Details of services are set out below, showing whether
the service is in Shipbourne Church or in Plaxtol church.
8.00
9.30
11.00
1st Sunday of month
Holy Communion
Plaxtol
Parish Communion
Shipbourne
Family Service
Plaxtol
2nd Sunday of month
Holy Communion
Shipbourne
Matins
Shipbourne
Parish Communion
Plaxtol
3rd Sunday of month
Holy Communion
Plaxtol
Parish Communion
Shipbourne
Family Communion
Plaxtol
4th Sunday of month
Holy Communion
Shipbourne
Family Service
Shipbourne
Parish Communion
Plaxtol
5th Sunday
(when there is one)
Holy Communion
Plaxtol
Parish Communion
Shipbourne
Matins
Plaxtol
Evening office This takes place every weekday (except Friday)
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.
Messy Church
Sunday 16 June 2013: the next Messy Church will take place at 4pm in
Shipbourne.
Christenings, weddings and funerals Please contact the
Rector, Rev Andrew Procter if you would like to discuss a christening, a
wedding or a funeral at Shipbourne Church.
For
children... Some services are designed particularly with
children in mind: The family service is held at 9.30am on the
fourth Sunday of every month The Nativity and Christingle
service at Christmas, when children take part in the nativity tableau
during the service.
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.
Playchurch will take place on: 11 May,
8 June, 13 July, 10 August and 14 September 2013.
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 Mary Perry on 01732
810797.
The Boomerang Club This is a
club for all children aged 7 to 11 years. Meetings take place in the
Village Hall and last about an hour. There are 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
perry6869@btinternet.com
Boomerang Club takes place normally on
the second Sunday of each month in the Village Hall between 4 and 5.30pm.
Future meetings will be on: 12 May, 9 June, 14 July, 11 August and 8
September 2013.
What else we do for the parish:
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.
Thursday 23 May 2013 will be the 10th anniversary
of the Farmers' Market. This will be marked with free cakes and coffee,
music while you shop, and a special ceremony at 10.00am
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 and can also be
viewed online. Mrs Lindsay Miles
is the editor of the Newsletter; any items of news or adverts should be
sent to her at
lindsay_miles@btinternet.com. Her telephone number is 01732 810439.
The Harvest Supper This is normally held at the end of
September to celebrate the harvest. All are welcome.
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.
News of events in the parish
St Giles Summer Fete The fete will take place this
year on Bank Holiday Monday, 26 August 2013. The whole weekend will
include various fund raising events, including a sponsored "Sing and Pimms"
by the church choir during the afternoon of Saturday 24 August. The fete
itself will include many old favourites and some new attractions,
including a "Grand Draw". If you would like to assist in any way, do
contact Lynette Sargent, who is organising the fete this year, on 01732
810589.
The Queen's Diamond Jubilee: celebrations in Shipbourne Shipbourne village celebrated the Queen's Diamond Jubilee with a weekend
of celebrations. This started with a well attended dinner on Friday 1 June
at the Postern, in aid of the St Giles Church Restoration Appeal Fund.
There was a flower festival in the church over the four days of the
Jubilee weekend. The theme was horseracing and the church was decorated in
the Queen's racing colours. Clubs and organisations from the village each
created their own interpretation of a theme connected with horseracing.
There were numerous visitors who enjoyed the displays; many of them had
their own memories of the days when Peter Cazalet trained the Queen
Mother's race horses at Fairlawne and the Queen Mother was a frequent
visitor to the parish and to St Giles Church. Donations were in aid of the
St Giles Church Restoration Appeal Fund.
A Hymns and Pimms service
on the evening of Sunday 3 June was an occasion to sing Ride on, Ride on
in Majesty and other hymns mentioning horses or riding. The three
addresses included Sir Edward Cazalet's memories of royal connections with
Fairlawne and Shipbourne and personal memories of working at Fairlawne for
Peter Cazalet and working for the royal household. A copy of Sir Edward's
address is attached. The occasion ended with a glass of Pimm's.
