THE
FRIENDS OF ST PETER’S CHURCH, News Letter March 2008
The
first event of 2008 held in St Peter’s Church, over the last
weekend in February, was the Offord Film Festival, which was
organised and put together by Georgina Zaldua. It was encouraging
that so many children and their families came along on the Saturday
afternoon to watch their competition entries and to enjoy a variety
of fun, animated short films. Georgina and her team of helpers had
arranged an interesting programme which appealed to everyone who has
a love of the cinema. Charlie Clay, who lives locally, and who is a
series producer and observational director, entertained the audience
with snippets and excerpts from several of his documentaries that
have recently appeared on television. It was fascinating to learn
how many TV programmes Charlie has been involved with and just how he
formulates his ideas while filming, to end up with very watchable
prime time TV documentaries.
A
static exhibition on the subject of costume in film was held by Sarah
Stammler, who has worked extensively designing and making costumes
for film and theatre, and as a wardrobe mistress. Sarah's extensive
credits include making cloaks for 'Harry Potter' and the wedding
dress for 'A Mighty Heart' worn by Angelina Jolie. Some of Sarah’s
work was on display in the Church and was admired by many of the
visitors.
The
Friends of St Peter’s are looking forward to forthcoming events
when we can enjoy some warmer and brighter weather. Although there
are a couple of fan heaters which help to take the chill off the air,
as soon as the sun goes down the church can get cold quite quickly.
The Churches Conservation Trust, who maintain and upkeep the fabric
of the building, are not able to assist with a more permanent heating
system. They have approx 350 redundant churches to look after and as
they are a Government funded body their funds are limited. Indeed,
we were very fortunate that 12 months ago the interior of St Peter’s
was lime washed and decorated, all of which was funded and organised
by the Churches Conservation Trust.
At
the moment we don’t have a dedicated contact at the CCT, so our
plans for the restoration of the Roll of Honour are being considered
along with many other funding requests from other Churches. The
committee is aware that this project is high on many people’s
agenda, particularly for those who have relatives’ names on the
Roll of Honour. This is a priority for the committee as we would
like to see the project completed.
An
outside Working Party was held one cold, bright Sunday morning in
February. A lot of the undergrowth was cleared from the churchyard
and bright white clumps of snowdrops appeared from under the weeds
and fallen branches. We are hoping to continue with this work so the
graves and churchyard will be more accessible on the north side of
the church.
As
mentioned in the last edition of Out & About, our forthcoming
spring/summer events will be firstly,
The Offord Festival of Art & Music,
to be held over the last weekend in April, with “Water” as the
topic for the art and photographic entries. There will be 2 music
entertainments – Huntingdonshire Music School on Friday evening and
the fabulous “Flip, Flop and Fly” on Saturday evening. The
talented harmonica musician, Steve Lockwood, of Flip, Flop and Fly,
is organising a special jazz/rock’n’roll musical programme for
our event. More information on this will be circulated throughout
the village nearer to the time. Secondly, The
Summer Gala Evening of Opera and Song
is taking place on Saturday 7th
June. Watch this space for further information.
Jenny
Griffiths
Secretary
01480
811126