Kingston Past & Present

From Corfe Castle Parish Council’s July 2020 report:

The Council considered the erection of an agricultural Barn at Lynch
Farmhouse, Kingston. The Council consider the proposed barn to
be too big for the suggested purpose giving regard to the farmland.
They have asked the planning officers to consider this.

From Corfe Castle Parish Council’s June 2020 report:

The Council’s Speed Indicator Device is on order and the
post will soon be installed on East Street near the bottom of
Kingston Hill. The SID will be moved between this post and
the existing post at Castle View.

As you are probably all aware Church services are suspended for the foreseeable future. Other events cancelled are our two concerts David Orr in March and The Mayday Singers in April plus the Coffee and Hot Cross Buns on the lawn on Good Friday morning.

Cancelling events is a blow for us, as it is for a lot of organisations, as we are fundraising for repairs to the porch roof and also basically to keep the church afloat.

With our reserves dwindling we have, reluctantly, switched off the night time floodlights at the church as we feel unable to justify the expense unless we are able to attract some sponsorship either corporate or personal. We need approximately £500 per year to fund the lights. We would be happy to erect a board advertising who is sponsoring the lights either for the year or per month if anyone felt able to contribute even a small amount. I realise we all have more important things than the Church lights to worry about at present but we felt we should explain why the church is in darkness.

We hope the current state of affairs with older people self-isolating and all the difficulties that brings with only be for a short while but should
anyone in Kingston need help or shopping done please contact one of the Dubbra Support Groups run by either Langton or Worth. (I am among the ones told to self-isolate so probably personally should not visit).

Let us hope we all stay healthy during the weeks ahead and pray for a speedy return to normal life.

Doreen Farr, PCC Secretary

Our service at St James’s on Sunday 2 February at 9.30am is a Benefice Service for all the seven parishes of the new St Aldhelm’s Benefice. This will be a special occasion as it is the first time we have all worshipped together and it is hoped that people from all the parishes will come and join us. The Occasional Singers will be in attendance so we will have some wonderful singing to enjoy. Hoping to see you there. Refreshments will be served after the service.

If anyone feels they could spare some time to help clean the brass in the church from time to time please contact me. Any help would be gratefully received.

Doreen Farr, PCC Secretary

The second Saturday in September was a lovely day for the Dorset ‘Ride and Stride’ to raise funds for the Dorset Historic Churches Trust. A few of us from St James’ took part and then served refreshments at Kingston to the intrepid walkers that called in. We had 26 people call in plus several tourists who joined us so it was a very nice social occasion and we had a very pleasant day and hopefully raised quite a bit of money. The weekend locally was very busy what with the Nordic Walking Festival, the Marathon and a Cycle Ride plus the Ride and Stride.

We were lucky enough to have been given a grant of £3,000 from the Dorset HCT this year towards the renovation of the stained glass window in the Lady Chapel so felt this was an occasion we should support as their help is much needed in many churches with ongoing maintenance and repairs if we are to preserve these beautiful buildings.

This year, we are not holding our Harvest Lunch at Kingston but are joining with Langton at the Benefice Harvest Supper on 30 September which all are welcome to attend.

The Natalie Klein concert at Kingston at the beginning of September was well attended and enjoyed by all who came. We are hoping to organize more concerts by various musicians next year to make use of the wonderful acoustics in the Church.

Enjoy the Autumn, hopefully, with some good weather now things have quietened down a bit in the area.

Doreen Farr, PCC secretary

The repairs and restoration of the stained-glass window in The Lady Chapel have now been completed and it has been returned to its former glory which is a great joy to look at. Many thanks to Dan Humphries and his team for an excellent job done within the time frame quoted. Many thanks to everyone who contributed to the appeal for funds. We are still a bit short of the total needed so if anyone felt able to assist us we would be very grateful.

On Sunday, 21 July Anne and Alan Fry are hosting an Open Garden afternoon with music, light lunches and cream teas (with prosecco if wished) and a few stalls and a raffle at Greystone Court, Kingston from 12 midday until 5pm. There will also be a display of model aircraft flying and a display of vintage cars. Do come along as it should be a very enjoyable afternoon with the profit going to Swanage Stroke Club, Purbeck Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme and Swanage Food Bank. We have music from Harmony Rocks choir, the Eukele group and Karen Grant so it should be a very varied programme. Kingston Church are running a Tombola stall so any prizes for this would be much appreciated.

Our thanks to Belinda and Peter Bell for hosting a Strawberry Cream Tea at Scoles Manor in May which raised just over £400 for church funds. It was well attended despite the weather not being very kind and the magnificent views made up for the lack of sunshine. Thank you to everyone who contributed to the event or helped with it. All we need now is some sunshine for the summer.

Doreen Farr, PCC Secretary

We recently had our Quinquennial architect’s inspection of St James’ at Kingston which has highlighted various essential and some desirable repairs. We will undertake the essential repairs and such of the desirable repairs as we can afford which, to be honest, is not many.

One of the beautiful stained glass windows is badly damaged with calcium deposits and we have obtained estimates to have this repaired and also to try to remedy the reason that this happens. The repairs will be in excess of £5,000 for the window. We have applied to various Trusts for funding but, as is customary with these things, we are expected to raise at least half of the money ourselves.

Over the next few months we will be organising some events to raise money for our ‘Window Fund’. If anyone has any ideas or would be willing to hold an event to raise funds or if anyone feels able to give us a donation, which would be very much appreciated, please contact me at window_fund [at] kingstonopc.org.uk replacing [at] with the @ symbol.

We were very pleased to be given a donation last year to enable us to keep the church floodlit for the next year and we express our gratitude to the people concerned.

Doreen Farr, PCC Secretary