OCTOBER 2018

HAMPTONSPIRE HILL’S PARISH MAGAZINE YOUR FREE COPY

stjames-hamptonhill.org.uk or find us on WELCOME Meet the clergy Letter from the Editor VICAR Rev Derek Winterburn Derek was born in Orpington, Kent, and ordained in 1986. He he Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness is now served in several diverse London parishes before becoming with us after a very hot summer. Sadly, Autumn vicar here in 2016. He is married to Sandra, a teacher, and has probably won’t be as spectacular this year as many two children. A keen photographer, he posts a picture online T leaves have already died due to the drought. every day, combining it with a daily walk or cycle ride. He can This issue sees the second of our Marathon articles. In be contacted at any time other than on Mondays (his day off). June we featured Jon Holloway who ran the London Tel: 020 8241 5904 Marathon and, in this issue, Sara Butterfield tells her Email: [email protected] story of undertaking the Arctic Marathon. Very different – but both raising funds for charity. CURATE Rev Jacky Cammidge October means Harvest and, as in previous years, we Jacky was born in Abertillery, South Wales, and ordained in are supporting the Upper Room which provides meals 2015. She is a self-supporting minister and has been at for homeless people from its base in Hammersmith. St James’s since starting her ordination training. Jacky is This has been a very difficult year for farmers and married to Alan, and has three children. During term-time she gardeners alike. Crops have failed and livestock have runs Hampton Hill Nursery School, based in the church hall, relied on the winter feed for food. This means rising with her family. food prices in the shops, making it even more Tel: 074 9677 0505 difficult for homeless people this winter, so please Email: [email protected] be generous with your gifts when you come to our Harvest service on 7 October. ASSISTANT PRIEST Canon Julian Reindorp Julian was born in Durban, South Africa, and ordained in 1969. Best Wishes He has worked in parishes in East London, Chatham and Milton Keynes, and was Team Rector in Richmond until retirement in Janet 2009. He continues to lead a busy life, often out and about on his trademark red scooter. Julian is married to Louise and has four children, three stepchildren and nine grandchildren. Cover photo: Fresh from the allotment... just one source of food this harvest festival Tel: 020 8614 6800 The Spire is published nine times a year for the Parochial Church Email: [email protected] SPIRE Council of St James. We make no charge for this magazine, but if you Other contacts... are a regular reader we hope that you will contribute towards printing costs to enable us to expand our outreach across the parish. Cheques should be made payable to the PCC of St CHURCH OFFICE Churches Together Around Hampton James, Hampton Hill and sent to Spire Appeal c/o the church office. Nick Bagge Ann Peterken 020 8891 5862 The administrator deals with Churchyard Records STORIES FOR THE SPIRE PRODUCTION enquiries, and manages all Janet Nunn 020 8979 6325 If you have a story idea or would like to make a Design Nick Bagge church hall bookings. comment, contact Janet Nunn, the editor. Proof readers Susan Horner and Dick Wilde Opening hours: Mon, Wed, CMS Mission Partner Link Telephone: 020 8979 6325 PUBLISHING Fri 0930-1230; and Tue, Thu 1230-1530. Liz Wilmot 020 8977 9434 Email: [email protected] Printer Peter James Printing Limited Tel: 020 8941 6003 Connections Telephone: 01932 244 665 Email: E-SPIRE / WEBSITE Coryn Robinson 020 8979 6786 Email: [email protected] Address: Church Office, 46 St James’s To receive the magazine by email, please The Spire is printed on paper that is sourced Road, Hampton Hill TW12 1DQ. Deanery Synod Representatives contact Prill Hinckley. from well-managed forests. Clive Beaumont 020 8943 4336 Email: [email protected] CHURCHWARDEN Eco-Church Derek 020 8241 5904 © St James’s Church 2018. Unauthorised CIRCULATION Gwynneth Lloyd reproduction in whole or part is prohibited Electoral Roll 020 8941 6003 The Spire is available in church and shops. It is Tel: 020 8943 0709 without written permission from the editor. Email: gwynneth.lloyd@ Finance Team also delivered across the parish and posted Manuscripts, photographs and artwork are stjames-hamptonhill.org.uk Don Barrett 020 8979 3331 further afield. Further information from Susan accepted on the basis that the Spire does not Horner, 5 St James’s Avenue TW12 1HH. accept liability for loss or damage to them. We TREASURER Hall Bookings 020 8941 6003 Telephone: 020 8979 9380 cannot print anything subject to copyright. Dawn Miller Email: [email protected] Views expressed in the Spire are not PCC Secretary Tel: 020 8941 6508 necessarily those of the PCC of St James. NEXT ISSUE / COPY DATE Email: dawn.miller@ The November Spire is published on Fri 26 Oct. Please recycle this stjames-hamptonhill.org.uk Planned Giving Carol Bailey 020 8783 0633 Copy deadline: Tuesday 2 October. magazine after use

