A day of jousting, battle re-enactment, music, celebrations and more is planned in May to mark 800th anniversary celebrations for St Mary’s Hook.
A weekend of events will take place between 16th-18th May, with celebrations also planned throughout the year to mark this landmark. Included in the May events will be a day called Knights, Damsels and Peasants on Saturday 17th May (10am-4pm), involving a day of medieval re-enactment with jousting, horsemanship, birds of prey displays, a medieval village and period sideshows, all in celebration of St Mary’s Church 800th Anniversary.
The church and local community are focusing on three priorities throughout the 800th celebrations:
- A Restoration Project – which enables the church to serve the needs of the 21st Century community
- A special celebratory weekend – which evokes the period when the church was built and brings to life some of what has happened there
- Ongoing events and activities – which celebrate different aspects of what has passed
and what is to come.
The Restoration Project is well underway, with £35,000 raised and the generosity of supporting Grant Aiding Bodies £146,000. The pews have been sold off, chairs bought, the floor is being levelled, an all access toilet and kitchenette are being installed and the AV is
being upgraded. It is hoped the first phase of the restoration will be completed in time for the 800th anniversary weekend. Phase two, to replace the roof covering, do stonework repairs and window repairs will follow after, to help the building serve the community in the future.
Also planned for the year are a number of other concerts (including a homecoming concert by Gavin Bryars), a church run, military history weekend, crosspatch exhibition, band night and Christmas Tree Festival.
Revd Philip Ball, the Vicar of Hook, said:
‘It is not often you get to have an 800th Birthday party and try to reflect on, capture and celebrate how over 800 years a place has contributed to so many lives, but it is the privilege of the people of the village of Hook and particularly those with close involvement to the Church to be doing this. We don’t know when in 1225 the building (which was started in 1224) was completed so we thought lets celebrate for most of the year. More than that we thought lets use this opportunity to set this place up for another 100 years of service to this community and the surrounding area’.
You can sign up for the day here.
