News
The Parish News for Abinger and Coldharbour, which is published 10 times a year and is delivered to every house in the Parish, includes a report on Coldharbour life; a copy is available by clicking here.
On this page we focus on news directly relating to Christ Church.
The Crafts Fair, Saturday November 16
The Crafts Fair was a most wonderful time! The church was buzzing with activity as we shopped till we dropped for those unique prezzies. The talents and expertise in our villages were on display for all to see with the most exquisite handmade goodies – from jewellery to woodcraft, pottery, paintings and sculptures, cakes, jams and chutneys and all things bee related!
Huge thanks to all the hard work that made this event happen – to all our artisans for their many hours of labour in creating, and to all those who helped make it happen on the day!
Look out for a repeat next year -November 15th 2025 - all but one of this year's stall holders has already signed up!
The Dorking Area Foodbank
Christ Church supports the Foodbank, with collecting boxes by the font in the Church - only rodent proof packages and no fresh produce, please.
Current needs are for:
Tinned Custard
Jars of jam
Bottles of squash
1Kg bags of rice
Sponge pudding (long – life twin packs.)
Eco-Church 
Here at Christ Church Coldharbour, we are actively trying to adapt our Church and personal lives to become both more sustainable, and more aware of the impact we have on our beautiful world. We have signed up for the A Rocha UK Eco Church project which is a is a Christian charity working to protect and restore the natural world and committed to equipping Christians and churches in the UK to care for the environment.
Christ Church has recently been awarded the Bronze Award and is already making strides towards our Silver Award. By making one small change, one small action at a time we are trying to do our part in stewarding Creation.
So what’s it all about? A Rocha UK aims to equip churches to care for God’s creation through their:
- Worship and teaching
- Management of church buildings
- Management of church land
- Community and global engagement
- Lifestyle
Creator God,
We acknowledge that as your handiwork,
we stand alongside all that you have made.
Trees and rivers, mountains and valleys,
soaring birds and scuttling creatures,
all are held within your care.
May we grow in love and appreciation
for the fabulous variety around us;
and may our awe and wonder draw us closer
to the natural world, and through it to you,
the God of all things.
We pray in Jesus name,
Amen.
How can I help? We are always looking at ways we can become more sustainable and reduce our carbon footprint. Please speak to Bex at Christ Church or Francesca at St James for more information and ideas.
On Friday 29th November, we will be leaf sweeping and maintaining our Church yard. We will meet at 9.00-9:30am and will stop for coffee and mince pies mid- morning. Please do come and join us.
The10th Anniversary Concert of the Coldharbour Village Band
The Coldharbour Village Band held its 10th anniversary concert on Saturday 19th October. It was a wonderful programme of music conducted beautifully, as ever, by Debby Chapman. The music drew on Coldharbour and Christ Church’s local connections to Ralph Vaughan Williams, with O Little Town of Bethlehem and Linden Lea, Virginia McKenna with Born Free, and the latest composer to live amongst us, Bronnie R, a debut performance of a new composition Fanfare for the Coldharbour Man. We were treated to other film and TV music, music from ballet, pop music and three pieces from the newly formed Swing Band. The interval for refreshments resulted in over £300 of donations for the upkeep of the church. The planned programme ended with audience clapping along to the Can Can but such was the enthusiasm of the audience the band was obliged to play another. The afternoon was simply superb!
Secondary Glazing for the John Venus Hall
Excellent news!
In response to a Mole Valley District Council email earlier this year about the availability of grants to improve the energy efficiency of community and village halls, and so help reduce running costs, we submitted an application to install secondary glazing. in the John Venus Hall That went through Mole Valley to the UKSPF Community Hall Energy Efficiency Grant Scheme Fund. In June we heard that our application had been successful, with a total grant of £2,676. The secondary glazing was installed on Thursday 5 September, just in time for the colder months. Secondary glazing was adopted as the windows were not suitable for double glazing - but secondary glazing provides coverage for the complete window space!
Anthony Simpson, Churchwarden, said “This project underscores our commitment to sustainability and community improvement, and we are grateful for the support from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.”
Amber Wood joins the Leith Hill Benefice Ministry Team
Amber Wood will be joining the Leith Hill Benefice ministry team towards the end of June, once she has been licensed as a Lay Minister on 22 June.
A full-time as an NHS Children’s Physio in West Sussex, Amber treats young people with a variety of Orthopaedic and Musculoskeletal conditions, with a special interest is Oncology. She lives in Cranleigh and for the last 15 years, has been part of the congregation of St Peter and St Paul Ewhurst where she first started to explore my call to ministry.
Amber loves walking in the Surrey Hills with her 2 dogs Santi (an Italian Spinone) and Tarka (a Border terrier) gaining energy and inspiration from being outdoors, often finding her most meaningful and connected prayer happens when she is outside.
The 2024 Coldharbour Village Fete
Despite gloomy weather forecasts, the 2024 Fete, held on Saturday 18 May, was a really enjoyable success. Attendance was great and there was something for everyone – very many happy, and painted, faces, with many comments about the ‘great vibe’.
