Walking boots on, pencil to hand, it’s time to have a go at the walking trail Treasure Hunt, this year around the Hemblington and Burlingham area. If you tried to solve all the clues in last year’s treasure hunt, you will know what fun it is. If you didn’t, now’s your chance to find out! The entry forms are available at All Saints Church for just £5 per team. They contain all the instructions you need, and you can attempt the trail in one go, or do it over several sessions, as the mood – and the weather – suggests. The prize of a “Candlelit dinner for two” will be awarded in early September, as the closing date for completed entries is 31st August. All profits are going towards the Hemblington Church Repair Fund.

You can pick up your Treasure Hunt forms any time – perhaps at the joint Hemblington Parish Council/ Friends AGM on Thursday, 6th June (7.00 pm). The main speaker will be that well known and respected landscape historian Prof. Tom Williamson (UEA). His theme will be “Trees and Woods of the Norfolk Landscape” but it will doubtless include much more in relation to the history of the area as well as some of his famous anecdotes. Refreshments will be available before the AGM starts.

The first Garden Fair to be held at Hemblington Hall on Saturday, 30th March, was well attended and proved a relaxing, happy and successful event. The sun shone, the gardens looked lovely, the church team and The Friends of All Saints Church provided bread, cakes, refreshments and plants, well supported by a variety of craft makers selling paintings, cards, wickerwork and metal sculptures and beautiful patchwork cushions. Information was also available about home composting techniques, and the Blofield & District Gardening Club, including a garden tool sharpening service. The Fair was held to raise funds to help pay for building repairs needed at All Saints Church in the near future.

A new magazine for our deanery has just been published which includes news from the churches across the Blofield Deanery. You can download it here.

The following special Easter services will be held in Hemblington Church during this month:

Sunday 14th April at 9.30 am – Palm Sunday Celebration & Holy Communion
Friday 19th April at 2.30 pm – Good Friday, The way of the cross
Saturday 20th April at 9 am – Benefice Morning Prayer
Sunday 21st April at 5.30 am – Easter Day Sunrise Service

In addition to these services there will be our normal Holy Communion services at 9.30 am on Sunday 7th April and Sunday 28th April.

The next Make and Mardle will be on Tuesday 16th April at Hemblington Church. It will be at the usual time of 10 am to 12 noon. As always there will be coffee, cake, chat and craft (optional); all are welcome. Call 270360 for more information.

Our Lent course for 2019 will be a series of guided conversations together about worship in our churches, using a professionally produced course material designed for churches such as ours. The course will ask us to consider together what it means to be a worshipper and how each of us can play our full part in the worship of our benefice and the churches we attend. We would value hearing from everybody who joins in the worship of our churches, no matter how often you attend. The course will take place on Wednesday evenings at Blofield Church on 13th March, 20th March, 27th March, 3rd April and 10th April. A course booklet will be available, priced £5.

As a retirement project, Andrew Hawkins is building a website which takes a virtual tour of places of interest in and around the historic city of Norwich, presented as a series of interactive 360-degree panoramas in which you, the viewer, can ‘turn the camera’ to look left and right and up and down. He has just added a section about Hemblington Church which contains beautiful views of our church. The Hemblington Church entry can be found at:

http://norwich360.com/hemblington.html

But have a look round the rest of the website for interesting insights into our local heritage.

For anyone who is researching family history in the Hemblington area we have a page explaining how you can access our church records.

This can be found here.

Thanks to Paul Brittain of Norfolk360.co.uk you can now experience a 360 degree tour of the inside and outside of our church by using the following links:

View inside All Saints, Hemblington Church on Google Tours

View outside All Saints, Hemblington Church on Google Tours

This is video shows our beautiful church on a lovely summers day in June. Music by the Octagon Singers of Norwich.