|
||||||||||||||
 Morston Church
|
 |
|||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
Overview of the first-ever Powditch Gathering at Morston,
17-19 September 2004
After 21 months of preparation, changes from a one-day to a three-day event, and
from a lowly Church Service to a Service of Thanksgiving and the unveiling of a
specially commissioned family Memorial as well as many other family events, the
first-ever Gathering of the ancient Norfolk family of Powditch finally came together
on the morning of Friday 17 September 2004.
Was it a success? undoubtedly. Do family members want to have another
Gathering in future years? definitely. Could the events of September 2004 ever be
repeated? never!
So what was so special about Powditch Gathering 2004 and what were the lessons,
if any, gained from the long weekend especially as I fully appreciate that what the
Powditch family achieved on this occasion has probably already been undertaken
by many other families, both one-name and general, in years gone by and probably
will be for years to come.
For the Powditch family, our saviour came in the form of a retired Major (Jocelyn -
known as ‘Joc’ - Wingfield) who is a leading light in the Friends of Morston Church -
a Charity formed to raise much needed funds for the upkeep and preservation of
the Church of All Saints at Morston.
The reason for Joc’s phone call turned out to be whether I thought it might be a
good idea to combine the need for Friends of Morston Church to raise funds, with
a Gathering of the Powditch family in the village of Morston.
Why Morston? well,
 first of all, the 3rd entry in that Church’s Parish Registers for the year 1538 was for a very important marriage (Powditch-wise) between one James Apowdiche and Anabell ... . Secondly, descendants from that marriage as well as other Powditch’s had worshipped at Morston and had lived both in the village as well as in surrounding villages from at least the early 1500s; although by the mid-1700s they had chosen to move further afield. Thirdly, the last Powditch known to have actually lived in Morston had died in 1751, so after a period of over 213 years worship there, and apart from the occasional visitor to the Church who (when the door hadn’t been locked) had signed the Church’s Visitors’ Book, no Powditch member had lived in Morston for some 253 years.and Fourthly, every known Powditch in the world today (and there are only about 180 individuals) owe their descent to that 1538 marriage between James and Anabell.To shorten the story somewhat, following a mailing to all of my Powditch contacts,
both at Christmas 2003 and May 2004, the thought of such a Gathering was
attractive to most family members, although due to either family commitments,
school terms, distance or infirmities, many were not able to make the journey. In
the end, the number of individuals who were able to come to the gathering, totalled
23, which although not sounding that many, when put into the perspective that there
only 184 persons worldwide with the Powditch surname, the ratio was quite
acceptable. Also, having held the event without any foreknowledge of the best time
of year, whether the number of days and events, or whether the amount being
charged for ‘everything’ would be agreeable to everyone, meant that due to the
latter, we were bound to ‘exclude’ some or many individuals.
Of the 23 Powditch’s who came to the first-ever Powditch Gathering at Morston,
most family members had already arrived at their places of accommodation on the
day before the event. Of those who attended, 2 came from Australia, 1 from New
Zealand, 4 from South Wales, 2 from Kent, 2 from Hampshire, 2 from
Buckinghamshire, 1 from Cambridgeshire, 2 from Nottinghamshire, 1 from Essex,
2 from Northamptonshire, and 4 from Lincolnshire.
That same day (the Thursday) Joc and I spent most of the time sorting out Parking
notices, Display boards, and visiting places and people to ensure that there weren’t
any last minute hitches. At the same time, my wife (Ang) was undertaking several
floral displays for the Church, whilst Joc’s wife (Sara) was ensuring that nothing had
been overlooked. That same day also saw us returning phone calls to various
Radio and TV programmes, as well as speaking to several newspapers and other
media - for now that the first day was almost upon us, everyone had suddenly
become very interested in the coming events.
Please click on the entry for Friday, in order to see what happened next.
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
