January 2018. We are compiling a history of Hawton and Cotham from 900AD onwards and would like any material relevant to this enterprise. Please get in touch with us or any member of the PCC if you have any information.
We are also hoping to publish a new version of the late John Quarrell's excellent book about Hawton Church published in 1994, as there are new theories about the nature of many of the stone-carvings. Please get in touch with the churchwardens if you
feeyou can help.
New comfortable pew runners have now been fitted following a successful grant application (AllChurches Trust) and generous donations from members of the congregation.
March 10th, 2018. Mothering
Sunday at Hawton Church was celebrated.
Good Friday, March 31st, 2018. Passover meal. Hawton members cooked lamb and other ingredients as previously arranged.
Tuesday, April 17th, 2018. 7pm at
Hawton Church, This included a video presentation and discussion between Peter Tyrer and the Reverend Richard Coles about the significance and implications of 'near death experiences', a controversial subject involving science and spirituality. Richard Coles
is highly unusual as although he is a well-known radio and TV presenter (and former pop star) he is also a vicar at a parish church in his home county of Northamptonshire. he spoke movingly about his dying father at the meeting.
May, 2018. Open
Gardens and Cotham Outing, Saturday, May 26th. 10.30-18.00. Donations in lieu of tickets. The gardens at the Rectory (Ann Sowerby) and The Poplars (Helen Tyrer), both in Hawton, were open to visitors and the bonus of sheep and lambs of a distinctive
and unusual breed (zwartbles) as well as chickens, added novelty and colour. This was linked to a tour of Cotham Church 3 miles away, an essential visit for those who have not been before.
May to July, 2018. As part of the Heritage
Lottery grant a bell garden is being created in the churchyard. This will be in the shape of a bell and will be populated by bell flowers only. All those interested in donating bell flowers please get in touch with Helen Tyrer. We also have a link with Christ
Church Cathedral in Stanley in the Falkland Islands and are planning on bellflowers from the islands to be included. The bell garden will be inaugurated on 8th July before the last performance of the Newarke Canterbury Tales by George Dawson.
Thursday
June 14th, 2018. The second new bell was cast at John Taylor's Bell Foundry on 14th June. We had a full complement of visitors, including a party from Chuter Ede Primary School, to visit the foundry and see the new bell being cast. Some photos
of the event are shown at the top of the events page (we want as many people as possible to know about this).
Saturday, 7th July, 2018. Open churches in conjunction with Diocese of Southwell.
Thursday 5th, Friday
6th, Saturday 7th and Sunday, 8th July 2018. We are performing a modified version of the Canterbury Tales - the Newarke Canterbury Tales, as part of the programme approved by the Heritage Lottery Fund. This is an original drama to support greater
awareness of the Heritage of Hawton and the Restoration project and is planned to be performed in Collingham (5th July)(Youth Community Centre), at Newark Parish Church (6th July), in Southwell Minster (State Chamber) on 7th July and at Hawton Church on 8th
July. Additional grant support will also help the Tower and Bell Restoration Fund. There will be a cast of around 30 but it will vary at different locations. In conjunction with the last performance in Hawton there will be a mediaeval fair (entrance
£5, children free) in the afternoon of the 8th July, and we will need many to join in the events. This includes a host of mediaeval games, including quoits, skittles, juggling from an expert (with lessons for juniors), a beer and mead tent, hide-and-seek,
and a tug of war between two burly teams. You can also test your ability to throw sponges accurately at miscreants in the stocks. There will also be a hog roast at 2pm (with a 14th century vegetarian alternative) and the formal opening of the churchyard bell
garden just before the 7pm performance. There will also be a bookstall where you can buy The Watermeadow Mystery: The Secret Treasure at Hawton, at a speical price just after publication. Tents and marquees are being set up in different
places so there will be much to explore. Anyone interested in attending or taking part should get in touch with either of the churchwardens. Tickets for each performance available from the churchwardens and others cost £5 for each performance (available
from RST Music, Cartergate, from the two churchwardens, from the Minster Shop in Southwell for the State Chamber performance), and from the Sir John Arderne pub in Market Square for the Newark Prish Chuch event. Rehearsals will often take place on Sunday afternoons
after the morning service so if you wish to see what is going on please dally a little.