The
celebrations continued on Monday 4 June on Shipbourne cricket ground when
numerous people enjoyed an afternoon of games and competitions for
children followed by an evening hog roast, a Jubilee beacon and a
spectacular fire work display, courtesy of the Fairlawne estate.
Harvest Supper in 2012
Churchwarden Viv Packer writes "The supper on 12 October was a great
success. It was a joint event with Plaxtol Church and 134 people enjoyed
the ambience of the Home Farm barn. Thanks to the Fairlawne Estate for
letting us use it and for emptying it so that we could use it. Thanks
also to everyone who cooked, helped set up and served. A big thanks to
Philp Read and Adrienne Brewin for organising the whole evening which
really went well and everyone had a good time. A big thanks too to Gordon
Wright and James Sheldrick for running the fun quiz. We raised just
over £850 for the Church funds so thank you to everyone who was there.
Supper was a sell out and it was great to see so many young families and
meet people for the first time."
Where are we? The parish
church of St Giles' Church, Shipbourne is situated on the west side of
Shipbourne Common. Its address is:
St Giles Church Stumble Hill
Shipbourne Tonbridge Kent TN11 9PF
Maintaining the
fabric of our church: our restoration appeal We are working with our
architect to develop detailed plans for the next phase of the restoration
work. This will involve:
Extensive underpinning of the Lady Vane
Chapel to stabilise the foundations and work to repair and make good the
cracks in the walls. Restoration of more of the most damaged stonework,
mainly on the Tower.
We are already taking steps to raise the substantial
funds needed to carry out this work. We have some funds available for
restoration work but much more will be needed before work can begin.
We
applied to English Heritage for Lottery funding in 2011 and again in 2012
but were not successful. We
will seek further grants and donations from grant making trusts and
individuals. We
will continue our successful programme of fund raising events. We have
held concerts by the Quorum Chamber Choir (November 2011) and by a
professional choir from St Petersburg (April 2012) and a flower festival
during the Diamond Jubilee, which each raised funds for the Appeal. You
can read more about the restoration of the church below.
Our Churchyard Our churchyard is active
which means that it is still used for burials. It is a beautiful area of
just over an acre and we aim to manage it for everyone's enjoyment.
Management of the churchyard The PCC has altered its
policy for the management of the churchyard. Our aim is to manage the
churchyard so that it has an informal, rural appearance; we wish to
balance the need to ensure that everyone can get to the graves easily and
enjoy the peace of the churchyard while encouraging the wildlife and
widening the diversity of plant life. We have decided:
We
will manage some areas around the edge of the churchyard under the “God’s
Acre” guidelines, so the grass will be cut only twice a year; these areas
will be used by the children’s Playchurch and Boomerang groups for
observing wildlife and wild flowers. The
areas around the paths will be cut and strimmed regularly. In
other areas of the churchyard priority will be given to cutting the grass
between the graves, but the tops of the graves and other areas which need
strimming will be cut less often.
The cost of maintaining the
churchyard is met by a grant from the Borough Council, which has been cut
for the financial year 2012/13 by 12%, and a contribution from the PCC.
Our churchyard working parties of
volunteers have done good work in recent years in clearing graves which
had become engulfed in brambles. A working party last met on Saturday 27
April. Many thanks to all those who attended and helped with the work. We
plan to meet again in the morning of 25 May 2013 to clear the south west
corner of the churchyard. All help with this project will be greatly
appreciated..
God's Acre and the
Kent Wild Life Trust at St Giles Shipbourne Mary Perry writes - "We aim
to encourage wild life into our churchyard. To do this we have designated
three small areas defined by hazel hoops where we have, with the children
who come to our youth groups, planted a selection of wild spring flowers.
We will allow the grass to grow and cut it after any wild flowers have had
the opportunity to set seed. To ensure that there is a variety of summer
flowers as well, we are sowing seeds and will plant them out as plug
plants. We are recording the species of flowers, fungi, trees, lichen,
mosses, grasses, mammals and insects at various times of the year. It is
our hope that once this scheme has established, we will be able to enter
the Kent Wild Life Trust Award scheme."
