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Autumn is here. The leaves begin to fall. Here’s a parable for us to
pause and reflect upon. We all might well benefit from shedding a few
things.
Ask yourself about priorities, take stock.
What is really important and fundamental in your life?
What is of secondary importance? What is trivial?
How do you share your time between all these?
Have you got your priorities in the right order?
There may be things that you well could shed, in order to bring about
more space in your life, and more time, more real quality of living, more
opportunity for peace…
It’s right that you also ask the same questions concerning your Christian
journey. Questions about God. How important in your life is the One who
made you and gave you everything you have? And how do you respond to his
generosity and love?
It could even be that you need to shed some of the commitments you have
made in order to concentrate on spiritual peace. I think the most
important gift we can impart to anyone is the gift of finding God’s
presence, and finding an inner peace with Him. As Jesus put it, to love God
with our heart, soul, mind and strength.
As individuals we need to be slimmer and fitter in a spiritual sense.
Slimming requires controlled dieting and fitness requires regular exercise
if we are to remain healthy. In health terms we would consult an
expert: it’s no use just picking and choosing at random. As I look at our
clergy team here at St Mary’s and St Nicolas’, I recognise that we are
fortunate to have priests who are experts in just these things - Fr Michael
is a highly trained and qualified spiritual director, whilst Fr Paul and
Fr John and Fr Tim come with a lifetime’s experience in spiritual counsel.
Use their expertise!
These, too, are the questions we are asking as we review our parish life.
At times, we seem to be bogged down with committees locked in permanent
discussion, afraid to make decisions and to get things going, lest we
offend. We have to face the fact that birth, growth and movement are
inevitably painful, and we must accept that pain if we wish to see Jesus.
Fr Stephen
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Over 190 people came to St Nicolas’ to give thanks for the life of Eileen
at her Funeral Mass on 1st September. This spoke volumes about the amount of
respect and affection in which Eileen was held.
Eileen came to Prestbury in 1966, when her husband, Stuart, became Head
Teacher of St Mary’s School. Eileen taught Special Needs at St Mary’s,
followed by stints at Dunalley, Gloucester Road and Swindon Village Schools.
She finally retired in 1990 after 40 years’ service, 20 of which were in
Gloucestershire.
The Jones’ family played a full part in the life of the Church in
Prestbury. Eileen joined St Mary’s Players. She was Enrolling Member of the
Mothers’ Union for six years. Eileen was on the PCC, St Nicolas’ own
Committee, and the Hall Committee. Eileen served as Sacristan at St
Nicolas’, where everything was always in apple pie order.
In 1990 Eileen became Assistant Churchwarden with responsibility for St
Nicolas’. In the following years, she sang in the Camerata Choir, and the
Occasional Choir. She was also an active member of our Walsingham Cell, and
looked forward to our parish pilgrimages to the Shrine of Our Lady of
Walsingham.
Eileen was prayerful. Her hard back copy of Celebrating Common Prayer,
which we started to use nine years ago on each weekday evening in St
Nicolas’, was almost worn out and had been repaired countless times. She had
a strong faith – which had been tested in various ways over the years.
A great friend / babysitter / and house-watcher for subsequent curates in
Boulton Road, Eileen was dearly loved by the clergy. And as parish priests,
Fr Michael and I also found her to be both a strong support and a wise
counsellor, not least at Churchwardens’ meetings to which she always arrived
bearing a list of matters to be discussed. Eileen had a deep love of St
Nic’s – and she could display quite a fierce guardianship. Who hadn’t been
sorted out by Eileen at some point? We all had!
I can’t write this appreciation of Eileen without mentioning her love and
care for David over the years. It was, of course, mutual, and they supported
each other. In David’s own words, “She wasn’t just my carer, she was my best
mate”. David is in our prayers very much at this time.
So we, in thanksgiving, commend Eileen to God’s keeping. “Well done, thou
good and faithful servant.”
Fr Stephen
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Where did you first hear the stories in the Bible? How do the current
generations hear the stories from the Bible? These were some of the
questions posed at the recent Open the Book training. You may well know the
stories of Joseph, Moses and Jesus (to name but a few), but if you asked a
20 to 30 year old – what answer do you think they would give when asked who
was Joseph, and what do you know about him?
Open the Book aims to share the Bible stories in an easy to understand
story with primary school children. Jacqueline Rodwell shared a story of a
little boy who went home and said to his mum that he loved the story of
Joseph and his Technicolor dream coat so much he wanted her to read it to
him again. The family spent ages searching for the family Bible hidden
somewhere on a shelf. Then the little boy’s mum (who had no Christian
background) had to find the story in the Old Testament, before she could
read it! Each week it was the same until the boy said to his mum: I think we
should go to church and find out more about these stories.
