Understanding the Past, Securing the Future a talk in two parts by Anna Forrest, & Tania Gomez Duran at St. Mary’s Church, Hadleigh, Suffolk 9.30am for 10am start

TICKETS £10 – on the door, or from the Benefice Office in the Deanery Tower (Tues – Thurs 10am – 12 noon)

Refreshments will be served in the interval See over for notes on your speakers

Your Speakers:

Anna Forrest, BA (Hons), MA, MSt, FSA

Anna has degrees in the History & Theory of Architecture and Medieval Studies (BA Hons), Medieval Studies (MA) and Building History (MSt). From 2003-2022 she was a Curator for the National Trust in the East of England, working with a varied portfolio of properties from Flatford Mill to Oxburgh Hall. She is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and committee member of the Suffolk Historic Buildings Group. She now works freelance on a range of heritage and historical research projects, and wrote a summary history and Statement of Significance for St Mary’s Church in 2023. Anna has a close connection with Hadleigh, where her family has lived since 1984. She grew up on Benton Street, went to primary school in Station Road and, later, was a member of Gloria Powell’s Guide pack, Chairman of Hadleigh Young Farmers Club, a page-turner for concert pianist Tom McIntosh at the Old School, and a server of cream teas in the Guildhall garden. St Mary’s holds special significance for Anna as it was the location of her wedding in 2005.

Tania Gomez Duran, March (Hons), Barch (Hons), RIBA, AABC

Tania studied Architecture at Edinburgh and Newcastle Universities and joined Freeland Rees Roberts Architects in 2000. As an architect accredited in Building Conservation she has worked on listed and heritage buildings across East Anglia, from repairs and conservation to alterations and extensions. She was Project Architect to the award-winning Heritage Lottery Funded Wymondham Abbey reordering and new facilities of the Grade I listed church, and was winner of the inaugural Young Church Architect Award from the National Churches Trust for her involvement. She was also Project Architect for the award winning new organ west gallery at Maldon church and she is currently working on the reinstatement of St Mary’s Church at Wimbotsham following a devastating fire. Having worked on the retrofitting of the 1960s Goodhart Building student accommodation for University College Oxford, it enabled her to pursue her interest in how to improve energy efficiency in the existing building stock and then graduated from the AECB Carbonlite Retrofit course, and has obtained a Level 5 Diploma as a Retrofit Coordinator.
She has been involved at St Mary’s Hadleigh since 2017 with her co-Director Henry Freeland, and worked on the external repairs to the vestry and tower, refurbishment of the vestry interior, the replacement of the heating and lighting and she continuous to work on the designs for the complete reordering of the interior and a new extension to the fabulous grade I listed church. Earlier this year she carried out the Quinquennial Inspection of the church.