Letter from the Rectory - May 2026
Dear Friends,
On Sunday 26th April I announced in Church that I shall be retiring from Withyham, but not for some months – the exact time is to be confirmed. Mary and I will of course have very mixed emotions. It has been a great privilege to work here and to be involved in the joys and sorrows of many people’s lives. This summer we’ll have been here for 10 years, and I’ve just had my 71st birthday: the time has come to move on.
Going forward, the biggest challenge will be ‘Who will lead the services in Church?’ When I came here, Elizabeth Parish and Donald Yonge were able to share leading most services. Now, Elizabeth is no longer with us and Donald is restricted because of Janice’s health. Also, there are a lot of vacant parishes locally. However, I’m sure we’ll find people to cover.
‘What are your plans?’, you may ask. Over a year ago, completely out of the blue, a cousin invited us to go and live in the North of Scotland and be involved with the Church where he lives which he is buying from the Church of Scotland; sadly, they are having to sell lots of churches.
The idea of living up there wasn’t part of our plan at all. We went up in June last year and we were surprised by how positive we felt. The place is called Cawdor, just south of Nairn and east of Inverness. That area has some wonderful scenery: within half an hour, the sea with sandy beaches, beautiful woodland, the River Findhorn and extensive moorland – and it is where my Campbell grandfather partly grew up. The cottage that we shall be renting is to have work done on it, hence the uncertainty about our exact departure date.
I will have a very part-time and different job. The Church will be non denominational, at least initially. It won’t have a congregation, and there are no plans to run regular services. The Church was built by one of my forebears in the early 17th Century in gratitude for answered prayer for safety when caught up in a violent storm off the Island of Islay.
This move will certainly be an adventure… hardly retirement, as some have commented, madness even; but if God is in it, as we believe he is, we are very confident all will work out. In Romans 8:28, St. Paul wrote, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” That is the promise that Mary and I shall hold on to as when we do move North in due course, full of gratitude for our time in the High Weald.
James