Since 2008 we have been twinned with the parish of St Simon & St Jude, Namacunde, Cunene province, southern Angola. This ‘twinning’ was arranged through ALMA, the partnership of the Anglican churches in Angola, London and Mozambique. For more information about ALMA and the history of the Anglican church in Angola, go to www.almalink.org.

In June 2010 Fr Simon Brandes and Simon Morgan, one of our parishioners, travelled to Namacunde to find out more about St Simon & St Jude (referred to in Namacunde as St Simon & St Judas). The stories and images brought back by them to Chiswick show a wonderfully strong and vibrant worshipping community, with people living their faith daily in circumstances very different to those here in West London. We hope that this visit marks the beginning of a growing friendship between our respective parishes.

In July 2017 we received reports that stones had been delivered for the foundations of the new church which we have helped to fund. A further update was published in 2018.

In January 2019 Alex Smith was really pleased to update that St Nicholas has now transferred all of its final £5,000 of its total of £15,000 commitment to the Diocese of Angola as of 22nd January 2019 and the money will be transferred to the Namacunde parish within the next few weeks for them to use for the 3rd stage of building the structure; windows and doors. Any further funds remaining which are not used for this will be used for internal requirements.

Below are the latest photos of Stage 2 development of the construction of the new church building of St Simon & St Jude in Namacunde showing internal floors and walls are constructed and plastered, roof has been constructed, photos are of progress to date. The building structure is expected to be completed in early Spring 2019 with windows and doors, with internal furnishing occurring after then. Photos show church as of 19th January 2019. The church will be consecrated by the Bishop of Angola in early 2019.

St Simon and St Jude