Norfolk barn is focus for creative Christianity A barn in rural South Norfolk is a thriving focus for the arts and creative Christian spirituality, as well as a recording studio and a craft centre, all run by an ordained couple. Kevin Gotts reports.
The Barn is a former old carriage house at Rockland St Mary Rectory seven miles south east of Norwich and is the home of the former Burning Bush project. The Barn is a ministry run by Rev Canon Nick Garrard and his wife Rev Helen Garrard. At present the Barn fulfils several roles. It is a recording studio for services, an assembly line for children’s craft packs, and home to Art Café, which Nick explains, “The Art Café is a Wednesday morning online gathering where we contemplate a work of art or an artist and talk about all that intrigues and inspires us. We have conversations with artists, including the award-winning young Dutch artist Egbert Moddermann who recently joined us from Groeningen to share some of his paintings o
John was the first Norfolk master beekeeper Norfolk’s first-ever master beekeeper is also a master of publishing as the treasurer of a successful church magazine for several South Norfolk villages. Kevin Gotts reports. The art of bee-keeping can be traced back for many thousands of years, including references in the Bible and in the Egyptian pyramids. Retired science teacher John Everett, from Rockland St Mary, is one if its modern-day practitioners and lays claim to being Norfolk’s first-ever Master Beekeeper, recognised by the British Beekeepers Association, after passing no fewer than 13 practical and theory exams back in 2009. John met future wife Ruth in Uganda in 1969 where they were both teaching science. After returning to the UK in 1975, they moved to Rockland St Mary, where they have a small orchard and breed honey bees, sell beekeeping equipment and run beginner’s beekeeping courses. At present they have 30 hives in three sites at home or nearby.
Norfolk musician whispers a message of hope Professional Norfolk composer and producer Roger Mayor, has released a new double CD of music, words and hope, despite living with cancer for the past decade. Kevin Gotts reports. Roger has spent a lifetime devoted to Christian music, but believed that his recording days were over through serious illness. With encouragement from friends, and inspired by the sad loss of a friend, Roger has spent the last 10 months writing, recording and finally producing the Whispers CD launched this month, interspersed with frequent hospital visits for cancer treatment. “My aim all along has been to provide music that is enhanced by Bible readings and my own very brief personal reflections, with an underscore of appropriate, beautiful music of artistic merit, to give an uplifting experience of the presence of God,” explains Roger.