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Lenham.net

Do you view St Mary’s Church as an historical building that has been there for a long time? Perhaps as a beautiful admirable edifice? or merely as a place to be baptised, married or buried? Perhaps a place to worship on the odd special occasion or a place of regular worship to God, or ‘the God’ which you may have thoughtfully worked out for yourself. It may even be just a place of sanctuary where you can, as individuals, collect your thoughts in times of stress, where the simplicity, tranquillity and history brings your own problems into focus. We are indeed very lucky to have an ‘open’ church, despite incidents of theft and vandalism. So many are now locked for protection.

The Church was established 1,200 years ago and whatever your view, undoubtedly most of us would see it as the heart of the village. Here, village people learnt their scriptures and, without a village hall or community centre, here is where they exchanged their news and views. It was a stone building, the only one of its kind, and as such, and apart from its religious significance, a very important place.

The bells themselves were important. A call to prayer, which echoed throughout the community, when some families did not possess such a thing as a clock! A call to outlying villagers who knew they had just a relatively few minutes to reach the church and prepare themselves for worship. How lucky we are to have an intrepid band of bell ringers, pulling real bells, ringing real peals - St Mary’s has not been automated.

Do you think its use has changed? “No” – for Christmas, Easter, Memorial and special services, the church is packed to capacity. Successive Flower Festivals have been very well attended and have raised several thousand pounds, and at the Saturday coffee mornings, where visitors exchange their news and views, it is probably no different to years gone by, but just a little more relaxed.

If you visit the church, take a look in the Visitors’ Book. People from all over the world visit to admire and no doubt envy us our heritage.

The ‘Year of the Church’ is not only a celebration of the past 1,200 years but a look to the future. However, the Church of the future is threatened. The present building has stood for over 700 years. The costs involved to maintain it have been prohibitive with consequent neglect. This is not a critical comment but a matter of fact because of lack of funds. Money is now urgently needed - £60,000 to be exact – and that is just for stonework, electrical rewiring, etc etc. It does not take into account certain modernisations such as toilets and access for the disabled.

Regular church-going members are in no position to fund all of this essential work. Speaking factually they make up but a small percentage of the village population and very hard working and generous they are. In times of yore, the Church was able to fund the upkeep of its buildings, to maintain a full clergy in even the smallest hamlet but times have changed.

So Focus is issuing a challenge to the village. It has been suggested that a fund-raising organisation, to be called “Friends of St Mary’s” be formed, but of course this needs an organiser and a team, not necessarily all church-going members. If you feel that you can help in any way, please call Nick Long on 01622 858169 or Malcolm Simmons on 01622 858202. They will be delighted to hear from you!