Dear friends,

This Saturday we saw the tail end of the Rhododendrons near Leith Hill Place. We also finally visited the house. It was lovely to look around the place that was once the home of Ralph Vaughan Williams.

I’m sure you probably all know this but I had to think what St MM meant when I read attached notes: St Mary Magdalen. This is obviously just for those who are as unobservant as I am! Do please make an effort to come to café church in the Weald next week and support this work in the community.

God bless,

Dineke van den Bogerd

Notes-20250601.pdf

Weekly Notes
Readings-20250601.pdf

Pentecost issue

‘To be filled with the Spirit is to have the Spirit fulfilling in us all that God intended him to do when he placed him there’
Lewis S Chafer

Inspire-June_2025_website.pdf

Liz’s Letter

June is a particularly joyful month for us this year as we continue our Easter celebrations. The Easter season concludes in June, and we’ll mark this with the celebration of Pentecost—the fulfillment of Christ’s promise with the arrival of the Holy Spirit, which completes and crowns the Easter Festival.

We’ll be holding a special Pentecost Holy Communion service at St Margaret’s, Ockley on the day itself. Following that, our Cafe Church will meet at The Weald School from 11am, where we’ll enjoy a joint school and church family picnic. Everyone is warmly invited—please do join us!

Later in the month, we’ll be attending Gill’s ordination service at Guildford Cathedral—appropriately named The Cathedral Church of the Holy Spirit! This marks the culmination of Gill’s three-year journey of training for ordination, and we’re excited to celebrate this milestone with her.

Gill will first be ordained as a Deacon, and then, a year later, as a Priest. This is the journey for all clergy— we all begin as Deacons and all are essentially Deacons in heart. The Deacon year is especially focused on service, symbolised by the stole worn diagonally across the body, echoing Jesus’ example of washing His disciples’ feet. It is a time of living out our calling to serve, and to share God’s love and grace with the community we’re placed in.

Everyone is warmly invited to attend the ordination service at the Cathedral. However, please speak to me in advance, as parking is limited and seating must be taken by a specific time.

After the service, we’ll be holding a special bring-and-share lunch at Ockley Village Hall from 1pm, and everyone is most welcome to join us there too!

This June, we mark 10 years of the Dorking Food Bank. While it’s not a celebration in the traditional sense—since the need for food banks is a sobering reality of modern life—it is an opportunity to recognise the vital support it offers to so many. For those facing hardship, the Food Bank is a lifeline, offering not only practical help but also a warm welcome and a comforting cup of tea.

I recently visited one of their sessions and spoke with a client whose life has been significantly impacted by the care and support received from the Dorking team. Their presence has played a key role in her journey toward better health.

Vouchers for the Food Bank are now available online, or you can speak with me or Sylvie Beckett, our Pastoral Assistant—we both have vouchers ready to distribute.

To honour a decade of service, our parish is launching an initiative called Donate 10. This could be 10 food items, 10 carrier bags, or a £10 donation. Feel free to get creative—every contribution, large or small, helps. Whether it’s food donations or funds to allow the Food Bank to purchase supplies in bulk, your generosity makes a real difference.

You can drop off food donations inside St John the Baptist Church—just place them in the collection box and we’ll ensure they reach the Food Bank. For monetary donations, feel free to speak with us directly or give online at www.dorkingarea.foodbank.org.uk <www.dorkingarea.foodbank.org.uk/>.

Thank you in advance for your continued support!

Meanwhile I pray that you will know the love and peace of Christ through the Holy Spirit and know that we as your parish churches are here to love and serve you.

With my love and prayers

Liz

Revd.Liz Richardson
liz@hostmyserver.co.uk

Dear friends,

On our way to the Netherlands two weeks ago we had a visit from this young seagull, whilst waiting for the ferry. He was very comfortably sunning himself on the bonnet of our car. His mate was looking at us through the transparent roof.

We finally had some rain last night. Not quite enough to satisfy the garden plants but very welcome indeed. The slugs like it too but we desperately needed this rain. It’s unfortunate that it comes on bank holiday weekend but the temperatures are good so let’s make the most of it!

God bless,

Dineke van den Bogerd

Notes-20250525.pdf

Weekly Notes
Readings-20250525.pdf

Dear friends,

What a gorgeous sky we had last Wednesday at our B&B. I don’t recall ever having seen a stripy sky like this before. It was like an irregular zebra crossing all the way to the horizon.

