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WEDNESDAY mornings have suddenly taken on a new joy for me – at least for
the duration of the Easter season. As many of you will know, I love reading
the psalms. I might even be called a psalmaholic! What may not be so
familiar to you is that Psalm 139 is my favourite.
So, when I sat down to celebrate Morning Prayer on Wednesday morning
during the week after Easter week, I was excited to see that Psalm 139 is
one of the appointed psalms for Wednesdays throughout the Easter season.
It is a relatively long psalm so tends to speak to me in different ways
each time I read it. What it always does though is to heighten my sense of
God’s intimate relationship with me – even when I am perhaps less intimate
with Him than I would like to be.
I know there are others in our worship community who are as keen as I am
on the psalms. Their reasons for that keenness vary to some extent but, as a
general rule, the psalms offer us ways to speak to God which normally elude
us. How can I, for instance, put into words my feelings of awe for what He
has done for me personally? Who am I, a mere mortal, to praise Him for His
wonderful deeds? Equally, how can I share my sadness and anger, when my
emotions prohibit openness and total honesty with Him? There is something in
the psalms for all occasions, and it is a source of constant joy that they
play such an important role in our Morning and Evening Prayer in this
Parish.
I would love to hear from others of you what your views are on the psalms
– especially Psalm 139. How do you use them? What are your favourites? What
are the special meanings that psalms offer to you? Please let me know via
email – my address is in the Parish Magazine – or by snail mail, if you do
not have a computer, or even speak to me – now there’s an idea! I am not
into ‘texting’.
If I get a good response I shall publish a further article on the
subject. You never know, reading the psalms could catch on – better still we
could have a repeat of the psalm being so beautifully sung for us at the
11 o’clock Eucharist in the second week of Lent. Now I am getting carried
away – but it would be wonderful to hear them once in a while.
Spring is well and truly with us now – everything seems to be earlier
this year. How about taking on a new approach to your prayer life and making
greater use of the psalms? This is the time for renewal – why not try it?
 Fr Peter
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Please consider becoming a collector for the house-to-house collection or
organizing a small group of collectors in an area of Prestbury. More than
ever we are being asked to help those in poor countries combatting the
disastrous effects of climate change, already so evident in many parts of
the world. We can do a lot to help them by taking an envelope to each
household and calling back for it two or three day later for the response.
The time spent doing this may be only two or three hours, but counts so much
towards the valuable work done by Christian Aid through its partner
organizations in countries of all the continents. If you are willing to
help, please contact:
 St
Mary’s: Gill Ashman
St Nicolas’: Paddy Spurgeon
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At Easter Rosie Bradbury (soprano) and Avril Keen (alto) retired from St
Mary’s choir. They have both been involved in the musical life of the church
in a number of guises for over 20 years. We shall of course miss them and
thank them for their commitment and loyal support. Whilst they have now hung
up their choir gowns, I am sure they will continue to be active with other
aspects of church life!
 Peter Greaves
Musical Leeks!
I have been asked several times where the leeks, and often other
vegetables, come from every Sunday morning at St Mary’s. Our unsung hero is
John Boxwell – he is not only a good gardener but also a super pianist, and
we have a good time together when we go to Bay Tree Court and deliver
Evensong for the residents, when it is our turn at Sunday teatimes.
 Sylvia McKenzie
Are you a Pianist?
If you could help once every few weeks by playing a couple of hymns
during the short service at Bay Tree Court on a Sunday afternoon, please get
in touch with Diana Mackie. Thank you.
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magazine @ prestbury.net
Most of you do send your magazine articles to the magazine address –
thank you. But some of you are using my or my husband’s private email
addresses. The problem with this is that if we are not at home, then your
article will sit there unopened and will not go into the magazine, whereas
if you use the correct magazine address, then Brian Wood, or sometimes a
third person, will also receive it and will deal with it in my absence.
Similarly for those of you who post or deliver your articles by hand: if
you write ‘Parish Magazine’ on the envelope, then it can be passed on to the
person compiling that month’s magazine. If you don’t, then it will look like
a private letter and will remain unopened until I return home, and may miss
the deadline altogether.
 Editor
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Prestbury Drama – your chance to become
famous…
Following the recent notices about re-creating a drama group in Prestbury
we held a very encouraging meeting in April to see whether this was a viable
proposition. A dozen people attended the meeting, with several sending
apologies, and it was agreed that we should go ahead and see what we can
achieve.
Our next meeting will be held at St Nicolas’ Church Room on Wednesday
21st May at 7.30pm, when we shall examine various scripts and ideas with a
view to presenting ‘something’ early in the autumn. There is still time to
join us if you fancy ‘treading the boards’ or helping in any other way that
might be suitable. Please contact me if you would like to hear more.
