Covid-19 Virus 19/12/20
What you can and what you can’t do in Hadlow Down whilst we remain in Tier 2
Wings to Fly
Wings to Fly is a charity created to raise funds for St. Mark’s School
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Wings to fly Autumn 20 (2)
Covid-19 Vaccinations
The History and Life of St Mark’s
A Presentation given by Michael L Ford, late Churchwarden, The Parish Church of St Mark the Evangelist, Hadlow Down on 22nd March 2014 based on the original talk given during the celebrations of the Centenary of the Consecration of the present church on 25th October 2013.
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The History and life of St. Mark’s
Post-It Notes on Church Gates
From Janet Tourell St. Mark’s Church warden
I’ve just been to St Mark’s Church to put the bin out for collection tomorrow and see that someone has stuck a post-it note on one of the ‘PLEASE CLOSE THE GATE’ signs on the double iron gates. It laments the fact that there’s a possibility that by touching and closing the gate we might contract Covid-19!
Well you might like to know, whoever you are, that a week ago I was asked by the school to put these notices on the gates. During this extraordinary time, parents are dropping children off and collecting them through the churchyard by following a one way system to the small gate on the school playground and then using the path across the front of the church to walk back to School Lane. There had been some concern expressed by parents that both gates on to the road were left open; we had been doing this deliberately because of the risk of infection, however the risk of a child running out into the road and having or causing an accident has out-weighed all else in my mind!
I have a few suggestions for the person who wrote the post-it:
1. Take a path on your walk which doesn’t go through the gates!
2. Take hand sanitiser out with you.
3. Wear gloves?
I hope this is helpful because I don’t want to remove the notices.
Janet Tourell
Christmas at Wilderness Wood

‘Gilead’ by Marilyn Robinson – Book Club Review
“Existence seems to me now the most remarkable thing that could ever be imagined”
During this lockdown the Book Club has been reading “Gilead” by Marilyn Robinson, published in 2004 and winner of the Pulitzer Prize 2005, often on lists of best or most influential books.
I think that Barack Obama gives one of the most succinct summaries in his interview with the author for New York Review of books (2015) ‘One of my favourite characters in fiction is a pastor in Gilead , Iowa, named John Ames, who is gracious and courtly and a little bit confused about how to reconcile his faith with all the various travails that his family goes through. And I just fell in love with the book.’
It takes the form of a journal and memoir, as written in 1956 and is addressed to the narrator’s seven- year- old son. John Ames is 76, ill with angina and wishes to leave something of himself to his son. He has led a lonely life: his wife and baby daughter having died many years ago. In old age he married a young woman, a wanderer of little education but has wisdom and sensitivity. Some of the loveliest passages in the book are as Ames watches his young son and his wife together. Continue reading “‘Gilead’ by Marilyn Robinson – Book Club Review”
Fireworks Postponed
Sadly we have decided that we can no longer go ahead with the planned fireworks display on Saturday due to the new national lockdown. Our hearty thanks to all those who have so generously donated to our Village organisations, all is not lost! We hope to reschedule the display for New Years Eve. We will keep you informed. In the meantime you can still donate, every penny raised will be shared amongst our Village organisations – The Village Hall, The Playing Field, The Horticultural Society, The Variety Club, The New Village Hall and The Church.