This is a text-only version of an article first published on Friday, 13 November 2015. Information shown on this page may no longer be current.
RETIRED engineer, the Revd Ron Bundock, has been the Area Dean of Buckingham for nearly four-and-a-half years.
He was the vicar of Stowe, a parish within the deanery, for 16 years, a role he carried out while working full-time.
It was when he retired from secular work that he was asked to take over as Area Dean.
"I'm getting used to being the Area Dean now.
I was the vicar of Stowe until just over a year ago and now they have the Revd Sue Sampson who is doing a terrific job. "With five stipendiary clergy and 21 churches, Buckingham is thought to be one of the smallest deaneries in the whole Oxford Diocese.
At its centre is the town of Buckingham, with a population of 12,000 but in the outlying areas villages of as few as 100.
Ron and his wife Judith now worship at St Peter and St Paul's in Buckingham. Ron was ordained in 1990 and in 1998, Ron became the vicar of Stowe.
The village has a population of 300 (exluding Stowe School) and the church regularly gets 30 to 40 people.
So how did Ron balance looking after a lively village church with full time work? "I worked very hard and didn't have much time off," he says.
"The advantage paradoxically was that most members of the church realised I was in full time secular employment and that I couldn't do everything.
My response if people came to me with ideas was to say 'that's a cracking idea, please go ahead. ' Having someone with one foot in the secular world and one in the clergy world was an advantage as people knew I was suffering the same pressures they were in a work environment and couldn't do everything. "
The Rest a While tea and cake tent at the Bucks County Show.
All the time Judith was still part of St Peter and St Paul's Church, where she managed a £670,000 project to redevelop the building and then became the parish administrator. The benefices that make up the deanery include some beautiful, historic buildings, but Ron is aware that rural clergy are facing challenges.
"While St Peter and St Paul's is a big church, some of the smaller village churches are finding it hard to have enough people to run children's or young people's ministries and the HS2 rail link is a real challenge to rural communities," he says. However, despite the challenges, the Deanery works well with its neighbours, the Mursley and Claydon Deaneries.
Every year they join forces to offer a hospitality tent offering people the chance to Rest a While at the busy Bucks County Show.
The tent offers tea, cake, children's activities and the opportunity for people to make prayer requests in the midst of a huge, bustling agricultural show.
Town centre base for just £1 per year rent
The former Red Cross centre in Buckingham.
THE congregation at Buckingham Parish Church has been praying for several years for a town-centre property for various pastoral and community service initiates.
Ideas ranged from dispensing tea and coffee, people to pray with and chat to and selling Christian books and cards.
Last summer, church representatives were asked by Buckinghamshire County Council whether they'd be interested in a lease on the former Red Cross centre in the centre of town.
The church now has a two-year lease, with a rent of just £1 per annum. Although they don't quite yet have the keys, they have a team planning furiously to get the centre (uninhabited for three years) up and running again.
Planned activities include: afternoon tea groups; a new location for the community foodbank; a planned Street Angels initiative; courses such as bereavement care and marriage enrichment; overnight emergency accommodation for homeless people; a 'Men in Sheds' initiative and a general networking hub for community-based projects and groups.
The Revd Will Pearson-Gee, the Rector, said: "This is an answer to prayer and we are incredibly excited to have a new resource from which to serve our community.
It is a big challenge but I know people will rise to it and make the Church even more relevant to Buckingham. "
Visit the first Stowe Christmas Tree Festival
STOWE Parish Church is being transformed into a winter wonderland for its first ever Christmas Tree Festival this month. The four-day festival will be officially opened by the Bishop of Buckingham, the Rt Revd Alan Wilson, at 2pm on Thursday, 10 December.Everyone is welcome to see the decorated trees that will be lining the path to the historic church, which is situated in the National Trust's Stowe National Gardens, and Stowe School.
There will also be trees throughout the church, sponsored by local organisations and businesses. Money raised will be split between the Children's Air Ambulance and Stowe Church Water Project.
The water project is a two stage scheme currently being planned.
The first phase is to get mains water to the church and phase two is the installation of a kitchen.
The official opening will be followed by a quarter peal of bells and music by pupils from Stowe School.
On the Saturday the festival will draw to its official close with a Jingle Bell Jazz concert from Rance's Rockin' Choir.
A community carol service takes place on the Sunday evening. The festival takes place from Thursday 10 December to Saturday 12 December, 10am to 5pm.
Admission is £3 for adults/free for children and £2 for National Trust or Stowe House visitors.
Free parking is available at the church for non-National Trust members.
The Revd Ron Bundock.
Jo Duckles