The Bulletin – Edition 4

This week we were delighted to have Reverend Ben Lovell from St. Mary’s Church in Hampton come to the Prep to talk to us about the wider meaning these days around ‘Harvest Festival Celebrations’. Reverend Ben is also a Governor of the Hampton Trust, and he sits on the Pre-Prep & Prep Governors’ Committee, which means he is very interested and invested in supporting all that we do here. Reverend Ben set the notion of a ‘harvest’ in its traditional agrarian and religious sense against a contemporary and relevant understanding of what ‘harvest’ can mean for us all, especially for those of us who do not work the land and who are not Christians. Reverend Ben explained that really, these days, noting the change of seasons and thinking about how important the harvest used to be for many more people than it is today allows us space and time to reflect upon ideas of gratitude, and how we might be ever more mindful of how thankful we are for what we have, especially anything that means a lot but costs very little. We were also fascinated to hear how reverend Ben is off on an exciting journey very soon to southern east Africa, where he will re-connect with communities across two countries that St. Mary’s Church here in Hampton support. We look forward to hearing more from him about this influential work when he returns and visits us again next term. Reverend Ben explained that he is grateful he has this chance to go out and (I quote) “find out more about the world”. Learning, for him, is a lifelong endeavour, which was very inspiring indeed!