The Parish Church of Riverhead with Dunton Green, Kent; now part of the West Sevenoaks Team Ministry

Traidcraft / Fairtrade

OUR FINAL TRAIDCRAFT STALL WAS ON SUNDAY, 20 JANUARY 2019. THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS SUPPORTED THE INITIATIVE OVER MANY YEARS.

St. Mary's aims to be a Fair trade Church and to serve FAIRTRADE tea and coffee after services and other activities.

What is fair trade?

Fair trade is an organized social movement and market-based approach that aims to help producers in developing countries make better trading conditions and promote sustainability. 

Fair trade seeks to transform the lives of poor producers in the developing world by enabling them to use their skills and resources to build sustainable livelihoods for themselves and their communities. It seeks to challenge injustices in trading structures and practices that so often lead to the exploitation and marginalisation of poor people.

What's the difference between fair trade and FAIRTRADE?

"FAIRTRADE" is an accreditation, labelling system which certifies that products bearing the FAIRTRADE Mark meet a range of specific criteria. "Fair trade" expresses a rather wider vision of development, covering a much wider range of products than can be certified, and embracing campaigning and awareness raising activity, as well as trading in food products.

Traidcraft is a Christian based organisation, committed to working with people of all faiths and none in our common fight against poverty. 

Find out more about Traidcraft's work at:  www.traidcraft.org.uk

For more information on the fair trade movement go to:  www.fairtrade.org.uk

A collection of photographs, from various events, can be viewed in the Photo Gallery.

The 'Big Brew' coffee morning on 10 March 2017 raised £45 for Traidcraft's 'Let It Grow' appeal, aimed at helping smallholder farmers and their families to thrive. A letter of thanks has been received.

The Traidcraft Christmas Card sale on 28 October 2017 raised £14 for Traidcraft.  A letter of thanks has been received saying:  "Your gift will help smallholders like Asina to learn new skills, which will help them and their families to leave poverty behind forever. Thank you for your kind support".

The 'Big Brew' coffee morning on 10 March 2018 raised £35 towards Traidcraft's 'Hidden Entrepreneur', Lenten appeal. A letter of acknowledgement has been received and can be viewed here.

PCC Elections

The procedures for electing members are laid down in Measures adopted by the General Synod of the Church of England, and are summarised as follows:

Churchwardens
We have two Churchwardens. Churchwardens are elected for one year at a time, and they can serve for up to six consecutive years, although the custom and practice in this parish is for a maximum of five consecutive years.
To be eligible, a candidate must normally be: a lay person, at least 21 years of age, an actual communicant, on the electoral roll and not disqualified in any other way.
The electors are the parishioners gathered at a meeting announced and convened by the Minister. This meeting is called the Vestry Meeting and is usually scheduled to take place immediately prior to the Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM). Those eligible to attend are: the Minister, people on the Church electoral role, and people who are resident in the parish and whose names are entered on the local-government register of electors by virtue of being resident.
Candidates for election as Churchwardens must be nominated and seconded by people eligible to attend the meeting, and each candidate must have signed that he/she is willing to serve, and is not disqualified. Nomination papers must be received by the Minister before the start of the meeting. Where the number of candidates exceeds the vacancies, an election is held.

Parochial Church Council (PCC) Members
The PCC is a body corporate and acts in a way similar to a board of trustees. The Minister chairs the PCC, and the Churchwardens are automatically members. So too are any people on the electoral roll who are members of the Deanery, Diocesan or General Synods. Church law defines the number of PCC members, based on the size of the electoral roll, and in this Parish we have 10 positions for elected lay members. Elected PCC members serve for a maximum of 3 consecutive years. Nominally, a third of the members retire each year.
To be eligible, a candidate must be at least 16 years of age, and have been on the electoral role for at least 6 months (with the exception of people who are under 18 years of age).
The electors are the people on the electoral roll, gathered at the APCM.
Candidates for election as PCC members must be nominated and seconded by people on the electoral roll, and a candidate must have signed that he/she is willing to serve. Nominations can be made up to and during the APCM meeting. Again, where the number of candidates exceeds the vacancies, an election is held.
During the year, the PCC may also Co-opt additional members, up to one fifth of the number of elected members, or 2; whichever is the greater. The term of office of a co-opted person is until the conclusion of the next APCM.

Deanery Synod Representatives
As a parish we elect two (was three) people to be members of the Sevenoaks Deanery Synod. The eligibility and election arrangements are similar to those for PCC members described above, except that candidates must be at least 18 years of age.
As stated previously, Deanery Synod Representatives automatically also become members of the PCC.

