Page 9 - Moravian Messenger November 2019

congregations around the province
Gracehill Heritage Weekend
The usually quiet serene Moravian Settlement at Gracehill this year became a major attraction for people from all over the Province on Heritage Weekend. As always, visitors enjoy seeing the Square, the Montgomery Oak, the old Post Office, The Museum, The Single Brethren's House, God's Acre, and the Church. The Guided Tours are always fully booked, and this year was no exception. Indeed, the tour guides were kept busy throughout the whole day.
Following the decision of the Village Association and the Church to hold the second Scarecrow Festival as part of the Heritage Weekend again, no-one could have predicted the huge number of visitors from all over the Province who so enjoyed wandering around the roads and lanes to find the imaginative and humorous 61 Scarecrows which were hiding in gardens, peeping out from bushes or even like Mary Poppins or The Spaceman, hanging from trees. Indeed, John Cennick and his wife appeared in the Manse Garden! So many people visited this year that the ladies from the Farmers' Market ran out of produce!
The Scarecrow Team created maps and asked the public to choose 1st, 2nd and 3rd. Entries were also taken from the Church Organisations and the local schools. When word had spread many more visitors arrived on Sunday and could be seen still wandering around until late in the evening. Indeed, a few even joined the morning service in Church!
The combination of learning about the wonderful heritage and the fun of finding the Scarecrows created a truly informative and enjoyable day for visitors
from all over NI.
Fulneck's Heritage Weekend
Saturday 21st September the weather was consistently fine, and the day was well-attended with a steady stream of guests enjoying the displays and facilities. This
year's theme was 'Inspirational Women'
and this topic provided a wealth of information and interest.
Hilda of Whitby, Erdmuth Zinzendorf and Mathilde Koenig represented women whose lives were a mission in caring for, teaching and respecting those around them. They were joined by sisters from Fulneck whose written testimonies revealed their varied lives alongside their missionary husbands in far off places.
Science and Technology was represented by Marie Curie, Beatrice Shilling and Hilda Lyon (a Yorkshire lass) and Medicine by Edith Cavell, Charlotte Nelson, Annie Ormerod, Nellie Spindler and Fulneck's own Mary Driver.
Social Change brought together Rebecca
Protten, Elizabeth Wolstenholme Elmy (a
former pupil of Fulneck School), Isabella Ford, Alice Perrault and other less well-known women from Leeds. The instigators of Fulneck's museum, Srs Eunice Harrison and Kathleen Mitchell were featured prominently on the communion table.
Sr Roberta Gray
During the day there was an interesting monologue given twice about the founding of the museum alternating with an enjoyable and well-performed drama about the struggles that women had to gain their vote. A tour of the settlement followed
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© Sr Maureen Ingham
each of these renderings.
As well as the events in the church the records archive was open, and the archivist was present to answer questions. The museum was open all day and its souvenir sales table did a good trade. Refreshments in the Boys' Brigade building were welcome, tasty and varied.
At 4.15pm there was a short thanksgiving service in the church which offered a few minutes of quiet reflection after the energetic atmosphere of the day.
On the Sunday there was again a steady stream of visitors who, in spite of the bad weather, could enjoy all that
had been available on Saturday. All in all, it was a successful and pleasant weekend.
Br David Ingham
© Sr Roberta Gray