Properties Team Martin Hinckley Finding us Bryan Basdell 020 8979 2040 Clerical Capers Tel: 020 8979 0528 Email: p.m.hinckley@ Safeguarding Officer blueyonder.co.uk Jane Newman 020 8979 6154

ALMA Laurence Sewell 020 8977 2844 Scouts Richard Moody 020 8286 6918 Ark Playgroup Servers Lesley Mortimer 020 8941 2345 Debbie Nunn 020 8979 3078 Shell Seekers via Derek 020 8241 5904 Bell Ringers The church is on the corner of Susan Horner 020 8979 9380 Social Team 020 8941 6003 St James’s Road and Park Road. The hall is next to the church and vicarage. Book of Remembrance Recorder There is ample parking. Buses include Janet Nunn 020 8979 6325 R68, R70 and 285. Brownies via 0800 1 69 59 01 St James’s Players Follow us Charity Support Team Martin Hinckley 020 8979 0528 Dennis Wilmot 020 8977 9434 For the very latest news go to our Traidcraft Ann Peterken 020 8891 5862 website or follow us on social media: Children’s Champion TWAM Janet Nunn 020 8979 6325 stjames-hamptonhill.org.uk Lou Coaker 020 8979 2040

Church Cleaning Team Visitors’ Team @stjames-hamptonhill Debbie Nunn 020 8979 3078 Derek 020 8241 5904 @stjameshamphill Church Flowers Team Welcome Team ...and the theme of today’s service is 020 8941 6003 Janet Taylor 020 8979 0046 @stjameshamptonhill ‘Preaching a Gospel of Simplicity’... 2 YOURS FAITHFULLY When the best things take longer to grow

Sundays Holy Communion (said) 8-8:30am

Parish Communion 9:30-10:30am

Together at Eleven 11-11:35am (not 7 Oct) followed by crafts and refreshments

7 Oct Harvest All-age Service 11:00am followed by lunch and a Talent Show!

Mon-Fri (but not Tuesdays) Morning Prayer 9:15-9:40am

Tuesdays 2, 16, 23, 30 Oct Holy Communion 9:30-10:15am

9 Oct Holy Communion and Coffee 10-11:30am (2nd Tuesday of month)

Ark Playgroup Mondays 1, 8, 15, 29 Oct 10:30am-12:15pm Our playgroup for toddlers and carers

Connections Growing in faith is lifelong At St James’s we are aiming to grow as Tuesday 2 Oct 11am-12:30pm Adults can be wary of ‘growing’; not all a church bit by bit too. Most recently we (1st Tuesday of month) growth is healthy! But Jesus calls us all to have begun a service for families and an Our drop-in session for older people DEREK ‘lifelong learning’ - discipleship. Often we activity club for older people, we are WINTERBURN don’t notice the slow growth in ourselves, hosting regular big-screen ‘film shows’ and Life Groups growth in faith, growth in wisdom, growth have formed a group for young people. From Tuesday 2 Oct and Thursday 4 Oct 8pm in goodness. The house groups resume, running fortnightly, t Harvest our minds think Being part of a small group (at St Be grateful for the food we have followed the Sunday readings from Hebrews of farmers and fields. James’s we call them Life Groups) puts us At harvest time we rightly give thanks for While I know that many together with people who can encourage the food that we usually take for granted. I Fairtrade Stall people in Hampton Hill and strengthen us. think we can never be too grateful for the Sunday 7 Oct 10:30-11am and 12-12.30pm are keen gardeners, I food that we can enjoy from all over the Stock up before or after the Harvest service. don’t think anyone can be ‘Modern life prizes world. We also remember those who have Aa farmer – at least they can’t be farming in less, particularly the homeless in London Quest Hampton Hill! But I suppose there’s much most things that are (whom we support through the work of The From Wednesday 10 Oct 8pm in common between the two. Upper Room, Hammersmith, seen below). A group for people who wish to explore One of the key things a farmer or achieved quickly, but their faith. For more information contact Derek. gardener must do is wait. There has to be important things can planning, and then the seed is sown. Pop-up Cinema (FREE ENTRY) Through the growing season (our long hot Saturday 13 Oct 3.30pm summer this year) perhaps there needs to take longer. The Peter Rabbit (U rating) be feeding and watering. But through it temptation is to ignore Peter’s quiet life is shattered by the arrival of a famers have to let nature move at her own new family of rabbits. Doors open at 3pm. pace, and wait for the harvest. The writer what takes longer. Eugene Peterson calls this the Law of the Saturday 3 Nov 6.30pm Farm – things take time to grow. Often we don’t notice The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society (12) All-star cast in a romantic drama. Doors open 6pm.

