Parish Magazine the Four Ways Mission Community

Parish Magazine

for

The Four Ways Mission Community

St Paul, Landkey, St James the Apostle, Swimbridge with The Holy Name, Gunn, St Peter, West Buckland & St Michael, East Buckland

February 2021

The Mission Community of St. James, Swimbridge with the Chapel of the Holy Name, Gunn, St. Peter, West Buckland, St Michael, East Buckland and St. Paul, Landkey Patrons: The Bishop of Exeter andy NewsletterThe Earl Fortescue Trust (Patronage suspended)

Priest-in-Charge: The Reverend Shaun O’Rourke, The Rectory, Swimbridge EX32 0PH DearTelephone Brothers 01271 and S830950isters, mob 07914361905 email: [email protected] Reader: Mr Christopher James, 6 Tree Close, Gunn, Goodleigh. EX32 7PA 01271 831075 Reader: Mr Peter Rozzell, 5 The Babbages, Bickington. EX31 2LN 01271 373033 Reader: Mr David Rushworth 01271 372725

St. James the Apostle, Swimbridge

Churchwarden:

PCC Sec: Sarah Muirhead Treasurer: Janet Patton 01271 831065 Electoral Roll: Mary Fardon 01271 344629 Organ/ Choir: Janet Patton 01271 831065 Bell Ringer: Chris Ley 07890331478 C of E Voluntary Aided Primary School: Head Teacher: Website : www.swimbridgeparishchurch.org

Chapel of the Holy Name, Gunn Deputy Warden: Bryan Hawkins 01271 830597 Treasurer: William Crosbie-Dawson 01271 831141

St Peter, West Buckland Churchwarden: Pat Witheridge 01598 710512 PCC Sec: Gail Barker 01598 761149 Treasurer: Ally Ayre 01271 830011 Electoral Roll: Liz Overall 01598 760314 Bell Ringer: Peter Crook 01598 760437 Deanery Synod: Pat Witheridge 01598 710512

St Michael, East Buckland Churchwarden: Diane Tearall 01769 579031

PCC Secretary: Charlotte Smalley 01598 760248 Treasurer: Rosalie Priscott 01769 572943

St Paul, Landkey

Churchwardens: Hazel Price 01271 831259 and Mike Foster 01271 831334

PCC Secretary: Charles Waldron 01271 831414 Treasurer: Ann Rumble 01271 346463

Organist: Robert Loveridge 01271 371372 Deanery Synod: Hazel Price and Eric Price 01271 831259 Website: www.landkeyparishchurch.org

MOIMM Committee Secretary: Paul Ellis 01598 760534

Magazine Editor: Maureen Hawkins Taddiport, West Buckland, Barnstaple EX32 0SL Tel: 01598 760287 e-mail: [email protected] Please Note Material for the Magazine should be submitted to the Editor by the 1st of the preceding month

Services

While there are no services in our churches Revd Shaun will livestream services from St Paul’s each Sunday. They will be accessible on his Facebook ‘Mission Prayer Programme’ page and also on Zoom. If anyone would like to view them on Zoom, please send Shaun an email (revd,[email protected]) to request the link.

February 2021 Newsletter

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I hope you are all keeping well and that this month we will get good news regarding the virus. Let’s hope that the vaccination programme is working and the easing of lockdown is on its way. I am of course writing this at the beginning of January.

As you all know I suffer from a bone marrow cancer, Crohn’s disease, fibromyalgia and diabetes to boot. In our last lockdown I was the first in the Deanery to open all churches, the first to have communion in our churches as well as broadcasting a daily service and because Landkey was the only church to put broadband into the church I live stream a service from there every Sunday as well as now zooming the service to anyone who has an email address and wants to join.

When I attended my last consultation with the consultant at the hospital to discuss my upcoming treatment which removes my immune system completely, he checked to see if I had received my letter from the government instructing me to shield again and only leave the house for hospital appointments. I told him I was still working and that all my churches were open and that I felt an obligation to keep the spiritual side of our communities alive and well.

