HASLEMERE
DECORATIVE AND FINE ARTS SOCIETY

a member society of NADFAS

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CHURCH RECORDERS
Church Recorders are NADFAS volunteers who make records of the contents and internal fabric of our national churches. These records help to preserve the rich artistic heritage to be found in places of worship of all religions. Items are described in detail and their history researched. All the material is then compiled into a book, illustrated with photographs and drawings. The records are given to the church and copies are sent to national institutions including the National Monuments Record at English Heritage, The Church Buildings Council, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the relevant county record office.

ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S CHURCH, HASLEMERE

A second Church Recording group has been set up to produce a record of the contents and furnishings of St. Bartholomew's Church, Haslemere. The new group, lead by Brian Dickinson, a member of the first HDFAS Church Recording group (see below), and Jane Stopford-Russell, who is also West Surrey Area Co-Ordinator for Young Arts, met at the church for an inaugural meeting on 30th November, 2011.  

Inaugural meeting, 30th November, 2011.

They will be meeting twice a week on the second and third Thursdays of the month. Nine members are bringing their experience from working on St. Christopher's record, most of them taking on the same sections they worked on before. The group totals 20 in all and has received £200 sponsorship from the Friends of the Parish.

St. Bartholomew's has many interesting features, with a challenging number of windows and an impressive 10 bells. There are 23 memorials, interesting textiles and a wealth of woodwork and stonework. Although the church was rebuilt, in 1870-1871, records go back a long way, the earliest of which date from around 1180 A.D. when the original building was known as Piperham Chapel, named after the family Piperham who owned the land and lived nearby.

We are looking for more volunteers so if you are interested please get in touch: enquiries@haslemeredfas.org.uk

No previous knowledge is required - every member of the first group, bar one, was a complete beginner!

ST. CHRISTOPHER'S CHURCH, HASLEMERE

In January 2009, HDFAS set up their first church recording group to record the contents of St. Christopher's Church, Haslemere.  A team of 14 members, lead by Frankie Gaiter and Jan Wickens, researched and compiled the record over a two year period. It was completed on 10th May 2011 and was displayed at the 28th June lecture in Haslemere Hall.

Copies of the record have been sent for archiving to the National Monuments Record Centre, the Church Buildings Council, the Surrey History Centre in Woking and a digital version has been sent to the Art Library at the V & A. At a special service held in St. Christopher's on 18th September 2011, a bound copy was presented to the new Rector, the Reverend Mary Bowden. Finally the Haslemere Educational Museum was presented with a bound copy on 27th October 2011.

To read about two years in the life of a church recorder and for more information about the Record of St. Christopher's Church, click here

The many faces of St. Christopher in the record

To read Jan Wicken's report to the AGM on 16th November 2010, click here 

CONTACT US TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT CHURCH RECORDING: enquiries@haslemeredfas.org.uk