The best things take time... the slow growth in No booking required for cinema. Snacks on sale.

Our modern life prizes things that are ourselves, growth achieved quickly. Of course, some things In Loving Memory (All Souls) are much better faster (the journey home in faith, wisdom ne of the oldest harvest hymns Sunday 28 Oct 3:30pm from work, or the queue in the Post is Come, ye thankful people A service for us to remember those who Office?) But the Law of The Farm or goodness’ come, raise the song of harvest- have died. Followed by refreshments. suggests that important things may take O home. It moves from our time. The temptation is to ignore what can New this season is a short course, agricultural harvest to God’s harvest – In Concert: Alistair Griffin be achieved if it takes longer. Someone Quest, for people who want to find gathering his people. That’s the ultimate Saturday 17 Nov 7.30pm Tickets £16/£8 once told me that we overestimate what answers to life’s big questions. It will meet perspective. How are we growing as A charity concert followed by a hot meal we can achieve in one year, and every other Wednesday in October and people bearing fruit – and then how much and bubbly (see page 7). Book via office or underestimate what we can do in five. November (see right for details). do we need God’s power to work in us? online at: http://bit.ly/StJ-Griffin 3 NEWS IN BRIEF FEATURE: ARCTIC ADVENTURE FOR BREAST CANCER Gardening Club helps churchyard take shape A marathon

SARA BUTTERFIELD

orking for the Royal Marsden can be a very crushing experience, as ELEVEN PAIRS of willing The new garden area was patients you hands, including those also rotovated. Weeds were journeyW with and grow attached to don’t pictured above, met at the cleared, hedges trimmed and always pull through. I have, on the beginning of September to brambles dug out. Ivy was cut other hand, been struck by the help prepare the churchyard away from grave stones and extraordinary courage and resilience of wildflower meadow and the the persistent alkanet plants many of the men and women I meet new garden area on the were sprayed in preparation there, who are living with cancer. corner of Park Road and St for a new layout to be ready Listening to how they felt when James’s Road. for next spring. diagnosed, how fear became normal, This was the fourth The Garden Club meets and family and friends a lifeline, these gathering of the Gardening some four times a year and all experiences led me to want to do Club since its inauguration on are welcome for either light or something more to help. 18 November last year. vigorous activity, as well as The final trigger came when a young, A rotovator was hired to lots of fun, company and, most female patient with breast cancer plough the meadow area. importantly, care of our lovely showed me her wedding album. I was Weeds and grass roots were churchyard. struck by the change in the last six painstakingly sifted out by Look out for announcements months. As her tumour had become hand and the soil raked over, in church or on the website for more aggressive and treatment ready for sowing the fresh the final session this year, in intensified, she had gone from the seed later this autumn. either October or November. radiant person in the photographs to the weak figure who lay beside me, with no hair, bravely hoping for ‘good news’. Hall refurbishment nears end The next day, thinking also of two RENOVATION WORK of the aunts who had shown great courage Church Hall, carried out during their own cancer journeys, I during the summer holidays, rang the charity Walk the Walk and has been praised by the first volunteered for their Arctic Marathon. hall users of the autumn term. I came across the charity through Inspired and moved by cancer patients Work completed so far has colleagues at the Marsden. Founded included refurbishing all of the by Nina Barough CBE, herself a breast at the Royal Marsden, Sara Butterfield toilets. Flooring has been cancer survivor, Walk the Walk funds challenged herself to go beyond her replaced, there are new toilet research and prevention programmes. bowls and tiling, and the sinks Via a series of Power Walking working day to raise money for a cause have been given new taps. challenges, run in the UK and across The hall floor has been The stairs and Upper Room the world, it encourages us all to close to her heart. stripped and resealed. The also have new flooring. The increase the amount we walk as a Completing a marathon in sub-zero radiators have been replaced final stage of the project, new means of having fun and getting fitter. with wall heaters, and the hall cupboards, will be built temperatures (a drop to minus 33°C) walls have been repainted. during October half-term. The Challenge across the Arctic Circle, however, Heading out to the Abisko Mountain Greenwood Centre rebranded Station in northern Sweden, the tested her to the limit. THE HAMPTON and Hampton Hill Voluntary Care organisation has served the community since 1976, offering services to support less mobile and more vulnerable people. Its base in School Road, known as the Greenwood Centre, has been renamed the Greenwood Community Centre to reflect volunteers using their own its wider use. The logo has cars to drive people to also been changed. medical appointments, help The organisation urgently with running events, admin needs more volunteers to and fundraising, as well as enable it to continue its help to start and run a new valuable work. It is seeking community café. Contact them minibus drivers and helpers, on 020 8979 9662 or drop in. The team gather beneath the Northern Lights prior to the start of the backcountry Ski Marathon 4

