U n d e r r i v e r

news sheet

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The Church of St Margaret, Underriver

Vicar: Rev Serena Willoughby St Lawrence Vicarage, Stone Street, Sevenoaks, Kent TN15 0LQ

Telephone: 01732 761766 Email: vicar@stlawrencesealchart.com

Church Calendar

St Margaret’s Church Website St Margaret’s now has its own website. To keep up to date about services and events please see

www.stmargaretsunderriver.org.uk

Planned services for the Benefice of St Lawrence and St Margaret's. As this goes to print before the 2nd Dec we know this may need to change. Please check the websites for updates.

Dec 6th - 8am BCP Holy Communion (St Lawrence) 9.45 - Toy Service (St Margaret's)

Dec 13th - 8am BCP Holy Communion (St Margaret's) 9.45 Advent service (St Lawrence) 4pm outdoor Christmas Tree Festival Service (St Margaret's)

Dec 20th - 9.45 Holy Communion (St Lawrence) 5pm Compline - (St Margaret's)

Dec 24th (Christmas Eve) 3-5pm Christmas Crib Journey St Lawrence (come anytime between 3-5pm to take part in a Christmas journey) 3-5pm Christmas Crib St Margaret's (come anytime between 3-5pm to take part in a Christmas journey)

Booking necessary for Christmas Day services.

Booking open for both churches from the 13th Dec at the following email addresses only, sadly we cannot guarantee space in Church without a booking:

St Lawrence - bookingstlawrencechurch@gmail.com

St Margaret's - St.margaretsbookings@gmail.com

Dec 25th Christmas Day

With so much changing all the time we've had to wait and see what happens on the 2nd Dec to then work out what we can provide keeping within Covid regulations on Christmas morning this year. Please keep checking the website for updates.

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Greetings everyone,

I’m writing this on a day when Collins Dictionary have announced their word of the year… No, not Covid, or even Quarantine but…Lockdown. A word previously used in a prison context which has now become mainstream and used by everyone for our everyday situation.

As I listened to the news and wondered what word it would be I thought about words that I would chose this year, this very different year in particular and the one that came to mind was Vulnerable.

We’ve heard this word used in many contexts over the past few months haven’t we, those who are vulnerable health wise have heard it a lot, relationships are vulnerable, the economy is vulnerable, our jobs are vulnerable. There’s a great deal of vulnerability around. Say the word out loud and one feels it deep inside don’t we.

Perhaps then we keep good company with the King of Kings this Christmas in that he chose to become vulnerable, giving up the place in Heaven to enter the world through the vulnerable birth process, to a young vulnerable woman, born into a filthy stable that made his first hours vulnerable and born in a politically vulnerable time.

The thing about being vulnerable is that it makes us realise what is real and what day by day living is about. It connects us with our emotions, our health, our reason for being in a powerful and often terrifying new way.

Jesus birth on that first Christmas was God himself identifying with all that makes us human, and vulnerable. He lived as one of us, experiencing everything that life and death brings. Maybe this year more than ever Christmas has a deeper more profound meaning to each of us because of that.

In a year when we long for all that gives us security and peace we will not “spend” Christmas, nor “observe” Christmas. We will “keep” Christmas—keep it as it is… in all the loveliness and vulnerability of a baby born in a stable into a vulnerable world. Come Lord Jesus.

I just want to add a few notes about services this month, we’ve gone to print before knowing what is happening after Dec 2nd so we’ve planned things with hopeful hearts. Please do check the websites for updates etc. We also for the first time

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FROM THE VICAR

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ever ( and hopefully last) need to ask you to book in if you’d like to come on Christmas Day to a service in Church. We have specific email addresses for this that will be open from the 13th Dec.

Much love to you all this Christmas time,

Serena x

JESUS PEBBLES

All through Advent you may well find these wonderful Jesus Pebbles around the whole Parish, to find on your walks and outings around the place. We're hoping that they'll be a reminder of Jesus being at the heart of Christmas and that people can take one home and put it somewhere that reminds them that Jesus is right here in this world with us - Immanuel.

Make a little crib for it, put it by the kitchen sink, on the front doorstep, on the coffee table etc and if you'd like please do send me a photo at revsev@hotmail.co.uk. If you've already found one and then see more on your walks please leave it for the next person to enjoy.

