September 2020 Many Thanks to Valerie Pressley from Meopham U3A for Permission to Use This Stunning Photo!
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September 2020 Many thanks to Valerie Pressley from Meopham U3A for permission to use this stunning photo! CONTENTS A Letter From Alyson (Click below for your article) What Next? A Letter from Alyson After almost five months since the United Kingdom was placed into Update from the Chestnuts lockdown, we are now experiencing a very changeable experience Parish Officers within our daily lives. Calendar Church Re-Opening Regional limited lockdowns are part of the picture, the four nations ■ ADVERTISING INDEX that make up the UK are making their own decisions about opening up and locking down and sometimes it is difficult to understand what ■ NEWS FROM ST JOHN’S Thursday Fellowship - My Final Account of we can do, whether we should do what is now permitted and above the Blitz, World War 2 – by Ada Taylor all else how we keep ourselves and our family and friends safe. Ride and Stride for Friends of Kent Churches 2020 is On! “What happens next?” is a question on many lips. Currently the Final Call! - Deputy Editor/ Proof-Reader for Meopham news is full of what happens next for schools in England and Review needed now the question on many of our minds is what happens next for Community Cafe Re-Opens worship in our church buildings? St John’s with St Mildred’s are From the Registers open for individual prayer, we are about to open for public worship ■ TALES FROM THE BIBLE but how will it be and what next? ■ MEOPHAM NEWS To put it simply, I don’t know, and with the ever-changing Meopham Parish Council government and church guidance and regulations, it is probable the South Street Baptist Church government and church authorities also don’t know what next? In Ist South Street Boys Brigade & Girls Association Company our world where emphasis is placed upon knowledge and control, not knowing what happens next causes panic and confusion. ■ AROUND THE VILLAGES Meopham Medical Centre September Flu Clinic 2020 So how do we manage this? A quick look at the teaching of the Meopham Lawn Tennis Club Apostle Paul can give us some pointers. Paul, as we see from a Meopham Alzheimer & large section of the New Testament, spent much of his time as an Dementia Carer’s Group apostle declaring his faith in Jesus as the Saviour of the world and Meopham Ladies Luncheon Club Meopham Library Writing Group helping people make that a reality in their own lives. He taught that ARAMAD (Active Retirement Association through Jesus’ death on the cross, his resurrection and ascension, Meopham & District) the grace of God is revealed to the world and grace, often explained as God’s Riches at Christ’s Expense, is ours for the asking. cont’d. overleaf. cont’d. overleaf. A Letter from Alyson cont’d. CONTENTS cont’d. The church then and now, through the work of the Holy Spirit in us ■ A QUESTION OF FAITH and through us, is empowered to be a witness to God’s grace and What Is the Christian Hope? despite the worst that the world throws at us- trials, tribulations, ■ F ROM THE ASSOCIATION pandemics, suffering, persecution, death - the church (the people of OF CHURCH EDITORS Christians in the World God) continues to survive and grow. The Work of Peace According to Paul, the church, those people of God, have survived ■ PARIS H PUMP through all things because of faith in God - God who does know the Getting Back to Work? plans he has for each and every one of us. Tearfund in Yemen Music and Memory So in a time of not knowing, instead of worrying about when or how Pandemic and Millions Louis Pasteur – 'Father' of Microbiology the Covid-19 pandemic will end, what the final death toll might be Now Even More Plastic and how severe the financial crisis we face will be, let us consciously choose to rejoice and give thanks in the knowledge and love of God. ■ ADVERTISING RATES The God who is steadfast, never changes, and is the same, yesterday, ■ REVIE W TEAM today and forever. (Hebrews 13 v 8) Alyson Davie Return to top Î We have been hard at work putting in place arrangements for safely opening our two church buildings of St John’s and St Mildred’s for Sunday worship. We will begin worship in the buildings again on Sunday 13 September at 945am (St John’s) and 1130am (St Mildred’s). Because we need to maintain social distancing at 2 metres in both churches, numbers will be restricted and therefore a booking system will be in place. Details of what to expect and how to book a place in church can be found on the St John’s Meopham website - www.stjohnsmeopham.co.uk and also on ‘a church near you’ website and our social media pages. Thank you. Update From the Chestnuts I have very kindly been asked to put pen to paper again to provide an update on where The Chestnuts Care Home is now