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Shipbourne Rector  Restoration Appeal

St. Giles' Church Shipbourne

The parish church of St Giles' Church, Shipbourne is situated on the west side of Shipbourne Common. The present church was built by Edward Cazalet of Fairlawne and opened for worship in 1881. Details of services are set out below, showing whether the service is in Shipbourne Church or in the neighbouring parish of Plaxtol.

Evening office
This takes place every weekday at 4.30pm. This is a short service and lasts about 20 minutes.

Choral evensong
This takes place at 6pm in either Shipbourne or Plaxtol on the fifth Sunday of any month.

Playchurch
Playchurch at Shipbourne Church is aimed at pre-school and primary school children and their parents. It is an opportunity for everyone with young ones to meet and worship at St Giles in a relaxed atmosphere. Playchurch takes place at 9.30am, normally on the second Saturday of each month. It lasts about 3/4 hour with Bible stories and craft activities for the children and is an opportunity for parents to have an informal discussion on the week's theme. There will be refreshments for both children and their parents.

The Boomerang Club
This is a club for all children aged 7 to 11 years. The first meeting will be on Sunday 12 September at 4pm in the Village Hall. There will be Bible stories, music, craft, games and more. Don't miss out. Join us and all your friends there. For more details, contact Mary Perry on 01732 810797 or by e-mail on mary@perry9138.freeserve.co.uk

Playchurch will take place on:
10 July, 14 August, 11 September, 9 October, 13 November 2010

If you've got young children, it would be great to see you there. For more details, call the Rector Andrew Procter on 01732 811081 or Sally Bryden on 01732 810935

Summer Fair
The St Giles' Fair will take place on 30th August, the Bank Holiday Monday afternoon, on Shipbourne Green. There will be the usual fun and more besides.

There will be competitions:
Children's fancy dress
Fruity Mini-beasts
The Scarecrow Trail
The Dog Show
The Biggest Marrow

Lucky programmes will be on sale from mid July for £1.00 each
We need bottles, raffle prizes, tombola prizes, toiletries, good bric a brac and books for the stalls.
Can you help on the day? We should like help with some of the stalls.

Contact Mary (810797), Lynette (8105890, Barbara (811152) or Monica (355325) for further information on the competitions, about collecting items you wish to donate, or with offers of help.

Dedicate a hymn book: we still have a number of undedicated hymn books in Shipbourne Church. We originally suggested that people might like to buy a hymn book and dedicate it - perhaps in memory of someone, or to commemorate a special occasion such as a birth, marriage or baptism.

If you would like to dedicate a hymn book you need to pay £10.00, either to one of the Churchwardens or to Miss Margaret Thompson. She will provide you with a bookplate which you can fill in and she will stick it into a hymn book for you.

Shipbourne Rector
Andrew Procter is the Rector of Shipbourne with Plaxtol. He was installed as Rector at a service of induction on 20th September 2007.

Andrew has been a parish clergyman all his working life. He originates from Yorkshire and served a curacy and a first living in the Pennines before another living in inner Bradford. For the last fourteen years he has been Vicar of Hextable and Swanley Village. His wife Elizabeth is a Medical Consultant in Child and Adolescent Mental Health in Gillingham. They have four children in their twenties - two married daughters and two single sons - and a disobedient dog.

Andrew can be contacted at:
The Rectory, The Street, Plaxtol, Kent TN15 0QG
Telephone 01732 811081 e-mail a.procter@live.co.uk

'Procters in India'
The Rector and Elizabeth have returned from their two month sabbatical in India. While they were there, they worked at a hospital in Kothara, in Maharashtra, Central India, under the auspices of the Leprosy Mission. You can follow their adventures by logging on to www.proctersinindia.blogspot.com where the Rector has posted reports on their activities.

Andrew and Liz Procter will repeat their presentation of their work at the hospital in Kothara in India on Sunday 1 August at 7pm in Shipbourne Village Hall. All are welcome. As previously, there will be the opportunity to contribute to the work of the Leprosy Mission.

