Friends of the
Church of St Mary Magdalene Huntshaw
A hidden gem in rural North Devon
Thank you to Simon Jessop for the photograph
EVENTS IN 2019/20
BATS IN THE BELFRY
Thursday, 23rd May
An informative and entertaining evening dedicated to our wonderful bats. Thank you to Samantha Pickering from North Devon Bat Care who gave a fascinating talk on British bats and how they live. She brought along some of the bats that were in care at the time allowing us to see the little creatures up close. When dusk fell we went on a walk around the churchyard where we observed the bats flying out from the church.
OPEN DAY
Saturday, 6th April
A glorious day with a clear blue sky and lots of warm sunshine.
Visitors were able to hear about our plans for the first phase of
the repair work and we kicked off our Eco-friendly churchyard.
The children built Bug-ingham Palace, Huntshaw's first 5* hotel
for bugs, beetles and bees. Materials including old bricks, decaying
logs, cardboard, newspapers and canes were used creatively to
construct the hotel. When it was finished we sat back to enjoy
our work and a robin came along and perched on it. His
enthusiastic chirping seemed to convey his appreciation of what
we had done.
THEN THE REPAIR WORK TOOK OVER SO MORE EVENTS TOOK PLACE UNTIL....
HARVEST FESTIVAL
Sunday, 13th October
The church was decorated with local produce and we collected food for the local food bank
CHRISTMAS CELEBRATIONS
On Saturday, 7th December we held
our annual Christmas Party and on
23rd December the church was
festively decorated for our candlelit
carol service
AN OPEN DAY
A successful Joint Open Day with Huntshaw Parish Hall took place on Saturday, 25th January 2020. Around 70 people came along to the event which relaunched the Parish Hall and showcased the church. There were displays of historic photographs and other memorabilia along with representatives from the Plough Theatre and Community 100. A skittles team was (almost) recruited and music was provided by Truffetete. Guided tours around the church were conducted although visitors tended not to linger as it was bitterly cold inside! Delicious soups, buns and homemade cakes completed the afternoon.
A SKITTLES AND SOCIAL EVENING
Saturday 7 March
Just before Covid-19 shut the country down we held a very successful skittles-themed evening. Everyone had a go at skittling and help was on hand for the novices. Skittling skill was varied but most people managed to keep the ball on the alley. The evening was enlivened by a table top quiz and a raffle. The beer and wine flowed and the pasties were delicious.
Then Covid-19 came along and we went into lockdown.