Church letter

July 2023

Click for the church letter from June 2023

Thank you all for an incredible village afternoon

Saturday 17 June. Wow, what a great day in our wonderful community! It deserves a great big ‘thank you’ to everyone involved in any way. We had about 20 drops of rain a few minutes before the fete opened, and then the sun smiled on us for the rest of the day. We started with a coronation crown procession, led by a piper, and culminated with the calling of the raffle - with some amazing prizes. In between was filled with four hours of fun for everyone, and many happy, smiling faces (despite the frustration of finding the portaloos in the village hall car park being pushed over on Friday night/Saturday morning).

Thank yous need to go to the whole fete committee; to all the stall holders and numerous volunteers manning the stalls; to all the businesses that helped support the fete; to the local schools who helped with gazebos and tables - free of charge. To the children’s entertainer; to the BBQ team (who were even hotter than the rest of us); to those who sang, played or danced for us; to those who donated so many things to be sold at the fete; and to those who brought their classic cars. Moreover, of course, to all those who came to the fete and made the whole thing come alive.

It was an incredible village event, supported by hundreds (actually, probably a few thousand) people. As well as it being a wonderful community event, we also raised an amazing amount of money in the course of the four hours: the provisional total profit raised in that time is £15,000! A big, big thank you, and congratulations, to everyone who made this happen. This money will go to help charities supported by the church, and for the church charity itself. Details will be provided in another edition, but by way of example, Catching Lives - a homeless charity in Canterbury - will benefit from the gate collection, which totalled over £800.

Here are some great quotes from the event that made me smile:

• The Friday night security guard asked where the valuable items were? The answer? “Erm ... the gazebos?!” (Probably true, but we still made an incredible sum!)
• An overheard conversation from a visiting couple: “This is the best fete we’ve been to ... today.”
  They’d obviously been to other fetes already (there were events in Wadhurst, Hawkhurst and Bodiam.) The reply came back: “This is by far the best village fete we’ve ever been to.”
• From a little girl, when I asked her what was the best thing about the day: “The lawnmower my big brother bought!” (He was charging around The Green cutting the grass!)

So, if you want to come to a great village fete; if you want to admire the gazebos; if you want the chance of buying your own push-along lawnmower; put 15 June 2024 in your diary. See you there. Thank you.

Revd David Commander, Rector and Area Dean