Parish MagazineSept2011_A5 - St-Thomas-the-Apostle

theChurchWindow
Your Parish, Your Church, Your Magazine
Lady Day
2011
sthomasapostle
Welcome!
The Parish continues to grow and deepen its
engagement with the life of faith, and it is
truly a wonder to behold. This edition of the
Parish Magazine coincides with the ‘Back to
Church’ Sunday period, which I hope we will
all engage in again this year. If you are
reading this edition of the Magazine, then
Welcome, I hope you will find things in this
edition which will give you a taste of the fun
and fellowship that the community of St
Thomas the Apostle offers you.
From our round of weekly worship on Wednesday Nights and Friday mornings to our
Sunday Services, from the creative and experimental offerings of Blessed (who have
just successfully returned from leading worship at the massive Greenbelt Festival in
Cheltenham, more later), to the ever widening whirl of social events: fayres and
BBQs and the forthcoming Cabaret Night, from our successful and well-renowned
Youth Club Fridays to our extensive Children's work, there is so much to take a part
in, as little or as much as you would like to engage in.
There are discipleship courses and basic introductions to faith, Bible Studies for those
who want to go deeper and the opportunity to develop your faith in a supportive,
loving environment alongside others who desire to share the same journey as
yourself. Come and see what we have to share with you, Come to Mass, you'll not
regret it, Come and be a part of this wonderful extended family which proclaims the
inclusive, loving, forgiving Gospel of Jesus Christ and welcomes you home.
Fr Simon
All our information in a single barcode: if you have a
smartphone capable of reading this QR barcode, you fill find
it contains all the contact details you need for the parish in
one scan!
WOW, I am always amazed by the sheer generosity of our Parish, family and friends. I
look at what has been achieved over the past few years and have to look at how it
was achieved. I always come back to the same answer and that is: ALL OF YOU.
Whether it is financial, or use of particular people’s time and skills, your generosity
has enabled us to remove the pews and replace them with chairs, level the floor
enabling us to have a much more flexible space along with a long list of re-ordering
activities. Most recently with your help we were able for the first time to take young
people to Walsingham Youth Pilgrimage 2011 and in little over 6 weeks we were able
to raise the money to fund the transportation to get us there. The young people we
took had an amazing time and you can read more later in this magazine.
With all that we achieve there is still always loads more to be done, as you read this
we are applying for our own unique charity status thus enabling us to continue our
work to restore our church both inside and out, also to redevelop our church hall. All
of the things we need and want do not come cheap so your support in the future
remains crucial. There is still lots of fun to be had this year and of course even more
to be planned for next year to help raise funds and to continue to allow our church to
grow and thrive.
As always I look forward to the next few months with you all.
Steven
The Portsmouth Cross
I wonder how many of you have looked at the Portsmouth Cross whilst visiting The
Cathedral. It is constructed of oak from HMS Victory and the shoe is forged from a
copper bolt also from that ship. Figures at the base of the cross represent four
Bishops of Winchester:
St Swithun
William of Wykeham
Lancelot Andrews
Edward Stuart Talbot
Bishop of
Bishop of
Bishop of
Bishop of
Winchester
Winchester
Winchester
Winchester
852 - 862
1367 - 1404
1619 - 1626
1911 - 1923
Below the Bishops are figureheads which are exact models of those carried by HM
ships Victory, Centurion, Queen Charlotte and St George. The Cross was first carried
at the enthronement of the first Bishop of Portsmouth on 6 October 1927.
Exactly how it was decided which Bishops of Winchester to include on the Cross, I do
not know, but needless to say Mary and I have an interest in Edward Stuart Talbot.
He was born in 1844 and educated at Charterhouse and Christ Church, Oxford from
where he graduated in 1865. He stayed there as a modern history tutor until 1869
when he became the first Warden of Keeble College, Oxford. He remained there until
1888 when he became a Vicar in Leeds. In 1895 he was appointed Bishop of
Rochester, Bishop of Southwark in 1905 and Bishop of Winchester from 1911 – 1923.
He died in 1934 and is buried in the grounds of Winchester Cathedral, but there is
also a monument to him in Southwark Cathedral. In 1870 he married the Honorable
Lavinia Lyttleton and as well as two daughters, they had three sons:
Reverend Edward Keeble Talbot
The Right Reverend Neville Stuart Talbot
Gilbert Walter Lyttelton Talbot
1877 – 1940
1879 – 1943
1891 - 1915
Edward was ordained in 1904 and became a curate at St Mary’s Woolwich. In 1906 he
joined The Community of the Resurrection, Mirfield, West Yorkshire (where Father
Simon did his training) and in 1914 he became a temporary Chaplain to the Forces
and won the Military Cross. He became Superior of the Community at Mirfield in 1922
and remained there until his death in 1940. He did not marry.
