You may recall at the beginning of December our Curate Ben Rundell-Evans presented my Gold Award medal at his last service at St John’s.

Ben has been a huge supporter of choir during his time with us and so this evening it was a privilege for us to attend St Matthews church, Zeals for his Licensing and Installation service as Priest in Charge of Upper Stour.

It’s the first such service I have been to. We were lucky to be on the balcony and had a birds eye view of all that was going on. The movement around the church and introductions to members of the community is hugely symbolic and at times very moving.

Our offering to the evening was ‘Oh sing joyfully’. It’s hard to sing joyfully when you’re sad to say a final farewell to such a stalwart to the church community. Our loss is Upper Stour’s gain. Good luck Ben!