lovely church of St Mary’s. Latterly John was offered the job of being Secretary to the Golf Club at Bungay, and Maggie had to leave her beloved Gunthorpe cottage and move away; although they both remained very frequent visitors to their village friends. A very bad chest infection sadly led to her death and Maggie was cremated in a private ceremony on 13 May, which was followed by a celebration of her life at Colney Woodland Burial Park.
WELCOME There have been quite a few new faces in the village over the past few weeks and this month we would like to offer a very warm welcome to Angela and Andrew Ryde, together with their two year old daughter and 14 year old Labrador “Toby” who have bought Dumpling Cottage. In fact Angela and Andrew have been frequent visitors over the past few months whilst Dumpling Cottage has been renovated. With the work now almost finished they plan to spend as much time as possible here - sharing their time with their North London home where Andrew works as a partner in an Estate Agency and Angela is a nurse working as a coronary care manager. They fell in love with this area whilst honeymooning at a cottage in the grounds of Holkham Hall, and have made it clear that they are committed to making as full a contribution as possible to our village life. We also warmly welcome Matthew and Georgia Hatfull who have moved into Oak House from Shenley in Hertfordshire. They have two children, Archie, 9, and Olly (nearly 5) who are attending Langham School. They have a chocolate labrador “Murray” named, I was told, after Andy Murray as Archie is a big tennis fan. Matthew is an accounts manager for the Post Office in East Anglia working on network transformation projects, and Georgia will continue working from Norfolk as a PA for her renewable energy company in Hertfordshire. They fell in love with this area whilst visiting friends who had also moved here earlier. We very much hope that both families will greatly enjoy living in our very friendly and diverse village.
funds for the Village Institute, of which he was Secretary. A regular church attendant, John held the office of Church Warden for 18 years and took services at St Mary's Church, Gunthorpe during the time the village was without a priest. John’s funeral service was held at St Mary’s on 17th May, followed by a private cremation later in the day. We offer our deepest condolences to John’s family, and our thanks for the major contribution that John made to village life over so many years.
MARGARET (MAGGIE) BERYL LUNNISS Maggie Lunniss died at her home in Bungay, aged 62, on 26th April. She had suffered from emphysema and its complications for some time, but remained active and cheerful to the very end. Maggie was born in Fakenham in 1950 as the first of three children to John and Beryl Chapman. She attended Colkirk primary school and then went to Swaffham Convent. She was never comfortable at being a boarder and at school she particularly hated maths and arithmetic. She did however shine at English language and literature and French and enjoyed many holidays in France where she could practise her love of the language. Maggie was a person who always connected with people - no matter what age, creed or colour, all were potential friends and treated as such. She loved sitting with a glass of wine, her stationery and a fountain pen sharing her life with her friends. Sadly in recent times her disease would not let her write. She hated not being in touch and wasn't even able to make use of what she called "soulless and impersonal email". She met and married her first husband in Holt. Sadly this relationship was not successful and she divorced. A new chapter in her life opened when she met John Lunniss. It was an instant attraction and they married in 1984 finding a house in Gunthorpe which remained their home for twenty years. She became fully involved in Gunthorpe life, first as treasurer and then secretary of the Gunthorpe Institute until the Friends of Gunthorpe Parish Church was born. Both John and Maggie, with no particular religious beliefs, became founder members of the “Friends” in the fight to save and maintain the
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