Neville joined the Army in 1899 and fought in the Boer War. In 1903 he went up to
Christ Church, Oxford and in 1907 he went to Cuddesden for his ordination training.
He was ordained Deacon at Ripon Cathedral in 1908 and after becoming a priest in
1909 he was Chaplain of Balliol College, Oxford. During the First World War he was
Assistant Chaplain-General to the Eighth Army.
When his younger brother, Gilbert, was killed at Ypres in 1915, a house was set up in
the small Belgian town of Poperinge to provide rest, recuperation and spiritual
renewal to troops either going to, or returning from the front. The house was called
Talbot House in memory of Gilbert Talbot, whose
death had come to be seen as a symbol of the
sacrifice of a ‘golden generation’ of young men.
Talbot House was soon abbreviated to Toc H –
Toc being the signaller’s code for T.
After the War in 1920, Neville was elected
Bishop of Pretoria and amongst those taking part
in his consecration in St Paul’s Cathedral,
London, was his own father, who by this time
was Bishop of Winchester.
In 1933 Neville returned home to be appointed
Vicar of St Mary’s, Nottingham (a church Mary
knew well from her school days in Nottingham in
the 1950s). Neville arrived just as the migration
from the city began and found himself in a
church surrounded by offices and factories,
whose congregation dwindled rather than
increased. In 1939 he was offered the position of
Bishop of Croydon, but decided against it. With
the coming of the Second World War, he was
able to conduct missions to RAF stations at
Cranwell and Donnington in Lincolnshire.
However in December 1942 he suffered a severe
heart attack from which he never recovered. He
is buried at All Hallows, Barking, the religious
headquarters of Toc H.
I believe that the former Bishop of Portsmouth, Bishop Timothy (Bavin) must have
known of him, because whenever we introduced ourselves (he confirmed our
children), he would always mention Bishop Neville Stuart Talbot.
Toc H provided succor, both spiritual and temporal until the Spring of 1918, when the
German advance brought Poperinge into the War Zone. It was quite remarkable that
at a time and in a society where status was upheld rigidly, at Toc H all rank, class,
race, creed and background were cast aside. In fact the officer appointed to take
charge – the Reverend Tubby Clayton – had above his door ‘All rank abandon ye who
enter here’. In 1920 Tubby Clayton launched a Talbot House in London and so began
a word wide movement. In 1923 an oil lamp was symbolically lit by the Prince of
Wales and the lamp became the Toc H emblem.
Toc H groups today are united by a common ideal; community, service, Christianity,
friendship and equality.
Keep the faith
BISHOP TOM WRIGHT, FORMER BISHOP OF DURHAM
PUBLISHED IN THE SPECTATOR MAGAZINE, 20 AUGUST 2011
How the Church of England can – and will – endure
Though with a scornful wonder
Men see her sore opprest,
By schisms rent asunder,
By heresies distrest,
Yet Saints their watch are keeping,
Their cry goes up, ‘How long?’
And soon the night of weeping
Shall be the morn of song.
Samuel Stone’s hymn,
replete with
already archaic spelling, expresses the
Victorian hand-wringing over the
supposedly dangerous heresies of John
William Colenso, Bishop of Natal from
1853 to 1883. The first Lambeth
Conference was called in 1867 to address
the problem. Stone’s hymn, written a
year earlier, sums up the mood of many.
Everything is going wrong, the godless
mock, and all we can do is hold out for
‘the consummation of peace for
evermore’.
Ours is no exception. But it may be worth
reminding ourselves what the Church is
for, and what the Church of England in
particular is known to be for up and down
the land — except, of course, among the
chatterati, who only see ‘gay vicars’ in
one direction and ‘happy-clappies’ in the
other.
Snapshots from my time in Durham tell a
true story of what the Church is there for.
The foot-and-mouth crisis strikes the
Dales, and the local vicar is the only
person the desperate farmers know they
Plus ça change. From today’s perspective, can trust. A local authority begs the
Church to take over a failing school, and
1866 looks to be the Church’s high
Victorian pomp; but the same voices are within months, when I visit, a teenage
raised today, warning that the Church of boy tells me, ‘Well, sir, it’s amazing: the
teachers come to lessons on time now.’
