October 2020 £1 (£10 per year) 1 UNITED BENEFICE OF ST. MARY, GOUDHURST WITH CHRIST CHURCH, KILNDOWN Vicar: The Vicarage, Back Lane Goudhurst, Kent, TN17 1AN Tel: 01580 211739 Email: Lay Minister: Caroline Turvey Tel: 01580 211739 Email: [email protected] Benefice Administrator: Becky Addis, (Monday to Friday 9am-12 noon) Benefice Office, The Vicarage, Back Lane, Goudhurst, Kent, TN17 1AN Tel: 01580 211739 Email : [email protected] GOUDHURST Church Wardens: Ali Williams Tel: 07944 776008 Simon Taurins Tel: 07768 598239 Sunday Club: Huthrie Copplestone Tel: 01580 211902 [email protected] Church Room Bookings: Rosemary Southon Tel: 01580 211791 Ready Call: Jayne Russell (Chairman) Tel: 07766 553728 Joe Meyer (transport) Mon-Fri 9am-10am Tel: 01580 211750 Parish Hall Bookings: Nichola Osgood [email protected] KILNDOWN Church Wardens: David Denton Tel: 01892 890244 Vacancy Tel: Flower Arranging: Lynda Shepherd Tel: 01580 879549 [email protected] Village Hall Bookings: Evie Banfield Tel: 07872 348155 PARISH MAGAZINE Editor: David Denton Tel: 01892 890244 [email protected] Magazine Advertising: Ursula Ellwood [email protected] Subscriptions & Distribution: Pam Stubbs (Goudhurst) Tel: 01580 211013 Hilary Bird (Kilndown) Tel: 01892 890554 2 WHAT’S ON IN OCTOBER 2020 At the time of writing the new ‘rule of 6’ has just come into force. We are hoping and praying that this will not impact on our Sunday worship, which is now following the format below: 8:00 – BCP Holy Communion, St. Mary’s 9:15 – Holy Communion, Christ Church 10:45 – Sunday worship (communion on the first Sunday of the month only), St. Mary’s 5:00 – The 5 o’clock every other Sunday (via Zoom, link on the GK Church website) If you are unable to come to a service in church, then there is still an option to watch one of our online services every Sunday. We have a pre-recorded service from Christ Church which goes live on the church website at 9:15 every Sunday, or the 10:45 St. Mary’s service is also available via a live stream. For the 10:45 service we are asking people to prebook their seat in St. Mary’s so that we can ensure that we are complying with social distancing regulations. You can book via the GK church website. Night Prayers Join us at St. Mary's every Thursday evening at 7:00pm for a short, peaceful service which offers time and space to reflect on the day past and to give your concerns to God in peace and candle-light. For more details contact Caroline Turvey at caro-line. [email protected] Blend is back Again, at the time of writing, we are hoping to restart Blend on Wednesday 23 September in St. Mary’s at 4pm. The Covid-19 pan-demic has had a massive impact on our young people, and we are hoping to bring some joy to the young people in our community at the end of the school day by restarting Blend. Please keep an eye on the GK Church Facebook page for updates on Blend – Blend is for all young people in years 7-10. To find out more details please contact Caroline Turvey at [email protected] Community Cupboard Our food bank continues to be well stocked and we would love to hear from anyone who needs some support, either on a regular ba-sis or just as a one off. To access the foodbank please contact Ali Mackey at [email protected] To find out more about GK Church go to our website www.gkchurch.org.uk 3 INTERREGNUM MESSAGE (VICAR'S LETTER) It has been six months since I had the privilege of writing the last ‘letter from the vicar’ (or letter from the church warden in this case), and what an unforeseen six months that has been. It is with some incredulity that I look back and wonder how we even got to September still intact! The generous spring and summer weather has helped the flow of time, but as the nights draw in and a autumnal evening chill is becoming evident I find myself looking towards the next six months and wondering what that will be like for all of us. And of course there is no tidy answer to that. For some lockdown has been a time of rest, reflection and an opportunity to drink in the enforced tranquillity and recharge and reset. For others isolation and loneliness have weighed heavily, with little chance of that changing any time soon. Yet others have had a frenetic six months trying to fathom out new ways of working and implementing procedures from a set of rules that were changing almost on a daily basis at one stage. Some children and parents would have flourished being at