Welcome to our May Newsletter!
Although the weather may not have been the best of late there are certainly signs of spring in our churchyards as seen here at St Giles-on-the-Hill Norwich, also known as the wisteria church.
With less than four months to go, we have launched the 2026 Bike Ride, Walk & Drive. Taking place on Saturday 12th September from 9am to 5pm, this is the largest annual fundraising event for the Trust. Last year the total raised was £115,527.99. Added to that we also received an amazing legacy gift from a prior regular rider, which matched that sum and brought the total for 2025 to more than £230,000. THANK YOU!
Read our recent Newsletter here.
Help us make the 2026 Norfolk Churches Trust Bike Ride, Walk & Drive another successful fundraising event. Do your ‘Bike Ride’ your way, by cycling, walking, running, driving, swimming, by public transport, by horse, by paddleboard, or in whatever way suits you. Or if you so wish you could simply make a donation. Spend the day with friends and family passing through the beautiful landscape of the county and venture into its villages, towns, and cities to discover the history and beauty of these special buildings.
The money raised is split between your nominated church and the Norfolk Churches Trust. The funds you raise enables us to assist churches and chapels in the county who are struggling to maintain and conserve their buildings. We help them with grant aid and advice so that these wonderful buildings can be kept open for everyone to enjoy.
Online registration for the event is now open and you can do so here. If you are a church or chapel and would like to ensure that you receive a Bike Ride Pack when they are sent out in mid-July, you can register here.
New for this year is the Classic Car Road Trip. Set off from one of three historic country houses and then motor your way along Norfolk’s country roads, visiting churches to find the answers in pursuit of victory in the Classic Car fiendish quiz. Who knows what you will learn about Norfolk’s greatest collection of Medieval churches on your way before meeting up at for afternoon tea, car admiration, and prize giving at Elsing Hall.
We are still finalising all the details so keeping checking our Classic Car Road Trip page for updates.
For all the details of how to take part, however you are taking part can be found within our dedicated Bike Ride, Walk & Drive pages.
We are absolutely delighted to report that we have received more than 2,500 entries into our School Art Competition, many, many more than we were expecting. So, a big thank you to all the pupils who created the pieces of art and a special thank you to the teachers who supported them. Here, just a small selection of the wonderful entries that we have received, we think they are fantastic, with some real budding artists amongst our county’s primary school children. We will be exhibiting as many of these artworks as possible at the Crypt Gallery at Norwich School in Cathedral Close in the week 15th to 20th June. So there will be an opportunity to see these creations up close. More details including timings to follow.
Click here for more images and further details of the competition.
We were delighted to welcome members and supporters of the Norfolk Churches Trust to the sold out, inaugural Billa Harrod Lecture on Friday 24th April.
The Chair of the Trust, Rosabelle Batt opened the evening with a few words about Billa Harrod herself, as the lecture was given in her name.
Any organisation that works with real energy and purpose needs a good foundation and Billa was ours. What she so passionately believed in lives on in the DNA of the Trust and it is her foundation that we build upon. She inspires us still, and it is our greatest hope that the work we do today, in her honour, would make her smile.
John Goodall, Architectural Editor of Country Life, pictured here, brought his wealth of knowledge to his theme, Parish Churches, the Fight for Survival.
The talk could not have been timelier as the Government has recently announced that there will be delay to the launch of the Places of Worship Renewal Fund. Increased costs due to VAT now being payable on church repairs, is just one of the issues facing churches today.
With illustrations of Norfolk churches, their treasures and historical context, John highlighted that the problems that confront churches today are not new ones. There have always been too many churches and the skills, crafts and materials required to restore them are expensive.
John however, ended his talk on a positive note. Church buildings have always suffered crises, but they are still here, we need to do enough to keep them going for future generations. See more of the evening here.
Heritage Skills & Maintenance Day in Pictures, we had a fantastic day across seven churches on Saturday 18th April see some of the images from this very successful day here.
Upcoming events
Last few places available for our 50th Anniversary Concert.
Taking place on Saturday 30th May from 5.30pm at St Mary Magdalene, Warham, NR23 1NH, the concert, features works by Handel and Telemann amongst others, will be performed by the internationally acclaimed Brook Street Band and award winning tenor David de Winter.