England, never mind the wider Anglican
Communion, is finished. The ship is going Miners’ leaders speak of the massive coal
stocks still lying there unused, and we
down, and it’s time for the lifeboats,
campaign, in the Lords and elsewhere, for
whether those sent across the Tiber or
the new technology that can release it.
the homemade ones which offer a ‘safe’
The new vicar at a city-centre church,
perch for ‘conservative evangelicals’.
dead on its feet a few years ago,
apologises that the weekday service is a
I would be the last to say there are no
causes for alarm. Every age has produced few minutes late in starting; he has been
helping a young, frightened asylumserious challenges to Christian faith and
life, within the Church as well as outside. seeker whose case is coming up the next
day. In one old mining community, so
many shops had closed that the bank shut
as well; the local churches have taken it
over, and run it as a credit union, a
literacy training centre and a day centre
for the very old and the very young. In a
world where ‘family’ means ‘the people
in the neighbouring streets who are there
for you when you need them’, I ask a
young adult what’s different now; she’s
become a worshipping member of the
Church, and she replies, ‘It’s like having a
great big second family.’ The Church,
said William Temple, is the only society in
the world that exists for the benefit of its
non-members. I have to report that this
vision is alive and well, and that the
Church of England, though not its only
local expression, is in the middle of it.
This is the real ‘Big Society’. It’s always
been there; it hasn’t gone away.
Check out the volunteers in the prison, in
the hospice, in charity shops. It’s
remarkable how many of them are
practising Christians. They aren’t
volunteering because the government
has told them we can’t afford to pay for
such work anymore. They do it because of
Jesus. Often they aren’t very articulate
about this. They just find, in their bones,
that they need and want to help,
especially when things are really dire. But
if you trace this awareness to its source,
you’ll find, as often as not, that the lines
lead back to a parish church or near
equivalent, to the regular reading of the
Bible, to the life of prayer and sacrament
and fellowship. To the regular saying and
singing of prayers and hymns that
announce, however surprising or shocking
it may be to our sceptical world, that God
is God, that Jesus is Lord, that the Holy
Spirit is alive and well and active in a
community near you.
Despite two centuries of being told the
opposite, in fact, the Church can’t help
itself. Secular modernism still likes to
pretend that the world runs itself, and
that ‘religion’ has to do with private
spirituality and ­otherworldly hope. The
Church — not least those who want to
create a ‘pure’ type of Christianity, and
look either to Rome or to a ‘biblical’ sect
to provide it — has often colluded with
this secularist shrinking of the task. But
the genuinely biblical vision, rooted in
the four gospels, is of God already being
king of the world, through the victory of
Jesus. ‘All authority in heaven and on
earth,’ said Jesus, ‘has been given to
me.’ And on earth. The Church exists to
demonstrate what that means.
It exists, in other words, to do and be for
the world what Jesus had been for his
contemporaries: to bring healing and
hope, to rescue people trapped in their
own folly and sin, to straighten out the
distorted pictures of reality that every
age manages to produce, and to enable
people to live by, and in, God’s true
reality. It exists not to rescue people
from the world but to rescue them for the
world: to see lives transformed by the
gospel so that people can discover a new
depth and resonance of what it means to
be human, precisely by looking beyond
themselves to God, to the beauties and
glories of his creation, and to their
neighbours, particularly those in need.
The Church does this through liturgy and
laughter; through music and drugrehabilitation programmes; through
prayer and protest marches; through
preaching and campaigning; through
soaking itself in the Bible and immersing
itself in the needs of the world. When
God wants to change the world, he
doesn’t send in the tanks (as many,
including many critics, think he should).
He sends in the meek; and by the time
the world realises what’s going on, the
meek have set up clinics and schools,
taught people to read and to sing, and
given them a hope, meaning and purpose
which secular modernism (which gave us,
after all, Passchendaele and Auschwitz as
well as modern medicine and space
travel) has failed to provide.
Saying that Jesus is now in charge, still
more that the church is the agent of this
project, has been rubbished for
generations. The litany is familiar, though
interestingly limited and repetitive:
crusades, the Inquisition, witch-burning
and so on. No church worth its salt will
deny that it has made huge mistakes. We
still say ‘forgive us our trespasses’ every
day, only wishing that others would join
us in this penitence. But the reason the
anti-Christian brigade point out the
Church’s failures is that, just as in Marxist
totalitarianism the state replaces God,
making it atheist de jure and not simply
de facto, so in secular democracy the
state attempts to replace the Church.
That is why the Church is pushed to the
margins, told to mind its own spiritual
business and not to get involved in
international debt or the treatment of
asylum-seekers. As we survey the result —
crooked politicians, bent coppers,
bloated bankers, spying journalists — it
may be time for the church to be more
humbly confident in getting on with its
proper vocation, leading the way in the
true Big Society, bringing healing and
hope at every level.
thought at the time, is a symbol of what
the Church of England is there for: to be
at the sharp end of mission, and of the
ecumenism which happens best in its
wake. The Church of England has a
unique, historic role which it would be
crazy to abandon. Away from the
pressure groups and the single-issue
fanatics, the Church has a massive local
strength on which we must build.
