All Saints’ Church in Shouldham to mark Feast Day with poetry readings and harp performance to help secure future of building

Enjoy an evening of poetry and harp music as part of a second autumn fundraiser to secure the future of a church.

All Saints’ Church in Shouldham will be marking its Feast Day on Friday, November 1, with an atmospheric evening of poetry readings inspired by churchyards, followed by a harp concert by Norwich harpist Xenia Horne.

Taking its inspiration from the ancient origins of the autumn festivals of ‘Allhallowtide’, Words and Music for All Saints’ Day will begin in the churchyard itself with a selection of poetry, read by a company of professional and non-professional actors, lit by lantern and candlelight.

Curated by Professor Ros Ballaster of Mansfield College, Oxford, the selection includes Grey’s Elegy in a Country Churchyard, We Are Seven by Wordsworth and A Night-Piece on Death by Thomas Parnell, among others.

After a warming drink and canapés inside the church, an atmospheric concert of music and songs on the harp by Xenia Horne will form the second half of the evening.

Altogether it should prove an inspiring evening celebrating the “dearly loved” parish church on its own Feast Day, and help raise funds to secure its future.

All Saints’ Day is a day in the Christian calendar commemorating all the saints of the church who have attained heaven.

It is celebrated on November 1 in the Western churches and is part of the three-day remembrance of the dead, beginning with Halloween on October 31, followed by All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day on November 2.

In medieval England, the festival was known as All Hallows, and so its eve is still known as Halloween.

Shouldham’s Parochial Church Council is looking forward to reviving the celebration of this most ancient of traditions as part of its efforts to secure the future of the church building through its planned renovation project.