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Diocese of Canterbury |
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Saint Martin of Tours – Guston Parish Church
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News from Guston |
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Over 900 years in the service of God
and the Community |
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News from Guston After having had to cancel our Street Nativity
at Guston last year, due to heavy snow, this year the designated day dawned
bright and clear and the youth of St Mary’s and St Martin’s duly arrived
early for a final rehearsal, before the 3.30pm start. By 3.20pm it did not look as if the
promised crowds would turn up, but then they steadily started pouring in and
with the church full, it was standing room only with people spilling out into
the porch. Outside the porch Mike
Goddard, the farmer from Guston Court Farm, had brought a pony for Mary to
ride (the donkeys were a bit too elderly and grumpy for the job) and a prize
pregnant heifer, who walked down The Street, with the ‘progress’ of the
Nativity. Tina Lawrence and Joyce
Molyneux acted as Innkeepers on the way down, where they responded to
Joseph’s knock on their doors with, ‘Sorry, no room at this inn’. Readings and carols were sung, as the
crowd moved down the road and people came to their windows to watch or came
out to join the procession. Roger,
at the Chance, was suitably dressed in an Egyptian outfit and said that he
too had no room in his inn, but that Mary and Joseph could use the stable at
the back. So, the crowd followed Mary
and Joseph along the back road, entering Bethlehem, otherwise known as the
pub garden, by the back gate. Once in
the garden, the very realistic stable was visible, lit by candles and hanging
lanterns with the manger surrounded by bales of straw. A sparkling star hung above the place
where Jesus lay. After final readings
and enactments Fr Stewart blessed the ‘congregation’ and everyone piled into
the pub for warm mulled wine and mince pies.
An estimated total of around 130 people were present. Well done to the children of St Mary’s
Youth Group and St Martin’s Sunday School for a very memorable and
professional performance and also a big thank you to Roger and Leanne at the
Chance for the use of the garden and for providing the warm
refreshments. The press attended and
there was a full page write-up with pictures in the Dover Mercury the
following week.
On Wednesday 18 January, Guston said their
final farewells to Stewart and Karen.
This took the form of a meal in the Chance and a presentation was made
of an icon of St Anthony, patron saint of pigs (those of you who know Stewart
will realize the significance of this as he keeps Tamworth pigs) and a
bouquet of flowers for Karen. It was
a convivial evening despite the fact that those at St Martin of Tours –
Gustonites as Stewart calls us – were sorry to be saying goodbye. It is thanks to Stewart that in the last
two years and for the first time in living memory, St Martins has had a
service every Sunday in the year, including Compline every fifth Sunday. Thank you Stewart for your four years of
ministry. |
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