To do this, it must do the core tasks well.
The only way to resist being squeezed
into the tired old mould of modernism or
the nihilistic anything-goes world of
postmodernism is through that strange
combination of worship and prayer on the
one hand, and biblically based theology
on the other, for which the Church of
England has, historically, an excellent
track record. Only when the Church is
constantly refreshed in these ways will it
be able to discern which of the agendas
that infatuate today’s world are true
gospel imperatives and which are a snare
and a delusion. (For a start, a biblical
theology would have a lot more to say
about money and power than about sex,
important though that is too.) The next
generation of church leaders will need to
be on their toes to articulate a vision of
human community which our pragmatic,
short-term politicians have all but
forgotten, and to know how to speak the
truth to power in a way for which our
prurient, sniggering journalism provides a
ghastly parody. I sometimes suspect that
the pressure, from some politicians and
some journalists, for the Church to
That task is not, of course, confined to
retreat to the sidelines is because both
the Church of England. One of my best
Durham memories is of leading a massive know, deep down, that the Church — and
especially, despite everything, the Church
mission project involving thousands of
young people from all the churches in the of England — still has the ability to speak
the truth and shame the devil.
region, and, at the opening rally,
introducing to one another the local
Roman Catholic bishop and the local
independent free-church leader. That, I
None of this, of course, provides the answer to the questions about women bishops,
or gay clergy, or the Anglican Communion, or how to relate to our Muslim neighbours.
But if you put the hard questions in the centre of the picture, everything else gets
distorted. Let’s take a deep breath and remind ourselves of our real focus: the
kingdom of God, the lordship of Jesus, and the power of the Holy Spirit. Then, as
Jesus himself nearly said, everything else will fall into perspective. At its best — and
there is a lot of the ‘best’ out there — this is what the Church of England is all about.
+Tom Wright
Bishop Tom Wright is the recently retired Bishop of Durham. This article was first
published in the Spectator Magazine, August 2011
AROUND THE WORLD
Sunday 3rd July saw many people
from across our deanery attend an
Evening Mass at St Thomas’ to
celebrate the feast of our Patron
Saint. Earlier during the day our
church was opened to about 40
young people from local Rainbows,
Brownies and Girl Guides. I was
hugely privileged to lead a service
of thanksgiving for the world, which
with guidance the girl’s led
themselves with readings from
Genesis and hymns including ‘All
Things Bright and Beautiful’ and
even an extended version of ‘It’s a
Small World After All’ which
included special verses aimed at
uniformed organisations from all
over the world.
It was great to see so many young
people from our local community
within the walls of our Church and
continue to pray that this will be
the first of many occasions when
The Greenbelt Festival is a massive Christian
Arts Festival held at Cheltenham Racecourse
every August Bank Holiday weekend, where
27,000 people come to engage in music,
drama, dance, film, talks on faith, spirituality
and social justice and to experience a wide
range of worship and devotion from the very
traditional (Orthodox Vespers, Franciscan
Meditation etc.) to the radical and
experimental (Prayer Stations, Art-as-worship,
Eucharist set to the rhythm of the 1950s Beat Poets) and of course, what Blessed
does best: unashamedly Anglo-Catholic Mass with attitude. This year we worked with
a Rock Band called Metanola (see below) led by a priest called Fr Robb Sutherland;
Mirfield trained like myself, tattoos, piercings and a loud electric guitar and led a
Mass which opened the whole festival and was, as a result, our largest worship event
ever.
The theme of the whole festival was’ Dreams of Home’ and so this worship led us to
reflect on the welcome that God extends to us, even when we might be less than
loving or lovely. Twelve priests, including Mother Caroline, joined me on stage and a
whole host of the parish descended to help administer to a congregation of more
than 400, including Vickie (Crucifer), Steven and Lou (Acolytes), Emma (Thurifer),
Liam (running the Easyworship), Tina, Matt, JJ and Andie. They all worked hard to
set up the ambiance of our worship.
Feedback has been amazing: loads of people have approached me and other
members of the Blessed Team to say how much they appreciated the worship,
especially as an opener to the Festival.
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Many others also stopped us (even when I was
Stewarding at the Worship Co-op), in the
walkways, or by the car to give us positive
feedback, which they didn’t really need to do,
but made us feel good about what we sought to
achieve. It was
marvellous to
lead worship
with a band, Metanoia, who knew and understood
liturgy and bought into the Blessed Vision, Fr Robb
Sutherland on lead guitar, Dr Ruth Sutherland on
Bass and Vocals, Mike Stoodley on keys and Ed Duffy
on drums.