Governance
The Rector is the Chairman of the Parochial Church Council (PCC) which is responsible for the running of the Church. The Annual Report and Accounts of the Church are presented to the Annual Parochial Church Meeting which is held normally in April each year. The members of the PCC are elected at this meeting from the congregation.

Churchwardens
Mr John Boyd (810750) email: johnboydqq@yahoo.co.uk
Mrs Monica Long (355325) email: monmike@cornfield.fslife.co.uk

PCC Secretary: Mrs Mary Perry (810797)
Children’s Representative: Mrs Jill Adams (810185)

Building works at St Giles
The building work on the tower and the roof and more recently on the Lady Vane Chapel have now been completed. It is expected that work will start on the restoration of the organ early in 2010. This will involve dismantling part of the instrument. The church will remain open for worship, the Farmers' Market will continue as normal and you will be able to visit the church during the day. You can read more about the building works at St Giles in the section on the St Giles appeal further down this page.

Healing Prayer Group
The group meets on the third Friday of each month to pray for the sick. Anyone is welcome to attend. Requests for prayer can be put on the prayer board in church. For more details, including time and venue, please contact Jeannie King on 01732 364529.

The Bells
The tower contains six bells which were re-hung in 1993. Bell ringing practice is on Thursday nights at 20.00. Call the Tower Secretary, Mary Clark on 01732 811265, if you would like to ring the bells.

The Choir
The Choir sings at the 9.30 service every Sunday. Practices are held at the home of John Young, the choirmaster and organist once a week on Thursday or Friday. Contact John Young on 01732 810289 if you would like to sing with the choir.

Flowers
Felicity Ward organises the rota for the flower arrangements in the church each week. Please contact her on 01732 810525 if you would like to help with the flowers or to discuss flowers for weddings or funerals.

Farmers’ Market
A Farmers’ Market is held at the church every Thursday between 9.00 and 11.00. You can buy local produce including breads, meat, vegetables, mushrooms, smoked fish, pickles, cheeses and fruit. The church organises the Market as a service to the local community.
For more information ring Bob Taylor 01732 833976.

St Giles and Shipbourne Newsletter
The Newsletter contains information about the church and the local community. It is produced by the church and delivered free to every house in the parish. Further copies are available in the church. The editor is Frank Chapman 01732 810455.

Church Finance
St Giles' is responsible for all its own expenses, including making a contribution to the costs of the diocese, and relies on donations from parishioners and other friends from outside the parish, who support the church’s work. Donations are made by bank standing order, an envelope scheme or by donations in church and benefit from Gift Aid where the necessary declaration has been made. You can find information on the envelope scheme and Gift Aid forms for completion at the back of the church. Further information on supporting the ministry of the church can be obtained from the Treasurer, Martyn Williams, at martyn.dwilliams@btinternet.com or telephone 01732 833751

Stewardship Fortnight
St Giles will have a Stewardship Fortnight from 10 to 24 October this year. Please especially reserve the dates of 10 and 24 October to be in church.

The Rector writes:

"Stewardship is the church term for our use, before God, of our time, talent and money. During the fortnight we shall be circulating to all who have any connection with our church, a literature pack about the Church's need for people to offer their gifts of all three for these if we are to fulfil an effective ministry to our parish. We will be asking you to consider whether your can respond and hence enrich the work of the church in the village.

I won't hide from you that the impetus for this is the need for a boost in funds for the regular income of St Giles. People have given so generously to the vital building works in recent years for which we are deeply grateful but we need also to keep going in the regular ministry and this has suffered.

But as we have discussed with Alan Strachan, the Stewardship Adviser for the diocese, we are determined to make this more than a bare appeal for cash. We are planning to put before you a wide range of activities we either now do or hope to begin doing and asking you to think and pray over helping us.

Alan will be our preacher on Stewardship Sunday, as we are calling Sunday October 10, to launch the fortnight. We will be receiving offers made in response, as part of the Offertory on Sunday 24 October.

I hope you feel able to participate."

