeeze and the caller, not forgetting Ann who made £164.00 on the raffle. A thank you to all who who donated a raffle prize.
A “Race Night” was held on the evening of FRIDAY 15th NOVEMBER.
Despite atrocious weather and competing activities the evening was a success and thoroughly enjoyed.
The evening raised just short of £200.00 towards FORC’s current project, the restoration of the west window in the north aisle. The cost of this project is estimated to be between £4,000 and £4,500.
Dave Ward, Events Organiser.
Since formation in the autumn of 2012 FORC has provided:-
2013 - 4 - Labour to help re-hang the 6 bells and other tower work. Under the direction of the Tower Captain (Dave Ward), the saving on labour costs was in the order of £21,000 on a project that cost in the order of £70,000.
2015 - £5,400 for the refurbishment of the rainwater goods and downpipes.
2016 - £2,500 for repairs to the Church roof, internal high level cleaning of windows and walls including some re-plastering.
2017 - £600 a contribution towards repairs to the churchyard wall which runs alongside Church Walk.
2019 - £3,340 to refurbish the clock face. This was completed with re-installation on March 18th 2019.
2020 - £2,000 towards the cost of repairs to the church windows.
Would you like to help?
The Working Group who manage FORC is currently just 4 individuals.
There is a vacancy for a Secretary the main functions include setting up quarterly meetings and AGMs including agendas and minutes as well as tracking agreed activities and support for events. You do not have to be an elderly retired male like the rest of us.
If this is something you feel you can do, and are prepared to give the time and effort required we would be pleased to hear from you.
If you want to have your name added to the list of volunteers who are willing to assist in running the fundraising events or can help with maintaining the church and its grounds, we would like to hear from you.
Other ways you can help us are by making regular donations, sponsoring events to get your local business recognised and, not least, by coming to our events.
If you want more details, or would like to be added to the ever growing list of those who want to be kept up to date with our activities, please contact us at rattlesdenchurch@btinternet.com
Thank you - The FORC team.
Chairman - Tony Brain
Vice Chairman - Stephen Collins
Treasurer - Stephen Drury
Event Manager - David Ward
Secretary - Vacant
2019 Report and Accounts is in the Associated documents section on this page. For reasons of Covid security, we cannot put a copy on the FORC noticeboard in the church. If you have been in the church you will have noticed that the display has disappeared. It is in the process of being rebuilt.
The Annual report is in .pdf format which most folks are able to open and read on their device, whether it is a smartphone, tablet or computer. Please don’t print it off unless you must. It will help save the environment if printing is kept to a minimum. If you have a problem opening the document, please let us know through the email address at the bottom of this page.
If you must print it, please ensure that your printer is set up for an A4 page with any setting for .pdf documents set at “Scale to Fit” and / or “Print Entire Page”. If you still have a problem and must have a printed copy, I will get one to you if you Email me at the address below.
Telephone 01449 737541 Email: rattlesdenchurch@btinternet.com
