Each month we’ll be taking a look at what’s been happening in St Mary’s through the eyes of one of the churchwardens. It’s a very different take on life in the church, which continues to play a hugely important role in our town – as it has for centuries. Roy Abel invites you to join the churchwarden for a pint and to look back on June.
Well hello. Welcome. No. No. Please take a seat – if the landlord hasn’t sold it before you
can sit down. No, I’m not expecting anyone so your company will be welcome. Unfortunately you just blocked my route to the bar…Really? Oh that’s so kind. A pint of best it is for me then.
Yes I am a resident – of Rye that is – not necessarily of this bar, though they have begun to call this Churchwarden’s Corner – which I think is over-egging it a bit. Yes I am a
churchwarden for my sins. O goodness I must watch my language! You see I’m actually
churchwarden elect, so plenty to learn still. It was a position of considerable status in the past and perhaps deserves to be still, some would say. I couldn’t possibly comment. It
covers pretty much all matters relating to our wonderful church up the hill, including
building maintenance, keeping order in the churchyard, financial administration, managing services (and even conducting them if required), and the welfare of the congregation and prelate even.
In fact, an important part of the job is taking some of the burden from the vicar, in our case Paul “Ironman” White. (He does a lot of rowing and cycling – part of his mission, according to him!).
So a churchwarden becomes a kind of shop steward for both parishioners and staff and in my book we are all parishioners, with St Mary’s presiding over our town like mother hen fluffing her feathers to shelter an entire brood of chicks. You don’t see many mother hens in Peckham? O –in Peck’em perhaps? No?…Never mind. And perhaps it stretches a metaphor to see Ryers as cute yellow chicks? Point taken.
But to continue the thread for a moment, while St Mary’s presides over the town in a
protective sort of way, she (yes, I think of the church as female, like a ship perhaps?)
requires input, love even, from people. That is where churchwardens come in.
Currently we benefit from two stalwart volunteers in post: Shelley “Hot-Seat” Jebb (so called for her habit of flaunting a kind of heated whoopee cushion shielding her from the cold when the heating goes down in winter). Specifically Shelley has been responsible for a super new digital merchant terminal for the shop and tower entry. Yes, you can climb the tower, the highest point of the town, through the bell chamber (mindful of the theft of the bells by the Norman French in 1377?) out onto the leads where the views over the mediaeval rooftops, of the Weald to the north, and out to sea along the tidal river Rother bring a smile to the lips and a real perception of how the town evolved between land and water.
In the church you enjoy the contemplative atmosphere created over nearly 900 years, like an impossibly good cognac perhaps? While the £5 you pay to ascend the tower helps more than anything else to keep the roof on!
Teamed with Shelley, like shire horses at the county show, we have churchwarden
Graham Hurley. With his benign whiskers and mellifluous voice, all Graham needs is a
long clay pipe to make him archetypal – THE churchwarden of churchwardens. Graham sees to maintenance contracts and the burdensome business of pulling together the accounts among many other duties.
Apart from the financial reports there are many others to submit annually to distant
Chichester – the diocese we are part of. This is a dry business indeed – and integral to
the churchwardens role – very dry… Oh, well, why not? Same again thank you. Paid? No – as with many others – the service is volunteered. Reward in heaven hey? I’d rather not wait and see! No, I just think that an element of service is good for the soul – and
for psychological welfare, you say, like walking in nature? Very interesting – I must check
out Radio 4.
Yes I suppose it is a bit insular, well after all Rye is so named for the island it used to be, but in microcosm we can engage with many larger issues in miniature – though thank goodness that does not involve lobbing missiles at our neighbours in Peasmarsh.
Recently we have been addressing the issue of churchyard maintenance. The churchyard itself is closed for burials- so none us us can book a plot or plan a grand memorial – and as such Rother Council takes on responsibility for it. Last month was no-mow May, ostensibly on conservation principles, but some muttered darkly that Rother seemed to embrace the system with unseemly enthusiasm as it saved them money.
As the month progressed, and the grass and weeds mounted around the memorials, some regular users began to feel that the churchyard, and indeed the church itself, presented a neglected appearance. When finally attended to, the vegetation was laid flat but uneven- possibly like deacon Michael’s chin after a three day Greek wedding – with tufts, bare
patches and nicks.
Suggestions were made that perhaps we could develop our own environmental scheme involving a maintenance team responsible to ourselves. Equally, the margins were left untended, in some cases blocking light from houses nearby, notably at Cocktail Corner where town elder Anne Philipps dispenses wisdom and martinis.
However, politics is never far away from all community affairs, however modest, and
perhaps if St Mary’s lobbied Rother to look after the churchyard on some occasions – the question might arise – why not on all? And if Rother Council decided not to continue cutting – would it then look after the churchyard wall if it threatened to collapse, depositing its load of quiet sleepers into the doorways round Church Square?
Perhaps a compromise could be found? To see wildflowers setting seed later in the
season in dedicated parts of the churchyard. The ground could be scarified in places..
scarified? No – nothing to do with town crier Paul’s ghost tours- but disturbing the ground to receive broadcast seed. Heaven help us! Not a bit like GB News!
Closing time? O well, lovely to meet you. Don’t forget – Sunday services at 8:30am and
10:30am, weekday prayer at 9am. See you there perhaps.? Good night and God bless you.
Image Credits: Nick Forman , Kenneth Bird , Roy Abel .