Mellis enews - Welcome

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1 MELLIS enews Summer 2014 Edition THIS EDITION 1 Welcome 2 The Wanderer 3 Church Warden s Chat 4 Mellis Flower Festival 5 Mellis Beer Festival 6 Mellis Common Rightholders 7 Mellis Memorial Hall 8 A Little Bit of History 9 Sporting News 10 Looking Back 11 Contact Us Welcome to the new Mellis enews website and the first edition Summer We plan to update the website three times a year (spring, summer and autumn/winter) with a regularly updated Events page. We would really appreciate you sending us your articles, local interest items, club reports, local photos and event details, etc. In fact anything that might be of interest to others in the Parish, those that have moved on and indeed those who may be moving into the area or just visiting. This copy of the Mellis enews has been produced for you to save to your computer or to print off and share with others. Please note that while it contains the main articles published in the web edition it may not contain all of the photographs, PDFs, dairy dates etc that are included in the web edition. Mellis enews - Welcome As a past Editor of the original Mellis News I ve been asked to write something for its new, online version, the Mellis enews. First of all, congratulations! What a brilliant idea! Well done those people who came up with it. Wondering what I could write I ve just spent an enjoyable half an hour with a cup of coffee, in the sun in the garden, looking at some back copies and I ve realised that the Mellis News really is a mini-microcosm of recent village history. The first Mellis News came out in 1998 and continued until 2011, and in that time it really did chart the ups and downs of village life. Local groups and organisations contributed regularly, and it s interesting to see which 1

2 ones are still thriving and which have disappeared. Mellis Primary School, (which once nearly closed, believe it or not!) goes from strength to strength. The Parish Council and the Memorial Hall are still a part of village life, and St Mary s Church maintains a quiet presence, as it has done for some 700 years. The village football team still plays on the common on Sundays and Mellis Cricket Club, although it now plays in Thornham, is still going strong. Sadly, the much valued Kitchen Club was forced to close because of a lack of new cooks coming forward, and the Green Lanes Bridleways Group is no more. The Mellis Common Advisory Committee faded into oblivion (I ve never known why) and whatever has happened to the Annual Litter Pick? Mellis dogs still foul the Carnser although it must be a new generation by now! and Gypsies still visit the Common in the summer, although the recent encampment has been one that has caused pleasure rather than upset. Three times something that first appeared in the Mellis News has caught the attention of the local press and then been taken up by the TV. One was the Parish Council s provision for winter emergencies, another the problem of easements for access across the common and the third was to do with problems around the redevelopment of the Memorial Hall for the millennium. It s good that some things particularly the two latter problems- have ceased to be. I can t finish without mentioning that the Mellis News once won a prize! In 2004 it won the Suffolk Association of Local Councils Newsletter of the Year Award and there s a framed certificate in the Memorial Hall to prove it! It s citation was that it showed consideration for IT awareness, emergency planning and community involvement. Not so surprising then that Mellis enews is about to be born! Betty Wells THE WANDERER A Romany Gypsy family spent a month living on Mellis Common's eastern end, near the Thrandeston Road. Their beautiful, ornamental, horse-drawn caravan was a treat for the eyes. Hand painted and some gold-leaf work. The camp included a traditional, hand painted cart, kitchen tent, toilet tent, three mini dog kennels with dogs (and pups), bantams with chicks, small bicycle, low-loader trailer, 4x4 pick-up, picnic table and chairs, generator, wood burner, three tethered ponies, two singing linnets in a cage and last but not least, an 'A' board with quotations from the Bible. Proud to be 'Born Again Christians', the rear of their caravan has an attractive, hand-lettered sign which declares; 'Romanys On The Road To Heaven'! Les and Edna Elliot and daughter Daisy are probably travelling on their 'swan-song' summer 2