home, learning effectively and efficiently and creating more time for family and recreational things, for others the combination of parents trying to work from home with a house full of children and their own demands and needs has been a real struggle and put many family relationships under immense strain. And there will be many more scenarios, we each have our own lockdown experience and story to tell. As I talk to people at the moment, I sense there is a general tiredness that is beginning to affect many of us. It seems whatever our lock down experience looked like we are all suffering Covid fatigue of some sort, which, with the rules changing again is likely to intensify. There is a lovely Bible verse in Matthew 11, it says: 28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” An invitation worth considering as we journey into what looks to be like a long winter. Ali Church Warden, St Mary’s COVER PHOTOGRAPH Lynette Edwards sent in this photograph showing the steady march of autumn over the locality. As the weather changes the toads are tucking up for the winter. This is one of four under a tarpaulin. David Denton 4 OLD PARSONAGE SURGERY Goudhurst FLU CLINIC 2020 • We are planning to run this year’s Flu Clinics outside in the Surgery Car Park. • We will be using a gazebo for weather and privacy protection. • All appointments will have to be booked by phoning the receptionists. • We hope to run closely to time to avoid queuing. To achieve this, these sessions will be strictly FLU ONLY appointments. • Patients will need to maintain social distancing and must wear a face covering. • There is very limited parking at the Surgery so we ask that you park in the lower car park if possible. If using the Surgery car park please do not park in the drive/ road to avoid blocking traffic and please leave as soon as possible. • When attending the Flu Clinic please wear clothing that allows easy access to your upper arm. • Do bear in mind that we may not recognize you with a mask! • There will be two separate sessions for Children only. OLD PARSONAGE SURGERY Goudhurst FLU CLINIC DATES 2020 Please Phone the Surgery to book an appointment THESE APPOINTMENTS ARE FOR FLU ONLY Wednesday 30 September 2020 9 am – 5 pm - Adults Saturday 03 October 2020 8.30 am – 2.30 pm - Adults Wednesday 07 October 2020 9 am – 5 pm – Adults Friday 09 October 2020 9 am – 5 pm - Adults Monday 12 October 20 2 pm – 6 pm CHILDREN ONLY Wednesday 14 October 2020 9 am – 5 pm - Adults Tuesday 20 October 2020 11.15 am – 2 pm CHILDREN ONLY 5 GOUDHURST EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION Starting University or College this Autumn? The Trustees of the Foundation are inviting applications for a limited number of grants to residents in the Parish of Goudhurst who are under 25 years of age who are of limited means, and in the opinion of the Trustees, are need financial assistance towards their education. Grants can be towards the cost of education, or for outfits, clothing, tools, instruments or books to help beneficiaries at school, university or any other educational establishment. Please be aware that the Foundation has limited funds. To apply, please contact Richard Bushrod, Clerk to the Trustees, 01580 211875 (answerphone) or r.bushrod@btinternet forms to be back before 7th October 2020 GARDENING CLUB We changed venues for our last meeting, (the first since March) from the Quarry Centre to the Village Hall to allow for social distancing and we had seven members turn up, which was probably just as well– as most nodded off during the ‘lecture’, it was not quite what we were expecting. As someone said, ‘I’ve got better holiday snaps than that’. The meeting booked for September 16, a practical demonstration prior to the Autumn Flower Show was shelved, as was the Show itself. The October meeting is hanging (at time of writing) in the balance. A couple more of the gardening tools donated some months ago, to the Club have been sold, a small addition to the bank balance. Talking of money, if you haven’t already done so (don’t worry if you have) don’t dispose of your 2020 schedule. As we have not held any of the Shows, no one has had a chance to be inventive, show off their new plant acquisitions or their latest (lockdown) handiwork. We can reuse the schedule, with a new list of dates being sent out at the beginning of next year (fingers crossed!) with email/poster reminders as and when.