NEWS

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Our recent QUIZ NIGHT was a great success. Guest quizmasters Hilary and Wizz weren't fazed by a full house and negotiated the all-important half points to most peoples' satisfaction. The meal was up to St. Katharine's usual high standard and served, as always, with a smile by the friendly and professional staff. Everyone was very generous with their purchase of raffle tickets when they heard that our commercial dishwasher has broken down and will have to be replaced with a new one.

We will be holding another Quiz Night in the spring, but before that, in the new year, we are trying a new venture with a Supper Talk on 2nd February - a meal followed by a talk by the Royal Swan Keeper, Mr David Barber, who organises the annual Swan Upping. Look out for further details.

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ST. KATHARINE'S APPLE JUICE

This year's bumper apple crop meant that after we had frozen all that the kitchen would need for the coming year we still had lots left over. Loth to waste them, we were delighted to hear of a local company who would press them, pasturise the juice and then bottle it. The result is our own pure apple juice which, unopened, will keep for a year.

We are selling the juice for £3.00 per 75cl bottle

or 2 bottles for £5.00

Early purchasers are enthusiastic and we are already seeing lots of repeat business, so we just hope we have enough in stock to last until next season. The juice is on sale in the entrance hall along with our home-made preserves, just pop in if you would like to purchase some.

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HISTORY OF PARMOOR BOOKLET
Our ‘Brief History of Parmoor’ booklet has had a makeover.  It is now 12 pages long and gives more information on the families and organisations that have owned, or lived at, Parmoor. There is also some fascinating information about famous people who have visited and stayed at the house.  Among others, these include Einstein, General de Gaulle, Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Ghandi.  Want to know more?  The booklet is yours for just £1.

www.easyfundraising.org.uk

If you shop online you can raise money for us at no cost to yourself – in fact you may even get extra discounts and save money.
Over 600 of the UK's best-known retailers including companies such as Amazon, Next, Argos, John Lewis and HMV, participate in this scheme and when you access their sites through easyfundraising up to 15% from every purchase you make is donated to the cause you choose to nominate.
Click on the link above to register with the easyfundraising site (which costs nothing) and nominate your charity – this is the hardest part because there are thousands of charities to choose from.  However, they are arranged alphabetically and we are registered as Sue Ryder Prayer Fellowship.  There are several Sue Ryder Charities there, so make sure you get the right one!
When you want to go shopping go to the easyfundraising site and see if the shop that you want is there, if it is then you can go straight to it and a small percentage of what you spend will come to us.  Many of the sites have special offers for easyfundraising customers – so you can save money yourself as well.

VOLUNTEERS AT ST. KATHARINE'S

"To visit St. Katharine's is to fall in love with it"

Many visitors seem to feel this way about St. Katharine's and they often express a desire to help in some way to keep the house running and we are always eager to utilise peoples' talents and skills. If you would like to help, please get in touch.

These are some of the areas where we could use some help:                                       

  1. We have a lot of papers, photographs etc. relating to the Order of St. Katharine from before and during their tenure of Parmoor.  We need an archivist, or someone who is interested in history and archives, to put these into order so that they can be preserved properly.
  2. Our Library contains an eclectic mix of books, but having serious theological tomes sitting next to Jeffrey Archer and Mills and Boon perhaps isn't the best way to display them! We need someone to apply a little logic to the arrangement so that would-be readers can browse in the appropriate areas.
  3. We have lots of pictures, many of which need reframing or remounting.  Some of the nastiest pictures are in the nicest frames and vice versa.  There are a number of framed photographs of people connected with the history of the House which we would like to hang, but they need a little TLC before they can go on display – is this something that you are good at?
  4. Furniture repairing and upholstery – we always have furniture in need of reupholstering or just a little TLC.