Gold award for Scouting friends

CONGRATULATIONS TO Jonathan Webb and Louis St John Smith, who recently received their Gold Award from their Scout leader Selina on their last night as Scouts. To achieve this award over their four-and-a-half years as Scouts they each had to earn six activity badges and complete nine challenge awards, comprising world, skills, creative, Exhaustion, elation ...and relief as Sara finally crosses the finish line. Inset: Sara’s medal for finishing outdoors, challenge facing me was to ski a including my son Ambrose’s school in Every team member had to dig deep. adventure, backcountry marathon — 26 miles Hampton, the Puppet Barge in At -33°C my dried mango, sun expedition, teamwork, team leader and personal challenges. across the desolate, frozen plains of Richmond and from family and friends cream and hand wipes froze! But Both Louis, pictured left, and Jonathan, right, will be subarctic Lapland, in sub-zero at St James’s Church. Even strangers whenever energy flagged, someone continuing in 3rd Hampton Hill Scouts, as Young Leaders temperatures — to raise money for donated, such as a climbing instructor raised morale. Finally, after 26 or so helping with the Cubs. They are also working towards their people living with cancer. I met once. He had recently lost his miles, we crossed the finish line, Duke of Edinburgh award and have found time to train to be Mum to breast cancer and said he felt physically exhausted, to whoops of joy, bellringers and are now part of the 9:30 service ringing team. A matter of life or death the expedition was a tribute to her. and feelings of relief and elation. We After being selected for the team a had all been touched, transformed and rather daunting seven-page kit list Lapland and the Northern Lights humbled by the tough surroundings. arrived, together with an intensive For the start of the marathon we flew training programme. Having the right to Kiruna, the largest city of Swedish To the Ice Hotel equipment, we were reminded, could Lapland, arriving to thick snow To celebrate we each received a save our lives. Skis and ski boots were underfoot. Lapland is a sparsely medal and then shared a magnificent provided, but we had to buy the rest. populated area bordering Finland, three-course dinner, before spending Whilst an experienced Alpine skier, I Norway, Russia and the Baltic Sea. our final night at Sweden’s acclaimed had never taken part in a marathon. Known for its vast subarctic wilderness Ice Hotel. The temperature inside is a Nordic skis are also longer and thinner and natural phenomena, it is home to constant -5°C. After a night on an ice than their downhill equivalent. Skiing the Sami people, who are traditionally mattress we received a certificate and on ungroomed pistes demands a high semi-nomadic reindeer herders, but glass of warmed lingonberry juice. level of fitness, balance and stamina. who now increasingly participate in I was daunted to find the marathon professional and cultural life. What a homecoming! graded as an ‘extreme’ challenge. I After a welcome dinner at the Aurora I felt proud to raise £4,450, the Bells returned to St Paul’s would need the 14 months I had set Sky Station we set out to the viewing highest ‘individual’ contribution to the aside for my preparation. I joined point. Under a canopy of stars our team’s impressive £52,000 total. Hampton Pool gym, a Pilates class hearts missed a beat when we saw Beneficiaries included an innovative and a Nordic walking group. Together ribbons of green streaking across the support centre in Bristol, a new Maggie with regular dry ski sessions, I took up sky and felt an indescribable awe as Centre in the Forth Valley, and the rollerskiing and my parents, Mike and the elusive Northern Lights appeared. Lagan Dragons, who bought a boat for Val, kindly funded some ‘ski de fond’ Northern Ireland’s first ever breast training in France. Bad luck strikes before the off cancer survivor team. We spent our first day attending I returned home to Hampton to the The training got harder briefing sessions and trying out our kit. most wonderful welcome, with a Trying to stick to the final intensive Disaster struck when my room-mate beautiful note on the door from my 16-week programme was difficult. We fell down an icy bank, fracturing her husband Chris and hugs from family. THE TWELVE change occasions being the two were instructed in power walking, wrist. It was devastating to lose her, Ambrose named the white reindeer I ringing bells which hang in world wars and during the gradually increasing from 4 to 20 but she was not to be the only brought him back Cloudberry after the the northwest tower of St restoration of the cathedral miles. I stopped climbing onto my bike casualty. Another member developed delicious soft fruit that we ate out in the Paul’s Cathedral have been from 1925-30. or jumping into the car and began to ‘frost nip’ in her feet, and one of the Arctic. The two of them have hardly silent since New Year’s Day However, the tower has not walk everywhere. One day I set off charity’s leaders fell and broke his ribs. been separated since! when they were removed for been entirely silent as the early across Richmond Park, returning The rest of the team soldiered on, refurbishment. clock bells, including Great after dark, having completed 24 miles. through the harsh, but breathtakingly They were cast in 1878 and Tom in the SW tower, Along with the training schedule was beautiful, landscape of frozen rivers are the second largest ring of continue to sound as well as an equally challenging fundraising and snow-covered plains. Two moose bells in the world. the original service bell. target. We each had to raise at least and a herd of migrating reindeer were They were taken back to The photo shows the bells £650 in sponsorship. Asking people to sighted, but no signs of human life. the foundry where a thick resting on the ground in early give is not easy, but when you believe In the middle of a huge, white layer of grime was removed. September beside the steps passionately about the cause it is wilderness, we left behind all contact The timbers in the bell tower for the delicate operation of astonishing how insurmountable with the outside world. Nothing could have also been strengthened. lifting them back up. barriers can be overcome. I was prepare us for the penetrating It is only the fourth time in The plan is to have the bells moved by people’s generosity. temperatures, eerie silence, isolation their history that they have ready to ring on 1 November, Donations came from many sources, and sheer effort which lay ahead. fallen silent – the previous on their 140th anniversary. 5 YOUNG SPIRE Harvest - and the food we eat