3 journey. Edna is aged 78, Daisy is 58 and Les, well, all he would say is that he is younger than his wife! Their home-base is a registered Gypsy site at Kessingland near Lowestoft where they live in a big, all-mod-cons caravan. They pay rent for their council owned site pitch and council tax and utilities charges. Their next stop after Mellis is planned to be Old Buckenham Common in Breckland, Norfolk. Getting to a new location can be difficult because the Elliot s cannot read or write. Maps, road and village signs are meaningless! The Elliot families' historical, travelling territory was Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire where their ancestors can be traced, as far back as the early 18th century by names on memorial head stones in a Leicestershire village Chapel graveyard. The senior Elliot s are at the head of a big family with 7 children, 24 grandchildren and 7 great grandchildren! They are very proud of their Romany heritage and love to tell stories of past-times and show-off family photos! Sadly, the Elliot's colourful camp on Mellis Common has gone now but the local travelling community seems to be growing, revealed with a recent, quick count of about a dozen caravans and caravanettes parked about the village. Not to mention those ubiquitous, tethered ponies grazing the common! The Wanderer Text & Photograph 2014, The Wanderer CHURCH WARDEN'S CHAT As there has been quite a gap since I last wrote a Churchwarden s Chat I thought I d better fill you in a bit. A lot of what follows was reported at the Parish Council AGM earlier this year but is still current. Things change very slowly in the Church of England! Regular worship continues to take place in Mellis St Mary s Church as it has done for near on a thousand years, although these days it is mostly in modern English! As with many other rural churches, regular congregations are small, but for our three special services each year, Songs of Praise in June, the Harvest Festival in September and Carols by Candlelight in December we usually see some seventy or eighty people in the church. These are happy, community occasions, with children from Mellis School taking part, together with the Mellisians, Mellis s very own singing group. Everyone enjoys refreshments afterwards, usually in some alcoholic liquid form. and there is much chat and laughter between friends and neighbours. On June 22 nd this year our Songs of Praise became Songs of Tribute, as we marked the 3

4 centenary of the outbreak of the First World War, an event which affected many families in this village. Again, there were seventy-plus people in church for what was a poignant service. Our new Vicar, the Revd Julia Lall, has been with us for just over a year now, and we share her with the other seven churches in our group, or Benefice Gislingham, Thornham Parva, Thornham Magna, Yaxley, Stoke Ash, Thorndon and Wetheringsett so she has her work cut out! She works closely with the schools in the benefice, and also with The Limes Retirement Home and Yaxley House. She lives in the Rectory in Thorndon. If you have not met her yet you will find her very approachable and sympathetic, and blessed with an excellent sense of humour! At the end of June we welcomed our part time Curate, Eleanor Goodison, who will be with us for three days a week. She was made a Rev at the Cathedral on June 29 th. The view still exists that the Church of England has plenty of money! This may have been true once, but is now, sadly, no longer the case. It costs around 12,000 a year to keep Mellis Church open. This comes solely from collections at services, fees for weddings and funerals, occasional one-off donations and the hard work of our dedicated Fundraising Group. Around half of this sum has to be sent to the Diocese as our Share in the cost of having a Vicar, the rest goes on insurance, electricity, routine maintenance and the care of the churchyard. We are indebted to John Bennett who cuts the New Churchyard for us for free, and to the Parish Council for their contribution towards maintaining the Old Churchyard. There is, sadly, much more that needs doing there, including work on the trees, which we simply cannot afford to do. We also try to honour our Christian calling by helping others. Last year we Twinned the church loo, helping a poor community in Bangladesh to have their first proper toilet, and also supported the Salvation Army, and Syrian children caught up in the conflict in their country. We continue to support Beyond the Wall in Thornham Magna and are a collecting point for the Waveney Foodbank. The retiring collection at Songs of Tribute was for the British Legion and raised 106. At the service to welcome Eleanor we chose to support the charity Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research and the retiring collection raised 143, both charities being very generously supported. On the latter occasion there was also a church bowl and we were really surprised, and very appreciative, to find exactly 100 in there also. Would raising money could always be that easy! Depending on when you read this the Flower Festival on July 19 th and 20 th will probably be over. We hope you came along and enjoyed that event. Betty Wells Churchwarden 4

