King Charles the Martyr is a Grade I-listed church that was opened in 1678. A stunning example of a Restoration church, people come from far and wide to see its ceilings, designed by plasterers closely associated to Sir Christopher Wren.The church hall, a stone’s throw away from the Pantiles, was built in 1916. It is a much-loved space in the centre of town, used by a wide range of community groups, from our local MP’s surgery to AGMs for local business to ballet classes.Unfortunately, the building’s roof has fallen into a very poor state, with regular leaks threatening to damage the structure of the building and make it unusable. King Charles the Martyr are urgently raising funds to renovate the roof, as well as install a disabled-access ramp to improve the hall’s accessibility, with works planned to start this summer.To make a donation, please visit https://www.kcmtw.org/make-a-donation/A community centre in the heart of Tunbridge WellsAs you may know, our Church Hall is one of the best-loved community spaces in central Tunbridge Wells. It is a vibrant and well used community centre, hosting a large number of local groups, activities and classes, week in, week out. There are too many to list, but these include: community groups tackling loneliness and isolation among older people, the Warm Space in Winter 2022, as well as local MP surgeries, events from groups like MIND and Friends of the Earth, dog training and yoga classes, and many, many more.The Hall also used to be part of the Winter Shelter project for homeless people for 9 years, and more recently, hosted meet-up groups for local Ukrainian refugees. The roof renovation forms part of a wider renovation programme to the church hall, including installing a disabled-access ramp and improving our welcome by moving the Church Office to the front of the building and installing new signage.SUPPORT FOR THE HALL4ALL CAMPAIGNKing Charles the Martyr Church celebrates after receiving £20,000 of National Lottery funding to renovate their church hall roofThe National Lottery Community Fund recently launched its strategy, ‘It starts with community’, which will underpin its efforts to distribute at least £4 billion of National Lottery funding by 2030. As part of this, the funder has four key missions, which are to support communities to come together, be environmentally sustainable, help children and young people thrive and enable people to live healthier lives.To find out more visit www.TNLCommunityFund.org.uk
FORTHCOMING DATES FOR CHORAL EVENSONG 2025Evensiongs at 6:30pm, usually on 2nd and 5th Sundays.9th and 30th March 2025[13th April: Palm Sunday Stations of the Cross service][17th April: Maundy Thursday communion service 7:30pm)11th May8th and 29th June
From July the Family service will be renamed All Age Communion. This means the service will be Eucharistic in nature and the name reflects the more modern trend within the national church of inclusion for all, not just those with families. There will be no evening services on the first and third Sunday of the month. Choral Evensong will be moved from the third Sunday to the second Sunday of the month and we will have an additional Choral Evensong on a Fifth Sunday.
