St Peter News July 2022

Flowers at St Peter, part of the Jubilee
Five Church Flower Trail

ST PETER’S NEWSLETTER

JULY 2022

By now the Jubilee will be a distant memory – hats off to
those I know who have washed and ironed yards of bunting.
It always amazes me to observe how, when we have a focus,
we seem to get done all those jobs that we have been
‘meaning to do’. The pile of rubbish which needs to go the
tip and has been on the periphery of your vision for months;
the windows you are always meaning to clean etc. The
Church and the Rectory garden certainly had a spruce up and

my sincere thanks to all of you who contributed in different
ways to make not just the Friday service and Rectory Tea
Party a success, but also planned and laboured over months
and weeks beforehand to give such a splendid occasion.

The Five Church Flower Trail brought in a steady stream of
visitors over the weekend. St Peter was certainly the most
imaginative of the five with each window depicting some
aspect of the Queen’s life.

You may know that the Vice Lord Lieutenant, Sara Stoner and
the High Sheriff, Jane King attended the service at Plumpton
Green and Tea Party and both wrote to say how much they
had enjoyed the day.

“Thank you all for the events on Friday…the Jubilee has been
a wonderful roller coaster of different happenings some of
which will stay in my mind, Plumpton is definitely one I will
treasure… it was a perfect occasion, and the Parish Tea was a
joy if bad for the waistline!” Sara Stonor

“…such a happy atmosphere, the exhibition (children’s
pictures) was very impressive. I loved the depictions of the
Queen in wire…a delicious tea, the best egg sandwiches I’ve
had for a long time!...everyone was so friendly.” Jane King

Looking across the Rectory garden at all the tables and
people everywhere was a joy to see. Many people have said
to me since “what a friendly village.”

I agree, you have something very special in Hamsey and
Plumpton. Perhaps, if you have lived here for years, you may
not appreciate just how special it is – long may it last.

At the heart, it is ‘community’; friendships built over years,
relations and friends linked together with a shared history.

As someone who has moved frequently due to my father’s
job (I went to seven different schools…no I was not
expelled!), I cannot imagine what it must be like to have
grown up all together and how deep the connections and
roots must go.

Our society has and is changing; people are more mobile and
likely to live in several places over their lifetime. It is not easy
to integrate into established communities and, in many
places, there may not even be one as forming community
takes time and effort to create and maintain and often
people are transient, staying only a short while.

Whether friendships last years or only shorter periods, they
input and affect our lives. ‘For a season for a reason’ is an
adage I often say to myself. It does two things for me. It
alerts me to value and pay attention to those with whom my
life presently engages and to understand when this comes to
a natural end, that it is OK, and to thank the connection but
be able to let it go.

The Bible carries images that link with this. One is the
concept of the church not as a building but as people looking
towards God who created and loves them. Such people
often come together; it is an odd community made up of all
kinds of people we might not normally mix with – but we
work at it!

The second image is that of ‘pilgrim’ which is more enigmatic;
we are also alone in our pilgrimage through life. There is the
‘me’ only known to myself. Yet known by God ‘Lord, you
have searched me out and known me…’ writes the psalmist
(Psalm 139).
The prefix ‘com’ in community signifies ‘with’, ‘together’, and
the suffix has the root meaning to ‘strengthen, ‘fortify’.
Certainly, Hamsey and Plumpton communities demonstrate
this.

Hamsey Church
The performance of Beowulf
was a great success and the
church was decorated

appropriately with greenery and
antlers.
A reminder of the Hamsey Open
Day on the 23rd July.

Rev Anne Dunlop
Parish Office 01273 890006