Each Wednesday a group from four different churches will be going into St
Mary’s Infant School to share the stories of the Bible with the children.
Please pray for the group, children, teachers and parents.
Julie Jefferies
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September 8th – 11th; 2pm – 5pm: this was the period when we
opened our doors (both of them – south porch) to the general public.
English Heritage and The Civic Trust organise this weekend throughout
England annually, and this year we were invited to join in. Considering
their generosity to our sister church of All Saints, whose roof is quite
literally leaking (down the back of the organ) it seemed rude to refuse.
We revamped our guidebook, produced four different quiz sheets and a
young visitor’s guide. Oh, and some colouring sheets for children waiting
for parents.
To our relief, our first visitor arrived at 2pm on Thursday, just as I
was removing the leftovers of the final flower arrangement. He was followed
by a comfortable trickle of friendly and interesting people.
On Saturday afternoon, the flash flood in Prestbury High Street marooned
us and five visitors in the church. Cyril Beer, with his usual efficiency,
stemmed the flood brimming over the porch steps with hands full of J cloths
and we all settled down to an entertaining hour or so. Sadly it was so wet
that no further people arrived. We managed to complete all the quizzes
ourselves before we closed.
Sunday saw an increase in visitors. It was really enjoyable meeting,
talking and exchanging local knowledge. It more than compensated for the
previous day’s washout.
Because of the great interest in the early life of St Mary’s Church as we
know it, and the discovery of so much of our background as a parish, we have
been requested to produce a series of short articles for the magazine.
The title WHERE DID IT ALL BEGIN? seems an appropriate one. It will not
just be Victorian or Medieval St Mary’s, but the early days of St Nicolas as
well; they have a good tale to tell, and I had glimpses of this as I
ploughed through packages of old documents at the County Records Office. As
a St Mary’s worshipper I know none of this and would love to know more. I
hope others feel the same.
Thank you to Brian Wood, Ken Bradbury, Colin Holman and Cyril Beer for
their magical working of computers, photocopiers and stapling machines;
without them this event would not have happened. Thanks also to Linda Biggs
for the loan of a remarkable degree dissertation and everybody else who
helped in all sorts of ways.
Next year we must be more organised because we would love to go public
again.
Lynda Hodges
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Riotous entertainment, cheese and wine, tremendous fellowship – and all
in the name of good stewardship! This excellent event was staged at
St Mary’s Infant School on Saturday 10 September; the second in a series of
social activities organised by the Stewardship team to highlight our duty to
make regular giving to God. About 70 people attended, and were treated to a
truly original collection of sketches written and performed by many of the
people who were involved in last Easter’s Passion Play. Under the direction
of Daphne Philpot, the players had their audience in stitches with their
tongue-in-cheek portrayals of the clergy, the stewardship committee,
harvest, and much more!
See Pictures
The aim of the evening was to encourage people to think more deeply about
regular, planned giving, which is essential to keep our churches running.
Two more ‘fun’ events are planned: a Pudding Evening at St Nicolas’ on
22 October 3 December, and a quiz at St Mary’s Church
Hall on 12 November. For more details, please contact Marion Beagley.
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This year’s Greenbelt Festival at the Racecourse was, in my opinion, one
of
 the
best so far. It provided a great mix of talks, music and fellowship
resulting in a great weekend, enjoyed by, among others, more than 20 young
people and five leaders from the Synergy and Elevate youth groups. We all
camped on site for the duration of the weekend, and luckily we were blessed
with good weather. We enjoyed four days of camping, cooking, malletball (!)
and each other’s company. Particular group highlights were seeing Tim Hughes
and Matt Redman, and the Sunday morning communion. My personal highlights
included seeing the Proclaimers perform, and also volunteering in the Mix,
which was the venue for 11-14 year olds. I found it really rewarding seeing
and helping the young people develop friendships and their faith in such a
short space of time. Overall, this year’s Greenbelt was a definite success,
and probably my best Greenbelt ever.
Kathryn Porter
Setting up camp for a great weekend
On 26th August a group of about 25 young people and adults set up camp on
Cheltenham racecourse for this year’s Greenbelt festival. There was a wide
range of talks, music, and various performing arts for us to sample,
catering for all ages from the youngest at two, through various ages of
young people to the adult. Most enjoyed the music at night, especially the
Proclaimers on the Sunday night. Camping was an interesting experience for
all, luckily the weather didn’t get too bad, with rain only for one morning.
I think almost all of those camping for the weekend felt that there was a
good atmosphere within the group, and staying there for the weekend meant
that it could be quite a relaxing experience. All could be said to have had
a very enjoyable weekend, although returning home to a shower and a sleep in
a comfortable bed was also enjoyed!
