What’s On – upcoming services and events
All special events and tours throughout the year are listed here (and always more to come!)
NOT listed here is our weekly 9.45am Sunday Service.
Festivals in the Church of England Year are on our Worship page.
To ask about adding an event here, email our website editor.
Climb the tower, see our ancient clock and bells
Saturday 28th June, 11.30am – guided tour
Tour includes introduction to church interior; climb the spiral stair to the second-oldest (1670) turret clock in Sussex; up to the belfry – lovely and very special oak bellframe dates from around 1400.
Not many belfries survive like this, and hardly any that are easily reached by stairs. Hear the big tenor bell strike twelve!
Not to be missed – only £5.
Celebrate St Thomas' Patronal Festival
Sunday 6th July, 4pm
All are welcome to this special Sung Evensong with choir for our Patron Saint, Archbishop Thomas Becket, kindly supported by the Choral Evensong Trust. Members of the East and West Sussex branches of the Prayer Book Society are also invited. Our singing will be led by a special choir drawn from the congregations of St Thomas, St Anne’s and St Michael. Organist: Peter Hanson. After the service there will be refreshments and a short history talk in Cliffe Hall
Saint Thomas’s shrine was completed 805 years ago, on 7th July 1220, in a new chapel behind the high altar at Canterbury Cathedral, so we are delighted to hold this special service as our Patronal Festival. No charge for refreshments, retiring collection.
Climb the tower, see our ancient clock and bells
Saturday 12th July, 11.30am – guided tour
Tour includes introduction to church interior; climb the spiral stair to the second-oldest (1670) turret clock in Sussex; up to the belfry – lovely and very special oak bellframe dates from around 1400.
Not many belfries survive like this, and hardly any that are easily reached by stairs. Hear the big tenor bell strike twelve!
Not to be missed – only £5.
Climb the tower, see our ancient clock and bells
Saturday 26th July, 11.30am – guided tour
Tour includes introduction to church interior; climb the spiral stair to the second-oldest (1670) turret clock in Sussex; up to the belfry – lovely and very special oak bellframe dates from around 1400.
Not many belfries survive like this, and hardly any that are easily reached by stairs. Hear the big tenor bell strike twelve!
Not to be missed – only £5.
Climb the tower, see our ancient clock and bells
Saturday 9th August, 11.30am – guided tour
Tour includes introduction to church interior; climb the spiral stair to the second-oldest (1670) turret clock in Sussex; up to the belfry – lovely and very special oak bellframe dates from around 1400.
Not many belfries survive like this, and hardly any that are easily reached by stairs. Hear the big tenor bell strike twelve!
Cliffe Summer Fair
Saturday 23rd August, 10am-12.30pm, beside the church
Our annual summer fair, now an amazing 615 years old – we had permission for markets and fairs from King Henry IV in 1409. Come to hear us read the king’s charter and declare the fair open. Lots of tempting stalls – jam (of course), delicious home-made cakes, plants, plants, fruit and veg, great choice of books for grown-ups, jewellery and bric-a-brac. Plenty to try for in raffles and tombola. In the adjacent Cliffe Hall if wet!
Donations to the stalls welcome by 10am please.
Climb the tower, see our ancient clock and bells
Saturday 23rd Aug, 11.30am – guided tour
Tour includes introduction to church interior; climb the spiral stair to the second-oldest (1670) turret clock in Sussex; up to the belfry – lovely and very special oak bellframe dates from around 1400.
Not many belfries survive like this, and hardly any that are easily reached by stairs. Hear the big tenor bell strike twelve!
Climb the tower, see our ancient clock and bells
Saturday 6th September, 11.30am – guided tour
Tour includes introduction to church interior; climb the spiral stair to the second-oldest (1670) turret clock in Sussex; up to the belfry – lovely and very special oak bellframe dates from around 1400.
Not many belfries survive like this, and hardly any that are easily reached by stairs. Hear the big tenor bell strike twelve!
Not to be missed – only £5.
Ride or Stride between churches for charity
Saturday 13th September, 9am-5pm
Cycle, run or walk today between as many Sussex churches as you can manage. And raise money for the church of your choice and for the Sussex Historic Churches Trust. Include St Thomas a Becket Church if you like, or go further afield. See the best of our historic churches, have great fun and help us raise money! Call Kate on 07708 014 313 for entry form. Full info at Sussex Historic Churches Trust
Harvey's Brewery Annual Harvest Thanksgiving Service
Saturday 4th October, in Church, 11am
The church is decorated with Harvey’s hop bines, beautifully and aromatically, for this very popular service which is open to all. Not to miss – get there early, it’s always packed!
Advent Carol Sevice with Sussex Harmony Quire
Sunday 30th November, 3pm
Sing Advent carols, and thrill to the Sussex Harmony Quire, an enthusiastic band of singers and instrumentalists in costume and playing period instruments. Their vibrant, beautiful and thoroughly entertaining music is a wonderful revival of rural church and chapel quires from 1700 to 1850. Wine, soft drinks and mince pies afterwards. Retiring collection.