The Beacon Church & Christian Centre

"The Beacon reflects Christ's light, shares God's love

and serves the community."

Our Ministers are the Rev. Bruce Allinson OCC, and the Rev. Jim McKnight, and details of our services and activities can be found on this website.

2010 is likely to bring us many challenges and opportunities as we work towards the start of our redevelopment project. We have plans to carry out a major restoration of our church - which is now more than 100 years old - and make it a comfortable and inviting place to worship in the 21st century. Fund-raising continues for this scheme, and you can keep up to date with our progress by visiting this website.

We still have quite a lot of money to raise to enable the scheme to go ahead. It has been our vision over many years to make our church a place which praises God through serving the community and all those around us. Please keep this scheme in your prayers. And if you want to help us financially, donations can be sent to The Beacon Church Building Fund, c/o the Church Treasurer, 4 Danes Court, Dover, Kent CT16 2QE. Help make our vision become a reality.

5 September - Covenant Service including Holy Communion led by the Rev Bruce Allinson

19 September - Junior Church Anniversary, a family service led by the young people and the Rev. Bruce Allinson

Our newly-established Beacon Toddler Group is doing well. A number of toddlers - with their parents or carers, of course - have been coming along each week to the Thursday afternoon sessions. There's always room for more, 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.

On Sea Sunday, 11 July, our music group played for the singing at a special service at Dover Lifeboat Station.

Passengers from the Disney cruise ship, Disney Magic, met up with our Minister during their stop-over at the port on Saturday 12 June. It was the first time any of the Disney cruise liners had called at Dover. They asked to be remembered in our prayers at our service the next day, and that's exactly what we did. So greetings to any of those visitors who showed an interest in The Beacon and all we do here.

There's a plan to set up a Street Pastors scheme in Dover, offering help to young people who may be trying to make their way home on Friday and Saturday nights after, perhaps, having had too much to drink. We hope The Beacon might be involved in that scheme. Watch out for more details.

The London Road Methodist Girls' Choir held a reunion on 1 May with a concert in our church hall. The choir, under the musical direction of Keith Tutthill, performed at a large number of concerts and services in the 1960s and 1970s. A re-union was held 10 years ago, and this one was just as enjoyable. The hall was packed for the concert and more than £500 was raised for The Beacon Building Fund. CDs and DVDs of the weekend are now available.

We were pleased to welcome the Rev. Debbie Hodgson from Faversham to lead our service on the Sunday after Easter. We had an inspiring time of worship, and she certainly gave us some food for thought as we considered our response to Christ's resurrection.

On Maundy Thursday we held a service of Holy Communion which included the traditional washing of feet by our Minister (the recipient this year was his wife, Lisa), and on Good Friday we met for the passion readings in the Church.

On Easter Sunday we were up early for our first Easter Communion Service at 8 a.m. which was followed by an Easter Breakfast in the Church Hall. The morning service at 10.30 a.m. also included Holy Communion and was well attended.

We marked Fairtrade Fortnight with a tea and coffee morning as part of the Big Brew initiative, trying to encourage people to swap at least one item of their normal shopping for its Fairtrade equivalent. We also had a gift stall. The Fairtrade Stall operates each month, usually on the second Sunday of the month, after the morning service, in the Church Hall.

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

We have been sorry to record the deaths of several of our members and friends in recent times.

Evelyn Tutthill, aged 96, was a life-long member of our church. The funeral service was held on Wednesday 12 May and it was, as she had asked, a Service of Thanksgiving. It was well attended and we gave thanks for a long and happy life of faithful service.

Edna Tutt, who was 99, had been a member of London Road Methodist Church for many years during her time in Dover. She will be remembered by hundreds of people as a teacher at Shatterlocks Infants School. In more recent years she had been living at the Methodist Home for the Aged in Bexhill.

Phyllis Galley, who was 95, had been a life-long member of the Methodist Church, and worshipped with us here for many years. She also enjoyed old tyme dancing.

Fred Piddock had also worshipped with us for a long time, but had moved last year to the Isle of Skye to live with his son. He was just a few weeks short of his 97th birthday when he died. A service to celebrate his life was held at The Beacon when family and friends joined together to give thanks for him.

Dorothy MacFarlane had been a member of St Columba United Reformed Church, and had then worshipped at Whitfield URC.

Myra Strelow had been part of the London Road church family while living at a residential home in the town.

Eileen Tolhurst had been a member of London Road, and the Beacon, over many years and was a former Sunday School teacher

Miriam Ross had worshipped with us for several years, using the church mini-bus to attend our Sunday services.

We have also been remembering retired fire-fighter Ken Reynaert who has died. His wife Joyce used to be a member of our Keep Fit group, and one of his daughters and grand-daughters attended our previous Mother and Toddler Group.