What about things we can’t grow locally? Gray began construction of the north and We all eat things that cannot be grown in this south transepts. The term minster is applied country, like bananas and spices. So these to an important church that was built as part PRILL have to come from abroad. Importing food LAURENCE of a monastery established as a missionary HINCKLEY allows us to experience the tastes and SEWELL teaching church. Building work continued flavours of other countries. throughout the Middle Ages and it was only in 1472 that the cathedral was consecrated n Britain, thanks have been given for What about Fairtrade? arlier this year there was a and declared complete. successful harvests since pagan times. Fairtrade is about giving the people who fascinating series on English Harvest reminds us of all the good things produce the things we buy from abroad a fair cathedrals introduced by Tony Major restoration of windows God gives us, and so at St James’s price for their work. Without Fairtrade many Robinson (the actor and It is a stunning building, and with its I people in poorer countries have to sell their E we give thanks by singing, praying and broadcaster). These are well worth viewing stained glass windows an atmospheric place decorating our church. We also bring gifts of goods at prices so low that they can’t make a and still available on Channel 5 catch-up. Six of worship. It contains more than half of all food and other items which are later given to decent living. Fairtrade also allows the of our most notable cathedrals were the world’s medieval glass, including the people in need. Britain has a rich farming workers to have better working conditions selected, amongst which was York Minister, Great East Window which is the world’s heritage, producing an abundance of fruit, and stops the companies that sell their certainly one of the world’s most magnificent largest medieval stained glass window. This vegetables, meat, fish and dairy products. products from exploiting the workers. cathedrals, with foundations rooted in the was part of a major conservation project Harvest is a good time to think about our What about frozen and tinned produce? nation’s earliest history. between 2008 and 2017, costing £11 million food and where it comes from. Fruits and vegetables are often frozen or Church life in York dates from the 7th and involving 311 panes of glass.