Of course, its very place as an opener meant that
many could not/would not come and many friends of
ours (and one concelebrant!) didn’t make the Mass due to traffic. That is the cost of
having such a big place at that time to worship in. The advantage
is that our work was done and we were then able to truly enjoy the
festival after the stress of Friday evening. There is simply so much
to see and do that you just have to accept that you can't do it all.
The young people obviously spent most of the time in the small
sweaty venues listening to obscure bands, whom you and I will
never have heard of (Austin Francis Connection, Malaki, Get Cape
Wear Cape Fly), but they took pity on Lou and I and took us to see
the wonderful and almost unheard of Luke Leighfield, a very
talented young man from Southampton. We went to talks on
Fairtrade Coffee and the use of films to replace the sermon,
engaged in worship, which ranged from the brilliant (Grace) to the shockingly poor
(iMass). Each night there was a comedy and
music round up called Last Orders, which
was excellent for introducing acts we might
have otherwise missed, especially the
wonderfully silly but musically amazing
parody folk group "Folk On" (from the
village of Little Dribblepatch) who led us in
August through their Christmas single, it
was like a modern Rambling Syd Rumpo but
much, much funnier.
From art installations about the separation wall in Palestine to presentations about
urban poverty, the Greenbelt festival reflects what is best about Christian witness in
this country. It is a marvelous experience, and if you like camping it is brilliant! If
you don't like camping, many people stay in nearby hotels. If you think you might
want to come along next year, we are thinking of leading a larger parish group.
Fr. S
Holy Dusters
For a long time the same little team of
regulars have turned up on a Monday to
clean the Church. It is done on a Monday
as it is the day the bins come and is a
chance to tidy up after the church has
been in use on Sunday.
It is good to have new people
volunteering as a result of appeals in the
weekly newsheet; thank you. We can
never have too many helpers as it allows
for illness and holidays.
I appreciate that younger members may
be at work; most of us became “Holy
Dusters” on retirement and older ones
like Mollie Fox and Rhoda did it for many
years in the past.
However there are ways of helping which
only take a few minutes for the regular
church goers:
Toilets
When using the toilet please check the
arm of the water heater is over the sink
as it is constantly found over the floor or
boxes containing spare towels and toilet
rolls. Hence the floor gets wet, not good
for health and safety. It only takes a
minute to mop it up, and a cloth can be
found behind the toilet for this purpose
or even use toilet paper.
The Toy corner
We have a lovely much used corner and
we are happy to tidy it weekly (one Holy
duster, no names! enjoys sorting it). Have
you noticed all the dolls and teddies
sitting nicely in the pew, but often toys
and books are left on the floor after the
service and get walked on. Please could
the mums encourage the children to put
the toys away ,or at least not leave them
on the floor, where they may get
damaged.
Litter
We do get a lot of litter in the churchyard
(not I stress from the churchgoers) and
whenever we see it we pick it up, we
scout around on Monday mornings and
collect the fast food containers, bottles,
cans etc, usually quite a few prior to the
bin collections. If the church is open it is
easy to nip in and get a grabber (there
are 2 ) from the cupboard in the Narthex
and carrier bag (in drawer) and pick it up.
It doesn’t look good to approach the
lovely church via a litter strewn path.
Thanks
Chewing gum
Recently we have encountered, the first
time ever, chewing gum stuck to the
entrance door - inside so we can’t blame
walkers through the churchyard and we
have also had some stuck to the step and
not easy to remove.
Smokers
An ashtray has been mounted on the
handrail by the ramp on the south side of
the Church. Could all those who smoke
please use it, as cigarette ends make the
church grounds look untidy. There is a
key in the vestry to empty the contents
when it is full. Thank you for your
cooperation.
Message from Rhoda York
I would like to thank Mother Margaret, Liz, Pam, Deirdre and Veronica
who visited us and everyone who prayed for us, over the difficult
months when my husband Keith was ill. A year or so ago Mother
Margaret was visiting us with Communion once a month and then she
sensed Keith’s condition was worsening and came once a fortnight.
Then she said to Keith “Shall I come next week?” and he said “Why
not” and after that she visited him on the Friday.
On the following Wednesday, Liz, Pam, Pauline, Clare and I were there
when Mother Margaret gave him the last rites and we had such a lovely
service. The doctor seemed to think he would only last till the
following day, but he hung on and Mother Margaret came and gave him
Communion on the following Monday, shared with Liz and myself.
Although he could not swallow he was able to taste the wine and
murmur.
He died on the Tuesday morning. I don’t know whether I should be sad,
but I am not, ever since he was 32 he has had some form of disability,
gradually getting worse as the years went by. He had callipers from the
age of 46 when he finished his working life. He couldn’t use his hands
properly, he had to wait for me to change the television channels over.
He could not dial the phone, or use a computer and had to have special
eating utensils. However I like to think he is now at peace.
