PARISH OF ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL SHOREHAM KENT

IN THE DIOCESE OF ROCHESTER

VICAR (Part-time: two-thirds stipend)

PARISH PROFILE

2

WELCOME

We hope that you will enjoy reading this parish profile. In the following pages you will read

about:

A very active and flourishing all-

age village community

A much-loved church building,

open every day, with an ancient

heritage and plans for the

introduction of modern facilities,

as it continues to serve local

people;

A community of faith, keenly wanting to see Christian belief and worship

extend further amongst the young and the not-so-young, both now and into

the future;

People with links beyond the immediate locality (e.g. through commuting to

work);

A community with a strong interest in music and the arts;

An exciting opportunity to combine parish ministry (4 days per week) with a

ministry as Chaplain and teacher (2 days per week) amidst the community of a

local preparatory school.

3

1. LOCATION OF THE PARISH

2. THE PARISH OF SHOREHAM

Shoreham has a population of around 1,000 with a high proportion (one-fifth) aged

16 or below. The village is situated in the Darenth Valley just north of Sevenoaks in

the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It has a village shop (with post

office), railway station, primary school, four public houses, tea room, golf course,

vineyard and small aircraft museum. It is a popular centre for walkers. Food is

served in the public houses, golf course, museum and tea room with teas in the

church on Sunday afternoons in the summer. Although unspoilt and in an area of

considerable beauty (celebrated by the artist Samuel Palmer) it has very good rail

4

and road links. There are half hourly train services to London, Bromley and

Sevenoaks. There is also a local bus service.

In the past most of the working population would have been employed in farming.

Today most residents of working age commute to London or elsewhere or work at

home courtesy of the internet.

There are a large number of children in the village and many of them attend the

popular village school which caters for children of both sexes until they move to

secondary education.

There are many clubs and organisations catering for a wide variety of interests,

including the Shoreham Society, Women’s Institute, Shoreham Historical Society,

Royal British Legion, Over 60’s, Shoreham Horticultural Society, Shoreham Players

and Shoreham Cricket Club with grounds next to the golf course.

There are strong traditions in all the arts. There are occasional exhibitions (including

in the church). The Shoreham Players was founded in 1924 and remains extremely

popular. Most productions take place in the Village Hall, but there have been

memorable productions in the church including Much Ado About Nothing. T.S.Eliot’s

‘Murder in the Cathedral’, ‘Lark Rise to Candleford’ and a Medieval Mystery play.

5

There is also a strong musical tradition. In addition to the church choir two choirs

have been based on the church: The Shoreham Singers, a large choir of mixed ability

which sings a wide range of classical music, and Temenos (meaning ‘sacred space’,

formerly known as the Sunday Singers), a small choir specialising in early sacred

music. Many concerts take place in the church to packed audiences. From 1991 until

2012 the Shoreham Festival of Music was based on the church and the adjacent Old

Vicarage.

There is a village fete and bi-annual Garden Safari (Open Gardens) which draws

people from all over the south of England and is an important fund-raising event for

the church and The Friends of Shoreham Church.

3. CHURCH BUILDING

The church is Grade I Listed in a beautiful setting in one of the village’s two

conservation areas. Of Saxon origin the present church is mainly late medieval with a

tower rebuilt in 1775 and the choir vestry (which houses the organ) added in 1863. It

has an exceptionally fine rood screen. The organ case and pulpit are from

Westminster Abbey.

The nave is a large open space without fixed pews making it suitable for flexibility in

worship, as well as for plays and concerts.

The church is open every day during daylight hours, and many people visit to admire

its architecture and historic associations and as a place for quiet reflection. The

church building is a much loved part of the village life and many Parishioners help to

clean it and to decorate it with beautiful flowers.

Although much loved, the church is lacking in modern facilities. There are no toilets,

no proper kitchen (there is a sink in the belfry) and no rooms for Sunday School, PCC

and other meetings. The PCC and congregation recognise that unless modern

facilities are introduced the church has little future, the lack of a Sunday School being

the greatest cause for concern.

6

In December 2014 the DAC

recommended plans for a

modest extension. It will

occupy what would have been

the north aisle of the church (if

one had been built in the

Middle Ages). An application

for planning permission was

submitted in January 2015, and

a faculty will be sought. A

previous application for a larger

extension was rejected by a

narrow margin and it is thought

that the current smaller

proposal has a good prospect of

success. The new extension will comprise a vestibule with tea station, two toilets

(one disabled) , meeting room/vestry linking with the Lady Chapel/vestry which will

become a meeting room.

4. THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH

Churchmanship, Electoral Roll and Gazette

The Methodist and Baptist churches closed down some time ago and St. Peter and St.