With the addition of more credit card machines, several stalls broke their previous records, and net proceeds of £10,600. The funds raised for Christ Church will help to maintain our village church, village hall and churchyard and to pay those regular bills that come with the responsibility for looking after them. Charitable donations are being made to the National Trust to support our local area, Dorking Friends of Cancer Research UK and most importantly half of the proceeds of the Auction will go to DEC Ukraine Appeal.
Congratulations and thanks in particular to Penny for organising the amazing Auction of Promises. Thank you too to the National Trust for use of the Memorial Ground, to our generous sponsors and advertisers, to the fete organising team, to the Village Band for putting us all in the mood to celebrate, and to everyone who ran stalls and activities, set up/took down, donated, grew plants, baked, entertained, and came on the day. We are very grateful for your support, enthusiasm, ideas, time, generosity, and a lot of hard work before, during and after the fete. You have just proved once again that Coldharbour is a great place to live.
In the meantime: planning for next year is already underway; the Superstrings Trio and Punch & Judy are already booked.
So, for your diary: Coldharbour Village Fete 2025: Saturday 17th May from 2 pm.
Is God nudging you to explore your gifts and talents?
Have you ever been curious about how you can better serve God in your life?
Do you want to study God with a bit more depth and be challenged?
There is a wealth of opportunity to explore these questions and more through various training available locally.
You can dip your toes into a module on the Local Ministry course – looking at diverse subjects such as Ethics, Worship and Spirituality, Christine Doctrine and Theological Reflection.
There are training days on Pastoral Visiting, Occasional Preaching and leading Worship.
If you feel called/nudged or just want to find a little more, I would love to talk with you!
Rev’d Kia
Celebrating 175 Years of Christ Church here in Coldharbour
Over the weekend of 21 and 22 October we celebrated the dedication of Christ Church in 1848 - 175 years ago. The building of our Church was funded by John Labouchere, who lived in Broome Hall, on land given by the Duke of Norfolk. Pat Newberry, a former resident of Coldharbour and a great historian has written a short history of Christ Church which you can download by clicking here.
The weekend began on Saturday 21 October with two organ concerts by our organist David Hansell and colleague Philip Drew, complemented by two recitals by soprano Jenny Hansell. In each concert, the first organ piece was a fine duet by David and Philip playing Mozart’s Adagio and Allegro K554. This was followed by three William Blake songs with music written by Vaughan Williams not long before his death: Infant Joy, The Shepherd and The Lamb. We then enjoyed a second organ duet, Beethoven’s Adagio for a Flute Clock, followed by another three William Bake songs to settings by Vaughan Williams: A poison Tree. Ah Sun-flower and Eternity, sung by Jenny Hansell. The concert ended with an organ due – Sonata in G , BWV530, by J S Bach.
On Sunday 22 October we hosted the other three Leith Hill Benefice churches to a special service, which opened with the Village Band playing in the gallery; they also accompanied the choir and organ through much of the service. After a practice of the Coldharbour Hymn written for the occasion by Rev Virginia Smith with music by David Hansell, the service commenced with Leith Hill choir singing Psalm 122. The full order of service, including the words of Virginia’s Coldharbour Hymn, can be downloaded by clicking here. Virginia's sermon is on our Christ Church - Words and Thoughts page.
On completion of the service, the choir, the village band and the congregation together with Kia, Virginia and David got together for an excellent ‘bring and share’ lunch.
A real celebration, with thanks to John Labouchere and the 1848 Duke of Norfolk!
Dorking Food Bank
A reminder that donations to the Dorking Food Bank remain very necessary - they can be left by the font at the back of the Church and or in the box in the drive to Plough Haven - just to the right of The Plough. Because of mice, packets they can eat through should be left at Plough Haven not in the Church
Julian Meetings
We usually have a Julian meetings on the fourth Sunday of each month at 6.00pm.
They are named after the Mystic, Julian of Norwich, who had a powerful encounter with Jesus in the 12th Century. Following this she spent the rest of her life as an Anchoress writing about her experiences. Her 'Revelations of Divine' love is the earliest surviving English language works by a woman.
Our Julian meetings are open to those of any faith and none. Following a short reading or reflection, we sit in stillness for half an hour for a time of contemplation.
It is a wonderful way to gather our thoughts and still our minds before the week begins.
We look forward to welcoming you,
With love
Rev’d Kia
Do you have a question for Kia?
Just to make it clear – I am not a theological guru, I am more of a pastoral and practical theologian than an academic one (by the way a theologian is just someone who thinks about God!) - and this makes my very point!
Do you have random, poignant or (what you may think) silly question about faith, life and God? Like ‘what does ‘theologian’ actually mean? Will my dog go to heaven? What is communion all about, really?
Do you have question that you haven’t found the right time, or the right person to ask? Well, now may be your chance!
We are starting (trialling!) a new slot in the monthly parish news for you to ask those questions you’ve been holding onto or have just occurred! Nothing is too ‘simple’ or too complicated. I may (definitely!) not have all the answers but I can perhaps point you in the right direction.
Open to all ages, those of faith and those with none. All correspondence to me will be treated in confidence and I will only publish answers if permission is given, and you can always be anonymous.
I look forward to hearing from you!
Please write to rector@abingerandcoldharbour.org
With every Blessing
Rev’d Kia