Friends of Highnam Church

The Church of the Holy Innocents in Highnam, consecrated in 1851, was built in beautiful parkland by Thomas Gambier-Parry in memory of his first wife and their children. Thomas decorated the walls with his specially invented spirit fresco medium.

There is national interest in the church, described by Sir John Betjeman as the most complete Victorian Gothic church in this country.

 The Friends of Highnam Church is a registered charity which enables visitors, whether local or from afar, to be kept in touch with ongoing restoration, learn more about its architecture, and support its upkeep. Members pay a small annual subscription (£5 minimum). All welcome.

 To join contact: Graham Rosam 01452 416946 (graham.rosam@highnambband.co.uk)

 Further information on the activities of The Friends is available in our Newsletters.

The Annual General Meeting is held on a Saturday afternoon in June or July. Anyone interested in learning more about the Friends is welcome to attend the AGM.

Friends News ~ July 2010

We mentioned in Newsletter 49 the sad passing of former member Mary Mulveal from Worcestershire, and that Mary had left The Friends a bequest. It is of course always bitter-sweet to receive money in such sad circumstances, but we now have an opportunity to invest these funds wisely in a way which suitably honours Mary’s memory. She was always a firm and friendly supporter of our Annual Meetings, so it is fitting that we shall have the chance to respectfully remember her on 3rd July.
BBC television have been visiting church again filming what we believe is a programme about Hubert Parry’s life. We’ll try to provide more information about when the programme will be shown.
On 23rd March we held a Committee meeting where the main matter under consideration was the potential use of funds. We took account of discussion at last year’s A.G.M. and recent feedback from the Parochial Church Council. The first priority will be to finish off the car park project (which continues to draw compliments from users) by rebuilding and refurbishing the stone wall and entrance into the churchyard, and to provide a matching gravel path across the short stretch of grass (to replace the current temporary wood-bark chippings) with suitable lighting. We are out to quotations on this work, which it is hoped to complete before the next winter arrives. Similarly, we are planning to replace the somewhat weather dilapidated church notice board which now stands on the new path.
We also had a very preliminary discussion about the options for building toilets on the church site. There are clearly major issues here, but we will take further soundings at the A.G.M. in July.