Churchyard Wall Appeal - Update - July 2026

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All Saints’ Sutton Mandeville Churchyard Wall Appeal – Update – July 2026

Our first fundraising event on Friday 19 June 2026 was a great success raising over £1,200, huge thanks to all who supported the event: "Under the Covers" with Nicholas and Jack, held at All Saints Church

Outside, in glorious sunshine, 90 friends and neighbours sipped cool refreshments as they gathered in the shadow of the recently restored churchyard wall, eager to enter the church and admire the beautiful arrangements of locally grown flowers, part of the Nadder Benefice Flower Festival, and listen to the evening’s hosts.

Inside, long-term village residents Nicholas Shakespeare and Jack Deverell prepared to entertain them with a discussion about their tennis serves and Nicholas’ books: a more bucolic English village evening is hard to imagine!

Jack masterfully quizzed Nicholas about his writing of Frame 37, Ian Fleming: The Complete Man and Winston Churchill – Six Minutes in May, revealing fascinating insights into the author’s mind. The audience laughed as the light-hearted questioning helped us understand how an unsuccessful university application helped provide the central location for Frame 37, Nicholas’ attitude to Fleming changed the more he learnt about him, and why Nicholas focussed on the personal side of Churchill’s involvement in the Norwegian campaign. The talk concluded with questions from the audience and a salutary warning from Nicholas about the perils of AI: a 2026 Granta prize winning book, judged by ‘real’ people, suspected to be written by AI.

There is another local opportunity to ask Nicholas about Frame 37 as Fox & King will be interviewing him together with fellow author Charles Cumming at The Pembroke Arms, Wilton on 2nd September, www.foxandking.com

Our next fundraising events will be a Village barbeque with family games and tug-o-war on Sunday 20September 2026 and an illustrated historical talk by Paul Cordle ‘Triumph & Tragedy’ in Dinton Village Hall on Friday 2 October 2026.