All the pebbles have our website address on the back so that people can ac-cess the details of our Christmas Services.

mailto:revsev@hotmail.co.uk

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Newsheet Editor After a nearly 8 years editing this monthly magazine, due to a planned

family move to the west country, I need to pass the reins to another. If you have aspirations to edit this esteemed publication for the church and village then please get in touch with Arthur Rucker—PCC Secretary arthurrucker@btinternet.com

Tim—Editor

BENEFICE PRAYER GROUP

Please join us on Zoom at 11:00 on the following dates

Friday December 4 Monday December 14 Tuesday December 22 Wednesday December 30

Please email Maxine at gprfmaxine@hotmail.com for the link

Would be lovely to see you

Maxine x

Ride and Stride 2020

On September 12 th, Libby Notley and Philip Payne cycled to Whitstable in aid of the Friends of Kent Churches. Thankfully it was a fine day.

Thanks to all who sponsored our tandem bikers and raised about £250 (with gift aid). Half goes to the FKCC and half comes back to St Margaret’s.

Huge thanks to Libby and Philip!

Maxine x

mailto:gprfmaxine@hotmail.com

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Please email Maxine at gprfmaxine@hotmail.com

Christmas masks for donation of £5 in aid of

church charities.

The Underriver Christmas Posties

The Christmas card box will be placed in the Church Porch from Friday

27th November & will be removed on Friday 18th December. We will undertake

to deliver your local Christmas cards within the village, all you have to do is put

them in the box. The map of the delivery area will be on top of the box. The

service is free to anyone living in the village, but we are raising money for chari-

ty so all donations (large or small!!) will be gratefully received. The box will be

emptied on a daily basis, so please feel free to leave any donations in the box

along with your cards.

Lucy Weston

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Underriver’s contribution to The Children’s Society

A very big THANK YOU to everyone from the village (and beyond) who participated over the last year in Un-derriver’s Children’s Society charity Boxes. We have despite the incredibly challenging times collected over £450 which will go to support young people in the UK facing abuse, exploitation and neglect. If you are already partici-pating your updated box should have landed on your doorstep – please let me know if it has not. And if you would like to participate please get in touch. It is so easy to donate – you receive a Children’s Society box into which you drop any loose change you have. Once a year we collect the boxes and donate the money to The Children’s Society. Now more than ever before children need our support to ensure they grow and thrive. If you would like to find out more about the Charity’s purpose and activi-ties as well as read some of the wonderful stories of young people’s lives trans-formed please visit their website https://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/

I would also like to say a big thank you to Jennifer Fair who has overseen with humour and incredible organisation skills our contributions over many years. She has now handed me the baton and I can be contacted on Carla.schaeffer@btinternet.com or 07990 571 668.

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POPPY COLLECTION FOR THE ROYAL BRITISH LEGION 2020 With the coronavirus hampering our usual collection process, we have not been able to do door to door collections this year. Never the less we have managed to collect a total of £922.26.

The church collection did very well at the Service of Remembrance collecting £791.39 Thank you to those involved in organising that on the day.

Thank you also to the White Rock Inn and St. Julians for having collection boxes too. May 2021 be a better year for us all.

Louise Hayward

Chickens looking for Happy Homes

We are depopulating our chicken hut and have chickens looking for happy homes. They are around 2-3 years old and £2.50 each. Although they are not laying that many eggs at the moment they will continue to lay you many eggs over many years; just not enough for us trying to do it commercially.

Ring Fidelity on 01732 463372 or email romshed@weald.co.uk to let me know if you are interested.

Fidelity Weston www.romshedfarm.co.uk 01732 463372

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ONLINE CONCERT DECEMBER 6TH 2020

In aid of St Lawrence Seal and St Margaret’s Underriver Church funds

Produced by John Morris

Presented by The Clemence Charitable Trust (Reg no: 283114)

Featuring

Lauren Joyanne Morris (Mezzo Soprano)

Greg Tassell (Tenor)

Jo Ramadan (Piano)

David Flood (Organ)

The concert will be available on YouTube from 6pm on December 6th until Christmas and ticket holders will be advised of the access link ahead of the con-cert.

Tickets are priced at £15 per household (£20 for any one outside Europe) and are available by application on the attached form from John Clemence on which you can also include a donation. It is essential that you provide an email ad-dress so that the link may be sent to you some 48 hours before the perfor-mance. No actual tickets will be issued.

Your application will be acknowledged by email. This letter and the applica-tion form will be attached. We would urge you to forward them to family and friends wherever they are so that they will also be able to enjoy the concert.

