St Peter & St Paul The Parish Church of Saltwood Kent  
St Peter & St Paul
Saltwood school children attend our church Pedlinge Chapel Saltwood Castle Hotel saltwood Village hall Saltwood Village Green Nearby Hythe Beach
EXPERIENCE THE WEEKLY LIFE OF OUR CHURCH
Diocese of Canterbury
Churchyard
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CHURCHYARD FRIENDS
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FRIENDS OF SALTWOOD CHURCHYARD
 
   
The Friends of Saltwood Churchyard :
Was launched towards the end of 1992 to remove the burden of the costs of the churchyard from the main budget. It also enables a wide range of people who have loved ones at rest in the churchyard, and may live many miles away, to contribute towards the maintenance of this lovely churchyard.

Since 1992 professional equipment has been purchased enabling the faithful group of volunteers to carry out the necessary weekly tasks.
Any financial or practical help is welcome in maintaining this special place.

For more information please contact Barrie Marshall, Chairman of the Friends of Saltwood Churchyard

SIT DOWN JOB IN 2008
Dear Friends,
Now that the Christmas melee is over, personal recovery is well underway from the TV repeats, and most of the umpteenth re-hashes of the turkey has been eaten, it’s time to pay the subs for the slimming clubs and the gyms in order to prepare for those summer bikinis and get ready for next Christmas. That of course is the secular bit!
The Christian bit was as wonderful as ever and what joy to see the children’s faces at the Blessing of the Crib plus all the other services we had during the run up to and during the festive season.
Since then, almost as if in retribution, we have had howling gales and lashing rain just to remind us that mid winter is upon us and normal service is to be resumed! Mind you on the odd recent but rare clear day, the evenings are beginning to draw out a little. Whoopee!

Now of course the Churchyard Gang have, after a few days off, resumed work! Clearing up around the edges, fallen branches, lifting the odd headstone and clearing mountains of fallen leaves. All the mowers have had their annual service so we await the bill with baited breath, but we cannot neglect that side of things, or in mid summer with grass around our waistbands the machines would play up hindering the work.
work in our churchyard
work in our churchyard
 

Now what is the heading  “Sit Down Job in 2008“ about?  Lots of volunteers for that work I can hear you say!
Well I am actually referring to a “sit down mower or a ride on mower” to be precise.

Some of the gang are feeling their age, myself included, and two of them have had big operations in the last couple of months so we thought hard and long as to how we might lessen the workload but still enable the large area of the churchyard grass to be maintained to our present standards. We did consider hiring another paid gardener but are reluctant to spend that kind of money on a long-term basis.

So “boys toys” was discussed and last week we purchased a good second hand Countac 300H. This machine will cover a lot of ground in the more open areas, which, when we looked around seemed to be considerable. We will still have to use the normal machines in and out of the headstones of course, but hard work given generously by our gang of volunteers will be reduced considerably. We now have to smoothtalk the Treasurer into parting with some £1500 from your very generous donations or I will have to enrol for washing up at the Castle Pub to pay for it!

Did I mention spring is on the way? Well the churchyard snowdrops are well up as are the daffodils; indeed I have 12 daffs already out completely in the garden so I don’t think it will be too long before we are needed to begin cutting the grass again.

May I and the members of the Churchyard Gang, wish you all a very Happy and Healthy New Year for 2008, and thank you all for remembering the work we all do in our lovely churchyard.

Barrie Marshall
Chair of The Friends of the Churchyard
   

 
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