Tomorrow I will set up the LOAF stall again in church. I hope you will bring some cash or credit cards to purchase some of the lovely goods on offer.

God bless,

Dineke van den Bogerd

Notes-20250518.pdf

Weekly Notes
Readings-20250518.pdf

Dear friends,

This week my 40 year old niece died.
She was severely disabled but anyone who would talk across her would do so at their peril: she had a keen intellect. It saddens me that I feel the need to explain this to people. With all the progress we have made as humankind many of us still haven’t learned to look past what we feel is the norm. We should not hesitate to take the plunge and interact with people who act, look or sound differently. We should all know by now that we are all God’s creatures, loved equally by Him and we should follow where He leads.

Please note that cafe church is in St John tomorrow. The weather is gorgeous but still a bit cold for our guitarists.

Today’s picture is of our balloon flight 2 weeks ago. It took us from Billingshurst to Petworth in perfect weather.

God bless

Dineke van den Bogerd

Notes-20250511.pdf

Weekly Notes
Readings-20250511.pdf

Dear friends,

In the Netherlands May 4 is remembrance day, the eve of liberation day when the country was completely freed of German occupation by English, Canadian, American, Polish and Dutch forces.
The Polish and Dutch forces may surprise you but during the occupation many young Dutchmen escaped across the North sea and trained to fight. Many Polish lads made their way to the UK as well via various routes and fought alongside the English. Also, the south of the Netherlands was liberated almost a year before the north giving southern lads the opportunity and incentive to fight.
On May 4 the national flag is flown half mast from all official buildings and many private houses. The orange pennant must be omitted for this occasion as it is for Royal family occasions only. Most churches will be ringing a single bell from 19:45 till 19:59 and at 20:00 is the time for the two minutes silence. After the silence the flag is raised to full until sunset. On 5 May the flag is raised again in celebration, without the pennant, and the celebrations begin.

The picture today is of the climbing rose we bought several years ago and feels quite at home, mixed with the Wisteria next to it. It’s called Maigold and always flowers early May.

God bless,

Dineke van den Bogerd

Notes-20250504.pdf

Weekly Notes
Readings-20250504.pdf

Dear friends,

In the Netherlands May 4 is remembrance day, the eve of liberation day when the country was completely freed of German occupation by English, Canadian, American, Polish and Dutch forces.
The Polish and Dutch forces may surprise you but during the occupation many young Dutchmen escaped across the North sea and trained to fight. Many Polish lads made their way to the UK as well via various routes and fought alongside the English. Also, the south of the Netherlands was liberated almost a year before the north giving southern lads the opportunity and incentive to fight.
On May 4 the national flag is flown half mast from all official buildings and many private houses. The orange pennant must be omitted for this occasion as it is for Royal family occasions only. Most churches will be ringing a single bell from 19:45 till 19:59 and at 20:00 is the time for the two minutes silence. After the silence the flag is raised to full until sunset. On 5 May the flag is raised again in celebration, without the pennant, and the celebrations begin.

The picture today is of the climbing rose we bought several years ago and feels quite at home, mixed with the Wisteria next to it. It’s called Maigold and always flowers early May.

God bless,

Dineke van den Bogerd

Notes-20250504.pdf

Weekly Notes
Readings-20250504.pdf

Dear Friends,

I hope you had a happy Easter and have been enjoying this very warm spring of late. As I am writing this letter for May we have just celebrated Easter at our churches. It was a blessed occasion and it is so wonderful to fill the church with flowers after the floral austerity of Lent and Good Friday to welcome once again our risen Lord Jesus! If you visit our churches you will see the Easter or Paschal Candle in a prominent position – a rather larger candle than usual this year – which symbolises the resurrection of Christ. We have a new Paschal Candle each Easter and I love that it is there to remind us that Jesus is the light of the world. It has wax carvings on it indicating different aspects of God and it always has the Greek letters alpha and omega, which symbolise that God is the beginning and the end. In fact this year in our opening liturgy on Easter Day we said these words:
Christ yesterday and today, the beginning and the end, Alpha and Omega,
all time belongs to him, and all ages.
I love this, that all time and all ages belong to him. It is like the view from a mountain top, or even from the valley below looking up – giving us a sense of perspective on our lives and giving us a sense of the divine, that there is more out there than we can possibly imagine.

