It was the annual moment when St. Augustine’s Church, Snave, comes to life again. The moment when the interwoven voices of the Benenden Hospital Choir soared up the timber pillars that support the ancient ceiling and a congregation larger than this remote and virtually redundant place of worship has witnessed for oh, so many years, burst into a joyful rendition of ‘We Plough The Fields And Scatter’.
St. Augustine’s is a redundant church, one of the smallest and more remote of Romney Marsh churches, albeit, virtually adjacent to the main A2070 Ashford to Brenzett arterial road. Just one service per year is permitted by the terms under which the Romney Marsh Historic Churches Trust administers the building, this being the longstanding Snave custom of celebrating Harvest Festival Evensong on the second Sunday of each September.
Church Wardens had printed their usual 50 Orders of Service, but perhaps due to a televised preview the previous Friday, this number proved woefully short. Beneath the resplendent Royal Coat of Arms of George II, Canterbury’s Canon John Dilnot was hardly alone in standing throughout the service.
The congregation, including two horses studying proceedings from their paddock outside the main entrance, far exceeded the 100 seats available along the old wooden pews while cars overflowed from the wide grass avenue leading to the church and spread for over a half mile along the country lane beyond. Picnic seats were hastily appropriated from car boots and those on the pews were politely urged to ‘nudge up’. And one attendee was heard to say: “Never seen so many smiling faces in a traffic jam.”
Citing pagan traditions, people believe the impulse to sing in groups was inspired by birdsong. Many of the songs sung in concert concern planting, harvesting, and other aspects of daily life – events to be celebrated. And that’s just what they did at St. Augustine’s last Sunday. As Canon Dilnot encouraged at the start of the service: “If you can’t sing, just make a joyful noise!”
More information on the Romney Marsh Historic Churches Trust can be found here:
https://romneymarshchurches.org.uk
Image Credits: Chris Lawson .