Events in 2010

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Decorated Christmas Tree Festival 2010

Many thanks to everyone who worked so hard to help make this event so special. This year the weather unfortunately did not encourage visitors. However the money raised after expenses is still very impressive. It has been decided that Little Folly Children’s Centre and Wiltshire Young Carers will both receive £2,500.00. The remaining amount of just over £100.00 will be added to St Thomas’s Church funds. This event was made possible by all who helped with catering, cooking, stewarding, setting up and clearing away, arranging publicity or any of the many unseen roles that are needed to make the festival as enjoyable as it was.  A big thank you to everyone who contributed to this huge success, no matter in how large or small a way.

Click here to view a slideshow of photographs taken at the Festival by students at Wiltshire College, Salisbury

Remembrance Sunday Parade Service

On Sunday November 14th we gathered in the Guildhall Square at 10.30am for the Remembrance Sunday Parade service and the 11am silence. This was followed by a short service in St Thomas’s. Many thanks to Tim Kidner (www.kidnerpix.com) for providing the following pictures.

Please click here to view a slide show of the pictures

Audit Report

In July 2009 the Parochial Church Council of St. Thomas’s Church Salisbury agreed to meet the request of the Salisbury Diocese Learning for Discipleship organisers for a group of up to ten church members to pilot a course of ten sessions and related activities called A Church and Community Audit. It has provided St. Thomas’s Church PCC with a substantial contribution to the Mission Action Plan.

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There’s no place like .... Poems about places

On Saturday 15th May 2010 in St. Thomas’s House, seventeen people attended a poetry event to enjoy reading, sharing and discussing a range of verse concerned with places. The organiser, John Cox, brought along several poems which were added to by a rich range of others, including some delivered from memory and some written by a participant. We journeyed with Philip Larkin from Hull to London, stayed there with Blake and Wordsworth and went to Inversnaid with Gerard Manley Hopkins and The Lake Isle of Innisfree with W. B. Yeats. Rain in Manchester and stormy weather in the Atlantic, Caliban describing the magic of the island in The Tempest and Edward Thomas stopping in Adlestrop were among the many other visits we made before ending with tea and cakes.

There seems every chance of another poetry get together – perhaps next time concerning poetry about people. John Cox

Click to view the poems

The Jacks substantial refurbishment

The jacks – normally stand high up on the east face of the tower and pretend to strike the quarter chimes bells every quarter of an hour.

They were taken down as part of the clock refurbishment in 2005 and found to need substantial refurbishment.  The main delay in the project was a protracted discussion with the Council for the Care of Churches about the age of the jacks: we ended up having to do  a paint analysis which suggested they were made between 1690 and 1790, possibly early 1800’s. Had they been much earlier the Council would have opposed them going back on the tower and pushed us to put them in a museum. The refurbishment took about 9 months.

It is believed that the original quarters striking mechanism was installed in 1581; clearly these jacks must have replaced any earlier ones.  They were last restored from a desperately bad state in 1982/3 by Roger Hardy; they had been languishing in the South porch.

We have taken extra precautions in this restoration to try to ensure that they last well.  The full cost of the refurbishment was met by a donation in memory of Rodney Hoare (died 1997) and Miles Hoare (died 2005).

The Jacks substantial refurbishment

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A Festival of Weddings: a Celebration of Marriage Saturday 1st - Tuesday 4th May 2010

 “Oh so beautiful – what joy you brought us today!”  “Great display, wonderful flowers, lovely music” (entries from THE VISITORS BOOK).

There were over 2000 visitors who enjoyed the displays and talking about weddings! The church looked fantastic, it was all much appreciated. The wedding photo competition proved to be a great talking point, the aim being to work out who the bride and groom were. As several of the pictures had been taken many years before that was not always as easy as it sounds. Just over £1,000.00 was raised after costs had been taken out.

London Marathon on 25th April 2010

Priest-in-Charge: The Rev'd David Linaker completed the London Marathon on 25th April 2010 in 4hours and 35 minutes. Sponsorship money raised made it possible for David to present the Friends of Salisbury Shopmobility with over £3,000.00.  Click here for information on Shopmobility in Salisbury.

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Bridget Trump admitted Canon

Supported by the Rev David Linaker, Canon Bridget Trump celebrates after being made a Lay-Canon of the Cathedral, April 2010.  Invited by Bishop David to join the College of Canons for a period of five years, "in recognition of her work and ministry for church and society in the diocese and beyond", she was given the courtesy stall of Poole. Non-Residentiary and Lay-Canons bring their skills into the life of the Cathedral enabling the bishop, cathedral and diocese to work together for the building up of the Kingdom of God.  Bridget leads the First Group as St Thomas's, part of the worldwide Mothers' Union, who focus their work on strengthening and supporting family life in all its diversity.

Coach Trip to London - 13 March 2010

48 intrepid travellers signed up for the day-trip by Coach “shuttle” to London.  We set off for London at 8.00 am and made good time and arrived in London (Park Lane) just after 10.30 am with plenty of free-time for varied pursuits, e.g. Meeting up with friends and family, visit to St Pauls’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, St Martin’s In the Fields, special treats such as taking afternoon tea in well-known London hotels, specially arranged trips on the Thames, theatre shows and plays, museums, galleries and shopping (phew – weren’t we busy!) ....to name but a few.   We certainly had many adventures to report and share.

We wearied travellers departed London at around 7.30 pm and arrived back in Salisbury at around 9.45 pm. The trip was a huge success, with requests to repeat again in the future!

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