St Giles Trust supports the St Giles Church restoration appeal

One of the funds which has been supporting the continuing restoration of St Giles is a local charity, St Giles Trust. The Trust was set up in 1985 by the Venerable Edward Maples Earle who was Rector of St Giles at the time, and two Shipbourne residents, Bernard Russell and Aubrey Beach. Their aim was to create a fund which would contribute to the cost of the maintenance and decoration of the church’s fabric and the upkeep of its churchyard. The Trust has continued to pursue these aims and it remains a local charity, run by five trustees who are all members of the congregation of St Giles.

Over the years the Trust has contributed over £11,000 to various projects, including £6,000 in the last two years. The Trust contributed to improvements to the lighting and to the installation of the new oil fired central heating system. In 2008 the Trust contributed towards the cost of the first stage of the restoration appeal, which involved replacing the nave roof and doing urgent repairs to the roof, stonework and joinery of St Giles’ distinctive tower.

The Trust has recently contributed to one of the next projects in the restoration programme which will involve a thorough overhaul of the St Giles organ. This is a fine instrument. It was built in the 1880s by Lewis and Co, a leading organ builder of the day, and is still in its original condition. However the organ is showing its age and needs a thorough overhaul. Bishops the organ builders have just started the restoration work and this should be finished in a month or so.

Since it was founded, many people have contributed to the Trust, through personal donations or by making a specific legacy in favour of the Trust in their wills; some people have kindly donated to the Trust funds collected in memory of a loved one. All these contributions have been greatly appreciated.

If you would like further information on St Giles Trust, or would like to contribute to the charity, please contact Nick Ward, who is the Chairman of the Trustees, telephone 810525.

 

Shipbourne War Memorial

St. Giles' churchyard old memorial inscriptions

St. Giles' stained glass

Farmers' Market

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St Giles Shipbourne Restoration and Development Appeal

The church launched an appeal in 2007 for funds for urgent repairs, and for improvements to its facilities.

WHAT HAVE WE ACHIEVED SO FAR?

St Giles Church has been standing for 125 years but the structure is showing its age. When the church was inspected by the architect in 2005, she found that the nave roof was worn out, the roof of the Tower was leaking, causing rot in the timbers supporting the roof, and some of the stonework was badly damaged after being exposed to the weather for more than a century. The pictures show the poor state of the roof and tower before work began. The advice was that we couldn't patch it up any longer: we needed a new roof on the tower and nave and extensive repairs to the timbers, stonework and leadwork.

The tower and the roof

Fund raising started straight away. The Church applied to English Heritage for a grant out of Lottery funds and we were delighted when they offered a substantial grant towards the cost of the repair work. The exploratory work carried out in 2007 revealed that the Tower roof was in a much worse state than had been thought.

The repair work began in July 2008. The old tiles were stripped off, new felt and battens were put in place and new tiles were laid on the roofs of the tower, the nave and the north-east porch. The leadwork was repaired or replaced where necessary to make St Giles watertight and ready for the next 125 years. In the tower the structural timbers have been repaired where they had been damaged by damp and a new dormer doorway has been built in oak to replace the old one. The gutters were sand blasted and repainted. A stonemason has restored or replaced individual stones on the outside of the tower and on the wall of the West gable end, since many of these had been eroded by the weather. He also carved a new gargoyle, so St Giles will once again have a gargoyle on each corner of the tower. Finally the cockerel on the weather vane has been restored and re-gilded.

Lady Vane Chapel

The Lady Vane Chapel in the South transept has been transformed. A new glazed oak screen, in memory of Edward and Jocelyn Earle, has been installed behind the choir stalls at the entrance to the chapel. The fine Rysbrack sculpture, carved as a memorial to Lord Barnard and his family who used to live at Fairlawne, has been cleaned and spotlights have been installed so that the memorial can be seen properly. The other memorial plaques have been cleaned. The whole area has been cleared and carpeted. The chapel provides a space for private prayer, for signing the registry at weddings or for meetings.

The Church floor
St Giles has a fine marble terrazzo floor, with complex designs mainly at the east end of the church around the altar. Terrazzo flooring is made up of small pieces of marble. This form of flooring was first developed in Venice in the fifteenth century as a way of using up small offcuts of marble. The technique has been greatly refined over the years. It provides a tough and attractive flooring. However over the years some cracks had appeared and the surface had become dull with accumulated dirt. In June the conservators who worked on the Lady Vane Chapel carried out discreet repairs to fill the cracks and where necessary replace missing pieces of marble in the aisle and chancel. The colours of the marble have re-emerged after cleaning. We hope to carry out further restoration work in the porch and inside the main door when funds allow.

