We are very pleased to be able to announce the appointment of the Revd Jim Fletcher as the next Rector of the Anglican Parish of Fawkham and Hartley. Jim has experienced a wide range of styles of worship in the Church of England and should be well placed to lead us on into the future.
He has been assistant curate at Christ Church, Bexleyheath for the past three years. He is married to Sarah and their children are Joel (age 4) and Hannah (age 1). He enjoys sport, music and reading.
Jim grew up in Hastings. He went to school at Bexhill on Sea, after which he worked in a hostel for homeless young adults and then as a care worker in a boarding school for disadvantaged children. He was a Scout Leader and a Church Youth Group Leader. Then came a degree course in Community and Youth Studies at Reading University, where Jim and Sarah first met.
After graduating, Jim worked in Tonbridge for a Kent charity that specialises in supporting young people in voluntary work. Later, he undertook training for the ordained ministry at Trinity College, Bristol. Sarah is a primary school teacher and her father is a vicar in Bournemouth.
Jim and his family hope to move into Hartley Rectory at the end of October. He will become Rector some days later on a date when one of the Bishops, the Archdeacon of Rochester and the Rural Dean can all be brought together for the service of institution and induction.
Meanwhile, life goes on in the parish and the full range of church services and other activities are maintained by our Honorary Curate Elizabeth Robertson and the team of lay ministers and church members, with the regular assistance of Canon Ken Gardiner from Rochester once or twice each month.