How we are organised
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 fourteen
years before coming to Shipbourne he was 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
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.
Church APCM The Annual Parochial Church Meeting took
place in St Giles' Church on Wednesday 24 April 2013. There were reports
on the activities of the Church over the past year and the financial
statements for the year ended 31 December 2012 were presented for
approval. A copy of the annual report and financial statements for 2012 is
attached.
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.
Sidesmen The
sidesmen's rota is displayed at the back of the church.
Coffee
rota Volunteers serve coffee and biscuits at the back of the church at
the end of the 9.30am service on Sundays. The list of those organising the
coffee is at the back of the church.
Cleaning the church The
church is cleaned by volunteers: details are shown on the list at the back
of the church. Please contact Mary Perry on 01732 810797 or by e-mail at
perry6869@btinternet.com, if you would like to help.
History of our church The present church was built by Edward Cazalet of
Fairlawne and opened for worship in 1881. It replaced a smaller Georgian
church which had fallen into disrepair; this church replaced an earlier
building which had been in use since the late middle ages. A leaflet
providing further information on the history of St Giles is available at
the back of the church.
How do we manage the
church's finances? 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. Income from endowment funds provide some income
to maintain the fabric of the church and much of the funds required for
major restoration work on the fabric necessarily comes from grants and
donations as well as fund raising events. You can read further details on
the finances of St Giles Church in the annual report and financial
statements.
Donations to St Giles can be 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.
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. 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. In 2010
the Trust contributed to the overhaul of the St Giles organ and the
restoration of the mosaic floor.
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.
JUBILEE MEMORIES OF ROYAL CONNECTIONS WITH FAIRLAWNE AND SHIPBOURNE
By Sir Edward Cazalet View PDF
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.
The organ
Our next project was 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. Bishops the organ
builders stripped down the organ and carried out a thorough restoration in
their workshops during 2010. The work has been completed and the organ is
now in full working order.
WHAT ARE WE RAISING MONEY FOR NOW?
We are working with our architect to develop plans for the next phase
of the restoration work. She has advised that there is further restoration
work which is now urgent.
Underpinning work
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 cracks were carefully
monitored: they opened in dry summer periods and then partially closed in
the winter. Trial pits were dug in early 2011 and our structural engineer
advised that extensive underpinning would be required under the walls of
the Lady Vane Chapel, to stabilise the foundations and prevent further
movement during dry periods. The cracks must be properly repaired and made
good.
Exterior stonework
Large areas of stonework on the tower and the west front were restored in
2008, 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. We are
now planning to repair some more of the worst affected stonework on the
upper levels of the building.
How much will this cost?
Based on the preliminary estimates we have received, we estimate that the
next phase of the restoration work will cost in excess of £200,000. We
have some funds available but much more is needed to complete this
programme of work.
What else remains to be done?
Even after completing the next phase of the restoration there will still
be much to be done. This includes
the vestry: this needs some refurbishment,
including a new carpet
exterior stonework: further repairs on the
lower walls and the walls surrounding the churchyard
the Chancel: 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.
the floor: there are areas of the
attractive marble flooring which are cracked or damaged and these need
expert restoration.
metalwork: on doors, gates and windows
needs re-painting.
the churchyard: some of the graves need
attention.
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, including
most recently a concert by the Quorum choir; further events are being
planned.
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, specifying that you would like
your contribution to be used for the restoration appeal.
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
Shipbourne tea towels
Shipbourne mugs
The new Shipbourne Christmas card. Small cards cost
£3.50 for 10 and large cards cost £4.50 for 10. There is a 10% reduction
for purchases of 50 or more. They are on sale at the Farmers' Market.
Extensive underpinning of the Lady Vane
Chapel to stabilise the foundations and work to repair and make good the
cracks in the walls.
We
applied to English Heritage for Lottery funding in 2011 and again in 2012
but were not successful.
