After the hottest day of the year (so far), it was a great pleasure to spend an evening in a cool and beautiful thirteenth Century church. There was an excellent turn out at St James’ Church, Hawstead, where historian Clive Paine guided us round this most interesting building. We started at the ‘Camping ground’. This was nothing to do with rows of tents, but refers to an ancient game which Clive assured us was a cross between soccer, rugby and wrestling, which prompted the comment that it sounded like the World cup final! There is also an ancient Guildhall next to the church which probably served the community in the way our village halls do today. Inside there are many interesting tombs and memorials to local families - the Drury’s ( who gave their name to Drury Lane), the Metcalfs ( whose Almshouses are close by) and the Cullums who were prominent in the area (Cullum Road).

A welcome, but brief, shower of rain rounded off an excellent visit.

There are no meetings or avents in August, but on Tuesday 19th of September at 7.30pm in the WI hall, Tom Doig will talk on ‘Birth and Baptism in the 1800s’.