The concert, which will be taking place between 5.30pm and 6.30pm will be followed by champagne and canapes at The Rectory, Warham, home of Carlos Garcia and Michael Newman, for which the Trust extends its warmest thanks.
£50 to include drinks reception, make sure you don’t miss out, click here for more information and to book.
Every spring, Stody Lodge opens its 14-acres of colourful rhododendrons, deep herbaceous borders, woodland walks, and the renowned 4-acre Azalea Water Gardens. Known as one of East Anglia’s most dramatic spring gardens, the colours and scents at Stody Lodge will lift the spirits and dazzle the senses.
Local charities are invited to provide homemade teas to visitors enjoying these spectacular gardens, from which the charity takes all the proceeds.
The Norfolk Churches Trust is thrilled to be providing homemade teas at Stody Lodge Gardens on Thursday 28th May.
The gardens will be open from 1pm to 5pm. Entrance is £10 per person, parking included. You can book your ticket here. Or pay on the day.
Location: Stody Lodge Gardens is 16 miles northwest of Norwich and 3 miles south of Holt off the B1354. Postcode NR24 2ER.
Come and join us for what promises to be an unforgettable visit!
Members of the Norfolk Churches Trust are exclusively invited to a private view of the work of Shane at the Red Dot Gallery, Holt, on Thursday 23rd July, time 5pm – 8pm.
Shane specialises in heat-press collages, creating unique works of art combining photography, inkwork, drawing and digital imagery which he heat presses onto canvas forming contemporary artworks. Taking inspiration from the sea, landscape, nature, stately homes, and buildings in Norfolk, Shane produces one off pieces created from specially taken photographs with layers reduced or highlighted until only the objects he feels necessary are showing. Every one-off heat press printed collage is a unique artwork, it can never be reproduced. Entrance is free of charge.
Images of Norfolk churches feature in Shane’s work as can be seen in his Norfolk Round Tower Churches Project.
You can see more about Shane’s process and his inspiration here.
The Red Dot Gallery will be donating 10% of any Shane related sales, originals, prints and cards on this evening and throughout the exhibition period from the 17th – 31st July. We would like to extend our thanks to the gallery for their generosity.
Please RSVP here by 26th June
Around twenty private gardens in Aylsham will be open over the weekend of 27th and 28th of June 2026 for the Aylsham in Bloom Open Gardens event. As part of this weekend, Anne Nichols will be opening her garden at 6 Repton Close, Aylsham NR11 6JE for the event and is planning refreshments and other sales to raise money for The Norfolk Churches Trust. So if you are attending, please do visit her garden. We would like to express our thanks to Mrs Nichols for her generosity.
£5.00 pp per day or £8.00 pp for two days, accompanied under 16s free.
Follow this link for more information on this weekend.
Coffee, Clean & Chat reached Illington, St Andrew on Tuesday 12th May. Once again we were joined by a willing group of volunteers who tackled the (very many) cobwebs and left the church clean and welcoming with the distinct aroma of beeswax.
It is not just the history in the fabric of the building that we learn about on these days, we have also been very fortunate on our Coffee, Clean & Chat mornings to meet people who have a personal history attached to our churches, with Illington being no exception.
We met Christine, who told us of her very personal link to this church, read the relevance of the gate on the south porch door by following this link.
June’s Coffee, Clean & Chat will be taking place on Tuesday 2nd June at Barmer, All Saints PE31 8SR.
This church will have been be closed from the 1st March to 31st May for essential roof repairs so this particular Coffee, Clean & Chat Session will give us a chance to get the building spick and span ready for a summer service at the church on Sunday 14th June, time tba.
Do come along if you are in the area, your help and your stories are very much appreciated.
No experience needed!
Is your church organising a summer fete or other fundraiser? Don’t forget the Trust has a special section on our website to advertise your event for you, so please email the details of your event to media@norfolkchurchestrust.org.uk.
Update on grant awarded
In November 2025 the Trust awarded a grant of £5,000 to Brisley St Bartholomew towards the restoration of the rood screen and we are pleased to report that work has now started. This church is on the Heritage at Risk Register, so your support of the Trust really does help us to fund repairs to churches in the county.
So, thank you.
On social media?
Don’t forget we are on Facebook and Instagram where we regularly post updates on grant funding, events, Trust updates, church history and the occasional video.
And last by but no means least, don’t forget our monthly blog, always a good read.
You can download a condensed version of this newsletter for your church notice board here.