Opportunities to Help

Apart from the Vicar, virtually every other role performed in our local Church is undertaken on a voluntary basis, by kind people prepared to offer their time and talents in the service of Christ.  Might you be able to offer to help us in some way, either on a regular or occasional basis?

There is an almost endless number of ways to help, but they can be broadly divided into three areas.  Examples are given below:

Help with our own Services of Worship and Spiritual Development

• Reading passages from the Bible
• Leading community Prayers
• Acting as a Sidesperson and Welcomer
• Acting as a robed Server
• Being involved in Church music (Choir and Music Groups)
• Acting as a Sunday School Teacher or Helper
• Leading or hosting House Groups

Help with the operation and upkeep of our own Church

• After-service coffee
• Church cleaning
• Flower arranging
• Bin emptying
• Candle filling
• Social committee
• Churchyard gardening
• Management (Parochial Church Council)
• Administrative work
• Building maintenance

Help with our Outreach where we try to help people in the wider Community

• Pastoral care
• Home visiting
• Helping at the Littlecourt Lunch Club with cooking or transport
• Transporting people to Church, and on Hospital visits
• Delivering 'Landmark'; our community-wide magazine

The above is not an exhaustive list.  Training, briefing and support will be provided, as appropriate.  Many of the roles are performed on the basis of rotas, so the demand on time is not necessarily onerous.  Our 'Safeguarding' policies require formal vetting for some roles which involve working with children and/or vulnerable adults.

If you feel you are being called to help with any of the above, in the first instance, please contact the Vicar or one of the Churchwardens for further details and without obligation - see the 'Parish Directory' page for their contact information.  They will be pleased to help you.  We always aim to apply a policy of 'Equality of Opportunities'.  And thank you in anticipation.

Vicar's Message for Christmas

What's your favourite part of Christmas?

Hope
The days leading up to it; hearing snatches of a much-loved carol or Christmas hit on the radio and being suddenly transported back to a happy time, or younger days full of innocence and laughter?

Perhaps buying the Christmas tree, and the smell of pine?

Perhaps the shops as you step into them with their great bursts of colour, like spring, of reds and gold and greens?

Perhaps it's Christmas Eve and the utterly delightful toddlers' Nativity plays, or the warmth and comfortable feeling of sharing a carol or two in a church service, with lit candles, maybe; and the sense that something special is literally just around the corner?

Maybe you come to the extraordinarily intimate and profound late-night Christmas services in church? You've had a nice meal, perhaps been out to friends or the pub, then shrug into your coats and wander round to that place with the big spire and the candles and the men and women in flowing robes. To listen to the Christmas story one more time - possibly it reveals something to you that you had never thought of before? And, of course, there's the Carols; the wonderful, traditional, meaningful hymns of hope and love and joy.

Love
Maybe for some, of course, Christmas does not hold such things. Perhaps it means another special day spent with no-one around, or spent with strangers. Christmas then is a time of feeling most alone. But, we need to remember, that no-one need be alone at Christmas, because, for others, Christmas means popping round and saying hello to family, friends and neighbours. For others it can mean taking time out to be with the elderly, the isolated, the infirm. One only has to ask. You see, for many, Christmas day is filled with a special kind of love. A love found in going to visit someone or even to help prepare and serve Christmas lunch for others.

Joy
Then, on The day, The Big Day, The Special Day, there are the church services and the Christmas films and shows on TV, or a sumptuous Christmas concert on the radio.

And, of course, there are the presents: the joy and the excitement of tearing off the wrapping paper. And there's the laughter when someone didn't get quite the right gift for someone else...

Not to mention the Christmas meal - seven times more than we would normally eat. And after? The fun and frivolity of that special day of people in paper hats hunched around those brightly-coloured board games.

So... what is your favourite part of Christmas?

Mine is knowing that all this was started, had its basis in a mystery. The mystery of God coming to share our lives in the form of a little child, and bringing with him all that Hope, and Love, and Joy.

If you get the chance to pop in to St Mary's for one of our services, it will be lovely to see you. You can be sure of a warm welcome. In the meantime, all of us at St Mary's wish you a peaceful and happy Christmas and a blessed New Year.

God bless

Martin

Other Information

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Church Groups

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Pastoral Care

A network of parishioners provides pastoral care within the parish. The pastoral care program aims to build a sense of community and support. Particular care is taken to help those who are sick and those in need. 

If you need to contact us about Pastoral matters, then please get in touch with Daphne Harrison (see the contacts page for details).