Editorial
As the festive season of Christmas approaches my thoughts usually turn to churches as I seem to get involved in so many carol services! One particular carol service I always enjoy (if I’m not playing elsewhere) is the annual candlelit service at Ewelme Church. This has been a great tradition over the years and is one occasion each year when the church is packed out.
Recently there was a meeting held at the church when the future plans were discussed after the Rev’d Martin Garner decides to officially hang up his cassock! I was concerned to hear that a new rector would not be appointed and that there was a chance that Ewelme Church would be subsumed into another parish, thus losing its identity and just being an add-on to another over-worked vicar. However, my fears were reduced when an idea was put forward about someone being appointed to the task on a ‘part-time’ basis – ie working 20 hours a week and based in Ewelme. The picture in my mind of a church falling into disuse and lacking any maintenance still haunts me!
I, like many other villagers, would not want to think of our great historic church becoming a derelict heap for future generations to gawp at. (Thanks, by the way, to Brian Smailes who was able to create this awful scenario of the possible future of Ewelme Church.)
By chance I happened to be at a function in Newbury where the future plans of the civic church of St Nicolas were being unveiled. At it happens, the Bishop of Oxford, John Pritchard was also attending. I plucked up courage to ask him what his thoughts were on the future of Ewelme Church. He was somewhat surprised by my question, being as we were in Newbury, but went on to say that “Ewelme is a lovely village with an absolute gem of a church”. I pressed him further as to how he saw our church’s future and he said that the ideal scenario was not to have a full-time rector or to be ‘taken over’ by another parish but to have someone paid to work for 20 hours a week and living in the village. This was one of the ideas mentioned at the meeting in Ewelme Church. I thanked him for his honest answer, breathed a sigh of relief and continued eating my second helping of chilli con carne!
As the Christmas season approaches and we all become somewhat manic with present buying and card sending and food preparations, may I take this opportunity to wish all the readers of the Ewelme News a happy and peaceful Christmas and New Year.
The Editor