Well “what a night it was, it really was such a night!” Heathlands Community Centre hall was filled to capacity for the Friends first quiz night and a huge vote of thanks goes to Linda and David Bryant for organising the whole thing! All the rounds were music related in various ways, from completing a line of lyrics, recognising film themes, identifying the titles of albums from their pictures, and most popular, perhaps – identifying songs from live guitar intros played by David. The dingbats was a popular round too, and all seemed to appreciate the ploughman’s supper. Over £700 was raised from ticket sales and the raffle and the Friends is very grateful to all who came along for an enjoyable evening which will also help to support the repair fund for work which needs to be carried out on the church soon.

In collaboration with the RSPB. Do join us in trying to identify and record as many birds as possible on Sunday, 27th January (11 am – 1 pm). It is amazing just how many birds do visit the trees – and feeders – and we will have people on hand to help with identification. It will doubtless be cold, so as well as wrapping up extra warm, we will offer you soup and other refreshments. Hope you can join us for some new year cheer!

The next Travellers’ Tales event is on Wednesday, 16th January at 12 noon with an illustrated talk about India, followed by a themed lunch. This event will be held at Hemblington Hall (close to the church), from 12 noon to 2 pm. Tickets £10 each including lunch. Call 270542 to book tickets.

The next Make and Mardle will be on Tuesday 22nd January at Gables Farmhouse, Hemblington Hall Road, Hemblington. 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.

We hope you managed to visit the exhibitions staged in church during Open Churches Week in August, and the Heritage Open Days in September. Joyce Burtenshaw kindly displayed information she had collected about the local men who had fought and died in the conflict and are remembered on the memorial inside the church. We were very fortunate in being able to borrow from the Norfolk Heritage Centre, based at The Forum in Norwich, an exhibition about The Battle of The Somme, starting from Lord Kitchener’s enlistment appeal, through training and equipping the men, to the battle and its aftermath. The Centre also offered a series of photographs and a “handling box” which included a uniform which could be tried on, a cap, a helmet, an entrenching tool, wire cutters and other memorabilia – all very evocative. On Saturday 15th September members of the church community, The Friends of All Saints, and others with a personal interest in the conflict, came together to offer personal family reminiscences and to read poems written during the war and later.

Further commemorations will take place in November, when the actual centenary of the Armistice will be honoured on Sunday, 11th November. Various services and events will be held both at All Saints Church, and at Heathlands Community Centre in Blofield Heath. Details will be publicised shortly.

The First World War memorial in the church will be rededicated in November, as the mis-spelling of one of the combatants’ names has now been rectified. The surname of James Browne had the final “e” missing until funds were recently raised for this to be amended – a small but vital operation to show our respects to this brave man.

The Friends committee is very pleased and proud to let you know that The Friends has won the above award, which was presented on Tuesday 16th July by the sponsors at a ceremony held at The Abbey Conference Centre in Norwich.

The Norfolk Community Biodiversity Partnership offers awards which “celebrate groups and individuals whose voluntary efforts lead to improvements for biodiversity and to greater community engagement with local nature sites. Winning an award is a recognised accolade for efforts to improve the local environment.”

Receiving the Award on behalf of The friends, Joyce Burtenshaw confirmed that managing the churchyards at Hemblington has been a combined effort over many years with groups including Blofield & District Conservation Group (BADCOG), Bure Valley Conservation Group, Friends of All Saints, members of the congregation, Duke of Edinburgh award scheme volunteers and many others all contributing their time, knowledge and experience to make the churchyards a haven for a large variety of wild flowers as well as safe habitats for birds, bees, butterflies and mammals. A huge vote of thanks also goes to the officers of Norfolk Wildlife Trust, for their energy, enthusiasm, knowledge and training sessions which have inspired many to become involved in such projects.

A link to an article in the EDP is: http://www.edp24.co.uk/business/farming/norfolk-community-biodiversity-awards-winners-2018-1-5611953

if you fancy a walk around Hemblington and Pedham, looking out for the answers to the clues, you can find the trail forms in church. £2 ensures a fun couple of hours with some useful exercise thrown in! Give it a go!

If you want to check your answers or find the answer to that clue you could not work out then you can see all the answers here.

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.