Liz made him two knitted dolls, one a nurse and the other a grey
haired Rhod, (a stress dolly) which had a detachable head and arms
and when life frustrated him he could pull off my head and arms
instead of grumbling and they were soon stuck back together again.
The dolls, which had been with him constantly, went in the coffin with
him.
Thank you everyone.
Rhoda
Message from ‘Frank’
(or is it Incense?)
I am Frank, one of a pair of mice who
have lived in this warm and friendly
church since 2005. I wonder if you
have noticed us? We often comfort
the Sunday School children when they
come into church for the celebration
of the Mass. They like to cuddle us and
at least one little girl loves to suck my
tail.
I see everything (good and bad) that
goes on at St Thomas’ and I decided to write a column for the Newsletter to highlight
various issues.
One of the things I really enjoy about St Thomas’ is the beautiful music especially
when the choir sing before the Service – Nicky in particular has such a lovely voice.
But I hate it when some of the congregation carry on talking instead of listening to
the singing – in fact their conversations become increasingly load to drown out the
music.
There is a sign in the Narthex which says ‘Speak to God before the Service and with
your friends afterwards’, but sometimes at 9.45am on Sunday morning the church is
more like a social club than a place where you can sit quietly contemplating and
waiting for the Service to begin. I often wonder what visitors think as they struggle to
negotiate their way through the Narthex, where groups of friends are gossiping
loudly.
What we should all remember is that people attend church for many reasons – you
only have to look at the number of candles lit on a Sunday morning to realize that
many people are grieving or remembering loved ones. I know because I have a lovely
feast on the spilt wax afterwards! – but perhaps they want to do that quietness
without a background of load conversation and raucous laughter.
There is plenty of opportunity after the Service to chat over a cup of coffee; before
the Service should be an opportunity for quiet reflection and prayer and a chance to
listen to the music when it is on offer.
The words of a well known hymn seem to me to be very apt:
BE STILL FOR THE PRESCENCE OF THE LORD THE HOLY ONE IS HERE.
YOUTH PILGRIMAGE
1-5 AUGUST 2011
On Monday at 6am we left Gosport to
make our way to Walsingham. Traffic
being kind to us we made our way in
good time to arrive at the camp
shortly after mid-day. The sun was
hot, yet we still needed to put up our
living and cooking tents, which was
hard work if you saw the size of the
tent that we took with us. Monday
evening we had our first service which
was great and was a great welcome
and introduction to our week ahead.
inflatables, where we took part on the
inflatable assault course and the bungee
Tuesday morning we were up bright and
run. Up till now we had experienced lots
early as other groups insisted on playing
football from 6.30am on the playing field of hot weather, however we had been
advised that thunder and lightning were
which surrounded our tent. We went for
due. When this arrived it did some
Mass in a big top which was filled with
damage to our tent, meaning that gaffa
seven hundred young people and their
tape and banner poles were needed to
leaders and we heard the story of how
keep parts of our tent in place. That
the shrine of Walsingham was built.
evening was the service of healing and
After Mass we travelled into Hunstanton, repentance, which was an opportunity to
where we ate fish and chips on the green, receive the laying on of hands, anointing
with the oils and even confession. Our
had ice cream on the promenade, drew
pictures in the sand and even went to the group took part in the intercession relay,
funfair. That evening we walked the holy which meant we were up at 1.15am to
mile from the slipper chapel in bare feet say our prayers.
holding candles and our banner while
On Thursday all was good as this was the
singing songs. As we entered the Shrine
we gathered around the Alter of Light for day that the Holy House was rebuilt. Our
hearts were lifted, despite the rain that
benediction and sprinkling of the Holy
was not leaving us any time soon. The
water, which was amazing.
rain did not stop us as this was our local
day, when we would visit and pray in the
Wednesday started again early,
Shrine itself and also the opportunity to
apparently there is no sleeping when
shop in the local shops. In the evening it
camping! Once again we went to mass
and it was now we heard the story of how was time to party with the biggest party
in the world. We were invited to decorate
the Shrine was burnt down. Wednesday
afternoon was activity afternoon and we party tables and have party food and just
have a really good time. We played
went to the café and were able to take
sleeping lions, pass the parcel and a few
part in all sorts of craft activities. This
extra party games too, followed by
was followed by getting out on the
karaoke disco into the late hours. Now in true typical Norfolk style we had more rain
and with this came more winds, which took its toll on our tent. This put us to the
test, as members of the camp held our tent together, whilst others formed a human
chain to help us empty our tent as it was no longer safe to sleep in. Now were
homeless and we spent Thursday night sleeping on the floor of the Pilgrim Hall in the
Shrine.
Friday morning, no tent, but we were still excited with what may happen today. We
went for mass in the big top, where we heard Bishop Lindsey preach. He told us that
we should never allow Jesus to be taken from us, as without Jesus we have nothing.