Hannah Compton
Twelve Hours at Greenbelt – Saturday 9.45am - 9.45pm
I spent the first hour wandering round the site identifying venues for
later in the day, but also managed to fit in a short while sitting on the
grass in the quiet of the stable area painting a picture. The theme of
Greenbelt this year was ‘Tree of Life’, so I painted a tree: brown trunk,
lots of green leaves on the branches, roots dipping into a bright blue
stream. Then I mixed the colours a bit and added flowers, butterflies and
birds. No, I am not an artist, but it was fun.
I heard two talks, the second speaker a friend from my distant past –
former minister of a Baptist church I attended as a student. Thirty or more
years dropped away to nothing as we spent the next two hours chatting and
teasing each other over lunch! ‘You haven’t changed a bit…’ was the mutual
opinion.
A somewhat disturbing walk through a display on asylum seekers, a browse
in the bookshop, and a quick bite to eat filled the rest of the afternoon
and then in the evening I attended three services. Orthodox Vespers in a
darkened room in the grandstand, with its haunting music, icons and candles,
was both stirring and calming. Then down to a large tent for a vibrant
African ‘bring your own drum’ Eucharist – spectacular, noisy and so
refreshing! We sang in various African languages as well as English, we
clapped our hands and danced, and those who had drums beat them.
By contrast the short service led in sign language by Deaf people
provided a lovely peaceful end to a varied and enjoyable day.
Frances Murton
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During the summer, our youth groups were part of the 360° Holiday
Project; a series of week-long projects for young people aged 11-18. The
activities ranged from an outdoor activity day, to community action, to team
building. The initiatives enabled our groups to be part of a great team
doing something really worthwhile.
Painting – a community action project
Outdoor activities at Viney Hill
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Some of you may remember we raised the idea of a Fair Trade stall after
the Eucharist with a Difference which addressed the issue of Making Poverty
History. I have made some enquiries and have decided to run a stall after
the service on the second Sunday in the month for a trial period of three
months to gauge the interest. It will focus on food and small gifts with
nothing costing more than £5 and with items beginning at less than £1. The
first stall will be on October 9th so I hope you will come prepared with
your pennies! A few people have expressed an interest in helping me so if
anybody else would like to help then do give me a ring on 678458.
Janet Waters
Thinking ‘Fair Trade’
The concept of ‘Fair Trade’ is being adopted with increasing fervour
throughout our churches: stalls are being organised, and the youth groups
have enthusiastically embraced fairly traded snacks and drinks at their
meetings.
However, Fair Trade has also been under discussion by members of the
Mission & Outreach team, in the context of a wider environmental concern –
from recycling, to the efficient use of energy, to creating a greater
awareness of what we can all do to care for our world.
Among the ideas from M&O members was a suggestion that we organise an
event to highlight environmental needs and policy, including the need to
think ‘fair trade’ wherever and whenever possible. We have set up a small
working party to take this idea further, and will keep you posted on our
progress.
In the meantime, please support any fair trade activity within our
parishes – and beyond. Thank you!
Caroline Sexton
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St Mary’s Church Hall – a Hall Users’ Group has been formed
consisting of many members of the church as well as interested parties. A
solicitor is drawing up the lease at present. Hall has been painted and the
hedge cut.
Parish Office - due to pressure of space the Parish Office will
have to move from the Rectory. The possibility of using one of the vestries
at St Nicolas is being explored. The advantage to the Parish of this will be
increased parking and more easily accessible toilet and kitchen facilities.
No meeting as yet with architect re. location.
New Signs - designs for new signs for St Mary’s, St Nicolas’ and
All Saints’ are completed. All Saints’ is in need of a photograph; once this
is available an order will be placed.
St Nicolas' Church - the Quinquennial report contained many errors
and was of unacceptable quality. The architect has been requested to
resubmit. The WC pan in the south toilet has been repositioned to provide
space for the construction of a storage cupboard. Discussions are continuing
with architect and window manufacturers regarding the ventilation of the
church. The youth have decorated areas of the church as part of their 360
project. We are grateful to them for this. The hall, church kitchens and
toilets have passed their hygiene inspection by the local authority.
St Mary’s Church - the tower is to have new electrical wiring
installed. Emergency repair work is to be undertaken to the church floor.
The architect is to be consulted re. a long-term solution. A stone shelf is
proposed for the North Chapel. Local stonemasons are submitting designs,
which will be put on display once available. The Quinquennial report is
awaited.
St Mary’s Churchyard - it is proposed to increase the number of
lamp posts in the churchyard.
St Nicolas’ Hall - a structural survey needs to be carried out re.
the crack on the internal wall in the NW corner. A structural engineer is
being appointed.
General Parish Business - English Heritage sent a 2005 Church
Fabric Needs survey. This will be completed and returned.