Paul is the only church in the village. It is the church for the whole village. The

church attracts active support from persons brought up in a variety of traditions who

prefer to worship in the local community rather than travel to a church of their

particular denomination. Churchmanship is broad with a wide range of services.

There is a Healing Ministry with the laying on of hands available during some 10.30

am services. The Electoral Roll is 94.

7

The church magazine, The Shoreham Gazette, is distributed free of charge to every

household in the village. It contains the details of church services, a letter from the

Vicar and articles concerning local activities (both church and non-church). The cost

of production is covered by the advertisements.

Services

There are three services every Sunday. There is an 8am Holy Communion (BCP). The

10.30am service varies from week to week. The nature of the services has altered

over time, changes from time to time and is open to further change. Currently in a

standard 4 week month the 1st Sunday is a Sung Eucharist (CW), the 2nd Sunday a

Taizé Communion, the 3rd Sunday Sung Eucharist and the 4th Sunday Family Service.

There is no standard pattern for the 5th Sunday with services ranging from Holy

Communion to Matins (BCP) (no longer popular) or a service taken from the Iona

Community in Scotland. At 6.30pm in the summer (4.30pm in the winter) there is

usually Evensong (BCP), but Compline is sometimes substituted.

The Taizé Communion is a Family Communion (CW) with music from Taizé (chants

which become a kind of mantra as they are sung over and over again) communion in

a circle around a table in front of the rood screen and a ‘thought for the day’ rather

than a sermon.

The Family Service is planned and led by the Pastoral Committee, which consists of a

small group of lay people of widely different ages and backgrounds. The Committee

meets about two weeks before each service to choose the theme, the reading and

the hymns, using Living Stones by Susan Sayers as a resource. Music is a particular

feature with the Organist/Choirmaster coaxing an extraordinary range of sounds

from an impromptu orchestra of children or young at heart aged 2 to 95.

Refreshments are normally served after this service. The service attracts people who

do not normally come to church.

8

Special services (Christmas, Easter, Harvest, Remembrance) are well supported by

the village. The most popular service of the year is Christingle which was introduced

some years ago by The Children's'

Society and is held every Christmas

Eve. It is usually organised by the

members of the Pastoral

Committee. Attendance at

Christingle for 2014 is recorded in

the church log as 260, but there

were so many young children and so

many standing at the back that an accurate count was not possible.

Average normal attendances are 9 at 8am, 35 at 10.30am and 7 at 4.30pm/6.30pm.

Baptisms and Weddings

In 2014 there were 6 baptisms, and 3 weddings. We already have 8 weddings booked

for 2015.

The current practice on baptism has been to welcome all to baptism, but if they live

outside the parish, to seek the approval of the local church, perhaps with Shoreham

baptising and them welcoming.

It was not the practice of the recent Vicar for him personally to conduct the “re-

marriage” in church of someone previously divorced where the former spouse is still

alive. The PCC would be open to supporting a different approach to such pastoral

requests, working within the House of Bishops’ Guidelines.

9

Church Music

Music has been a big part in the life of Shoreham Church for many years with music

being part of every week’s services. In Danny Kingshill the Church has a long serving

Organist and Choir Master of remarkable ability. As well as church music Danny

works musically in theatre and with the disabled. Over the years he has helped

young local musicians of great ability to develop their talents in the church to the

enormous benefit of the congregation and wider village. The first such protégé was

Andrew Reid who went on to become sub-organist at Westminster Abbey, Director

of Music at Peterborough Cathedral and is currently Director of the Royal School of

Church Music.

The latest such protégé is Henry Desmond Assistant

Organist and Choirmaster, youngest member of the

PCC and (against very stiff competition) an apprentice

at the Royal Opera House. This Christmas Henry

played the lead role in bringing together an orchestra

for the annual Nine Lessons and Carols Service, This

saw 30

musicians

come

together

to play all

the

favourite carols of the congregation with

the addition of some fun orchestral

pieces, The congregation of around 150

thoroughly enjoyed this service and have asked for it to become an annual addition

to the Christmas services.

There is a church choir consisting of members of the parish, which is augmented at

important times of the year with extra friends of the church and choir. Music has a

10

varied life in the church from the chants of traditional Sunday worship to a more

modern take on morning worship with Worship songs from Graham Kendrick, Paul

Baloche and Matt Redman. Danny and Henry are hoping to develop the sense of

modern worship music over the coming years and hope this will help to bring

younger and new blood into the church.

There is a band of bell ringers who ring for services and weddings. The tower

contains a peal of eight bells: in 1982 two of the bells were recast and the others

retuned.