After an amazing last mass filled with song and worship it was time to make our way
home.
As a thank you to all who helped us attend
this year, we have brought back a book,
which tells the story of Walsingham.
It will rest near Our Lady for you all to see.
Steven
Youth Pilgrimage Leader
St Thomas’s C A M E O Club
C ome
A nd
M eet
E ach
O ther
It might not have been very sunny, but
at least it wasn’t raining! Eleven of us
met up on 11 August at 10 o’clock at
church and, along with Mike and Mary’s
daughter and grandson, got into four cars
and set off for Lyndhurst. Thanks to
some excellent directions from Mary, we
could dispense with SatNav and in less
than an hour we had met up again at the
Boltons Bench car park just outside the
New Forest town. Over the next couple
of hours we were free to wander, shop,
sight-see and lunch according to our
individual priorities. A visit to the local
church rewarded us with the tomb of
Alice Liddell [the model for Lewis
Carroll’s ‘Alice in Wonderland], but also a
stunning pre-Raphaelite painting over the
altar, some beautiful carved wooden
rafters [spot the martyrs’ heads] and
William Morris school stained glass
windows.
On the way to lunch, Jean found a
decorative paper shop and came away
with plenty of items to make greetings
cards [and cheaper than The Range!].
There were a variety of eating places, so
we were all well fed when we met back
at the carpark for the short drive to
Minstead. We were able to park at the
church itself and gathered at the Lychgate for a group photo.
Once refreshed, we were free to explore
an old cottage and a thatching display or
to be snapped sitting on a chair with a
thatched scarecrow. All too soon it was
time to make our way home. There was a
light rain shower as we drove back, but it
was far too late to matter. Everyone had
enjoyed themselves and we are now
looking forward to the next trip. Any
ideas?
The inside of the little church rewarded
us with original wooden box pews, family
chapels [complete with fireplaces], and a
three-decker pulpit [Mother Margaret
tried it for size!] and a Victorian chair
kept for visiting bishops [and yes, Mother
Margaret tried that, too!]. Outside, the
churchyard is quite large and very well
kept, with plenty of old gravestones,
including some for Mike’s ancestors. A
short walk brought us to one of the trees
and below this we found the graves of
Arthur Conan Doyle and his second wife.
On his tomb were placed a pipe and
magnifying glass in tribute to his most
famous creation, Sherlock Holmes.
We meet again for ‘normal’ CAMEO on
Thursday 8 Sep for Soup and Cheese, so if
you haven’t come along before, come and
see what you are missing!
All this made us very thirsty and a
welcome cup of tea and cake awaited us
a mile away at Furzey Gardens. This was
a chance to relax on the terrace
overlooking the gardens.
I’m still in need of potential ‘Delias’ for
the CAMEO cookbook to be sold at the
Advent Fayre. All contributions very
gratefully received.
‘O Taste and See How
Gracious the Lord Is’
The Sign of t
he Cross
Self-describ
ed "Torah-tr
ue Jews" to
("phylacteri
this day wea
es") on thei
r foreheads
r tefillin
and devotio
and arms a
n. This pra
s a sign of th
ctice stems
eir identity
from Deute
ronomy 6:4
Hear, O Isra
-8
:
el, the Lord
our God is
Lord thy Go
o
d with thy
n
whole heart e Lord. Thou shalt lo
with thy wh
ve the
, and with
ole strengt
thy whole so
h. And thes
this day, sh
ul, and
e words wh
all be in th
ich I comm
y he
children, an
and thee
d thou shalt art: And thou shalt te
ll them to
and walkin
meditate u
thy
g on thy jo
p
o
n
them sittin
urn
bind them
g in thy hou
as a sign on ey, sleeping and risin
se,
g.
thy hand, a
between th
nd they sha And thou shalt
y eyes.
ll be and sh
all move
Compare th
ose words
with the wo
(d. A.D. 386
rds of St. C
)
yril, Bishop
of Jerusale
m
Let us, ther
efore, not
be ashamed
though anot
of the Cross
her hide it,
of Christ; b
do thou op
that the de
u
enly seal it
vils may be
upon thy fo t
hold the ro
away. Make
rehead,
yal sign and
then this si
flee trembli
gn at eatin
lying down
ng far
g and drink
, at rising u
ing, at sittin
p, at speaki
every act.
g, at
ng, at walki
ng: in a wo
rd, at
The Sign of
the Cross is
absolutely
Testament
ancient, ro
but the Ne
oted not onl
w (The Reve
those who
y in the Old
lation to St
have the si
gn of God in
Jo
the sign of
their forehe hn the Divine speaks
the Beast in
of
ads -- and
their forehe
Confirmati
those who
on, the Bish
ads). In the
have
op seals th
Sa
chrism. St.
c
ra
m
ent of
e sign on o
John of Dam
ur forehead
ascus wrote
s with holy
This was gi
ven to us as
a sign on o
circumcisio
ur forehead
nw
, just as th
separated a as given to Israel: fo
e
r by it we b
nd distingu
elievers are
ished from
u
n
be
lievers.