5 The Memories of Canon Frank Scuffham The Mellis Church Flower Festival was held on 18 th and 19 th July 2014 and commemorated the life of the late Revd Canon Frank Scuffham, who sadly passed away on 13 October 2013 aged 83 years, with floral arrangements themed around The Memories of Canon Frank Scuffham. Frank, who had retired to his family home in Mellis, was once described as no ordinary clergyman and this was reflected in the wide ranging floral arrangements that decorated Mellis Church in his memory. We are sure that everyone who attended will want to join us in thanking Mellis PCC, Melissa Gooderham and all the arrangers for their efforts in putting on such a magnificent display in the church and in thanking those that worked so hard in the kitchen providing refreshments on a scorching hot weekend and manning the various stalls outside.. and from Mellis PCC MELLIS FLOWER FESTIVAL The life of the Revd Canon Frank Scuffham was the theme for 2014, and it must have been one the most successful flower festivals held in recent years. As usual, Christine and Melissa organised some really imaginative flower arrangements which nicely depicted Frank s travels on his worldwide mission; his sense of humour, and his role as an industrial Chaplain. Frank s Aussie friends would have felt at home in the heat. It softened up the ice cream and made the sticky cakes extra sticky, but we were spared the predicted flash bang sky and great church lake. So thanks Frank, I m sure you held the weather at bay just for us. Total amount raised: Thanks to all involved. Ed Pete Scott MELLIS BEER FESTIVAL - July 19th 2014 The day of the Beer Festival dawned warm and sunny, despite the thunderstorms that had been predicted all week. The tent holding the variety of beers that were to be offered had been put up the day before, along with the scaffolding for the stage and the common outside the Tavern was starting to look transformed ready for the big event. Hay bales had been placed around for seating and around 2pm people were starting to make use of them for the first band that was to go on stage, Amendment. The day got hotter and the crowd got larger. Parking and numbers were managed by locals living nearby and the track in front on Sunnyside was kept clear by a resident who did a marathon stint of 6 hours patrolling the track in the blistering heat, aided by the odd half pint of good quality bitter. 5

6 The acts and styles of music were all very varied, ranging from rock, pop, folk and blues to acapella singing. The band put together for the festival consisting of locals from the village and regulars to the Tavern, Common People, received a very warm welcome from the audience and much applause throughout, to the extent that it has been rumoured they may continue their collaboration for a while longer. As the skies were darkening, more light was appearing in the sky over Gislingham, but this was of the thunderstorm and lightening variety and just as the last act was winding up, the first heavy drops of rain started to fall. Right on cue, as the event finished and it was time for people to move on, the heavens opened (although Frank does maintained that this watery intervention had been pre-booked to facilitate this) it was certainly timely enough to ensure the common was cleared without the need to move on any revellers tempted to stay behind. Ed Mellis Common Rightholders Association Cutting and grazing the Common 2014 There have been significant changes in the way the Common is managed over the last few years, largely determined by Suffolk Wildlife Trust, the main landowner. The Common is reverting to being mostly a grazing common and the practice of the last half century of Rightholders taking a hay crop prior to grazing is no longer economically viable. Michael and then Julie Wicks used to put a light dressing of fertiliser on the blocks from Hall Farm to Pountney Hall which were ploughed during the War, but this is no longer allowed. As a result, the yield has declined while costs have increased. On the rest of the Common, the spread of plantain in particular, buttercups, daisies and the emergence of ragwort, have made the quality of hay or silage very poor and sometimes unpalatable or poisonous to the cattle. It is no longer worth while for Julie to cut and bale the grass. We are instead turning out cattle and horses early in the season to try to get on top of the growth before it gets too long, but even so, the animals won t eat the thistles, coarse grass, plantain etc. For the last couple of years we have used contractors to top anything that hasn t been grazed or cut for hay or silage to keep the Common looking neat and tidy after the wild flowers have bloomed. Suffolk Wildlife Trust prefers to have the grass taken away. Unfortunately no local haymakers wanted Mellis Common grass because it was poor and problematic to cut and bale. For 2014, the Rightholders Association has relinquished its rights to take the grass on the portion of the Common east of the railway line and all responsibility for grazing and cutting grass is therefore in the hands of Suffolk Wildlife Trust for this year. West of the railway line is being managed by the Rightholders as usual. It was hoped that both east and west of the railway line would be cut for hay in 2014, but unfortunately the local contractor was too busy with other farming work and it didn t 6

