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If you
have a story or comments about Great Witley Church then why not e-mail us now.
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Pete Adams, West Midlands:
Wonderful visit to the tearooms and church
yesterday. While there I took a panoramic photo of the lawns beyond the raised
areas of the gardens at the tearooms. Please feel free to use the photo on
Your Pages.
Looking forward to the return visit!
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Webmaster's
reply:
Many thanks for the excellent photograph, Pete. Has anybody else out there
got some we can display on the website??
The Tennant family from Bridgnorth
in Shropshire:
Just had to write to say
what a great Fathers Day we had at Witley Court and your delightful Church.
The
paintings and windows are amazing and the family funeral monument was sad, but
interesting.
The
photo display at the back of the church brought all the history of the area
alive and made it all so interesting.
A
real gem, so well presented.
Keep
up the good work. We will be back with more relations!!!!
Elizabeth
Moncrieff, Chester:
The font was
carved by my Great Great Great uncle, James
Forsyth (1826 – 1910) who came to
England
with his brother William from Kelso in
Scotland
where they had both worked for the Earl of Dudley who had property in the town.
James and
William also carved the fountains (in Witley Court), and it was because of his
association with the landscape designer William Nesfield, that James gave his
son the middle name of Nesfield. James Nesfield Forsyth also became a sculptor,
but he worked mainly in
London
in the latter part of the 19th century, early 20th
century, and as far as I know did not work in Worcester. Another of James’s
sons was called John Dudley Forsyth, after his father’s patron!
I have traced the ancestry of the Forsyth family back to the early 18th
Century in Kelso, and I am in touch with one of James Forsyth’s direct
descendants.
I enjoyed the website, and I did once visit your lovely church before
restoration work on the house and gardens of the hall was started.
I hope to visit soon to see the fountain carved by
James
and his brother William (my Great great grandfather!) in action!
John and Rosemary Verity:
Holborne Brass Ensemble Concert (10th
August 2003)
Thank you so much for such an enjoyable
evening. Splendid concert in wonderful surroundings performed by such talented
musicians who not only played magnificently but entertained as well - This was our first
concert and much look forward to your next season.
Janice Hartley, Lancashire:
Back in 1976 I brought my father to Malvern on a holiday... and as we were touring the
lanes of Worcestershire we came upon your church. What a gem!
As we gingerly tried the door we couldn`t believe that we
had stumbled across the most exquisite Rococco Style Church. It took our breath away!
Since then my husband and I have tried in vain to find the place again as we had forgotten
the name of the village!
Yesterday my friend and I used our senior railcards to
visit a place we had never been! Imagine my absolute delight and astonishment to find a
leaflet in the Information Office in Ludlow advertising your Mucical Evenings and what a
frustrating realisation that I`m too late to renew an acquaintance with your church this
year as I am a musician myself.
Please say there will be concerts next year or even
during the winter,
I look forward to finding out!
Yours sincerely
Patricia
Relle, Kent:
What a great website! My
husband, John, and I met one of your stewards whilst visiting Lower Brockhampton last
Sunday. We’d been looking for All Saints, Brockhampton and he’d
been able to tell us we were in the wrong part of Herefordshire! He told us about your wonderful church – we
shall come and see it on our next visit to the area (from our home in Kent). Perhaps we might even be able to come to one of the concerts,
which sound wonderful?
Pax et bonum
Jon Horsfield:
"What a wonderful website.
I stumbled across you & have spent a good 1/2 hour looking at the church's
history & design.
I shall have to visit to see for myself.
Thank you."
Fr Michael Thompson, UK:
"Was gobsmacked the day we stumbled upon Great
Witley Church when we were out on a run one Autumn half term couple of years back.
Children thought it a knockout. The paintings of the children and Moses with horns; that
organ and the ceiling.
I'm pleased you have a website, now I can show my
friends how wonderful it all is.
One is presented by a rather large "preaching box" of a Georgian exterior, but
wow!"
Tony, Bitterley, Shropshire, UK:
" I was impressed
with Witley Church's web site!"
Joe Doherty, Morristown, Tennessee:
"I had the good fortune to visit Great
Witley in 1981 while visiting Ireland with my father to explore our ancestry. However, my
father wished to visit Great Witley to see a gentleman and his wife who lived at a farm
there...
While visiting, we were shown Worcester Cathedral as well as a stone church which was in
the process of restoration. |
I was surprised to see the reference to me
on the web site. Since I have been able to view the site and recall some of my visit to
the UK all those years ago, I will describe life in Tennessee... Morristown is located in a very rural area of East Tennessee near
the border with North Carolina. Our county has a population of around 55,000 |
I differ markedly from my fellow
residents... I prefer chamber music, Earl Grey and
Formula One. I steadfastly refuse to own an American car and prefer to read John
Mortimer's Rumpole stories, P.G. Wodehouse (Jeeves and Wooster) or James Herriot.
Our usual Saturday night includes watching British
comedies ( Keeping up Appearances, Waiting for God, Are You Being Served and As Time Goes
By ) on the local Public Television Station. |
| In any event, my memories of Great Witley
are wonderful. Alas, my father passed away in 1983 and I have had no further contact with *** or
his wife. This is unfortunate since they shared a rather unique experience. My father,
during WW II, was in an armored division of the U.S. Army in North Africa. After being
wounded, he was transferred to Italy. He was assigned to Allied Military Government where
he served under ****. A lifelong friendship developed. |
Morristown is in the Appalachian Mountains which run from northern Georgia to Maine. Our
culture includes healthy amounts of bluegrass music (which is really derived from Celtic
music), iced tea (sorry about that) and a form of auto racing known as NASCAR (a/k/a stock
car racing). |
I am an attorney and practice in the area
of labor and employment law. Our firm actively practices in 28 states on a regular basis.
I am married (to the same wonderful wife) and we have two children; a nine year old boy
and a four year old girl. We are active members of All Saints Episcopal Church
(hence the web surfing which lead to my discovery of your site). One of my hobbies is checking your site to sort of keep
abreast of things. Somehow, I feel a connection to the friends I have made there.
Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy reading this short, but informative, biography. I have told others of the Great Witley site. My fellow associates have found the
story quite interesting...
Anyway, keep in touch. And
as they say in the South, "Y'all write back, ya hear." (It is the only Southern
dialect that I know) "
Joe Doherty |
|
Morristown has a large industrial base which includes furniture manufacturing, nylon fiber
and a multitude of international industry. We are also located near a large lake, Cherokee
Lake, which was created by the Tennessee Valley Authority during the recovery from the
Great Depression. We are also near a large facility which manufactures products for
Eastman Kodak. |
Great Witley Church 
