Holy Week at Hernhill: village green Cross and Zoom services

There is now a wooden cross on the Green which will be bare all through this coming week, Holy Week, but on Easter Day it will be covered with netting so that anyone who would like to can place flowers, prayers or messages on the cross.  They can be in memory of a loved one who has died, a prayer, a thanksgiving or simply placed in celebration of the resurrection.

EU1IB4zXkAAz22oYou will need to observe social distancing and may like to wear gloves to place your flowers / prayers / messages and sanitize your hands before and after.

As we go through this coronavirus emergency more than ever we need to be reminded there is no darkness that God, in the end, cannot turn to good.  Please do come anytime during Easter Day and help make our cross a symbol of resurrection and new life.

Holy Week and Easter services

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday 7.30 pm

Night Prayer with short address (Zoom only)

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Maundy Thursday 7.30 pm Holy Communion  (Zoom only)

Good Friday, 2 pm (Zoom only)

Easter Day 10 am Holy Communion (Zoom only)

Anyone is welcome to join in our Zoom services but you need an invitation, please email jeanburrows@jeanius.me.uk.  Zoom services are 40 minutes max.

There are also lots of resources online, radio and television to accompany us through Holy Week and Easter.

A message from Reverend Jean

Hello everyone, I hope you are all keeping safe and well. I’m sure you’ve all heard on the news that all worship services as well as all our church events have been suspended until further notice. I’m very disappointed to say this includes our Hernhill 900 events, we had a big village celebration event on the Green planned for mid-June and many other special events throughout the year. Hopefully once this pandemic is over we will be able to hold our celebration events, even if it is 900+1.
 
20180410_161550Although church services are no longer being held the church still exists and we are still able to worship, albeit in a different way. There are many resources online and I’ve also sent out resources to regular church members by email and post, please contact me if you would like to receive these. A reminder that Hernhill Church is still open during the day every day so do go in if you would like to, we are also going to put some extra prayer resources in there to help you reflect and pray, especially with Easter approaching.
 
Baptisms and weddings can still go ahead in church but only five people can attend, including me, so most have been postponed. This also affects funerals where immediate family only may attend although this advice may change and crems and funeral directors may also have their own rules about attendance.
 
20180410_162222The caring and concern people within our villages are showing for those who are vulnerable and self-isolating is heart-warming but at the same time we see horrendous selfishness and greed as people are binge-buying, please don’t do it, it’s not necessary. Remember to keep social distancing however old you are. If there is anything that you think I might be able to help you with or if you would like specific prayer please get in touch.
 
Keep well, keep praying, keep connected.
 
Revd Jean
01227 751410 jeanburrows@jeanius.me.uk

Hernhill 900

This year Hernhill will be celebrating 900 years of St. Michael’s Church!

Celebrations will include:

Friday 7th March – presentation about the stained glass windows

Friday 15th May – Launch of new church guide & talk on the history of the church

Friday 22nd May – Concert by the University of Kent Chamber Choir

3rd – 5th July – Flower Festival

and most importantly

20 – 21st June – Celebration Weekend! Including events and entertainment on the Village Green and special celebration service on the 21st at 11.00am.

and more to follow…….


Image: St. Michael’s, Hernhill. Watercolour by Ted Battersea

 

All fright on the night…

Hernhill village has become a hotbed of horror, and terrors await the unwary traveller trespassing on the roads this Halloween. Skeletons, vampires, witches and strange ghostly figures lurk behind fences; hedgerows strewn with cobewbs teem with giant spiders; ghastly mannequins wait to surprise passers-by; dare YOU tread these historic paths on these dark nights during the Halloween period ?!

20191027_114210If so, then collect a map from Summer Leas Farm for £2, and trace your fearful footsteps throughout the trail leading through the village; the trail lasts all this week, with a ghostly Grand Finale at Summer Leas Farm on 31 October from 6.30pm. Proceeds from this terrifying odyssey will go towards a fund-raiser to celebrate the village church’s 900th anniversary throughout 2020.