The Tale involves several story-tellers, including Sir John Arderne, one of the most famous early surgeons who lived in Newark. Here is the very beginning of the
Tale as an appetiser:
'Now John was he a right sterling trav'ler
And on purpose bent was not a dabbler
So when read he of Chaucer's merry tales
Of pilgrims climbing hills and dales
He
said, 'I too can labour up and down
'Cross wolds and fens from my home town
Journey on foot with just one ferry
From Newarke Town to Canterbury
And when each night I spend in hostelry
I too will recant my Tale in revelry
On the morn I cross the Trent by barge
On mine own Newarkian pilgrimage
And let garlands round Watling Street be decked
As
my Surgeon's Tale I now dissect'
The other Tales include the Wife of Bath making an early case for feminism and a bell-ringers' tale about Greek Gods competing for the hand of Terpsichore, the Muse of Music, in a bell contest. It all
sounds strange, but it will be fun. At each of the venues there will be a refreshment interval. For those not able to come the performances there will be a film made as part of the Heritage grant output.
Friday 29th September.
7pm. There will be a jazz concert from Decent Chaps, the well known jazz and swing band, at Hawton Church, in aid of the Fabric Fund. Tickets available from RST Music (Cartergate), Ann et Vin (Castle Gate), or via Newark
705505. £10 each. This was an excellent occasion with both a feast of music and a veritable feast of refreshments at the interval. Over £500 was collected for the Fabric Fund.
Thursday, 11th October.
7pm. Peter Carter, former Chief Executive of the Royal College of Nursing, gave an illustrated talk at Hawton Church entitled:
'Saint Agatha's legacy: the nursing crisis in the NHS'. See below.
Thursday,
18th October. A lecture will be given at 7pm at Hawton Church by Professor Julian Evans entitled 'God's Trees'. Julian is a former chair of the Forestry Commission and knows his subject inside out, and is reputed to be a highly entertaining
lecturer. This was more than confirmed by his illustrated, well-crafted and informative talk that included evidence that the description of the trees and their fruits in the Bible were remarkably accurate. The 'Crown of Thorns' also attracted much attention.
Saturday, 27th October. The annual Beetle Drive will take place at the Poplars, beginning at 6pm. This is a high tension event and participants must have a strong constitution. The winner of the Drive was Richard
Hopkins, followed closely by Colin Dudman, who were both rewarded for their efforts with giant trombocino squashes. The consumption of these particular vegetables will take many weeks and is bound to leave abiding memories.
11th November
2018. To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Armistice in the Great War, Hawton Parish Council have arranged to have a bonfire in the car park adjacent to the church grounds. We would like the bonfire to be lit by someone
(or more than one) who had a relative who fought in the Great War. Please get in touch with Helen Tyrer (Chair of Parish Council) if you need further information. The bonfire will be lit at 7pm but all are invited to meet at 6.45pm. Invitations are being sent
to the population of Hawton and the church congregation but relatives and friends are also invited.
65 people, a total larger than the population of Hawton, attended this memorial event on a fine and relatively windless November evening.
Solemn statements of remembrance were made, a poem by Siegfried Sassoon was read by Harry Robinson, and the crowd moved in a circle around the woodpile in the centre of the car park. The bonfire, imaginatively and safely constructed by Tom Pykett and Philip
Hardy, blazed merrily after young people sprang about it with flaming tapers, while others warmed themselves as the fire caught hold. Sausages, with and without rolls, baked potatoes and beans, followed by samosas, dips and flans, and finished off with mince
pies, Mars bar cake, tea and coffee, completed the evening in the church. So all, we trust, were satisfied with the evening when they left at 9 o'clock.
Saturday, 24th November, 2018. Christmas Fair in Hawton Church. Put
this in your diaries now. This event gets bigger every year and the quality is outstanding. We did indeed have a magnificent Christmas Fair on 24th. 115 people came to over 20 stalls and £1300 was collected for the Church Fabric Fund. Carol
singing by the choir added Christmas icing and there were many extra ingredients to add to the Hawton Extravaganza Cake of multitudinous fancies, and mince pies. Thanks to all who came.