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Underriver Village Association

Chairman: Miles Hayward

Annual Membership £10 per household - To join contact uvasecretary@hotmail.com

Pilates Classes

Mondays 7:30 pm Tuesdays 9:25 am

Contact: Ivonne Kainer 07730 919774

BOOT CAMP Fast paced circuit based workout

Every Tuesday 7.30pm Contact: Chris -

email: Cris_kempton@live.com or call 07796 693756

Cookies Kitchen Children's cookery classes held during

school holidays & at weekends. For further information -

email: carol@cookieskitchen.co.uk or call 07786 271227

Dog walking & puppy visits

Call Sian on: 07788 219 509. Or email: sianthedogwalker@gmail.com

Lived in Underriver 15 years. Qualified canine first aider.

Fully insured.

English for Au Pairs

Classes in Hildenborough contact Lucy Curtis

07903 109441 www.englishforaupairs.co.uk

Second Wind Band

A friendly concert band of wind and brass musicians that rehearses each Friday from

6.45pm to 8.45pm in Underriver Village Hall. If you would like to join us please

email membership@secondwind.org.uk

Underriver ladies choir

A fun choir for beginners Monday mornings 9.30-10.50

Contact Belinda Goodwin 01732 833943 Bindy1@icloud.com

Sevenoaks Mobile Foot Clinic All your Foot Care Needs in the comfort of

your own home. Discounts for Underriver Residents

Fully Qualified, Registered and Insured Contact Joanne on 07584 209 350

local resident

mailto:uvasecretary@hotmail.com

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NEW DATE

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Underriver Christmas Balloon Race

With all our activities curtailed this year the UVA have come up with a Christmas activity that Covid can’t cancel & will hopefully provide some festive fun. More importantly, it will hopefully raise monies for some of the charities that have missed out on our fundraising this year.

The Underriver Christmas Balloon Race will take place “virtually”, managed through the website: www.balloonrace.com/underriver. The race will start on Tuesday 15th December & finish on Sunday 20th De-cember. You will be able to follow your balloons journey by logging into the website through the link above.

How to Enter There will be two types of balloon available to buy:

Children’s Balloons – £5 for 2 balloons There are 4 colours to choose from all with a Christmas theme:

Green (Snowman), Gold (Reindeer), Red (Candy Cane), White (Santa Hat)

Household Balloon - £10 each All these balloons are yellow.

http://www.balloonrace.com

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If you would like to buy balloons for the race all you need do is email me with the balloons / colour you want to purchase & names to be linked to them. I will then confirm this & advise monies due. Payment will be by bank transfer to the “Underriver Village Association” bank account no: 00309049, sort code: 309749. Alternatively, you can pay by cheque made payable to “Underriver Village Association” & sent to Robert Talbot, Weald Heights, Fawke Common, Underriver, TN15 0SP.

The closing date for entries will be the 12th December

Prizes

The first three Children’s Balloons travelling the furthest will receive Amazon vouchers to the value of: 1st - £20, 2nd - £15, 3rd - £10

The Household Balloon travelling the furthest will receive Amazon vouchers to the value of £30. Winners will be notified on Monday 21st December

The surplus from this event will be donated to the children’s charity Demelza & The RBL Poppy Appeal.

Please note: This event is licensed under the Gambling Act 2005 as a “Free Draw”. As such you have the option of entering the balloon race without having to pay. If you decide to choose this option please state this clearly in your email.

Hope you are able to support this & wishing you a fair wind!!

Robert Talbot

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LOCAL THEATRE IN DECEMBER AND JANUARY

Sadly the second lockdown has largely scuppered local theatre

for the time being. However, both Sevenoaks’ Stag Theatre

(01732 450175, enquiries@stagsevenoaks.co.uk) and Tunbridge

Wells’ Assembly Hall Theatre (01892 530613, boxof-

fice@tunbridgewells.gov.uk) are planning Pantos and some other

events this winter – details below. Neither Trinity nor the Oast

have published any December or January shows on their web-

sites – although I would expect Trinity (enquiries @trintytheatre.net) at least to show

screened live performances when it is safe to do so.

Pantos

Between Friday 18th December and Sunday 3rd January (except 21st, 25th and 31st De-

cember) the Assembly Hall Theatre’s panto will be Jack and the Beanstalk. They

say they have pulled out all the stops to bring us a Pop-Up Panto for all the family, so-

cially distanced but full of fun – smaller than usual, but perfectly formed and still packing

a punch.