Food miles and environment canned when they are at their peak in century and the construction of the first stone Apart from the vicissitudes of history, such quality. Modern-day processing of canned -built church in AD 633 around an earlier as the English Reformation and the Civil and frozen produce usually occurs within a wooden construction that was built for the War, the Minster has also had to cope with few miles and, most important, hours of baptism of King Edwin of Northumbria. fires throughout its more recent history, in harvest. The food is blanched (heated for a In AD 735 York’s first archbishop was 1753, 1829, 1840 and the latest in 1984 short time in hot water or steam), then appointed, but these were turbulent times and when a lightning strike destroyed the roof in immediately cooled in ice water before being the church was often ransacked by invaders, the south transept. Around £2.5 million had sealed in its packaging. This speed helps including William the Conqueror’s forces to be spent on repairs. stabilize many of the nutrients. during the ‘harrying of the North’ in 1069. Earlier, in 1967, a building survey showed a) Shipping and air-freighting fruit and that the central tower was at risk of collapse Seasonal food Norman-style cathedral and £2 million was raised for major vegetables around the world is a major The changing seasons provide us with the cause of greenhouse gas pollution. A quarter However, it was after the appointment of engineering works to reinforce the opportunity to buy foods that are only the first Norman archbishop, Thomas of foundations of the tower and to repair of all lorries on the road are carrying food. available at that time. Seasonal foods offer a b) Locally grown food doesn’t have far to Bayeux, in 1070 that a recognisable damage to the stonework. It was during this natural diversity that we should take cathedral was first built, in the Norman style. work that evidence of the Roman fort on the travel so has a lower carbon footprint and is advantage of for both our own well-being and fresher. Well-managed local farms conserve The present gothic-style church, or to give site and remains of the Norman cathedral the health of our planet. it its exact title, ‘the Cathedral and were rediscovered. fertile soil and clean water in communities and provide habitats for wildlife. Other considerations Metropolitical Church of Saint Peter in York’, Which is better for the environment, a or b? Eating local food supports the local farmers dates from 1220 when Archbishop Walter de Our first diocesan black bishop and businesses in our community. Local food The Minster is of course the seat of the Quality and flavour can be great value for money because of the Archbishop of York, the second highest office freshness, taste and quality of ingredients. in the Church of England. In 2005 it Ultra-processed foods often use cheaper consecrated the country’s first black ingredients to bulk out the product, making diocesan bishop, Dr John Sentamu, and them appear better value but feeding us less another notable first came in 2014 with the well. As some food travels a long way, it is consecration of the church’s first female more heavily packaged, creating millions of bishop, Libby Lane. tonnes of wrapping waste every year. As many who have visited will know, there a) Food from abroad has travelled long is not only the magnificence of the cathedral distances in ships or planes, has been The Red Tractor Assurance itself, but also the Undercroft Museum (the stored in warehouses so is therefore older We need to know that the only accredited museum in a cathedral in the and less fresh when it finally gets to our food we are buying is country) displaying objects and artefacts tables. Consequently, by the time it does safe and produced to from two millennia of York’s history. reach our tables the taste and nutrients have high standards. With the The Minster also houses the largest decreased. Red Tractor assurance cathedral library in the country, with just over b) Local crops are picked at their peak scheme we know where 90,000 volumes, including the historic printed freshness and the less time that passes the food comes from and that the suppliers collections of the Chapter of York dating between farms and tables, the fewer the are inspected and certified. back to the 1470s. nutrients will be lost. The produce will also The scheme covers production standards A visit to York Minster is certainly worth the keep longer in our fridges. on animal welfare, safety, traceability and journey; otherwise watch the TV programme Which is better for us, a or b? environmental protection. Detail from the Great East window whilst it is still available. 6 CHARITIES WE SUPPORT ALMA Seeking our own Opinion link with Africa