 Marion Beagley
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A Review of this Season
Dad and I have looked back over the NCC’s second season, and, with
delight, note a tremendous improvement in their results of six wins,
including a cup win, and two draws, with 10 defeats, scoring 35 goals,
compared with 20 during the previous season. Leading scorers were Andrew
Murton (16) and Andrew Elvidge (9).
We felt the fifth game, against Tewkesbury Trinity Tigers, was the
season’s turning point, resulting in a first-ever league win. With the NCC
under great pressure, and their goalkeeper well beaten, and well outside his
area, the Tigers appeared to be heading for the opening score, as depicted
in this photograph. One defender thought otherwise, and in his desperate run
managed to clear the ball off the line, epitomising the never-say-die
determination the team has shown throughout every game. Well done to all
concerned!
 Michael Wyatt
A line from the NCC Captain
As NCC stepped onto the pitch for the last game of the 2007/8 season
against Gloucester the feeling of expectation rather than hope that was
amongst the players surely summed up what a vastly improved campaign it had
been. Victory would have secured 4th spot for the Undertakers – a far cry
from the solitary point gained in the previous season leaving the team
bottom of the league. Unfortunately a typically spirited effort from all the
boys went unrewarded as Gloucester sneaked a last minute winner.
Many thanks to everyone who has contributed on and off the pitch this
season – our position once again at the top of the fair play league speaks
volumes. Bring on next season!!!
 Andrew Murton
A line from the NCC Manager
Well, what a season! The summer saw steady activity in the transfer
market. We lost two regular players (Grant and Graeme) and gained some new
faces (Aj, Duncan and David). Our youth system continued to produce with
James Radburn becoming an established member of the side. But the core of
the team remained the same and regular training sessions throughout the
summer meant we were well prepared for the new season.
Despite an increasing confidence within the team we had the most
disappointing of starts – three straight defeats. Then something just seemed
to click and we went on a record-breaking run of five victories and one draw
in our next six games. We were majestic – our defence was assured, our
midfield fluent and our attack potent as we beat the best the Cotswolds
Churches League could offer. Then, unfortunately, Christmas arrived and the
mid-season break saw a turn in our fortunes. A combination of injuries and
bad luck meant that the second half of the season couldn’t live up to the
early promise.
It’s a measure of how far we have come that in the end we are slightly
disappointed in our final position of seventh. The team has vastly improved
in the past twelve months. Whereas last year we concentrated on defending
and keeping the score respectable, this year we have felt confident of
beating any side in the league. Although most players have been called upon
to play in multiple positions, there is now much greater coherency to our
play, and a good understanding of the strengths of other members of the
team. Whilst there have been many memorable individual performances during
the season, they have been spread throughout the squad. All our players have
improved during the season both personally and as a team.
Finally whilst it’s true to say that we have become more competitive,
with some tense, hard fought games, we have still played the game in a
sporting manner. So, whilst it is good to have started winning games, we
haven’t lost sight of the main purpose – to have an enjoyable game of
football.
 Tim Rudge
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continued from last month
‘NOW THIS is where your holiday begins’ said Angie, our tour leader.
Having arrived late, we had a quick transfer to the landing stage, where
our first shock was to see two sea lions reclining where we should have
sheltered from the sun, one on the bench and one underneath. ‘Do not touch
them’ said one of the naturalists, ‘they are wild animals’. The second shock
was that our yacht Isabella II was not there for us to board, it was
anchored out in the bay and we had to don life jackets and travel out by
panga.
After a hasty lunch due to our late arrival it was up on deck for
lifeboat drill then back into the pangas for our first trip ashore and about
a two mile walk. This proved to be the pattern for the next seven days:
breakfast, leave the yacht at 8.30am, return between 11.30 and 12.00, lunch,
 leave again approx 2.30pm, back 5 to 6pm,
6.45 talk and orientation for the following day by Antonio (one of the
Naturalists), 8pm dinner, after which we were ready to retire to bed. The
first night some of us did venture on deck and saw sharks following the ship
and another evening we all went star gazing from the deck. A new island was
visited each day and during this time we saw amazing birds, sea lions, land
and marine iguanas, nests, chicks, both blue and red footed boobies and
frigate birds showing off with pride their courtship display by inflating an
enormous red air balloon at the throat.
Landings from the pangas were varied, some wet landings, some on to rocks
or lava and when it came to travelling in the glass bottom boat, that was an
adventure in itself in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, sitting on the edge
of the panga and swinging your legs into the adjoining boat; we were quite
blasé about all this come the end of the week. The hazardous transfers were
well worth it when you surveyed the wonderful sea life below the boat, a
view those who went snorkelling also experienced.
