Churchwardens’ Letter for July & August
Dear Friends,
The Vicar has invited us, as Churchwardens, to write an article in this copy of the magazine to highlight what is going on at St Christopher’s and to share our hopes for the future.
As many of you will be aware a lot of good things are already happening for the benefit of both the congregation and the wider community of Hinchley Wood.
Several times a year a lunch is provided for the older members of the community and on 29th May 44 people sat down to a lunch of chicken pie, bread and butter pudding and birthday cake, as we had one member celebrating her 90th birthday.
Every Wednesday a café style coffee morning with play is provided for the younger members of the community. This has been extremely successful with up to 25 Mums and toddlers arriving for coffee and biscuits. The children sing songs, ring the bells, light candles, learn the Lord’s Prayer and play with a large selection of toys. We are grateful to some of the Mums for their help and involvement in some of our social events particularly at the recent garden party when they took on running the barbeque, raffle and sale of ice creams very successfully.
Our current list of events includes quiz nights, rambles, Last Night of the Proms party, concerts and a Christmas Bazaar.
We would be pleased to see some more new faces at our events – so why not come along
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If you have any ideas of events you feel would be popular we would be pleased to consider them – you may even wish to organise something!!
There are many other activities which go on in the church and hall including our successful Youth Clubs who meet on Sunday evenings from 6.30 – 8pm. A new initiative is the introduction of Organ Scholarships funded jointly by the church and parents. Three talented youngsters, William, Peter and Nicola are currently having lessons and progressing extremely well and a further student is soon to join.
In return for their tuition we are planning that they will play at, the newly to be introduced, Book of Common Prayer choral evensong. The first of these services will be on Sunday 25th July, our Patronal Festival , when we are inviting everyone to afternoon tea at 3.15pm followed by the service at 4pm. We hope for good support for this popular service, which will be the first opportunity for our young organ scholars to demonstrate their talents and should prove enjoyable both musically and spiritually to a number of age groups.
The Church is currently on a recovery package from the Guildford Diocese until 2013 by which timescale we are expected to be able to become a viable church again. Changes have, and are happening within the church building, and as with all change, these are not always popular with everybody. However, the changes have been carefully considered and it is hoped that they will improve the potential use of the building for worship and for a variety of other community uses.
We simply cannot afford to run the church solely for worship and are now receiving
much needed income from its use by The National Blood Service for blood donors, Line
Dancing, music rehearsals and most recently a Polling Station. The newly refurbished
hall is very well let and used for dancing, meetings, Tai-
We feel the way forward is to attempt to include all members of the community in a variety of activities both social and spiritual. We, as Wardens, are determined to do our utmost to keep our Church in Hinchley Wood open and hope that existing members of the congregation will support us with the same determination and that other members of the community will also join us.
We have a challenge ahead of us, but with prayers, commitment and your support we will maintain the success of the Church for all in Hinchley Wood.
With every good wish,
Celia and Eileen
If you would like to support St Christopher’s just
click this link for our Standing Order Form
St Christopher’s Church
Church of England
Hinchley Wood
Diocese of Guildford