Welcome to The Beacon Church and Christian Centre in Dover.

Our Ministers are the Rev. Bruce Allinson OCC, and the Rev. Jim McKnight.

A warm welcome awaits you at any of our services and activities, details of which can be found on this website.

Despite the heavy snow that fell overnight, our service went ahead as usual on Sunday 5 February. It was a service of Holy Communion, conducted by our Minister, the Rev. Bruce Allinson. Our Junior Church also met. Although the mini-bus did not run, one of the drivers, Craig, picked up a few of our elderly members who were able to get out of their homes in his car, so they could attend the service.

No matter what the weather, the Beacon services will (normally) go ahead for those who are able to be there. Some of the weekday activities may be cancelled.

The Women's Own meeting on Monday 6 February has been cancelled because of the weather.

Our services are at 10.30 a.m. Preachers for the coming Sundays are:

12 February - Rev Bruce Allinson.

19 February - Family service with Mr Peter Booth

26 February - Rev. John Lines

4 March - Rev. Bruce Allinson, including Holy Communion

11 March - Mr.s Sue Brockman

18 March - Family Servikce with the Rev. Bruce Allinson

25 March - Rev. Bruce Allinson and the Rev. Jim McKnight

Our services are now being held in the church hall, which is soon to become our church. We usually move out of the church and into the church hall during the winter months but it has now been decided to move into the hall permanently, following on from our decision to close the church building and dispose of it.

One final service will be held in the church and that will be on Easter Sunday morning at 10.30 a.m. That will be followed by a faith lunch in the church hall, and an exhibition of photos and other memorabilia from the church's past. Why not come and join us to give thanks for all this church building has meant to so many people over the past 110 years?

Looking back ...

Thanks to everyone who joined us for our Advent and Christmas services, including the Candlelight Carol Service and the family service on Christmas Day.

On Sunday 27 November we held a memorial service to give thanks for the life of Wendy Cole (formerly Wendy Dunster), who was a former Captain with our company of the Girls' Brigade.

We held our Junior Church Anniversary and Prizegiving on Sunday 20 November, when the youngsters received books for their attendance last year. And they brought toys, books and games which they no longer need so they can be sent to children in other parts of the world via British Humanitarian Aid this Christmas.

Our thanks to everyone who came and joined us for our Harvest Festival celebration, which was also Back to Church Sunday. We were pleased to see some new faces with us that day, and also some "old" ones we hadn't seen for a while. But you don't have to wait until the next Back to Church Sunday to join us at The Beacon - there's a warm welcome waiting for you every week!

On Sunday 4 September, we held a Vision Day when our service in the morning was based around the Methodist Covenant Service, and we then continued with discussions about what our church was currently doing, what we would like to do, how we saw our mission and discipleship, and how we might achieve that. The afternoon finished with the end of the Covenant Service and Holy Communion.

It was an interesting and encouraging day, and we are grateful to those who led the day for us and who provided the lunch (and did the washing up!!) We look forward to pursuing some of the objectives which we set.

We were pleased to welcome Jayden and Imogen Gaffney into our church family on Sunday 28 August at their Baptism service. We support them and their parents, Ross and Leianne, with our prayers. We were also pleased to welcome Ruby Mae Mayes at her baptism on 30 January and Archie Underwood at his baptism on 19 June.

We send our best wishes to Mark and Amy Gammon following their wedding in Australia, and to Arlo Booth and his parents, Andrew and Elspeth, following his baptism in London.

Our Beacon Toddler Group is going from strength to strength. Set up in 2010, it has attracted a large number of toddlers, with their parents and carers, and we have been pleased to welcome them into the family of The Beacon. There's always room for more of course, so do come and join us. The group meets during term-time on Thursdays from 12.30 to 2.30 p.m. and is for children up to the age of five and their carers. A donation of £1 per family would be appreciated.

The Street Pastors scheme is to be launched in Dover on 17 September, offering help to young people who may be trying to make their way home on Saturday nights after, perhaps, having had too much to drink. The scheme will be launched with a service and prayer at Dover Town Hall before the volunteers head out onto the streets for the first time.

On the second Sunday of each month (except August) we have a Fairtrade Stall after the church service.

During Holy Week and Easter we had a number of special services, starting with our Palm Sunday family service in which our young people took part. On Maundy Thursday we celebrated Holy Communion and on Good Friday we had a Reading of the Passion of St. John. We also gathered with other Christians in Dover for the Good Friday Procession of Witness through the town.

Easter Sunday began early at 5.15 a.m. with the ecumenical Sunrise Service at Dover Castle and we had two services of Holy Communion at The Beacon..

We have been saddened by the passing of Jack Ash, who, for more than 50 years, was our church caretaker - and continued taking care of our premises and the people who met here long after he had officially "retired". Jack will be remembered by many people for the way he greeted them as they arrived at the church, and for the unlimited amount of time he devoted to making sure the premises were ready for services and meetings. He died, in his flat, on Wednesday 22 June aged 95. We remember Jan and the other members of Jack's family in our prayers.

Harry Smith, who, with his wife Rae, had been a part of the life and witness of The Beacon for many years, was 96 when he died earlier this year. He served at the church in several ways, and we miss him. We express our sympathy to his family.