FULMER NEWSLETTER - Fulmer Village

St James’ Church, Fulmer – the 401 st year
Last autumn after our very successful 400 th celebrations, highlighting the uniqueness of
St James, our Rector Martin Williams, held a consultation meeting to consider ideas for
worship and outreach over the next few years. We wanted to share St. James as a place
to worship and pray, also bringing the Church outside its walls and into the community.
A year on we are glad to have brought some of our ideas to fruition. Those of you in
the Village on a Thursday morning will have noticed our ‘Coffee for Parents’ initiative
which we began after Easter and is featured in a separate article by Anne Marie Dickson.
We offer coffee and conversation to anyone passing on Thursday mornings with an
opportunity to go into the church for prayer or just to look round and learn something of
its history. It was a particular joy to welcome some of the parents we have met on
these occasions with their children from Fulmer Infant School to our Harvest
Thanksgiving Service on 2 October.
During the first week in November we held another prayer week, the third this year.
The church was open for prayer from 9.00am to 9.00pm every day with led sessions at
the beginning and end of the day and lunchtime. As before individuals and groups came
in at different times throughout the week. On Thursday morning there was a group of
mums and young children praying in the belfry and a service of Holy Communion for All
Saints day happening in the Chancel – lovely to witness and be part of.
Whilst writing we have just welcomed the 9.00am service from St James, Gerrards Cross
to St James, Fulmer on Sunday mornings whilst the church there is brought up to date
for 21 st century mission. Much planning has gone into making this a smooth transition for
a bigger congregation. We are very grateful to the Black Horse and the Infant School for
making much needed parking spaces available. So there are now three opportunities for
worship in Fulmer on Sunday morning either at 7.45 am, 9.00am or 11.15am.
Back to the summer months we had a very well attended Community Service on 12 June
when Martin Williams, our Rector, dedicated all the 400 th gifts to the church and Pauline
Vahey, Chair of the Parish Council, gave the address at the reception afterwards. The
previous weekend on 5 June we celebrated the 400th anniversary of the King James
Bible with a special service including a history tracing the development of different
versions of the Bible, music from the four centuries as well as selected readings from
the KJV, in some cases with a modern version read alongside the traditional words.
Harvest Supper on 30 September brought a new form of entertainment to the village
with a presentation of ‘Much Ado about Something’ a murder mystery from the Royal
Shake-Up Company! There is a separate report by Edward Guinness about this unique
event which was thoroughly enjoyed by all who came. Thanks are especially due to Ken
Peters who wrote the script, to Fiona Gray who directed, to a very talented cast of
actors from the congregation and to Kay Keane and her chef who provided a wonderful
three course supper with much needed supporting help from Brendan, Gordon
Macfadyen and Tracey Evans.
On 30 October we said a fond but sad farewell to Lady Marian Laing who has been part
of the congregation for over forty years and is going to Scotland to be closer to her
family. Leaving at the same time were Val and Gary Hill who have worked for the
Laing’s for several years and who are moving to live in Sandwich, Kent. These departures
break a long connection between St James, Fulmer and High Meadows where many
lovely Parish Picnics have been held over the years. The following evening, October 31 st
we held a ‘Celebration of Light’ service for the children, organised this year by our