MANDELA-PRISON LETTERS As part of the celebrations marking the centenary of Nelson LAURENCE Mandela’s birth many of his previously unseen letters written from SEWELL Robben Island prison have been published. Two letters stand out. One to his wife Winnie: ‘Since the dawn of history, mankind has honoured and respected men and women like you, darling — an LMA is the partnership between the ordinary girl who hails from a country village hardly shown in most Anglican Church in Angola, London maps.’ She too was often imprisoned, and at one point was held and Mozambique. Although St for 200 days without a shower. Another letter describes how he A James’s does not have a direct link missed his family growing up, and his son’s and mother’s funerals. with a parish in Mozambique or Angola, it has In 1971 he asks: ‘Is one justified in neglecting his family on the been very supportive of ALMA over the years, ground of involvement in larger issues? Is it right to condemn one’s giving from our Charity Support and especially young children and ageing partners to poverty and starvation in the through Lent Appeals. Many will recall the hope of saving the wretched multitudes of the world?’ Sowing Seeds for Tomorrow appeal last year The Church of the Saviour of the World, in Lebombo, Mozambique when we raised over £2,300 thanks to the generous OUR GRIM PRISONS support of parishioners and the Shell Seekers. The Bishop of Edmonton, the Rt Rev Rob Wickham, was It’s said you judge a country by how it treats its prisoners. By any The aims of ALMA were established in a covenant appointed as the Diocese of London’s ‘Bishop for ALMA’, standards our prisoners (79,000 men, 4,000 women) are facing originally signed on 12 July 1998 and which was renewed and the chair of the ALMA Strategy Group in March 2016. some of the worst conditions for a generation. The Chief Inspector in 2008 during the Rivers of Life service in St Paul’s The essence of ALMA is relationships, and links between of Prisons has accused ministers of ‘being asleep at the wheel’. Cathedral. ALMA, the acronym, also appropriately means individual parishes, schools or other organisations is an Stories abound of scared prison officers locking themselves in their soul in Portuguese, so the continuing purpose is for the important part of ALMA’s work. Currently there are 43 offices, chaplains running from chapels fearing for their lives, and soul of the partnership to be a commitment to mutual London parishes twinned with parishes in Angola (9), appalling physical conditions. Drugs are freely available (1 in 7 support in prayer and worship, in ministry and mission. The Lebombo (13) and Niassa (15). Seven schools are formally prisoners developed drug addictions while in prison). In the past aims, as set out in the covenant, are to develop the twinned and others are developing connections. year there have been 47,000 cases of self-harm, up 16% from the partnership: previous year. The problem has been made worse by 7,000 prison ◼ Through prayer: our parish and diocesan bodies will Exploring a link with a Mozambique church officers, mostly older and more experienced members, being shed base and enrich the work of ALMA in local creativity and St James’s has been in contact with the ALMA Twinning to cut budgets. Now 2000 additional officers are being recruited, prayer Officer, John Tasker, about linking with a church in but much younger and needing considerable training. Belmarsh, ◼ Through communication: continuing to build a lay Nampula province in north central Mozambique following opened in 1991, was the first adult prison built in London since ministry of link officers, communications and twinning the meeting last year with Bishop Manuel Ernesto when he 1874. Bishop Richard Moth, Roman Catholic Bishop for Prisons, officers, catechists and parish representatives to support visited the churches in the Hampton deanery, but this is commented: ‘We have a prison system, including the buildings, ALMA activities and ensure each diocese and twin parish not without its challenges, designed for when the philosophy about how to treat prisoners was and school shares information on its aims, priorities, joys including communicating in “incarceration rather than rehabilitation”.’ and difficulties; Portuguese! So if there are any ◼ Through visits between dioceses: by bishops, clergy Portuguese speakers out there HOMELESSNESS MONEY? and lay representatives, especially to support parish and do let us know. The Government announced a new policy to eliminate rough school twinning; sleepers, numbering 5,000 every night, by 2027. The i newspaper ◼ Through projects: to contribute to the education and Bishop Vicente Msosa at said £100m was being spent, the Guardian said £50m had been health needs of our link dioceses and the theological ALMA Sunday in St Paul’s set aside. The next day, James Brokenshire, the Housing education and training of clergy and lay ministers. Cathedral, July 2018 Secretary, admitted there would be no new money for homeless- ness, but £50m had already been allocated for solving rough REGISTERS sleeping, and £50m moved from elsewhere in the housing budget. Singer a good JULY Polly Neate, Chief Executive of Shelter, said: ‘The underlying issue of housing is the dire shortage of social housing for people sport for charity BAPTISM who cannot afford market rents. We need about 90,000 new 17 Aylin Pouralinejad, Hampton WHILE HIS FACE may not homes a year to meet social housing demand. Last year 5,000 be familiar to everyone, you FUNERALS were built. You need houses to solve homelessness.’ 12 (Olive) Jean Pierrette Gavin, 94, will almost certainly have heard his voice. Alistair Walton on Thames SOUTHGATE STATION Griffin, a 40-year-old singer 25 Jean Mary Kathleen Maloney, 87, Bagshot For 24 hours a London Underground station had an extra name on from York, has become all its signs - Gareth Southgate station. In the World Cup England’s something of a turn-to AUGUST national football team gave our polarised country something to performer to write for big celebrate. Gareth Southgate, managing our young team, came BAPTISM television events. across as articulate, honest and self-critical. As one commentator 26 Bradley George Alfred Hill, Hampton Hill Griffin's songs have wrote: ‘Southgate is a model of a kind of masculinity largely absent soundtracked some of the WEDDING from public life, dominated by hucksters and strongmen.’ 