Also running between Friday 18th December and 3rd January (except 25th December)

will be the Stag’s panto Jack and the Two Metre Beanstalk. Silly Billy (Ant Payne)

will bring much needed merriment, as Mandy Mullen (Britain’s Got Talent magician and

comedienne) plays the wicked fairy Fleshcreep, while Rosie Glossop (Kinky Boots) and

Priscilla Queen of the Desert sprinkle magic over the beans. Jacob McIntosh (Kinky

Boots, Beautiful) will play Jack Trott, while panto writer Jamie Alexander Wilson will

complete the cast of five to play his Mum. The show will run for 1½ hours without an

interval.

Book early, but check whether refunds will be offered if coronavirus causes cancellations.

Comedy.

The Assembly Hall hopes to hold its monthly Comedy Store on Saturday 12th

December – but this date is still to be confirmed.

A more certain starter will be Missus on Friday 29th January. Katharine Ryan’s

one‑woman show will give us her hilarious new perspectives on life, love and what it means to be Missus. Having previously denounced partnership, Katherine has since mar-

ried her first love … accidentally.

Screened live performance.

On Sunday 13th December, the Stag plans to show Warhorse from the National

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LOCAL THEATRE

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Theatre. Based on Michael Morpurgo’s much-loved novel, this wonderful play about a

horse in World War I was built around the Handspring Puppet Company’s astonishing

life-size puppets.

Winter.

As there has been so little to write about this month, let’s finish the year with Shake-

speare’s Winter, which brings down the curtain on Love’s Labour’s Lost.

1Blows on his hands. 2Scrub, from turning a boat upside down and scrubbing barnacles from its bottom. 3Sermon. 4Crab-apples.

I don’t think Tu-whoo is really a merry note, but maybe Tu-whit might sound merry if

you’d drunk enough ale or sack before hearing it!

Arthur Rucker.

(Continued from page 14)

When icicles hang by the wall, And Dick the shepherd blows his nail1, And Tom bears logs into the hall, And milk comes frozen home in pail, When blood is nipp’d and ways be foul, Then nightly sings the staring owl, Tu-whoo;

Tu-whit, tu-whoo – a merry note, While greasy Joan doth keel2 the pot.

When all aloud the wind doth blow, And coughing drowns the parson’s saw3, And birds sit brooding in the snow, And Marian’s nose looks red and raw, When roasted crabs4 hiss in the bowl, Then nightly sings the staring owl, Tu-whoo; Tu-whit, tu-whoo – a merry note, While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.

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Newssheet subscription: £10.00 or £15.00 for postal subscribers. Cheques payable to St Margaret’s Church, Underriver or cash should be handed to the person who delivers your

newssheet or Belinda Goodwin, The Kentish Barn, Underriver, TN15 0SJ.

Useful Names and Addresses Church Wardens Maxine Clark, Holt Lodge, Vines Lane, Hildenborough, TN11 9LT; 833376 Libby Notley, Tudor House, Underriver, TN15 0SL; 763360 Parish Safeguarding Officer - Maxine Clark - (01732 833376)

Parish Administrative Assistant Tim Pierce admin@stlawrencesealchart.com

Underriver Village Association Secretary: Robert Talbot, Weald Heights, Fawke Common, Underriver, TN15 0SP; 761546. uvasecretary@hotmail.co.uk

Village Hall Reservations Hall Bookings Secretary: Elizabeth Shirtcliff underriverhallbookings@hotmail.com

www.underriver-village.org.uk Omar Mullick , omz2010@gmail.com

Horticultural Society Secretary: Christopher Hurrion, churrion@aol.com

Cricket Club Captain: Kendall Jarrett 07919 869638

Scotts Project Secretary: Jill Scott, 833498.

Kent County Council Cllr. Roger Gough Roger.Gough@kent.gov.uk

Sevenoaks District Council Ward Representatives Roderick Hogarth, 01732 760325 cllr.hogarth@sevenoaks.gov.uk

Julia Thornton, 07831 234449 cllr.thornton@sevenoaks.gov.uk

Seal Parish Council ww.sealparishcouncil.org.uk Clerk - Clare Boland ; 01732 833360 sealparishc@btconnect.com Tim Martin; 07929 839914 sealpc@btconnect.com Fidelity Weston: 463372 romshed@weald.co.uk

All contributions should be submitted to the editor by 15th of the preceding month.

Editor Tim Pierce, 1 Grenadier Cottages, Riding Lane, Hildenborough TN11 9QH

01732 832408 underrivernews@gmail.com Printed by Sarum Graphics

Rotas for St Margaret’s

In view of the continuing & un-predictable changes in the rules on public worship I have not included any rotas here. Please await further announcements.

Editor