Church Blog

FROM THE CHURCH WARDENS News is a strange commodity. If you want the world to know you have just completed your first literary masterpiece 'The Sludge Pumper's Guide to All That Smells', you could put posters all round the village, get friends to share it on Facebook and Instagram and in a couple of weeks’ time you might come across someone who has noticed. On the other hand if you placed a one line advertisement in The Canvey Island Gazette announcing that you had managed to book the Rolling Stones for a concert on The Isle of Wight; then you would have no trouble selling a quarter of a million tickets in half an hour. If an item of news is something you have been [...]

Message from the archdeacon the Ven. Gavin Collins: “Following the interviews held 6 weeks ago, we are delighted to be able to announce this morning that the Revd. David Morgan has been appointed to be our new Vicar.  David is currently Curate at St. Faith’s Church in Havant, and he is married to Vickie, who is also ordained.  The date for David’s licensing will be arranged shortly, but we anticipate that it will be in early summer.  Thank you for your patience in the weeks since the interviews before we have been able to announce this good news, which was due to the Crown Appointments Office’s requirement for fresh DBS clearance to be received before any announcement could be made. Please do pray for David, [...]

I happily said yes to the suggestion by our church wardens that I should write the article for this edition of the Hambledonian thinking that I would be able to tell you that a new priest had been appointed to the joint benefice of Newtown Soberton and Hambledon and provide you with some information about the person. I am pleased to report that interviews have been held and as I understand the situation somebody has been selected and agreed to accept the post! However because the Queen is patron of the benefice she has to be consulted about the appointment and formally make the appointment. Therefore all I can say is that she is being consulted and, hopefully, in the not too distant future we [...]

Monday 31st December (note to self... write some thought provoking stuff for next magazine) I assume by now you have read Mavis Jones' Home Page, as I am reliably informed readers are significantly more likely to read that rather than the "vicar slot" In fact I would imagine you have read the list of advertisers and checked out the printers by now. I could take this a step further and fill up the rest of the page with random print and probably only the proof reader would notice. For those determined to stick with this let's give a great welcome to Tabitha, our new editor. This is her first edition and we look forward to seeing her gradually putting her stamp on this splendid publication. [...]

There are many occasions through the year when Hambledon shines as a community. Bonfire night organised by some of the menfolk is one example of this, shortly followed, more sombrely, by Remembrance Sunday when we gather to remember the fallen from our community and those known more personally to us. The reading of the names of those fallen during the two wars from this village is a moment when I never fail to be struck by how a generation of men, and in many cases it would seem, generation of families were laid waste but not forgotten. Great trouble has been spent putting together a book of remembrance for these men, and as a churchwarden it is my privilege to turn the page once a [...]

PROGRESS REPORT FROM THE CHURCHWARDENS Discussions with Soberton and Newtown have continued and there has been a good feeling in those meetings of a collaborative approach to acquiring and sharing a "vicar".  Things will not be the same as in the past for us in Hambledon, nor will they be the same for Soberton and Newtown.  We have been used to having half a vicar for a long time, but to be fair we have perhaps had the larger half.  With both Richard and Robin, their other job did not keep them busy on Sundays and we reaped the benefit of their presence and ministry for far more than half the time.  That will change as we share with other parishes, but that sharing will [...]