Wye Church
Tonight, Thursday 14 January 2010, I am at Wye church for the licensing of Ravi Holy as the new Priest-in-charge of the United Benefice of Wye with Brook, Eastwell and Boughton Aluph, Hinxhill, Hastingleigh, Petham,Waltham and Elmsted. Ravi has come from a parish in London and a coachload of former parishioners from Battersea have turned up to wish him and his family well in their new parish.
Ravi is taking on a large rural area which takes in parts of Ashford, Canterbury and the village of Elmsted in Shepway. And it is because of Elmsted that I have been invited to make one of the formal welcomes to Ravi.
The service at Wye church
This is my first visit to Wye church but I see a familiar face in Mark Deller. Wye is Mark’s home church and he is leader of the Ashford Choral Society which recently sang so well for the Light the Lanes event in Peene (see post on 12 December). As might be expected, the music is excellent and the congregation joins in enthusiastically.
Ravi is welcomed by people representing different parts of the church and secular communities and the Archdeacon of Canterbury, the Venerable Sheila Watson ‘installs’ the new priest by placing him in his seat (stall).
The service sheet suggest that at the end of the church ‘Applause may be appropriate’ and it certainly is.
After the service everyone is invited to a party at nearby Wye College where Ravi makes a short speech and Battersea people tell us how much they will miss him and how lucky we are to have him.
Cllr Susan Carey, chairman of Shepway District Council with Ravi Holy
Elmsted is a truly rural part of Shepway with small, winding country roads. It is one of the most beautiful parts of Kent. It also has a real sense of community and I am really pleased that Ravi will now be caring for it ecclesiastically just as Jenny Hollingsbee and David Monk care for it at Shepway as the local district councillors.
Tags: Elmsted, Ravi Holy, Wye church