Thorpe Bay – Essex churches

On 23rd September 2018 St Augustine’s had an open tower after morning service, so we took our granddaughter Poppy along to have a look at the bells.

First of all we climbed up to look at the view from the roof, but it was very wet and blustery so we came down again!

I only had my phone with me unfortunately, and so the pictures are pretty bad. I should have been better prepared . . . anyway, here are some photos of the bells.

We came back down to the ringing room. The event was well supported and several people had a go at pulling the sally. Jane and Lisa were also there. After everyone had seen the bells and had a go, 8 of us rang Queens just to demonstrate what they sounded like. We were: Steve H, Judy and Phil H, Phil B, John Woollard, Anne, John Crooks and me.

2018-09-23 11.58.25

Afterwards we went down and had a quick look at the interior of the church. Poppy was delighted to find a children’s play area at the back, but I got a panicky text from Grace saying that Hunny was sitting on our bed and wouldn’t stop barking, so we left sharpish to go and rescue her and baby Ava from Hunny 🙂

It didn’t mean much to Poppy at just 3 years old but she loved climbing all the stairs: concrete spiral staircase up to the ringing room, metal spiral staircase up to the bells, and wooden staircase up to the roof.

This church is relatively new, having been built in the 1930s, from brick. It’s not a beautiful church, but it’s in a good location in Thorpe Bay, just a road or so back from the seafront. It is on a traffic island in the middle of the road, but unlike e.g. Hadleigh St James the Less (also on a traffic island), the area is quiet and there is barely any traffic. There are some mature trees around it.

The church has a bell tower with a very fine ring of 8 bells, and also a set of chimes.

These photos are all from 30th June 2017, and there aren’t many. I was actually there to ring for a funeral and didn’t have time to walk all round taking photos.