7 happen. The Rightholders have now asked another contractor to top the grass west of the railway line, which will be done as soon as possible. MELLIS MEMORIAL HALL Mellis Common Rightholders Association I am pleased to be able to contribute to the first edition of Mellis enews on behalf of the Memorial Hall. Currently our weekly bookings are running at an all time high with the hall regularly in use 6/7 days a week and some days on 2/3 occasions. The committee is currently engaged in a programme of renovation and long term planning to ensure we act in as an environmentally friendly manner as possible. The roof light and main entrance doors have been replaced in PVC to ensure low maintenance. We now awaiting feedback from the Building Control team at Mid Suffolk District Council to enable us to replace the windows in the western elevation of the hall which have been in place since the hall was originally built. Also we are exploring the opportunities that Solar Powered Electricity could present. If there is anyone in the local community who might wish to become involved in the management of the hall we have a vacancy for a Trustee and I would be more than happy to discuss what is entailed. Finally for this first edition I wish to make everybody aware of our proposed commemoration of the First World War the reason our hall was built and dedicated to the memory of local men. The Memorial Hall Management Committee will be holding a special event on 11 th November at 10.45am to commemorate the start of the First World War. Full details for the day are still being finalised but will consist of short presentations, a contribution from the pupils of Mellis C of E Primary School, refreshments and other items. We hope that this will be the first of four special annual events leading up to 2018 when we hope to commemorate the end of hostilities 100 years ago. There will be no charge for admission to the event this year but we shall be asking for donations in support of the Royal British Legion. Due to the seating capacity of the hall admission will be limited to ticket holders only, details of how to obtain tickets will be published nearer the date. Please reserve the date in your diary and we look forward to seeing you on the day. Doug Rogers, Chairman Mellis Memorial Hall Management Committee 7

8 A LITTLE BIT of HISTORY When we moved to Mellis 20 years ago I knew that at least some of my maternal family came from Redlingfield as my mother had mentioned the connection more than once although she never went on to elaborate about the family or her Suffolk roots. So a few years ago I decided to try and trace my family in Suffolk. Its been quite a revelation in more ways than one its truly quite amazing what you uncover without too much effort. The availability of the Census Returns ( ) on-line helps tremendously and many parish registers have been transcribed and are available either through the Later Day Saints familysearch website, which is a free resource, or on CDs from the Suffolk Family History Society. The Suffolk Record Office with branches in Ipswich, Bury St Edmunds and Lowestoft is also a mine of wonderful information for Suffolk researchers. I now know a distant cousin went down with the Titanic his letter home to his mother has been published and another was killed in her father s mill. There were several close shaves between getting to the alter and the birth of the first child (not at all uncommon in the 1800 s), the family farmed land at Huntingfield, some worked as carpenters and wheelwrights, some as millers but like the majority of the population in those days many were just good old agricultural workers. Fortunately I knew just enough about my maternal grandparents to find them on the 1901 and 1911 Census Returns with their parents and siblings. The rest was a very intriguing journey back in history. Everything we have found to date tends to suggest that the paternal side of the family were in Oakley parish in the 1600s but linking them positively is proving difficult so that could be the end of my personal search. It seems the closest a branch of the family got to Mellis was probably Thornham Parva and Burgate with the exception of one who married a millwright and came to live in Mellis. Having caught the bug for family history research and knowing that at least one distant member of the family came to live in Mellis I decided to have a look the local landmark she would have had connections with. the windmill. The mill stood adjacent to the present access track to Potash Farm (OS map ref: TM ). All that is left on the ground now is a circular mound on which the mill stood and it can still be seen quite clearly on modern satellite images. The mill itself was an open-trestled postmill and it was pulled down c There is no information available on the sweep (sail) type but in early days it would have been cloth and the number of stones is unknown. Being open-trestled suggests an old mill, so maybe winded (pointed into the wind) by means of a tailpole similar to the postmill at Drinkstone, which is still standing. The property listed on the 1861 Census Return as Mill House probably stood until the s now just a small fragment of it is left standing adjacent to the property now known as 8

9 Beekeepers Cottage. Probably constructed from clay lump or timber framed with a thatched roof the original Mill House was obviously falling into a state of disrepair when the photograph was taken. Unfortunately there do not seem to be any photographs of the mill itself or any drawings that we know of but if you know differently please contact me via the Mellis e News address. Grateful thanks to Bill Spencer for allowing me access to his archive of wonderful old photographs of Mellis and for enlightening me as to where the Old Mill House was situated on the common and to 'Windy Miller' for his help with facts about the mill itself. Can anyone add to this information? Contact us on mellisenews@gmail.com SPORTING NEWS MELLIS CRICKET CLUB Mellis Cricket Club is based at the Old Cricket Field on the Thornham Estate. The club s roots however go back to Mellis Common whose pitch, unfortunately, the club outgrew when it started playing league cricket and needed a bigger playing area to fulfil all the fixtures. See for details of the club s activities, fixtures and other news. We field two sides in the MSC Suffolk Cricket Alliance. The 1 st XI is in Section A and the 2 nd XI in Section D. As of end-june 2014, the 1 st XI is at the top of Section A, having won every match so far this season, while the 2 nd XI is not enjoying such good fortune in either league or friendly cricket. On the other hand, the team is enjoying the cricket itself. The latest social fixture was the President s Day on 21 June, which was a great success. Two 20/ Twenties were played between the President s XI and Mellis, for whom several young cricketers and their Dads played, as well as regular 2 nd XI stalwarts. The President s XI won 9

