Letter from the Rectory - August 2025

Dear Friends,

Earlier in the year Mary and I went to the Isles of Scilly. They lie 28 miles off the Cornish coast and comprise five inhabited islands and lots of smaller ones all owned by the Duchy of Cornwall. We stayed on Tresco which has been let to the Dorrien-Smith family for nearly 200 years.

There are three ways of getting to the Scillies: by boat on the ‘Scillonian’, on a small plane from near Land’s End, Exeter or Newquay, or by helicopter from Penzance direct to Tresco; we went out by helicopter and returned by boat on what was, thankfully, a very calm day.

I was there on a scheme arranged for clergy who can rent ‘The Parsonage’ half-price in return to taking Sunday services on the neighbouring islands of Bryher and Tresco; I last did it over 25 years ago.  A small boat came to collect us at 8.30am – unlike last time when it was a very low tide, I didn’t have to wade out to the boat; then back to Tresco for 11am – with no more duties.  

Tresco is known for its glorious sandy beaches and clear blue sea; there are no cars, though there are quite a lot of mainly electric Estate vehicles.  The beaches face in different directions so one can usually find one out of the wind.  For those who don’t want to walk, there are bicycles for hire.

Like anywhere that one returns to after a long time, things have changed on Tresco. There is now much more holiday accommodation – mainly time-shares – but the development has been concentrated around the two main centres; there are also now four good places to eat.  The islands used to be known for bulb growing, but very few farmers continue that on other islands.

All in all, despite the changes Tresco largely maintains its unique, unspoilt character.  There is the ongoing challenge in many areas of life, including in the church, as to whether it is possible to both hold onto the best from the past, whilst at the same introducing new things.  In the Old Testament, in Isaiah 43:19 we read God’s words, ‘See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland;’ but then in the New Testament in Hebrews 13:8, we read that ‘Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.’

James Campbell