Sunday School

The PCC believes that without a Sunday School the church has no long term future.

At one time The Old Vicarage was used for the Sunday School. Subsequently The

George public house was used for the Sunday School: this arrangement came to an

end some years ago. Most recently (until 2012) the Pathfinders tried to use the

village school as a base. The village school (unlike The Old Vicarage and The George)

is at a distance from the church and proved not to be an attractive venue for children

who have to attend it during the week. It proved impossible to attract sufficient

children to enable the venture to continue.

Currently the church has no Sunday School. This is because it has nowhere suitable

for it to meet. It is not because of lack of support. As the ill-fated Pathfinders

venture showed there is a new generation willing to run a Sunday School. Equally

there are young couples in the church with young children whom they would like to

attend Sunday School if only it were possible to combine the parents’ attendance at

church with the children’s attendance at Sunday School: using a site for Sunday

School distant from the church (whether the village school or village hall) has been

shown not to work. The building of the new church extension is therefore vital to the

church’s future.

11

Finances

The church’s finances are sound and sufficient to meet normal outgoings. There is an

extension fund of around £25,000 which is sufficient to meet all preparatory costs for

the extension, but there will have to be substantial additional fund raising to meet

the estimated £300,000 building costs: such fund raising will start once planning

permission is obtained.

The Friends of Shoreham Church raise considerable funds to help maintain the fabric

of the church (which is in a sound condition).

Harvest Supper and Burns Night

The church used to hold a Harvest Supper every year usually on a bring and share

basis. However, for the last two years there has been a catered meal, music and

entertainment, which has been very well received.

Another very successful occasion is the annual Burn’s Night in January organized by

the Friends of Shoreham Church.

5. SHOREHAM PRIMARY SCHOOL

The village school has around 100 pupils and a new Head Teacher. It is not a church

school, but in practice the Vicar has close links with it and takes the school act of

collective worship/assembly once a week.

12

6. ST. MICHAEL’S SCHOOL OTFORD

St. Michael’s School is a fee paying preparatory school just outside the parish in the

neighbouring parish of Otford.

Until 2000 the church had a full-time Vicar, but when the then Vicar left it became

clear that in view of the size of the village this could not continue. At that time Revd.

Richard Freeman (who was Rector of three neighbouring parishes and also Chaplain

of St. Michael’s) was looking for a new post and his appointment with a two-

thirds/one-third split between Shoreham Parish and St. Michael’s School, Otford was

the happy result.

We are looking for a similar arrangement at the time of this present appointment

although, for technical reasons, the appointment to the school will need to be under

a contract of employment.

This is the first occasion on which the parish and St. Michael’s have together had to

seek a new Vicar/Chaplain. St. Michael’s originated in a High Church tradition which

is different from that of the parish. The parish and St. Michael’s are working together

amicably, determined to make the joint appointment work and agreed that the

individual qualities of the candidate are more important than her or his church

background. However, the new Vicar/Chaplain will need to respect the different

traditions of both the church and St. Michael’s, and is most likely to be someone

from a broad church background, happy with and enthusiastic about a wide range of

worship from the formal to the most informal.

13

7. DIOCESE, DEANERY AND PATRON

Shoreham parish is in the Diocese of Rochester and the Shoreham Deanery.

The patron of Shoreham parish since 1547 has been the Dean and Chapter of

Westminster Abbey. The previous Vicar enjoyed a once-a-year week-day chaplaincy

to visitors at the Abbey. The parish values these links and hopes that they will

continue.

8. ALMSHOUSES

The vicar is an ex officio trustee of the Shoreham Almshouses.

14

9. VICARAGE

A modern vicarage was built in the 1960s. It abuts the churchyard.

Downstairs there is a large study, sitting room, dining room, kitchen, utility room and

WC/cloakroom. Upstairs there are 4 bedrooms, a bathroom and shower room.

There are a garage and gardens.

15

10. THE NEW INCUMBENT

We can offer:

The opportunity to minister and play an active role in a friendly and vibrant

village community in a beautiful part of North Kent

Enthusiastic, committed Christians who realise that unless they embrace and

effect dynamic change the church and the community of faith they love will

have little future.

We are looking for a priest:

Who is willing to work with the PCC and wider congregation to bring about the

change necessary to secure the church’s future

Whose teaching and preaching (while firmly based on the authority of

scripture) has meaning in the context of everyday life

Who values people of all ages, but who has the ability to reach the hearts and

minds of young people, on whom the future of the church depends

Who will enjoy belonging to and engaging with the local community and

offering Christian care, witness and presence amongst those of faith, of little

faith or of no faith.

16

February 2015 church.shoreham@gmail.com