Church letter

July 2025

Click for the church letter from June 2025

A special week in the life of St George’s

Very occasionally, those weeks come along that are very special and will remain in the memory for a long time. This last week has been one of those. It has been special not just for the church right now, but for the future of the parish church; it has also been special for the whole community of Benenden.

The first thing to say is a huge thank you to everyone involved in making the ‘Village Fete in support of St George’s Church’ such a huge success this year. Whether that be on the fete organising committee, as a stall-leader, those working on any of the stalls, those working to help set up on Friday or break down on Saturday afternoon/evening (The Green was completely clear by 7pm - three hours after the fete closed!), or whether you came along and supported the fete by participating in many of the activities or supporting the various stalls. This was Benenden community spirit at its best. The number of people who came was terrific, the weather was perfect and the whole event had a wonderful buzz about it. Thank you.

The financial support of everyone is also hugely appreciated. Your parish church is here seven days a week, 365 days a year; the ever-increasing cost of living affects the church just as much as it does our own homes and personal budgets; as a church, we also recognise the increasing needs of many charities; and part of our mission is to support others in need. Your efforts on fete day look like bringing a profit approaching £20k this year. That is phenomenal. The church will send approximately half that amount to local, national and international charities- as we have done in previous years. (You will see articles in past and future editions of the magazine featuring the charities that are supported.) Thank you for your contribution to this total. Now save the date for next year’s fete: Saturday 13 June 2026.

The other two pieces of wonderful news, of which there will be greater detail in a future issue,are:

• We have now, after many years of work and negotiation (some of which has been quite frustrating) been granted our Faculty. This is the legal document that allows us to proceed with the ‘Restore. Renew. Rejoice’ project to evolve St George’s Church for the next phase of its life. Having a Faculty also means that we can now begin the work of major grant applications and the serious business of fundraising. More detail on this next month. Or we can run one fete every week for a whole year! Anyone up for that?
• We now have royal support for the project. Having visited St George’s the day before the fete, The Duchess of Edinburgh has agreed to be patron, which will help hugely with our grant applications, and with a potential major fundraising event.

Again, more details in a future edition of the magazine. Quite a week in the life and history ofyour parish church.

Revd David Commander, Rector and Area Dean