Whats on
Faith in Lenham
A web page detailing Lenham's Cross that stands above Lenham up towards the Pilgrim's way on the North Downs
A web site about St Mary's, Lenham's church and a page detailing the arson attack which occured in 1297.
Lenham Churchyard
Walk in our well-kept neat and tidy cemetery and you will find peace and tranquillity; a place for remembrance. The flowers are something that we can all appreciate, and when the blooms are finished - a place by the gardener's shed where they can be composted and returned to the soil at a later date.
However some people are leaving plastic bags and plastic flower wrappings, which makes it an unsightly mess. Can we please ask everyone to take their plastic items away and dispose of them properly? You will have the grateful thanks of every body.
Our next meeting will be on 12th November at 8pm in the function room of The Dog and Bear Hotel. Don't forget this is a public meeting to which all are welcome.
John Philpott 859098
The Mormon's in Lenham
In the 19th century the 'Duke of Wellington BH' (Beer House), then owned by the Turner family had sons but no great prospect of suitable matches.
Mormon missionaries, with a promise of wives, possibly more than one each, converted and invited the Turner son's to live in America where there are still families that see Lenham and in particular the Duke of Wellington as their ancestral home.
Profile on the Revd. Nigel Fry
Where did I come from?I was born in Redhill, Surrey on 9th May 1949 and worked for NatWest for 24 years. Most of my career was as a wholesale foreign exchange and money dealer. Apart from several years in the busy London dealing room I worked for 3 years in the dealing room of NatWest Bahrain (1976-79) and was the manager of the trading room for NatWest SanFrancisco from 1982-86. During this time I had 3 children: Andrew, Peter and Sarah.
The later part of my career was as a Corporate Treasury Executive in the Group Treasury division in NatWest London, providing foreign exchange and interest rate exposure management to multinational corporations. A wonderful career that I enjoyed very much but I eventually (at the age of 42!) became too old for the job and took redundancy in 1991.
My first job after NatWest was at a day centre for the elderly. Jan then persuaded me to do a full time degree course at UKC and I graduated in 1995 with a BA (Hons) in Theology. During the early stages of my degree course I offered myself for the ordained ministry of the Church of England and eventually started training in 1997 when as part of my training (again at UKC) I took a Postgraduate Diploma in Christian Theology and Ministry.I married Jan in 1989 and it was through her that I first became actively involved with St. Mary's Lenham. She has been a wonderful support to me - particularly during the 9 years of study and training for the ministry. During my training I worked part-time for Canterbury High School for over 2 years as a Learning Support Assistant and did the same job at Swadelands for a couple of years. I have been quite involved with Lenham Primary School and have been a governor for 3 years.
What am I now?I was ordained as a deacon last October and I will be ordained as a priest on September 29th this year. St. Mary's Lenham has been joined with St. Nicholas Boughton Malherbe for some years now and following the retirement of the vicar, Revd. David Wright, the 2 churches (a benefice) have been put alongside our neighbouring benefice of St. John the Baptist Harrietsham and All Saints Ulcombe. The Revd. Don Irvine is Priest-in-Charge for both benefices and lives in the Rectory Harrietsham (he is my boss!). I am a curate, living in Lenham, but serving all 4 churches. We have been recently joined by another curate, Revd. Ann Sadler, who was ordained as a deacon at the end of June this year.
Lenham is a wonderful village and Jan and I have been very settled here and have become very involved in many areas of the community and we have made very many friends as a consequence. We both love watching cricket - at village, county and national matches; sadly my full time ministry does not allow me to get to cricket quite so often these days! When the time comes to move on in 2 - 3 years time, both Jan and I will have quite a few reservations about doing so - but in the meantime, I am enjoying life as a curate here and Lenham will always be very special to me and we will have many happy memories.
Revd. Nigel Fry.