Grab and map; will you make it through the village alive ?

All the fun of the (wedding fair) at Mount Ephraim

If you’re planning your special day, and have found the frock, the shoes, the band and the groom but are still looking for somewhere for it all to unfold, then the lavish grounds of Mount Ephraim Gardens might have some ideas for you as it hosts a Wedding Open Day on Sunday 27th October from 2pm-5pm.

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The ten-acre classical gardens set in the idyllic Kent countryside offers an outdoor wedding setting in picturesque grounds in the village of Hernhill in Kent. The private home with its sweeping staircase, high ceilings, stunning 360-degree views over t beautiful gardens, with its idyllic romantic wedding pavilion provides a magical,  romantic place to host your wedding ceremony and reception.

1000_1000_scaled_1807034_mount-ephrai-201602161235347113803978A spacious wedding suite is big enough for the bride and bridesmaids to hang out, and with five on-site bed and breakfast rooms and the recent addition of a  Garden Wing providing luxurious self-catering accommodation for twelve, there’s certainly lenty of room for the wedding party to stay.

The Wedding Open Day on  27th October offers a chance to meet Mount Ephraim’s dedicated Wedding Team and their favourite suppliers, all with the purpose of creating and making your dream day come true. The Open Day offers free entry and free parking, and the promise of make-up and hair trials, goodie bags for all prospective brides and Prosecco and canapes on arrival. All you need now is the confetti and shoes suitable for dancing…

Find out more online here.

Halloween trail through Hernhill

Calling all budding crafters, hobbyists, artist, scupltors, bodge-it quick-fixers, lovers of fancy-dress and costumes, pumpkin-carvers and anyone else!

There are plans to bring the village together for a Halloweenfest this November, with a trail leading through Hernhill beginning the weekend of 26/27 October, lasting throughout the following week with a grand finale at Summer Lees Farm on 31 October from 6.30pm.

We need YOU to get involved, by creating a decoration – however large or small – which needs to be able to be seen from the road or path, which can be spotted in daylight and early evenings. There will be a small charge for a map of the route to encourage goodly folk young and old to follow, as part of plans to gather fund for the Hernhill 900-year anniversary celebrations, culminating in a special celebratory weekend on 20/21 June in 2020. It’ll be all fright on the night.

Those interested, please contact either Joy Pritchard or Jane Foreman, or simply email the Forum and we’ll be able to put you in touch. The more, the scarier…

Image: (c) David Menidrey via Unsplash

Pip, pip: Apple Sunday at Mount Ephraim

The lovely grounds of Mount Ephraim Gardens will once again be hosting its seasonal celebration of The Apple in its last event of the summer on Sunday 15 September.

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Image (c): Mount Ephraim Gardens

mounteapplesOpen from 11am to 5pm, the annual Apple Sunday features tours and tastings, and includes fabulous Birds of Prey displays at 12.30pm & 2.30pm. The terrace will host live music from local group Cloud Nine Jazz between 2pm to 4pm, and there’s the mouth-watering prospect of wine tastings from Chartham Vineyards. A variety of suitably apple-themed refreshments will also served from the Garden Tea Room, and the event includes activities for children.

Usual garden entrance applies for this event: £7 adults / £2.50 children (aged 4 – 16) / £17 family ticket (2 adults and 2 children), and there is free parking for all visitors

Tickets available here; a feast of fruit next weekend as the summer season draws to a close.

Eggciting times ahead at Mount Ephraim

There’s plenty to get eggcited about over Easter at Mount Ephraim Gardens, including an Easter Egg Trail over the Bank Holiday Weekend.

ME_EasterTrail

Over Sunday 21 and Monday 22 April, families can enjoy seasonal events at Mount Ephraim; and looking ahead to the May Bank Holiday, the popular Pat-a-Lamb event returns. The Gardens and Tea Room will officially open next week, on Weds 3 April.

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Image (c) Mount Ephraim Gardens

Whether you’re eggstatic about Easter or feeling a little sheepish, find out what’s going on online here.

(No more puns, we promise…)