 Invitation: Launch of New Guide to Nuneham Courtenay
Saturday 14th December, 5-7pm Nuneham Courtenay Village Hall
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You are cordially invited to the launch of the new guide to the early history of Nuneham Courtenay by Professor Malcolm Airs and Professor Geoffrey Tyack.
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Copies of the guide will be available and the authors will be there to answer questions and sign copies if requested. Hannah Skoda from Lower Farm, who wrote the very early history will also be there.
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The production of the guide was a grant funded project so a free copy is available for every Nuneham resident.
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Additional copies are available for all for a requested donation of £5.00. Any money raised this way will go to the Churches Conservation Trust which owns the All Saints church in the park (formerly the Harcourt family chapel).
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The CCT is responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of the chapel but little has been done in recent years. Isobel Milne from the CCT will be at the launch with additional copies of the guide and will either take cash or explain how you can donate online into a dedicated account, where all money donated will be ring fenced for work at Nuneham. The lock, the carpet and the walls are the first priorities.
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Also in attendance will be William and Suzy Gascoigne from Stanton Harcourt who generously opened their house to us to take photographs of family portraits and whose son Julian has written a lovely foreword to the guide.
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William’s cousin Philip Wells, whose mother was a Harcourt, and possibly his sister will also be present for a very special occasion. Three family bibles, which were saved from a skip by Sheila Brooks’ father when the new All Saints was deconsecrated and kept safe all these years, will be returned to the family. It promises to be a very emotional moment.
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There will also be a small exhibition of articles relating to Nuneham - prints, plates, papers, photographs etc. If you have anything you are happy to lend them please let me know and bring it with you on the night, marked with your name on the back if possible. Thank you.
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We started this project before pandemic to raise awareness of the importance of Nuneham, which seemed to be being forgotten and neglected by the local authorities. We hope it has managed to do this and the resulting guide is a celebration of how this unique and special village came into being in its present form. Hope to see you there. Â
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Mandy Rigault.
Project Co-ordinator.