10 the Cup. Our junior section continues to thrive, with between 30 and 40 juniors turning up to training on a Wednesday, and under-15, under-13, under-11 and under-9 teams involved in matches or tournaments. All the sides have been having good matches against other local sides, most of which have been very close. A few girls are now coming to training and Mellis has combined with Stradbroke CC to form a North Suffolk girls cricket squad. In this venture we are also working closely with Hartismere High School. It s early days yet and the girls have only played one match, but more are planned. In early 2014 the club was awarded a 50,000 grant from Sport England under the Inspired Facilities scheme. As anyone who has visited our Thornham ground knows, we play cricket in a magnificent setting. This is the result not only of the great support that we receive from the Trustees and family of the Thornham Estate, but also of an enormous amount of hard work from the members. In mid-2013 a visiting Suffolk Junior coach who had seen the ground in its infancy suggested that we should apply for a grant to finish the pavilion. With the help of Suffolk Cricket, Sport Suffolk and MSDC, this we did. As well as completing the pavilion, we have been inspired to look at where we want to be in 5 years. So the bid was tailored to extending our catchment and opening up the ground to other users. As well as encouraging girls to play cricket, we are strengthening our links with the community. Botolph s Bowmen practice archery at the ground twice a week; we have started a joint venture with the Beyond the Wall charity that operates at Thornham; we plan to open up the ground for activities for the Brownies and Rainbows, the Eye Health Centre and more sporting groups; and we intend to forge stronger links with the Primary School. The project is now under way and we hope to have it completed by the start of the 2015 season. LOOKING BACK Ben Box In the home page editorial Betty mentioned the original Mellis News, first published in It started out life as a single A4 sheet but soon grew in size to a 16 page prize winning publication. With that in mind we thought you might be interested to know what was happening 10 years ago here in Mellis. Headline news in the Mellis News was the Mellis Festival held on 12 June The event was sponsored by Mellis Parish Council and successfully choreographed by Mellis resident Heather Fields. Dave Towill s coconuts scored a hit, there were bands, maypole dancing, face painting, stalls, dog show, and all in all a good time was had by all. Pepsie the Suffolk Punch horse attended the Animal Blessing service held at Mellis Church on 6 June; thegreat Mellis Litter Pick collected 26 bags of litter from around the parish in April everything from crisp packets to a broken garden spade and car parts were collected; Derek Whiting was awarded a Mid Suffolk Community Achievement Award for his involvement with Mellis FC and more importantly his devotion to the football pitch maintenance. Do you realise he has been maintaining the playing field here in Mellis since 10

11 1966 yes that is 48 years ago! Judith Battersby ran the London Marathon and raised 3395 for the Meningitis Trust. We asked everyone Where on Earth is that? - do you know? Mellis Cricket Club was in third place in Division 3 of the Harpers Sports Suffolk Cricket League (they played on Mellis Common in those days) and Derek Whiting reported that Mellis Football Club had had won the First Division title and the Players Aid Cup Final but had been pipped at the post in the Suffolk County Sunday Cup going down 1-0 on a pitch that did not come up to Mellis FCs high home standards. Where on earth is that? The Mellis News won first prize in the Suffolk Association of Local Councils Newsletter of the Year competition we had to hand the crystal trophy back at the end of the year but the certificate still hangs in the Memorial Hall; HMS Mellis set sail on the lake at Needham Market, crewed by Dave, Carl, Dom and Chris, and against some stiff competition came 2 nd in an extremely exciting raft race. The Mellis produce Show was well supported where have all the gardeners gone? Parents with children at Mellis School raised concerns about the dangers posed walking to school along the main road through the village Suffolk County Council was asked then what could be done, it is obviously still contemplating the problem! CONTACT MELLIS enews mellisenews@gmail.com Editor Tracey Simonds Website Hilary Butler Editorial Team Doug Rogers John Smith Sandra Smith Alex Grinsted 11