Crossing on
e's
making this self recalls this seal,
an
holy sign ca
lls on our G d the invocation that
Holy Ghost
od -- the Fa
is
-- and is a
sign of our
ther, His Son said while
asserts our
of belief; it
,
belief in th
and the
is both a "m
eT
use of holy
ini-creed" th
water (ther riune God, and a pray
at
e is a small
er that invo
outside the
silver bowl
kes Him. Th
vestry in ch
o
e
f
u
we enter a
ho
rch) when m
church, also
aking this si ly water on the left
recalls our
gn, such as
that we are
Ba
w
born again
of water an ptism and should bring e do when
d Spirit, th
to mind
anks be to
G o d.
– the cross
salvation
r
u
o
f
o
n to the
mark
visible sig
the very
a
is
d
n
ss
se
ro
C
e
w
of the
the Sign,
The Sign
ee. With
fr
s
u
ts
which se
world.
said:
15 – 386)
3
.
.D
(A
m
d. Be the
f Jerusale
e Crucifie r brow
th
ss
fe
St Cyril o
n
o
to c
o n ou
ashamed
r fingers
u
e
o
b
y
n
b
e
h
ss
t
t
ne
cups we
"Let us no
with bold d we eat, and the
e
d
a
,
m
l
a
e
a
s
bre
our sleep
Cross our
over the
t; before
;
u
e
g
o
th
in
s
g
in
th
in
ry
o
re
e
, and g
n we a
e
in
h
and in ev
s
w
g
;
in
e
k
m
it is
wa
o ur c o
hen we a
ervative;
drink; in
wn and w Great is that pres for the sick,
o
d
e
li
e
when w
e still.
ut toil,
hen we ar
ke; witho
e faithful,
way and w e, for the poor's sa It is the Sign of th
hem in it,
ric
d.
without p s grace is from Go s triumphed over t e the
it
se
ha
hen they
since also
s; for He
ad of evil them openly; for w ey are afraid of
re
d
e
th
and
of
d; th
de a show
spise not
e Crucifie
having ma re reminded of th s of the dragon. De this
ya
ad
t for
Cross, the ath bruised the he
e Gift; bu
th
f
o
ss
h
e
o
n
Him, Wh
f the free
because o efactor."
l,
a
e
S
e
th
B en
nour thy
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The Sign of the Cross
Typically, the right hand is used. The thumb, index, and
middle finger are brought to a point. They are then
placed on the forehead, then moved down to the sternum.
The Western Rite Catholic will then move the hand to the left
shoulder or to the area of the left pectoral muscle, and then
to the right; the Eastern Catholic and Eastern Orthodox will do
the opposite (i.e. right, then left). As one moves through the
Sign, one recites, at the forehead, "In the name of the
Father"; at the sternum, "and of the Son"; and across the
shoulders, "and of the Holy Ghost, Amen."
The sign is made:
•
•
•
•
When the invocation of “In the name of the…” is used
When a blessing is given
When the sacred elements are elevated
When the sacred elements are displayed to the people
during the mass or during exposition or benediction.
September 10th – Historic Churches Ride and Stride
September 17th – Cabaret – Church – Alison
September 25th – Back to Church Sunday.
October 15th – Sing-a-long-a-Grease – Church – Steven & Chris
November 18th – 20th – Parish Pilgrimage to Walsingham
November 26th – Advent Fayre – Church – Sue & Ernie
December 11th – Favourite Carols – Church – Alison, Mike & Mary
December 17th – Carols in the Pub – Fr. S & Alison
Please note that events and dates maybe subject to change
Who do I need?
Here is a list of useful contacts in Church you might need:
Clergy
Fr. Simon
Mthr Margaret
07976 802123
07812 378436
Your clergy are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and will visit at any time, day
or night. If you are interested in exploring more about your faith, or just want a chat
about all this Jesus stuff, then please call Fr Simon
Churchwardens:
Tony Warne
07982 235888 Tony takes special responsibility for the Church Hall
Steven Smart
07816 009516 Steven handles parish administration
Music
Alison Warne
07795 977814
If you are planning a wedding, you need to contact Alison to discuss the Music. She
leads a small but enthusiastic choir
For all enquiries about baptisms, weddings etc. please come to the
Parish Office at 10am-11am on a Saturday morning in Church