The recruitment process for our new priest is creaking back into life, after we approved a revised and somewhat less daunting profile in June. We are now setting up an interview date for applicants in November, five months away – which may sound appalling, but we’ll only start advertising at the end of July, summer holidays will distract attention during August, and we absolutely do not want to fail to attract a good candidate by giving insufficient publicity. On this timetable, we are unlikely to see our new priest until May 2025.We continued with strong services in June. The one on June 16 took place on the secular festival of Father’s Day. Although this is not celebrated within the church calendar, Revd Andrew Keith used the occasion to speak about the roles and responsibilities of fathering, and indeed disciplining (guiding, teaching, making disciples of) our children – all a far cry from glossy adverts aimed at seasonal masculine flattery.The service on June 23 was also an occasion for celebrating Sue McLeish’s 90th birthday, and we were proud to welcome so many of her family (including a great-grandchild) into the service. Sue had chosen the Royal National Lifeboat Institution as a charity to support for this occasion, and I’m pleased to say we raised £750 for their funds, from the collection in the service and then further donations at their family concert in the afternoon.On the last Saturday in June, our village held its Open Gardens event, fund raising for the Victoria Hall. Our church was decorated to suit, and looked magnificent – also it was a very hot day, and the natural coolness of our building was perhaps a welcome refuge. Whatever the cause, we had a very satisfying number of visitors.For our own funds, plans are advancing well for a musical variety show in the church on Saturday 24 August, featuring a number of locally-known musicians. Publicity will be circulating soon – watch out for the yellow flier! For further details, or to offer help, please contact Victoria Trevelyan. If you would like to know more about any of these stories, please do contact us on stnkemerton@gmail.com.
