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Peninsula Papers Information and news for the communities of St Ishmaels, Hasguard, Robeston West, Walwyn’s Castle, Dale, St Brides and Marloes. NOVEMBER 2015 Produced by the Church in Wales Parishes of Hasguard with St Ishmaels, St Brides with Marloes, Walwyns Castle, Robeston West and Dale The Church in Wales Parishes of Dale, St Brides with Marloes, Hasguard with St Ishmael's, Walwyn’s Castle & Robeston West Parish PriestsPriests: Fr. Andrew Johnson (Dale, Marloes & St Brides, St Ishmaels) Rev’d. Dr Rhiannon Johnson (Walwyns Castle & Robeston West) Lay Reader: Gaynor Ford 01646 693452 [email protected] Contact : 01646 636966 [email protected] Postal Address: The Vicarage, 172 Castle Way, Dale, Haverfordwest, SA62 3RN Church Wardens Dale: Mil Reynolds 636671, Billy Bevan 636335 St Brides: Mary Lewis 636430, Peter Evans 636366 Marloes: Yvonne Evans 636251 St Ishmaels: Richard Neale 636802, Heather Phippen 636261 Walwyn’s Castle: Jayne Edwards 01437 781575, Kate Morgan 01437 781270 Robeston West: Gill Thorne 01437 890693, Geoffrey Harries 01646 692736 Baptist Chapels: Moriah --- Marloes and Aenon --- Sandy Hill The Revd Paul Bartlett 01646 692084 LOCAL SERVICES SHOPS: Marloes Village StoreStore: 01646 636968 Open: 8-5 Tuesday to Saturday, 8-1 Monday and 9-1 Sundays . The Taberna Shop and Post Office, Herbrandston: 01646 693498 Mon-Fri 8:00 am-6:00 pm, Sat 8:00-12:30, Sun 9:00 am-11:30 am Post Office: Mon-Sat 9:00 am - 5:30 pm MOBILE LIBRARY: Next dates Friday 6th November St. Ishmaels Burgage Green Layby - 10.50 am to 11.20 am Dale - Blue Anchor Way - 11.35am to 12.05am Marloes - Toilets - 12.15 am to 12.45 am Contact 01437 776126 or 07774 230200 (van) MOBILE POST OFFICE: Tuesday: St Ishmaels 14:00—15:00 Dale 15:15—16:15 Thursday: St Ishmaels 13:00—14:00 Dale 14:15—15:15 FOR HIRE CONTACTS FOR HALL HIRE: THE CORONATION HALL AND JUBILEE Marloes: SUITE DALE Bridget Lister 01646 636274 St Ishmaels Memorial Hall: Yvonne Evans 01636 636251 St Ishmaels Sports & Social Club: BOOKINGS: CLAIRE GARNISH 01646 Phil Devonald 01646 636546 or Adrian Griffiths 01646 636752 636836 Dear Friends, We have really enjoyed the run of harvest celebrations this month. We feel our fields are well and truly ploughed and scattered. There have also been so many other enjoyable fundraising and social event- harvest lunches and suppers, the paella evening and Apple Day. Thank you for all you have given and done. From the churches sizeable donations have gone to charities including PATCH, Tir Ddewi, Paul Sartori and Save the Children for the Refugees. Well done all of you who helped. It was also good to see so many of you at the meeting where we started working towards a vision for the new mission area. There will be more about this is an upcoming edition but a good start has been made and some clear priorities are starting to emerge. And now, all of a sudden it seems, it has turned cold and the teeth of Winter are starting to bite. I don’t know about you but my heart always sinks a little at this time of year, but it has its compensations too. You value so much more the warmth of home and friendship in these cold days. You value the light so much more as the days grow darker. Winter forces you to choose what is important and work for what you hope will happen. It is a time when faith and hope and love shine bright. It is a time to remember and to plan, a time to talk and to dream. It can be a time of grief but it can also be a time of promise. Just remember, we are here for you, Winter or Summer, and most of the church buildings are open most of the time if you need somewhere to be quiet and think and pray and escape. With our best, Andrew and Rhiannon Marloes, St. Brides and Dale Mothers Union We had a fascinating insight into the Bach Flower remedies as part of the homeopathic arm of medicine last month. This month a very different topic Homelessness. Mrs Carol Crowther from Pembrokeshire Society for the Homeless will be coming to talk to us on Tuesday 10th November at Marloes Village Hall 7.30pm. The Mothers’ Union is a non- denominational group and welcomes all, and despite the name you do not have to be a mother! If you feel like popping in to see how we operate please do. We meet on the second Tuesday of the month in Marloes Village Hall at 7.30pm...Look forward to seeing you there! For any