That is also the weekend of Friends of Essex Churches fundraising 'Ride and Stride' when people are sponsored to use all manner of transport to visit as many open churches as possible. One family sails up the river Blackwater for this. Some churches will open their church towers. The list of churches that are open, including East London churches, many of which used to be in Essex prior to boundary changes, is huge and formidable: http://www.foect.org.uk/pdf/RandS/Churches%20and%20Chapels%20in%20Essex%20and%20East%20London.pdf I've been puzzling for weeks over where I should go for these open days as there are so many I would like to see, think I shall probably settle for Colchester and district. If only the churches involved would stagger their open days throughout the year. Some do, of course, Layer de la Haye had its open day yesterday, so I was able to climb up the church's - very precarious - church tower. Colleen ----- Original Message ----- From: "The Quineys" <pquiney@post.com> > The weekend 11-14 September is Heritage Open Days 2008 across the county > and country. > > For details of events and places opening their doors (for free?) in > Essex, check out http://www.heritageopendays.org.uk/, then select EVENT > DIRECTORY from along the top.

Hi Colleen & all Double check that some don't already do other Open Days throughout the year. The general impression is that these places aren't open at other times, but some are. My dad found this out the hard way and went to two places that he could have gone to at any other time. He was cross! HTH Andy ----- Original Message ----- From: Colleen To: essex-uk@rootsweb.com Sent: Monday, August 25, 2008 11:48 AM Subject: Re: [Ess] Heritage Open Days - 11-14 September - Essex That is also the weekend of Friends of Essex Churches fundraising 'Ride and Stride' when people are sponsored to use all manner of transport to visit as many open churches as possible. One family sails up the river Blackwater for this. Some churches will open their church towers. The list of churches that are open, including East London churches, many of which used to be in Essex prior to boundary changes, is huge and formidable: http://www.foect.org.uk/pdf/RandS/Churches%20and%20Chapels%20in%20Essex%20and%20East%20London.pdf I've been puzzling for weeks over where I should go for these open days as there are so many I would like to see, think I shall probably settle for Colchester and district. If only the churches involved would stagger their open days throughout the year. Some do, of course, Layer de la Haye had its open day yesterday, so I was able to climb up the church's - very precarious - church tower. Colleen ----- Original Message ----- From: "The Quineys" <pquiney@post.com> > The weekend 11-14 September is Heritage Open Days 2008 across the county > and country. > > For details of events and places opening their doors (for free?) in > Essex, check out http://www.heritageopendays.org.uk/, then select EVENT > DIRECTORY from along the top. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Any problems, please contact the List Admin: Essex-UK-admin@rootsweb.com ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ESSEX-UK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Andy Hedgecock said: "Double check that some don't already do other Open Days throughout the year. The general impression is that these places aren't open at other times, but some are. My dad found this out the hard way and went to two places that he could have gone to at any other time. He was cross!" A very good point, Andy. Another point to note is that some churches that claim to be open during the day are sometimes inexplicably closed when you visit. So it can be a good a idea to check if the church you are visiting is open, especially if you're travelling some distance. Colleen

-----Original Message----- From: essex-uk-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:essex-uk-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Colleen <snip> If only the churches involved would stagger their open days throughout the year. Okay, here's an advance notice: Waltham Abbey's church tower is normally opened to the public (over 8's only I believe) on King Harold Day, which will be on Sat 11th October this year. A bit of advice - climb early (10am) or get swamped! See http://www.walthamabbeychurch.co.uk/index.html and http://www.kingharoldday.co.uk/ for general info. Lawrence No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG. Version: 7.5.524 / Virus Database: 270.6.6/1624 - Release Date: 20/08/2008 19:11

I'm a level headed person, yet on a recent visit to Stanway church I was slightly taken aback to hear a ghostly voice - a young man's - very quietly, yet unmistakably, singing a very sad hymn. Beautiful voice he had, but it sounded so sad and far away. At first I thought it had to be someone practicing in the church hall next door. Then it occurred to me that there wasn't a church hall or anything else next door and that the voice was inside the church. I'm surprised I didn't bolt for it, but I thought, no, I've come all this way to see this church and see it I shall. So I left the door open and decided I'd only make a run for it if anything materialised. It was only when a whole choir began singing quite loudly that I realised the church has piped choir music which plays continously. The tape must have been malfunctioning when I first entered the church, creating the 'ghostly' effect. Colleen