Chartham, Chilham, Charing and Challock

Tuesday 22nd April

Join us for what promises to be a very interesting day out visiting lovely churches in these local villages. St Mary’s Chartham with its wonderful scissor braced roof, its interesting connections with Canterbury and the oldest existing peal of bells in Kent; St Mary’s Chilham for its lovely Victorian memorials; St Peter & St Paul Charing for its charming triple sedilia and tapestry seats; St Cosmas & St Damian Challock for its wall paintings by local artist John Ward. We will have coffee at Chartham, lunch at the Woolpack Inn in Chilham and tea and cakes when we get to Challock.

Behind the Scenes in the Mason’s Yard and Corona Scaffolding Tour

Wednesday 30th April
10am – 12 noon

This morning you will have a rare opportunity to visit the Masons’ workshop; the Drawing Office where the setting out is done; and take a trip up the Corona tower in the scaffolding lift to see first hand the conservation work being carried out.  There will be a coffee break during the morning.

Bruderhof Community, Nonington; Chillenden; Goodnestone and Staple

Thursday 15th May

Have you ever wondered about the Bruderhof Community at Nonington?  This morning we will visit this Anabaptist group to find out more about their special way of life.  The visit will include a talk, a tour and a chance to join them in worship.  We continue our day with a lovely lunch at the Griffin’s Head in Chillenden followed by a visit to All Saints Church which has been recently totally renovated.  Our afternoon continues to Holy Cross in Goodnestone enlarged in 1939 by architects Rickman and Hussey, pioneers of the 19th century Gothic Revival.  We end our day at St James the Great at Staple a mostly 14th century church where we will meet Mary Tucker from the Cathedral Stained Glass Studio who will talk about her new stained glass window.

Friends' Day

Sunday 15th June

11am - Cathedral Eucharist in the Nave
We celebrate the 50th anniversary of the death of Dean George Bell our founder who went on to be Bishop of Chichester, and of Margaret Babington, Steward of The Friends from 1928 to 1958.  The Cathedral Choir will sing the Coronation Mass by Mozart with full orchestra and soloist. 

12.45pm - Buffet Lunch in the Claggett Auditorium

2.15pm - The Annual General Meeting in the John Simpson Room

3.15pm - Evensong in the Quire

4.15pm - Houses of God
We have a special opening of this exhibition in the Chapter House just for the Friends with paintings by various artists including our artist in residence John Doyle, the late John Ward, Toby Ward, Charlotte Ward, David Arbus, Peter Kuhfeld, Charlotte Halliday and Hubert Pragnell.  The artist John Doyle will be present and he will personally dedicate any of his prints that you might like to purchase. 
To entertain you the Nelson String Quartet will play for you while you have tea and cakes in the Cloisters. 
There will also be a Sales Stall for you to stock up on books, cards, CDs and Friends’ memorabilia.

History of the Stained Glass at Canterbury

Tuesday 1st July

A talk by Leonie Seliger
Head of Stained Glass Conservation at the Cathedral

The talk in the Audio Visual Theatre at the International Study Centre will be followed by a guided tour of the Stained Glass in the Cathedral and a visit to the Stained Glass Studio.  There will be a coffee break during the morning.

In the Footsteps of Saint Patrick and Saint Columba

Thursday 28th August – Thursday 4th September 2008

Our pilgrimage will begin with a few days in Northern Ireland, where we shall first of all recall the towering figure of St Patrick, whose mission established the Christian presence in Ireland in the late 5th century. It was in the tribal and monastic tradition of St Patrick’s church that St Columba was nurtured. In the middle of the 6th century Columba set out, with 12 companions, to the mainland of Britain and established a community on Iona, where we shall spend the second part of our time...

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Tenterden, Vines, Wines and Railway Lines

Tuesday 23rd September

We will spend the morning at St Mildred’s Church in Tenterden, dating from the 12th century.  After a welcome by the vicar Canon David Trustram, we will spend the morning in the company of Dr Nick Hudd, Chairman of the Local History Society, who will talk about the life and history of Tenterden and its church.   Then off for a Ploughman’s lunch to Biddenden Vineyard, Kent’s oldest commercial vineyard.  After lunch we will take a tour of the vineyard and winery to see how wines, traditional Kentish ciders and apple juices are produced – with time for a little tasting.  We end our day sampling nostalgia and service from a bygone era with a cream tea on a leisurely round trip on the Kent & East Sussex Steam Railway through the beautiful Rother Valley from Tenterden.  

Cathedral Open Evening

Tuesday 7th October

More information to follow.