Welcome to St. Margaret’s Church, Rainham’s new Website! We hope you’ll take a few moments to have a look at the site. Here you’ll find information about upcoming events, about the services which take place regularly at St. Margaret’s, and the groups and activities St. Magaret’s Church runs each week. Happy Browsing!

This year, St. Margaret’s Church is embarking on a year of Mission. We’ve got a year of events which aim to welcome all sorts of members of the community of Rainham into the Church life. Click here to find out more about what we’ve got planned.

Join us for the day on 13th February 2010, from 10am till 4pm, as we open the Church for the day. There will things to do, and see, and touch, and hear, and eat both in the Church and the Millennium Centre. We’ll be giving you a window into some of the many things the Church does in a week. Come along and find out about your family history, see some of the valuable artefacts we have, go up the tower, find out what we do for children and young people, and more. Click on the picture for more information.

On Sunday 6th December we said farewell to our Associate Vicar Jim Bateman and his wife Liz with Evening Prayer followed by tea in the Millenium Centre. Jim was presented with framed photograph of St Margaret’s and Liz with a bouquet. We pray that Jim and Liz may have a very happy retirement.

Everyone helped to get the Church clean and ready to re-open for the Annual Remembrance Day service. Thanks to our builders for getting the building ready in time and although work continues on the tower stonework 537 people were in Church for the annual service and many others joined us for the act of Remembrance and laying of wreaths at the War Memorial

A fragment of ancient glass and other items have been found during the restoration work. For full update on the progress go to Restoration Updatepage and to see this picture and others of the work look on our Photo Gallery

Regulars of the St Margaret’s Thursday Coffee morning visited Kent Life museum for a guided tour and cream tea. See our photo gallery for more pictures. As from Thursday 12th November our Thursday coffee morning’s will return to the Church – come in from 10.00 – 12.00 and join us!

As you cross the path to or from a service in Church or just enjoying a stroll you cannot fail to notice the magnificent Yew Tree which stands in the Churchyard. The tree is estimated to be 1400 years old. Despite some pruning some years ago it is now in need of further attention if it is to survive and continue to grace our Churchyard.
We are excavating and removing as much of this rot as possible before replacing it with Expanding Foam and empty bottles. The empty bottles reduce the number of cans of foam used. This foam is normally used in the construction industry to fill the space between windows and walls and thus prevent draughts round the edge of the windows. In this case, it fills all the space occupied by the removed rot.
Unfortunately the foam is attacked by light, becomes brittle and flakes off, so we are painting it twice with black masonry paint the paint is a plastic film which is flexible, so if the tree moves the paint will move with it rather than cracking

The Vicar and Churchwardens are delighted to announce that work has begun to repair the roof of St. Margaret’s Church! As a result of the hard work of the roof committee, the generous donations of the people of Rainham, and a grant from English heritage, we now have sufficient funds to carry out the work. The work will take 6 months, and is due for completion at the end of October 2009. Go to our Restoration Update pages for the latest news on the progress. Read on for arrangements during the work.