Walking on the islands could also prove tricky as we walked on lava,
rocks, climbed rocky uneven surfaces,  but also beautiful golden or white sand, saw the
world’s largest tortoises, smallest penguins and strolled into a long lava
tunnel. We also crossed the Equator three times in one day and the Captain
called us to the bridge on one occasion and we drank a toast with champagne.
There is much more I could write about but space will not permit, so what
lasting impression did I bring home with me? Well I felt very privileged to
have been able to walk on islands never inhabited by man and to see natural
wild life in its own environment yet with no fear of humans.
We left the UK shortly after Christmas and returned to find Lent already
started. So what am I going to give up this Lent? The answer is simply
nothing!!!! Instead I am endeavouring to go for a walk each day, enjoy the
fresh air, observe new life as it breaks forth this spring and really
appreciate this wonderful world God has given us.
I said earlier in this report that I would reserve judgement on whether
the holiday really began when we reached Galapagos. Well the answer is it
was a wonderful, wonderful experience and with great companions; but it was
certainly the most energetic I have ever undertaken.
 Avril
Keen together with Eleanor Knight
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JESUS said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water
will thirst again but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him
will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become to him a
spring of water welling up to eternal life.’ John 4:13-14 (RSV)
As my Lenten reading this year I decided to embark on an older book,
William Temple’s Readings in St John’s Gospel, first published in those
ominous years, 1939 and 1940. William Temple was Archbishop of Canterbury,
one of the great moral forces of his time, an outspoken advocate of social
reform, crusading against usury, slums, dishonesty and the aberrations of
the profit motive. Unfortunately his tenure of the post was short, from 1942
to 1944, and he died at the early age of sixty-three.
It is not always easy or comfortable reading but it is full of rewarding
insights and encouragement to those of us who find the theology and reality
of the Incarnation difficult to comprehend or to appreciate. Temple is
constantly aware of our need for reassurance and in his comments on the
conversation between Jesus and the Woman of Samaria he stresses its
relevance to our Christian discipleship. Jesus was actually wearied by his
journey, tired and thirsty when he said ‘Give me to drink’ and we need to be
reminded that he drew the woman into conversation by asking for her help
from his real need. Christian aid workers often find it difficult to offer
service to those whose lifestyle is so different from their own. Temple
illustrates this by relating the occasion when a helper left well-appointed
premises where he needed nothing his neighbours could supply and went to
live in a workman’s flat. The first evening he needed a hammer and went to
borrow one from those in the flat below. At once the relationship was
different – there was something that they could do for him.
In the same way, Almighty God seeks to win us to fellowship with him by
putting some part of his purpose into our hands. He makes himself dependent
upon us as Jesus was dependent on the woman of Samaria for the quenching of
his thirst. He asks for our service. ‘How is it thou askest of me?’ we might
well ask. We know you can do all things. We have nothing. We are surely not
fit to offer the meanest service. Surely God will first require and help me
to form a character worthy to serve him. No, it is only through service that
such a character can be formed. Christ did not first make his disciples
saints and then give them work to do. He gave them work to do and as they
did it, they became closer to the character that was worthy of the demands
made on them. The service that he asks of us is a real service; yet it is
for my sake and out of love for me that he so orders his world as to need my
service, inadequate as it so often is. He does it because he loves us. He
rejoices that we should be ‘fellow-workers with him’ (read 1 Corinthians
3:9). If he were not Love he would have no need of us; it is his love that
needs us and should prompt us to reach out to those who offer us the
opportunity for service, even if this sometimes means accepting others’
consolation rather than offering our own, or sharing their doubts than
providing our certainties.
 John Elliott
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Ascension Day –
Thursday 1st May
10.30 am Said Eucharist St Mary’s
7.30 pm Team Sung Eucharist All Saints’
Ascension Day is a major Feast Day in the Church Calendar
and a day when all who are confirmed should attend a Eucharist to celebrate
our risen and ascended Lord
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‘Tongues of Fire’
Our next Quiet Day is on Saturday 10th May, the day before
Pentecost, at Nympsfield Marist Centre from 9.30am to 4.00pm. The cost is
£15 per person, to include lunch and other refreshments during the day.
Please sign up on the sheets in church. Further information from Margaret
Compton (St Nicolas’), Colin Holman (St Mary’s) or Karen Winder (All
Saints’).
 Jen Swinbank
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Ecumenical Service for Christian Aid Week
On Sunday 11th May at 5pm (please note the time) there will be an
Ecumenical service at St Michael’s, Whaddon. This is an opportunity to meet
together with our friends from Churches Together and celebrate not only
Pentecost but also the start of Christian Aid Week. Do join us. NB there
will not be a 6.30pm service in St Mary’s on that day.
