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CLARE 700 YEARS 1307-2007
An event held at the church of St Peter and St Paul, Clare, July 13 2007.
Features for this event included seven banners made by children at Clare Middle School covering the full height of the church’s pillars. These pictured scenes from Clare’s history including the arrival of the Augustinian friars, the Second World War, and the coming of the railway, among others. They also gave some impression of the colour there used to be in churches before whitewash obliterated much of it. There were beautiful floral displays. The pulpit was transformed into a small church from which somebody spoke as if the church itself was talking. There was beautiful unaccompanied singing by four voices halfway up the church tower, and handsome period costumes had been hired for the differing stages of history to be portrayed.
At places the reading of the script covering the 700 years switched to dramatisations, which greatly enhanced the production.
The event started with the Church itself (that is, the person inside the model church) saying ‘I have stood on this spot for seven hundred years and more. They named me Peter after the big fisherman, the Rock on which Christ built his Church, and Paul, the tent maker, letter-writer, and traveller who spread the word of Christ far and wide. My memory is dim of my earliest days, when perhaps I was a humbler building before the Normans came. More of wood and thatch and tiles than stone and flint, glass and lead, as you see me now. Let us go back to the year 1307 and with the help of the voices of Clare and of History tell our story.
Dramatisations included:
A Black Death scene - children from Clare First school singing (‘Ring-a-ring of roses’ would have been appropriate but I’m not sure whether that was their song), the approach of a black-robed figure, the ringing of a handbill, and the cry ‘Bring out your dead’ as the children fled.
The visit of William Dowsing to destroy images in the church -. a scene presented in period costume and broad Suffolk dialect, which was terrific, and was followed by spontaneous hearty applause by the packed church.
The reading out of those killed in both wars and in action since, carried out in intense silence, spaced with quiet singing from the tower, and ending with a line of the First School children turning round to exhibit giant poppies. This was extremely moving.
The coming of the railway to Clare, which passed near Clare Priory and was depicted by the reading of an extant sad letter to her sister describing its effect on the Priory grounds, the speaker being in Victorian costume.
A choirmaster and vicar’s involvement in a struggle over an organist’s awkwardness – she insisted on playing her own tunes, was dismissed, the vicar changed sides and the choir was dismissed. No ‘Sweet singing in the choir’ that Christmas!
After reference to many events during the seven centuries, ‘the Church itself’ (see above) spoke of its future while children were playing and waving streamers. ‘For seven centuries and more I have stood and seen the years pass like wind across the grass. In the Rock and the Word I have been fulfilled. Many have built me up. Others have pulled me down. I have been adorned and I have been stripped. The sun and moon turn and turn about, both within and without. I am both touched and untouched, knowing all and knowing nothing, except the turning years, the coming and going of all my days. Yet here I stand. I shall do no other’.
Finally contributors took their bows, amidst great applause.
Refreshments were served under gazebos in the churchyard during the interval – and a distribution of portions of a cake dated 1307-2007 (and not yet stale!).
It proved a terrific evening, largely due to the dramatisations. Someone said he had seen many spectacular events in churches and cathedrals, but this topped the lot.
The original script was by David Hatton. It was adapted by Olivia Posner, who also produced the event, with the Reverend Gill Green as director.
Date : 13-07-2007
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