The Festival of 2009
ON SATURDAY 21ST FEBRUARY, to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the Churches
Conservation Trust, the bells of St. Cyriac's rang out with a quarter peal
of plain bob doubles. Swaffham Prior has special reasons for gratitude to the
Trust because without it the main body of the church would have been demolished
leaving just the mediaeval tower standing.
The Festival Committee, which was originally set up to raise funds for the restoration of the bells, has always had a close relationship with St Cyriac's. This year it is organising a summer festival (25 June - 5 July) to celebrate not only the Trust's 40th anniversary but also the two hundred years since the present church was built. Any profits from the Festival events will be given to the Trust for work to be carried out at St. Cyriac's, especially towards reinstating the vandalised east end of the building and restoring the written texts behind the altar.
The events are varied and a full programme will be issued later. They will include Theatre - illustrating the life of Shakespeare as experienced by a contemporary actor; Music - Ian de Massini and Cambridge Voices will hold a huge sing-in of Handel's Messiah, as well as a "Waterloo"concert which will be flush with appropriate music and tunes. There will also be a documentary exhibition illustrating the history of St Cyriac's Church, and an Exhibition of related art (please see the separate announcement for details). At the Village Hall we plan a musical evening with Rex Walford and Gabrielle Bell, illustrating the history of both British and American Musicals. There will also be a hands-on Drumming Workshop.
All will be inter-larded with a Soapbox Race, a Festival Cricket Match against Swaffham Bulbeck, and the School Fair