MONTHLY UPDATE FROM SIMON

June 2026

Dear Friends

What could be better than spending a peaceful summer evening in a beautiful setting, listening to a professional string quartet playing Vivaldi’s Four Seasons?

On Saturday 20th June, we invite you to an evening of ‘Strings and Pimms’ at Harting Church, as part of our 450th anniversary celebrations.  The evening will be hosted by Icon Strings, and the Four Seasons will be followed by a selection of favourite show tunes.

Icon Strings is one of London’s leading crossover string quartets and is made up of prize-winning chamber musicians and concert artists.  It has performed at some of the most prestigious venues in the world, from London to Beijing, and prides itself on its versatile and unstuffy repertoire.

The performance will begin at 7.30pm and drinks, including Pimm’s, will be available from 6pm and during the interval. Tickets are available online via the parish website (Harting.org.uk) and we hope that you and your friends will come and enjoy the evening together.  Surely a fitting way to mark the summer solstice.

Very different of course will be the concert we are holding in September, to be given by Atom Heart Floyd, but we hope that it, too, will appeal to you.  Atom Heart Floyd is one of the South Coast’s leading Pink Floyd tribute bands (have a look at them online), and it will be fantastic to hear them perform for us in church.  For those of us of a certain age, Pink Floyd’s music is highly evocative, and it was recently reported that its former bassist is now a church bellringer at Alfriston!

The concert will take place on Saturday 12th September, starting at 7.30pm, and tickets are also available online via the parish website.  A bar will be provided.  Perhaps it’s worth mentioning that the chancel and sanctuary of the church will be off-limits throughout the evening, and that the band has promised to respect its ethos.  A professional risk-assessment has been undertaken, and the music will end by 10pm.

Concerts of all kinds now take place in churches and cathedrals around the country, and I’d like our own church to be used more regularly in this way in the future.  I remember attending a seminar given by Sir Roy Strong (former curator of the V and A and regular churchgoer) at Sussex University many years ago.  He argued that churches are as much about people as they are about God, and made a plea for them to be adapted for wider, secular uses, as they often were in medieval times.  Some might disagree, but there’s no harm in occasionally trying something new.

Speaking of which, please look out for details of our Elizabethan Family Fun Afternoon on Saturday 4th July…

With my prayers and best wishes,With my prayers and best wishes

Simon

Calling all bread-makers

One of the traditional rural festivals is Lammas Day.  It falls each year at the beginning of August and is associated with the offering of bread for Holy Communion made from the first wheat of the harvest (Lammas: ‘Loaf Mass’).

As you can imagine, it’s rather fallen out of fashion these days, and to be honest it comes at a time when many people are away on holiday.  But if possible, I’d love to revive it here in Harting, especially since we always have an All-Age Eucharist on the first Sunday in August.

Only a small amount of bread is actually needed for communion, but it would be wonderful if we could make it a real festival of bread and invite anyone who wishes to come and bring a loaf (or loaves!) of their choice.  Bread is deeply symbolic as well as delicious, and I bet that there are quite a few of you in our villages who are excellent bakers.

St Mary and St Gabriel Quiet Garden

Our next Quiet Garden Afternoon will be on Wednesday 17th June.  We invite you to come and enjoy an hour’s peace, either in the churchyard and walled garden or, if it’s raining, in the church or Law Room.  You don’t have to be religious in any way; just come as you are. ‘What is this life if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare?’

The afternoon begins at 2pm, and tea and cake will be available at 3pm.  There will be a simple form of evening prayer after tea for those who wish to stay.

Faith Seeking Understanding

Come and join our small group for an hour’s free and open discussion about issues of faith and doubt.  We meet this month on Wednesday 17th May at 6pm in the Law Room.

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