Our Lady Of Perpetual Succour, Gillingham

A privately-owned Roman Catholic Chapel of Ease near Beccles, Suffolk

Centenary

Our Lady of Perpetual Succour celebrated its centenary on the Feast of the Assumption – 16th August 1998.

Margaret Knox, the organising genius behind the earlier Hassock Project, embroidered this beautiful commemorative tapestry which sits on a wooden chest in front of the right-hand family pew.

Mrs Mary Bramley, granddaughter of John George Kenyon, planned a celebration to echo the celebrations given at the church’s original dedication, with a Mass followed by breakfast at Gillingham Hall, which became a large garden party with live music from a Loddon band.

A news report of our Centenary celebrations appeared in the Beccles and Bungay Journal on 21st August 1998:

beccles-and-bungay-journal-centenary-newsDownload

You can compare the report above with the original news report from 1898. Here is a transcription (the original document was almost illegible):

23rd-august-1898Download

Around 1900, the church interior looked like this:

Interior of Gillingham Catholic Church, Norfolk circa 1900. We still have the same chairs! A pulpit is just visible to the left (seen better in photo below).
Another view of Gillingham Catholic Church, Norfolk around 1900. Note the pulpit on the left – no longer extant!

Before the church was ever built, the Cemetery Cross was blessed in March 1894 by Dom H. Edmund Ford OSB: here is the original news report from the Thetford Watton Times (see report in centre of page, “Blessing the Cemetery Cross at Gillingham):

Thetford Watton Times, 24 March 1894