REMEMBERING The Revd Roger White, Chaplain of STB, 2001–2011

On 16 May, members of the congregation past and present joined Roger’s wife, Heidi, his children Rachel and William, and family and friends to remember and give thanks for his life.
The service reflected on both Roger’s personal life and his dedication to ministry, and included a touching eulogy given by Rachel.

Canon Colin Williams used the Easter message to convey Roger’s remarkable qualities as a priest.

A smaller service followed at Ohlsdorf for the interment of Roger’s ashes and to lay flowers at the STB-owned grave plot.

Roger will be fondly remembered and much missed by all who knew him.

If you would like to make a donation to STB in Roger’s memory, please donate to our bank account (Englisch-bischoefliche Gemeinde, IBAN DE46 2005 0550 1280 1464 22, BIC HASPDEHHXXX), marking the payment ‘Roger White’. Thank you.

Tax certificates (Spendenbescheinigung) for donations made in 2024

These have been handed out/posted. If you have not received your certificate, but have made donations please email treasury@anglican-church-hamburg.de.

We can only send certificates if we have your correct address. For some donors we are missing addresses completely.

A huge thank you to all who donate to the church. Regular donations by standing order are particularly appreciated as these provide a stable income. To be able to employ a new chaplain we need more income from regular donations. Every bit helps not matter how little. THANK YOU.

Church Electoral Roll renewal 2025

Before the 2025 AGM, our electoral roll must be completely renewed from scratch—so everyone needs to apply or reapply. (This renewal takes place every six years under church law.)

There are several ways for you to obtain and submit the form:

  • You can download the form directly from the Diocese in Europe website: Application for Enrolment on the Chaplaincy Electoral Roll, or you can collect a printed copy in church.
  • Once completed, you can return the form by email to the Electoral Roll Officer, Dorothee Moeller (electoralroll@anglican-church-hamburg.de), or hand it in in person to Dorothee or one of the churchwardens. If you would like to submit it by email but do not have a scanner, a clear photograph of the form is perfectly fine, provided all details are readable.

If you experience any issues downloading the form from the Diocese’s website, please contact Dorothee, who will be happy to email it to you instead.    

Order your Christmas Cards!

As many of you know, last year our STB card-recycling project once again raised a total of 6,000 Euros (including a generous donation from the former Hon. British Consul Claus Budelmann.) The team is once again in full swing for 2024, preparing high quality Christmas and greetings cards for sale at the Bazaar, Victorian Christmas Market and various other church and local events. The Christmas greetings are in both English and German with motifs to suit all tastes! 

If you would like to order your Christmas cards online instead,  you can access the order form right here, right now: 

Christmas cards order form

Please pray for our confirmands

Bishop Robert will be taking the service on Sunday 17th November at 10.30, both preaching and presiding on this significant occasion.

We have three adult candidates, and seven juniors this year, and they have all been preparing since soon after Easter: meeting to learn more about God, the Bible, Christian doctrine, our Anglican church and liturgy. It has been a rich and joyful time, and we wish each one of them well as they take this next step forward in affirming their faith, and also receive the sacrament of their first holy communion. 

A reminder as the Confirmation becomes imminent, that no photography or video recording during services is permitted. Notices to this effect are displayed all around the church, but after a while, they do tend to become just ‘part of the wallpaper’! This is a general rule, and any potential exceptions must be discussed in advance with the Chaplain, along with receiving the permission of all those likely to be recorded. This applies to any recording, and whether or not you may intend to publish it on any sort of social media platform. When it comes to music, we are subject to performing rights and copyright considerations, and the Data protection and safeguarding rules are there to protect us all. So, please respect the privacy, property and wellbeing of others, most especially when you are in church. Thank you.

Our charity partnership with Hanseatic Help – could you organise our STB collections?

We have had two collections so far, and are keen to continue our links with this local charity, as part of our wider engagement in Hamburg.

This request is for someone to schedule the periodic collection dates. Then to arrange a car to deliver the items collected to the charity’s main building (old Fischmarkt area, close to church) during the week after each collection has taken place.

Please contact the Chaplain for further details or if you have any questions. 

The Arts Society of Hamburg presents the Church Record

Some of you will remember reading about the Church Recording project, organised by The Arts Society of Hamburg, whereby a small group of volunteers has recorded the contents and features of the inside of St Thomas à Becket in Hamburg to a high professional standard. The end result is a large, wonderfully bound book, which will be presented to the church after the morning service on Sunday 25 June.

This Record is the culmination of approximately 5 years’ work and its presentation has been delayed by Covid and by the church being closed in the winter as far as services were concerned. During the course of the research many interesting historic facts came to light as the team documented the memorials, metalwork, internal stonework, woodwork, textiles, pictures and documents.

We (the group of volunteers) very much hope that as many of you as possible will come along to this presentation and view the Record, which will thereafter be the property of the church.

A more detailed article will appear in the next Becket News giving you some background and history in respect of Church Recording.

Pat Pledger
(Co-ordinator of the Church Recording Team)

Invitation to sign up for the STB Lent course 2023

This year’s course will be based around the film ‘The Theory of Everything’ (2014, about Stephen Hawking.) As part of each group sessions we will watch clips from the film (technology permitting), but please do view the film in advance too if you wish. 

The course is organised to run over the five weeks of Lent, and will consist of 1. a group meeting each week in Zeughausmarkt, AND  2. a short daily Bible passage and reflection for you to undertake as individual devotion, for each day inbetween. All materials provided. 

The Lent course group sessions will be offered on Thursdays AND Sundays in Zeughausmarkt 22 (upstairs in the warm room), with a maximum of 8 places in each – ie 16 places in total. Pre-registration is required, please email chaplain (at) anglican-church-hamburg.de to register.