Worship continues after church raid

IT was worship as usual at St Mary’s Church in Henley a week after it was targeted by raiders.

About 60 members of the congregation and the church choir took part in the traditional Palm Sunday procession from Market Place to the church in Hart Street.

Many carried crosses made of palm leaves before halting outside the church where the rector Father Jeremy Tayler blessed them with holy water before going inside to lead the holy communion service.

Just a week before burglars had smashed a stained-glass window, drilled open two safes and stole sets of silver communion vessels and cash following an evensong service.

Many residents have offered their support to the church and an online fundraiser set up by Jenny Brown and Emma Law has raised £1,290.

Fr Jeremy, 45, said: “The burglary has hit people in different ways. There is quite a lot of anger, which is understandable, and people have been upset.

“It has also affected those people who don’t necessarily come to church or come very often.

“This has been seen as an attack on the community as well as the church. Stealing from the church is like stealing from the town.

“People have expressed their sympathies to me personally and to the congregation. I have received gifts and hugs and messages using every medium as well as kindness and support and with the fundraising drive, it has all been pretty overwhelming.

“It is encouraging for me that people feel a connection with the church and all that has happened since the burglary shows how much people care and we are grateful for that.”

For Sunday’s service, he borrowed a chalice and ciborium from St Nicholas’ Church in Remenham, where he is also the rector, while Rev Robert Thewsey, of the united benefice of Shiplake, Dunsden and Harpsden, loaned him a chalice.

At the end of the service, Fr Jeremy told the congregation about the burglary and thanked the community for its support.

He said: “You probably all realise by now but last Sunday night we were broken into. It was quite a professional break-in, it wasn’t the usual opportunistic dipping of the collection box.

“They made off with most of our church silverware and collections and obviously that wasn’t a great thing and was a shock. However, we have recovered very quickly and I thank all those who have assisted in that.

“We were back up and running basically as soon as the police had been and done what they needed to do and you have hopefully noticed very little difference today in terms of our worship.

“My huge thanks to people in this congregation who assisted, particularly to Sue, as churchwarden, and my thanks to the whole town because there has been tremendous sympathy, kindness and generosity and a sense of really being supportive.

“This has meant an enormous amount to me personally and I hope also that you all collectively feel that as a church we are all supported here and what we do in this place.

“Also, my thanks to everybody who came to help at the church cleaning day. If it weren’t for the incense, you would be able to smell the scent of polish in the air.

“You can see, for example, over there, with those two candlesticks just what the shine and sparkle those who have been polishing have managed to achieve. My enormous thanks to them.

“I also think we should thank the Henley Standard. It’s great to have a proper local newspaper which has taken a very keen interest in what has happened here over the past week.”

The raiders got into the church by breaking a window depicting St Aidan, which was installed more than 100 years ago.

Once inside, they made their way from the choir vestry to the sacristy on the north side of the building and drilled the locks of two safes to open them.

One safe contained the silver vessels, comprising two plates, four cups and two pots which were stolen as well as a large alms dish. The burglars also took a miniature communion set of vessels, which is used when sick people are visited at home, and collection money totalling about £500. The second safe primarily held church documents which were left untouched.

It is believed that the culprits used a fire extinguisher to spray areas that they had touched to cover their tracks. They left the church via the front door after unlocking it by removing a wooden bar on the inside.

Fr Jeremy said there would be discussions about what would be replaced and how the stained-glass window would be repaired as well as about security.

He said: “We don’t want to change the way the community interacts with the church but there could be some things that we could do to make ourselves less vulnerable.”

Police are investigating. Anyone with information should call 101, quoting investigation number 43240125424.