WHAT ARE WE RAISING MONEY FOR NOW?

The organ

Our next project is to overhaul the organ. St Giles has a fine organ which was built by Lewis and Co, a leading firm of organ builders in the nineteenth century. It has a beautiful tone, the mechanism is virtually unchanged since it was built and it has a fine case. The diocesan organ adviser wrote about our organ:

“In thirty years as an organist…I have never come across such a wonderful instrument. Any church possessing an organ built by T. C. Lewis has a real gem for an instrument. The organs by Lewis are characteristic by their wide range of colour, superb build quality, and if money allows (in Shipbourne’s case) a superb case as well. While the organ needs a full-scale restoration, it still has a fantastic sound – all in all a really satisfying organ. You are so lucky to preside over such an instrument.”

Like the church, the organ is more than 100 years old and now needs a major overhaul to bring it back to proper working order. The restoration work will be done early in 2010.

Unless there are any unexpected problems when the work is being done, we have raised the money required for this work.

WHAT DO WE PLAN TO DO NEXT?

The outside of the church...

Stonework on the tower and the west front has been restored, but there remain extensive areas of exterior stonework on all sides of the church, which are in poor condition. The damaged stones need to be replaced or repaired by a stonemason. Some re-pointing is needed. The metalwork on doors, gates and windows needs re-painting.

...and inside

Shortly after the work on the Lady Vane Chapel was completed, some cracks appeared in the walls. Most of these followed the line of old cracks which had been filled and were thought to be stable. The church's architect and structural engineer have inspected the cracks and have advised that we should monitor the cracks carefully over the next eighteen months to see if there is any further movement. At the end of this period it may be necessary to dig a pit or pits to inspect the foundations and, depending on the outcome of this work, some remedial work may be required.

The fine decoration on the East wall of the chancel has been badly damaged over the years by damp. It has been stabilised but restoration will require painstaking work by expert conservators. There are areas of the attractive marble flooring which are cracked or damaged and these need expert restoration. Some other areas need cleaning or repair.

We have raised some money for restoration work on the church but we estimate that we will need a further £100,000 to complete the work, although the total could be considerably higher if the Lady Vane Chapel requires underpinning.

Improved facilities

Plans are being developed to improve the church’s facilities, including better storage, simple kitchen facilities and a WC. We are thinking about the church’s needs in coming years and considering how best to improve the facilities in a way which is sympathetic to the character of our wonderful church. These ideas are at an early stage and nothing will be decided until the plans have been properly examined and discussed.

Fund raising continues

We have applied for funds to various grant making trusts and some have already made generous contributions. We are grateful to all those individuals who have generously supported the Appeal.

We are continuing with our programme of fund raising events. We held a flower festival over the bank holiday weekend of 23 to 25 May 2009. Every club or organisation in the village did, or sponsored, a flower arrangement. There was a concert by Emily Ward and Robin Davis on 23 May, a thanksgiving service on Sunday morning and a "hymns and Pimms" service on Sunday evening. Over the whole weekend some £2,000 was raised for church funds and the appeal.

This was followed by a summer dinner on 19 June at the nearby Delarue Hall, attended by some 80 people: it was highly successful and raised £2,510 for the church restoration fund.

We are delighted that we have raised sufficient funds to undertake the first stages of the restoration work but we still need further funds to enable us to carry out the rest of the restoration programme. You can contribute by sending a cheque, payable to St Giles Church Shipbourne, to the Treasurer, Martyn Williams, The Round House, Riding Lane, Hildenborough, Tonbridge, Kent TN11 9QL.

Do support the parish's fund raising efforts. At the Farmers' Market you can buy:

• The Shipbourne Cookery Book - on sale for £10

• The Shipbourne shopping bag - the green solution to cutting down on plastic bags - £2 each

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