more information contact Harriet 636668, or Bridget 636274. St Ishmaels Church News Repairs to the churchyard wall are now complete and a retrospective Facul- ty has been applied for. We are lucky to have had an anonymous donation to cover the cost of this. If anyone else would like to make a donation towards our Appeal Fund to repair the roof then please contact Father Andrew or the Wardens. We have to raise £75,000 by donations and grants to complete the work. Tidying the churchyard We will be having our annual Graveyard strim dur- ing November and this year we are going to follow the advice that we have had from ‘Caring for God’s Acre’ and rake off the cuttings. We’ll keep you posted on dates for a work party to achieve this. We will also be leaving an unstrimmed strip as a wild life haven which will be rotated each year. When this work is done we will be preparing for a mammal and reptile survey in the spring. 1st November at 3.00pm. Our Annual Pet Service in the Church. All pets welcome. Richard Neale Remembrance Service – St. Peter's, Marloes The community of Marloes & St. Brides is invited to attend the Remembrance Service to be held on Sunday 8 th November at the War Memorial. The short service will follow on from the 9.30 am church service, and will commence at approximately 10.20am. All are welcome to attend the service and/or join the congregation at the Memorial. A wreath will be laid within the church in memory of the many Polish airmen of 304 Squadron who died flying out of RAF Dale. At the War Memorial we will remember the eleven men of the two parishes who died during the 1 st World War, and the three men who died from the 2 nd World War. Wreaths will be laid on behalf of the Community by the Chair- man of the Community Council, and also on behalf of the Parochial Church Council. Wreaths and memorial crosses can also be laid by family and friends. 1915 proved a particularly sorrowful year for this community as four men lost their lives. On the 25 th May Jonathon Davies of Murchin Cottage died very shortly after enlisting at the age of 17. His mother mourned the loss of her youngest son all her life, dying in 1958 aged 100. William Edwards born in Marloes (but living at Wigtown when he enlisted) died on the 12 th July at Gallipoli. In September, Willian Folland died on the 25 th at Loos, to be followed one week later on the 2 nd October by a younger brother John Thomas Folland also at Loos. “They shall grow not old as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them.” When is a season not a season? I wish I had a smart punchline to go with this joke, but the answer for Novem- ber is ‘when it’s Kingdom Season’. The church’s year has seasons like Advent and Christmas and Lent and Easter. In the last fifty years or so there has been an attempt to create a new season ‘Kingdom’ in November. This is partly because Jesus preached the Kingdom of God and we used to spend so little time in church thinking and look- ing for it (one theologian quipped, “Jesus preached the Kingdom and what we got was the church”), but also it was because in November we already do things that make us think about God’s rule. Some churches keep it, some don’t. First of all there is Hallowe’en, which can take delight in the macabre and horrific because we know that the Kingdom and rule of God is more powerful than the darkness. I know many Christians want nothing to do with it because it glam- orizes evil, but I tend to think it trivialises it too. Then comes All Saints, a huge celebration of how God has worked to bring love and joy through the lives of the great heroes and heroines of Christian history and then All Souls, a quieter cele- bration of all the people whose lives have blessed our own. All this and it is still only November the second! Then comes Remembrance, the solemn honouring of the sacrifices made for this earthly kingdom and, I hope, a challenge to fight as hard for justice, peace and faithfulness, for the Kingdom of God. The last Sunday before Advent cele- brates Christ as King, the beginning and the end of all things. But perhaps the question should have been, “When is a kingdom not a king- dom?”. Theologians argue hard to define what the Kingdom of God is but we know it is where God is in charge and we must make our choice for it which will sometimes seem to be against the wisdom of the rest of the world.