Agenda and Reports for the APCM 2024
The Annual Parochial Church Meeting is being held in church on Sunday 28th April 2024 at 12 noon in the Church Hall, following the Sung Eucharist. You can download the Agenda and Reports document below.
Category: Events
Lent Course – Reading St John’s Gospel
Our Lent Course, led by Fr David will be at 7.15pm for 7.30pm on Thursday evenings during Lent, beginning on Thursday 22nd February. The sessions will finish at 8.45pm.
Our focus will be on key moments in the St John’s reflective account of Our Lord’s ministry. There is no charge but a donation, from those able to make one, towards heating and lighting, tea and cake would be welcome. Please bring a Bible; Fr David will be using the NRSV.
Ride and Stride 2023
Ride and Stride this year is on Saturday 9th September and sponsorship forms are available at the back of the church.
Remember that 50% of the money received goes to our church and the remaining 50% goes to a fund administered by the Friends of Kent Churches for urgent repairs.
Please think about how you can take part, either walking or cycling around as many churches as you can on the day, and find friends or relatives to sponsor you.
The local organiser for St Stephen’s is Peter Brown who will he happy to answer any questions.
Participants can download forms by following the links below:
UPDATE!
Thank you to everyone who sponsored the choir team this year, raising a fantastic £252.00 which will be shared between the Friends of Kent Churches and St Stephen’s.
Songs of Praise
6.00pm Sunday 2nd July 2023
We will be holding a ‘Songs of Praise’ service at St Stephen’s at 6pm on Sunday 2nd July 2023. All of the hymns at the service will be chosen by you – some will be chosen by popularity, based on the most votes that they receive, but others (as this is also an opportunity to raise some funds for St Stephen’s) will be selected by receiving the highest bid. However… it is also possible to bid to block a hymn from being sung!
To vote for your favourite hymn, please complete the form below and make your bid donation no later than Sunday 18th June. It would also be lovely to hear why you have chosen the hymn, so please indicate on the form if you’d be willing to speak about your choice during the service. If you’ve got lots of favourites, you can always submit an additional form or two!
Agenda and Reports for the APCM 2023
The Annual Parochial Church Meeting is being held in church on Sunday 16th April 2023 at 11.45am, immediately following the Sung Eucharist. You can download the Agenda and Reports document below.
To join the meeting on Zoom, click here.
Commemoration of Lady Loretta
Saturday 4th March 2023
As is our custom, we will be commemorating Lady Loretta, anchoress from 1221, around the anniversary of her death here on 4th March 1266 with talks on her life and witness followed by a short midday service.
Saturday March 4th 2023
11.00 am St Stephen’s Church Hales Place
Two short Reflections:
The Social, religious and political context of Lady Loretta’s life
Revd Dr Kevin Maddy
What can we learn from the anchoresses in the 21st Century?
Dr Peter D Toon
followed by Questions and discussion
Then at Noon there will be Midday prayers and dedication of Memorial Plaque to Lady Loretta led by Canterbury Gregorian Music Society.
Quiz Night
Saturday 4th March 2023
Join us for a evening testing your knowledge in aid of the maintenance and repair of St Stephen’s bell ropes.
Etty Hillesum Evening
Tickets are now available for an evening talk by Rowan Williams and Klaas Smelik exploring the importance of Etty Hillesum, the Dutch-Jewish writer murdered in the Holocaust in 1943. The event will take place on Friday 24th February 2023, 7pm, in the Canterbury Cathedral Lodge at 7pm. Tickets (£5 / £1) can be booked at https://Etty.eventbrite.co.uk .
The Dutch-Jewish writer Etty Hillesum was murdered in 1943 by the Nazis in Auschwitz. Famously, as related in her posthumously published diaries, she refused to allow hatred to cloud her response to genocide. Her example of courage, service for others, and inner resilience is relevant today as it was then. Her insistence on replacing hate with love sets an example which inspires and challenges.
The evening will consist of lectures follwed by Q&A by two leading experts on Etty’s life and thought. Prof. Klaas Smelik is the editor of Etty’s diaries, and founder of the Etty Hillesum Research Centre; Lord Rowan Williams is the former Archbishop of Canterbury. In the break there will be an opportunity to read quotes from Etty’s diary, view a short video and other educational resources, and to meet Dr Lotte Bergen, the Director of the Etty Hillesum House in the Netherlands.
This event is part of the Etty Exchange, a Straits Committee Small Project Initiative, co-funded by Kent County Council and Provincie Zeeland, and organised by the Etty Hillesum House Middelburg and the Poetry Practice Ltd. Canterbury.
Advance booking essential. Tickets (£5 / £1) include refreshments and are available at https://Etty.eventbrite.co.uk
Fund Raising Wine Tasting
Saturday 16th July 2022, 7.00pm
Join us in the Church Hall for a fund raising wine tasting led by Roshna Ahmed (one of the altos in our choir) who is has worked in the wine trade for nearly 40 years, and has been Shepherd Neame’s wine sales development manager for the last 20 years.
Roshna will present us with a selection of different and contrasting wines to taste, together with some nibbles.
Please note that this event is only suitable for those over 18 years old.
Book your place by giving a donation of £20 per person to Kevin, or you can book and donate online by clicking the button below. Please note that in order to ensure we have enough wine and nibbles, bookings will close on Monday 11th July.
About Roshna…
Now in her 38th year in the wine trade, Roshna Ahmad is an expert in wine training, tastings, exhibitions, wine writing and food and wine matching events. Having taken to wine lectures with great enthusiasm while working for Sopexa (a national French wine and food promotion company) in 1989, the following years brought presentations for groups ranging from the forensic science unit of Scotland Yard to teenage catering students on courses from Brighton to Edinburgh. She once masterminded a gathering of BA cabin crew wine enthusiasts at an exclusive hotel in Buckinghamshire for a whole weekend of wine lectures and dinners. This and appearances at Vive la France exhibitions over the years have been particular highlights. Although knowledgeable on wines from around the world, French wines remain Roshna’s great love, and a particular specialism. She has been a member of the Circle of Wine Writers since 2005 and wine sales development manager for Shepherd Neame since 2002. Wine and food matching is now a regular activity with the aim to encourage us all to spend money more wisely in order to create enjoyable occasions.
“These days, good wine can be enjoyed without breaking the bank. The trick is knowing what to look for and how to shop, and it is my job to show you how.”