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St Mary’s Bakestall
The next bakestall falls on Sunday 18th May, with
contributions gratefully received from the N-Z surname team. The profits
will go to MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship).
In March we were able to send another £50 to Care
International for them to take further advantage of the EU scheme to
quadruple donations. In addition we managed to send £30 to Water Aid via the
Glastonbury Appeal. A very good year so far!
Linda Matthews & Margaret Waker
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Corpus Christi –
Thursday 22nd May
10.30 am Said Eucharist St Mary’s
7.30 pm Team Sung Eucharist St Mary’s
An opportunity to join together to give thanks for God’s
gift of the Eucharist
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Through the Eyes of an Artist
On Saturday 24th May at 7pm in St Mary’s Church we are
holding an evening event entitled Our Heritage through the Eyes of an
Artist. Derek Henman, an established local artist, has drawn in pen, pencil
and ink the parts of our church which the quinquennial review considered in
need of repair. These pictures have now been elegantly framed and Derek has
donated them for auction to raise money for the repair fund.
Fr John Mead will give a short explanation of quinquennial
reviews, after which Derek will display photographs of his drawings on the
screen, with explanations. There will then be an opportunity to view the
original pictures during a fork supper. At 9pm the auction will commence. It
will be an entertaining evening even if you are not intending buying.
Tickets priced £6, to include supper and a glass of wine,
are available from Margaret Holman, Lynda Hodges and Janet White. There will
also be a licensed bar.
 Lynda
Hodges,
Parish Events Committee
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Mothers’ Union
At our March meeting we were privileged to hear from the
Revd Maz Allen of the United Reformed Church. Her subject was ‘A Kenya
Presentation’ and she told us of her on-going work in Kenya at the St
Stephen’s Orphanage, where street children are supported, cared for and
educated. Although we were all aware of the many, many street children all
around the world, we found it horrific to hear that some of these children
were as young as three years old. Imagine our own children and grandchildren
being abandoned at that young age to tend for themselves in a frightening
and violent situation.
We were deeply moved by their plight and immediately
agreed amongst ourselves to adopt a little girl of seven years old, and
enable her, through our donations, to have a secure and safe future, where
she can be educated and cared for by loving staff. We will be fund raising
for her over the years to come to ensure that she is provided for. Anyone
wishing to help us in this task can speak with any MU member or directly to
me. All donations will be gift aided and used for her benefit.
This month’s meeting will be held on Tuesday 27th May and
will be an in-house study using MU material. It will take place at the URC,
Deep Street, Prestbury, at 7.30pm. All are welcome to join us.
Marion
Beagley
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Eucharist with a Difference
The next Eucharist with a Difference at St Nicolas’ will
be at 9.30am on Sunday 15th June. Do join us for this slightly different way
of celebrating the Eucharist.
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Advance date for Diaries
Prestbury Open Gardens
Saturday 21st & Sunday 22nd
June 2008
2 – 5 pm
With cream teas in St Mary’s Church
3 – 5 pm
Please tell all your friends and help to make the weekend a great
success.
All proceeds to Church funds.
Enquiries: 523942 |
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Important Date for your Diary
Ordination Service –
29th June
On Sunday 29th June at 10.15am in Gloucester Cathedral
David Gardiner will be ordained as a Deacon to serve in our Team
Ministry. The Cathedral would like to know how many people might be
attending the service. Please let Fr Michael know ASAP if you intend to go.
Ordination Sunday – 29th June
Please keep the afternoon free so that you can attend the
welcome tea party for our new curate, David Gardiner and his wife Sarah.
This will be held in the garden of Prestbury Vicarage – let’s hope the
weather’s fine!
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Outing to Hereford Cathedral
The Mothers’ Union summer outing will take place on
Tuesday 22nd July. I have arranged an outing to Hereford Cathedral, where
our own Fr Paul Iles will give us a guided tour of the cathedral. I have
booked a 52-seater coach, which will enable husbands, friends and others to
join us if they wish. The coach will leave St Nicolas’ Church at 9.30am. On
arrival at Hereford your time is your own but anyone wishing to can enjoy a
lunch-time concert in the Cathedral, followed by the tour at 2.00pm. We will
leave for home at 4.30pm.
The cost for the return fare will be £8.00 per person and
any profit will go to support our little adopted girl from Kenya (see above
article). Please let me know a.s.a.p. if you would like a place on the coach
as I expect there to be a good take up for this trip. Your name with a
non-returnable £5.00 deposit is all that is required at this stage.
Marion
Beagley
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