18 Isaac Ayodeji Omirin and Rhiannon Llewellyn, nation's biggest sporting moments and even a royal His concert at St James’s Feltham POPE’S FORD FOCUS wedding. Church on 17 November at FUNERALS On a Sunday evening in August a Ford Focus pulled up outside the He shot to fame in the 7.30pm will raise money for 8 Kenneth Fanning, 69, Isleworth home of an elderly bed-ridden woman in Rome. Out stepped a four of our charities. BBC’s Fame Academy 2 and 29 Joseph Henry Nason, 89, man dressed all in white. Pope Francis had come to visit a friend Tickets cost £16 (children has had a string of Top Ten Hampton Hill who had asked to see him. Quickly a crowd gathered and after hits as a soloist, as well as £8) and include post-show visiting his friend Pope Francis greeted them individually and gave sharing the microphone refreshments. Book online at them his blessing. As a journalist said: ‘The Pope likes nothing with others, including http://bit.ly/StJ_Griffin or more than escaping from the Vatican bubble and meeting people.’ Kimberley Walsh. telephone 020 8941 6003. 7 MY FAVOURITE WORKS OF ART Art that stirs the soul the development of Russia, through European eyes. This extraordinary number of these ‘stills’, where Sherman herself image is at once abstract, powerful, eloquent and succinct. It takes on all sorts of roles. In this one, part of a series sparked my interest in the whole work and the context in apparently referring to a film about a girl from the country which it was made. arriving in a big city, the subject is looking slightly gauche and anxious. CAROLINE Ecce Ancilla Domini! (The Annunciation) Tate Gallery YOUNG I was very keen on the Double Portrait Lucian Freud Archive Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in my teens. At that time the have studied art on and off since I was a child and technical exactitude and completed my BA in History of Art at Birkbeck at the the romantic subject age of 56. I find connoisseurship in art uninteresting, but matter really appealed I have many images that mean a lot to me and I hope to me. I am always will interest you. They range from images about which I bowled over by Dante Ihave written essays, those I see in my day-to-day life and Gabriel Rossetti’s 1849 others discovered in museums and galleries. composition here, his attempt to bring a Terracotta Pig British Museum psychological reality to The British this spiritual moment Museum is close to that also had very many places that I human and profound visit in central earthly results. Perhaps London and is a it also fuelled my belief glorious place to in the art of the browse and Quotidian (occurring daily), which remains with me. Freud’s work is beautiful, strange and respectful of the explore as well as sitters, all of whom were people he was or became familiar to use for detailed The Holy Spirit in the form of a dove St James’s Church with. In this 1985-6 oil on canvas, as in many others, he does research. This pig This tiny window is my favourite image to not give us a narrative, does not make the body conform to is the object that I catch sight of during services. However formal rules, but examines what the woman and the dog most often seek colourful and meaningful the large express for themselves. Freud’s treatment of flesh and fabric out. To see the windows are, one of the most welcome appeals to me and makes me want to emulate his interpretation. fingerprints of the periods of change for me at church was maker, who when some of the windows were Large leaf in Bushy Park Caroline Young worked on this about 2500 years ago, is very moving. removed for renovation, briefly replaced I include this image by clear glass. This little dove, high not because I am The King of Brobdingnag and Gulliver British Museum above, hardly seen and rather stumpy, particularly proud of it, tells its message clearly like a little jewel. but because it reminds me of the struggle it The Park (Le Square) Museum of Modern Art, New York takes to produce a Edouard Vuillard’s painting. It took me a work, at once month on and off to get philosophical, radical, to this stage. I was and moving, is made recognising a feeling up of observation from that the leaf evoked in his surroundings in me, working on Paris and parts of composition, technique France. This 1893 and the practical composition, Project limitations of my ability, for the Public materials and time. It is now a record and daily reminder for One of the modules I studied for my BA was on satire and Gardens; Le Square me of that first feeling. caricature. The genre is very specialised, and stretches de la Trinité, is one through much of the history of art. It is characterised by that I frequently return The Scramble for Africa The Pinnell Collection, Dallas humour, succinct visual imagery and cross reference to other to as an example of art forms. This example, by James Gillray, from 1804 tells us both the reality of so much about the context in which it was produced and is normal life and the not quite so pointedly cruel as some of Gillray’s other work. consciousness of the artist’s hand in describing it. I find this depiction coming to mind whenever I see trees outlined in The Red Splodge this way, or houses bordering London squares. representing the reign of Ivan the Terrible Untitled Film Still #23 Museum of Modern Art, New York This image also came to my I came across attention in the same module. Cindy Sherman’s French artist Gustav Dore work while produced several comic book- studying a module style collections of satirical on 20th century art. I have been aware of Yinka Shonibare’s work for some time, work. Published in 1845, Her work in this but it was only in writing an essay about his work that I began The Rare and Extraordinary series examines to look with real attention at what he was producing and why. History of Holy Russia showed, the roles of and The works are mostly made in distinctive printed fabric (with through different styles (some attitudes to women its own story) and discuss privilege, imperialism and beautiful, some offensive or in various media. appropriation. They could be angry and ugly, but are instead distressing), a commentary on There are an wry, beautiful and accessible. 8 IN THE NEXT ISSUE: Wartime Diaries, The Children’s Society, Favourite Musicals