St Margaret's Benefice

The Benefice of St Margaret's with Westcliffe, and East & West Langdon

Part of the Dover Deanery, in the Diocese of Canterbury, Kent.

Welcome to our little corner of England!

  • We are here to serve, connect and support everybody in the villages and hamlets surrounding
    St Margaret's.

  • We strive to be a welcoming and friendly Benefice and look forward to meeting you on your faith journey.

News in brief...

  •  Check Dover Food Bank logopng  for their 'most wanted' page by clicking on their logo

  • Articles for the Parish News can be put in the Drop Box in St Margaret's church porch
  • As the local incidence of Covid is on the rise, we echo the latest government guidance for people to do a Lateral Flow Test before going to any gathering, particularly indoors.  These now only need to be a swab from your nose, rather than throat and nose.

  • for more news, go to our News... page. I know, it's seamless!

What a glorious treat! - the Advent Carol Service on Sunday 28th at St Margaret's was such a special occasion.  To hear such an amazing choir and be there with a full church, and so many people who we haven't seen there for a long time, was a really special way to make the first Sunday of Advent.  The mince pies and mulled wine were much appreciated as well - thank you Sandy and Ann.

17 men, 7 women (one pregnant) and 3 children drowned, and unlike our Prime Minister, no one who deals with this situation on a daily basis is shocked - it was inevitable.  If you close down safe routes, unsafe routes are the only option.  People smugglers are a vile symptom of the disease of hostility.  For a clear insight into the situation happening on the other side of the same water our children play in, Care4Calais.org is an excellent place to start.

What a delight and privilege to play host to the Bishop of Dover, Rose Hudson-Wilkin, in our Benefice today - visiting all four churches and meeting key people at each, we had the chance to show her our wonderful historic buildings and talk about their history and the worship they have been home to.  Seeing all four in succession really highlighted their individuality.  Moving from the smaller to the larger buildings was really quite remarkable - the impact of the size and scale of St Margaret's after the smaller churches was astonishing.  Try it, see if you experience the same 'wow' moment! Once we had visited all the churches, and Rose had prayed some very special prayers at each, we moved on to Boodles, on The Droveway, to meet some of our familes - and indulge in hot chocolate and cookies!  Many thanks to Caroline for hosting our meet-up on her day off.  With lovely conversation and and a chance to all pray together, it was a wonderful end to to our afternoon.

Myths and Misconceptions

Asylum seekers? Refugees? All scroungers, aren't they?

Well, no.

Think what would make you leave everything, cross a contintent and turn up on another shore at the mercy of strangers. Not a casual decision. There's very good myth-busting information from Canterbury Diocese that you can read HERE to dispell misinformation and be better able to answer people's questions.

Delighted to welcome St Margaret's Primary School into church today (1st Oct) -   celebrating Harvest Festival with songs, readings and prayers written by the children, it was a joy to see a full church after so long.  For the school, this was their biggest whole school event since Christmas 2019, and a special moment for the staff in particular.

2.5million emergency food parcels given out by Trussell Trust food banks from April 2020 to March 2021 - that's up from 1.9 million the previous year.

Whilst the Trussell Trust are the largest foodbank organisation, they are by no means the only ones. Food poverty is real and should not be happening. In all of 2010 the number was 41,000. I'll just let that sink in.  You can read more on www.trusselltrust.org.

Welcome!