since my last article in May. I finished the last article by saying that no one knows how long this new way of life within the care home will continue, well I think I can now simply say a long time! The staff at The Chestnuts have continued to work hard and abide by the new ways of working. They now wear their PPE without even thinking about it, they change their clothes on arriving at work and before leaving work, they socially distance at break times and they wash and sanitise their hands constantly. None of them have complained, they have just got on with it, even whilst currently working in 34 degrees and wearing PPE! cont’d. overleaf. Return to contents pageÎ PARISH OFFICERS PARISH OFFICERS FOR ST JOHN THE BAPTIST PARISH CHURCH, MEOPHAM AND ST MILDRED’S PARISH CHURCH, NURSTEAD Rector: The Revd Canon Alyson Davie, The Rectory, Shipley Hills Road, Meopham, (812068) Email: [email protected] Lay Ministers (Readers): Clive Adams: (812566); Robert Bareham (812877) Pastoral Assistant: Jennifer Giles: (812706) Evangelist: Veronica Rees: (812952 Email: [email protected]) Parish Administrator: Allison Merry: St. John’s Centre, Wrotham Road, Meopham DA13 0AA. (01474) 813106 Email: [email protected] Open: Monday & Thursday: 10am-1pm, plus Saturday morning: 9am-11.30am ST JOHN THE BAPTIST PARISH CHURCH, MEOPHAM www.stjohnsmeopham.co.uk Church Warden: Parochial Church Council: Secretary: Peter Kettle Treasurer: Jackie Hunter Members: Elaine Bush, Roger Wisdom, Ailsa Rees, Jeff Richards, Sarah Richards, Linda Sims, Muriel Thorogood, Jenny Wood. Deanery Synod Jill Kettle and Veronica Rees Representatives: Stewardship Secretary: Anne Nicholson: (812321) Safeguarding Officer: Pat Shelbrooke: (01732 823335) Building Blocks: Ann Mellor: (813960) Bell Ringers Captain: John Gander Church Flowers: Judith Bagshaw: (814410) Thursday Fellowship: Jennifer Giles: (812706) ST MILDRED’ S PARISH CHURCH, NURSTEAD Church Wardens: PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL Secretary: Mary Boxall, “Archirondelle”, Wrotham Road, Meopham (813170) Treasurer: Hales Vaughan, Woodside, Wrotham Road, Meopham (816602) Members: Brenda Beetham, Ann Ellson, Mark Ellson, Sylvia Moore, Geoff Simmons Deanery Synod Hales Vaughan Representative: Organists: Mick Norman. BA (Hons) Dip. Mus. (Open) (813787) Many thanks to R Lingham Margaret Day. (813554), John Rowland from Meopham U3A for permission Church Flowers: Su Rowe (814560) to use this stunning photo! Return to contents pageÎ Update from the Chestnuts cont’d. residents only having telephone calls, facetime calls or window visits, it became Their dedication has so far paid off and we apparent that some of them were really have remained free from Covid. We are all beginning to suffer emotionally from the however very aware that this can so easily lack of face to face contact with their loved change. For us, the government opening ones. The Government kept promising us the country up was frightening, as we had a guidance document on visiting in care managed to stay in our bubble and we felt homes, but it was nowhere in sight and relatively safe. Now we live with the constant we felt forgotten again. Something needed fear that this could all change overnight. to be done, so we began allowing socially distanced garden visits to take place. This A few weeks ago, the government decided was obviously a huge relief and joy for the that all care homes must carry out weekly residents and their relatives or loved ones. staff testing along with resident testing The garden visits have worked well and we every 28 days. This did not get off to have been blessed with good weather for the best start. Although we ordered the most of the time. tests immediately as required, they didn’t actually arrive for a couple of weeks! Unfortunately, approximately two weeks However, we are one of the luckier homes ago, the government finally published as some homes have still not received the long-awaited document laying out them. This new mandate is to allow any their recommendations for visiting in care asymptomatic staff to be diagnosed quickly homes. This then changed things for the and appropriately isolated to prevent an residents again as the government laid outbreak in the home. At the time of writing down that each resident can only have the this, we have so far carried out two rounds same one constant visitor. This may not of testing on the staff and we have tested sound a problem, but for those residents all the residents. I am pleased and relieved with more than one son or daughter, to say we are all negative so far. having to choose just one of them to visit has been difficult. Moving forward and taking into account the weather changing and garden visits no longer being possible, we are now in the process of building a garden room which will be able to accommodate visits.