Recently we had our Annual Parochial Church meeting, a time to review the past 12 months and recognise and acknowledge all that has been done in the service of God in the life of our churches through worship, prayer, pastorally and socially in many different ways. We began by electing our Churchwardens for each church. This happens every year and we are thankful that our wardens are happy to serve for more than one year only!! Norman Ede has been a Churchwarden for over 10 years and this year made the decision to stand down so that he has more time for family and other commitments. Thankfully Norman will still be very much supporting us in many ways with our various projects. We wish him and George and the family every blessing for the future. Even more we are pleased that Stuart Cole has agreed to stand as Churchwarden in Norman’s place, along with Andy Carr, as a deputy warden ( kind of deputy sheriff!!) Joy Harman has agreed to continue, despite some aches and pains of late, and we hope that she will soon be back in action. For St Margaret’s at Ockley, James Lee-Steere kindly continues as Churchwarden supported by their wonderful church wardening team… All in all as we read through the annual report for 2024/25 much has been achieved and accomplished by all who attend and support our wonderful beautiful village churches. A huge thank you to everyone and especially you our parishioners! We shall soon be gearing ourselves up for our season of fundraising at our local shows but one very special project is soon to get underway later this year. We now have the necessary permission to prepare and establish a new Garden of Remembrance at the top left of our Churchyard. Full of brambles at the moment we hope to transform this area into a beautiful space for folk to sit a while and experience some quiet and peace, to remember those whose ashes will be interred there, but most of all perhaps to ponder those words we said on Easter Day above.

Christ yesterday and today, the beginning and the end, Alpha and Omega,
all time belongs to him, and all ages.

With my love and prayers as ever
Liz

Revd.Liz Richardson
liz@hostmyserver.co.uk

Dear Friends,

I hope you had a happy Easter and have been enjoying this very warm spring of late. As I am writing this letter for May we have just celebrated Easter at our churches. It was a blessed occasion and it is so wonderful to fill the church with flowers after the floral austerity of Lent and Good Friday to welcome once again our risen Lord Jesus! If you visit our churches you will see the Easter or Paschal Candle in a prominent position – a rather larger candle than usual this year – which symbolises the resurrection of Christ. We have a new Paschal Candle each Easter and I love that it is there to remind us that Jesus is the light of the world. It has wax carvings on it indicating different aspects of God and it always has the Greek letters alpha and omega, which symbolise that God is the beginning and the end. In fact this year in our opening liturgy on Easter Day we said these words:
Christ yesterday and today, the beginning and the end, Alpha and Omega,
all time belongs to him, and all ages.
I love this, that all time and all ages belong to him. It is like the view from a mountain top, or even from the valley below looking up – giving us a sense of perspective on our lives and giving us a sense of the divine, that there is more out there than we can possibly imagine.

Recently we had our Annual Parochial Church meeting, a time to review the past 12 months and recognise and acknowledge all that has been done in the service of God in the life of our churches through worship, prayer, pastorally and socially in many different ways. We began by electing our Churchwardens for each church. This happens every year and we are thankful that our wardens are happy to serve for more than one year only!! Norman Ede has been a Churchwarden for over 10 years and this year made the decision to stand down so that he has more time for family and other commitments. Thankfully Norman will still be very much supporting us in many ways with our various projects. We wish him and George and the family every blessing for the future. Even more we are pleased that Stuart Cole has agreed to stand as Churchwarden in Norman’s place, along with Andy Carr, as a deputy warden ( kind of deputy sheriff!!) Joy Harman has agreed to continue, despite some aches and pains of late, and we hope that she will soon be back in action. For St Margaret’s at Ockley, James Lee-Steere kindly continues as Churchwarden supported by their wonderful church wardening team… All in all as we read through the annual report for 2024/25 much has been achieved and accomplished by all who attend and support our wonderful beautiful village churches. A huge thank you to everyone and especially you our parishioners! We shall soon be gearing ourselves up for our season of fundraising at our local shows but one very special project is soon to get underway later this year. We now have the necessary permission to prepare and establish a new Garden of Remembrance at the top left of our Churchyard. Full of brambles at the moment we hope to transform this area into a beautiful space for folk to sit a while and experience some quiet and peace, to remember those whose ashes will be interred there, but most of all perhaps to ponder those words we said on Easter Day above.

Christ yesterday and today, the beginning and the end, Alpha and Omega,
all time belongs to him, and all ages.

With my love and prayers as ever
Liz

Revd.Liz Richardson
liz@hostmyserver.co.uk