Date of next meeting - Friday 11th November, 4.15pm at St
Nicolas’.
Should you have any comments or questions, please submit them in writing
to Jackie Moles at the Parish Office or by email to
jackie.moles prestbury.net.
These will be presented to the committee at its next meeting.
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 On Saturday,
10th September, four of our intrepid church members took part in the Annual
Cycle Ride of the Historic Churches Trust. Gill Ashman, Matthew Bestwick,
Mary Turner, and Bob Lyle braved torrential rains to raise funds for our
churches and the Trust – and seemed to enjoy every minute…!
Just the weather for plastic sheeting!
I set out at 10am to visit 12 churches, going north through Bishops
Cleeve to St Martin, Woolstone. It was wrapped in plastic sheeting as the
roof was being repaired – how could they do this without help from the
Trust?
The road to Tredington is pretty straight and open – the heavens opened,
too, and I wished I was wrapped in plastic! I was grateful for the shelter
of St John, sharing the porch with the fossil of a Coelocanth and three
riders from Tewkesbury who were quite dry; they had had no rain up to then.
I continued – and so did the rain – to St James, Stoke Orchard, Elmstone
Hardwick, Swindon Village, St Nicolas, and home – 20 miles and 13 churches.
Despite the conditions I enjoyed it and one always learns something new –
I know where the Bethel Chapel of the Slavic Baptist Church is – do you? And
between us we raised over £350 for our churches and the Trust.
Bob Lyle
Oil, mud and dire thoughts!
Gloucestershire’s only heavy rain in recent months fell with a vengeance
when I happened to be in the Church porch of St Mary the Virgin at Westcote.
After the heaviest deluge, I ventured forth again, meeting a fellow-cyclist
at the gate, who remarked that “at least we are both clean”; a somewhat
dubious speculation considering my oily, muddy legs and feet (not to mention
the dire thoughts in my head at that point!). But the wet I had been
dreading all day was quite exhilarating, as I splashed through rivers and
lakes on the roads and lanes. My brakes were in good working order, due to
Roger’s careful checking and maintenance!
Starting from Upper Slaughter I look a route around Stow-on-the-Wold,
trying to avoid the steepest hills, but finding a few where I needed to
dismount and walk. Having left the Slaughters and Swells I headed towards
Broadwell, then to Evenlode and Adlestrop, being reminded of its railway
connection by the shelter and bench on a corner, and of Edward Thomas’ poem
“Adlestrop”.
At Oddington I found two churches, Holy Ascension and the 11th century St
Nicholas, with its Mediaeval “Heaven and Hell” wall painting.
I met Roger for a quick picnic lunch at Bledington, afterwards straying
into Oxfordshire to visit the churches at Kingham, Fifield and Idbury.
Lastly, a visit to St Peters, Little Rissington and St Lawrence, Bourton-on-the-Water,
where Roger picked up my bike and me to return home, both of us dripping
wet!
In many of these lovely churches I found someone there with a welcome,
drinks and refreshments, sympathy for the weather and help with directions.
All the villages were so beautiful that the whole day was most enjoyable!
I visited 15 churches and covered some 30 miles. Thank you very much to
all those who generously sponsored me.
Gill Ashman
A feeling of achievement, satisfaction…
and wet trainers!
On Saturday 10th September I woke to the sound of fairly heavy rain – a
bit of a disappointment as this was the day I was to accompany my grandson,
Matthew Bestwick, on the Historic Churches Sponsored Bike Ride.
We spent the latter part of the morning making sure our bikes and
ourselves were ready and roadworthy – I had to have a little practise also
as it is about fifteen years since I last rode a bike!
We set off about 1.45pm, duly helmeted and illuminated. The plan was to
visit as many Cheltenham churches as possible in a round circuit. We had
visited five before the afternoon deluge began; undeterred we went on to
visit another eight - by which time we were well and truly soaked and so
decided to head for home.
It wasn’t really just because we were so wet that we called it a day
(after all, once you are soaked to the skin you can’t get any wetter), it
was also because we were making our way through flood water, and visibility
was extremely limited. (I’m sure Mike Brick will vouch for us as he passed
us in Swindon Lane pushing our bikes up the last hill, in the pouring rain).
In spite of the weather Matthew thoroughly enjoyed his ride and wants to
do it again next year! I’m not sure that ‘enjoyed’ is quite the right word
for me, but I certainly felt a sense of achievement and satisfaction and we
have raised well over £100 in sponsorship money.
We both enjoyed a hot bath (not together) when we arrived home and a
lovely tea cooked by Kate (Matthew’s Mum). I later went on to the
Stewardship Cheese and Wine party and was able to sit and recover and enjoy
the wonderful entertainment provided by our talented Church members.
Our trainers are still wet!
Mary Turner
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