He turned to me and said, “If you catch this virus you will end up in hospital, you will end up on a ventilator and you may not be leaving through the front door. He reminded me that my condition means I have next to no defence naturally and that the four-hour infusion that I was having the next day would mean I would have no defence at all. He remarked, “If you die, will your parishioners pay the mortgage or buy your children food or send your children to university? Who will look after them?” I fell silent. The first rule of a good Christian is to care for your family. It is instilled in us as priests that we must not lose sight of what it means to be a husband or a father and so I came home and thought about what he had said and came to the conclusion that I was putting my wife and children at risk; at risk of losing their father, my wife of losing her husband.

I contacted all my worship team and I consulted with my wardens and explained to them what had been said to me. They agreed and gave me their blessing, and so we went back to broadcasting our service on a Sunday.

Swimbridge asked if they could open-up and just play some hymns and say some prayers with Janet doing her best for the few that were still coming. David our new priest also said that we would come and do the occasional communion with them and did so with my blessing.

Unfortunately I have been told that some of our congregation are upset thinking that I am just abandoning the churches. This is not true. I am following medical advice, still doing services every day and every Sunday and working from home. I was asked to explain to you all why I am not at open church services although nearly all of you know about my illnesses and the treatments that I have and that I have no immune system. Again I find that I have to explain my personal medical conditions to the general public something most people would find unacceptable.

I would ask if you or anyone you know has any questions about my health or the reasoning behind my decision to continue to work in the way I do, to please speak to me, otherwise rumour and untruths start to wind their way into our communities and that is not good for our churches.

So now you know let us put a line under this and move forward.

Let us hope that by the time you have read this our vaccination programme is up and running and we are all back in our churches.

Keeping you all in my prayers and thoughts

Father Shaun

News from St Paul’s Landkey

A virtual welcome to all!

Services at St Paul’s are now suspended, unfortunately, until such time as the pandemic is more under control. We took this decision because we felt that we should not risk bringing people together when the virus poses as great a danger as it has since the outbreak of Covid-19 began almost a year ago.

Current Government and Church of England rules allow public worship to continue but it has also been made clear that churches do not have to open if they would prefer not to. We will aim to restart services as soon as we feel that the risk of virus transmission has been sufficiently reduced.

In the meantime, Revd Shaun will livestream services from St Paul’s each Sunday. They will be accessible on his Facebook ‘Mission Prayer Programme’ page and also on Zoom. If anyone would like to view them on Zoom, please send Shaun an email ([email protected]) to request the link.

For this month’s article, I will look back at the two Christmas-themed services which we held in December and round up other news before continuing with my Making Sense of the Bible series in which I examine the background to another translation of the Bible.

Before proceeding, though, I would like to extend a welcome to all to join in with St Paul’s services, despite the fact that they are being held virtually! As Revd Shaun says, the church is the people, and we are not closed!

Christmas services in review

With some trepidation as to the wisdom of holding events during the pandemic, we decided that we would hold two Christmas-themed services. The first, held on Sunday 20th December at 4pm, was an outdoor carol service. We felt that an outdoor setting would offer a reduced risk of passing on infection by comparison with an attempt to gather people inside the church with the accompanying need to restrict numbers attending.

Mike and Josie Foster worked hard to set up a wooden crib in the garden below the church complete with lights and a power supply. Revd Shaun would bring his sound system to set up outside the church on which carols would be played. An Order of Service was created and adapted for mobile phones and a thorough Risk Assessment carried out. It was hoped that the forecast showery weather would not spoil the plans.

Anxiety levels were raised a few days beforehand when outrage was expressed on social media (where else?!) at the apparent lack of social distancing at an outdoor carol service held at Darts Farm, near Topsham. An examination of the arrangements which Woodbury Churches had made for this event revealed that theirs were very similar to the ones that we were planning for our service. 7

As 4pm arrived on the day, the showers became less frequent and Shaun took to the microphone to welcome an encouragingly large number of people arranged at various locations in front of the church. It was clear that face masks were being worn, social distances were being observed and many were ready to follow the service on their mobile phones.

And it was very enjoyable. The carols were played and sung enthusiastically. The readings which told the story of the birth of Jesus interspersed the music and it all led to a 45-minute service during which we could almost forget that we were in the middle of a pandemic.

Christmas Mass at 10pm on Christmas Eve was, as befits the occasion, a quieter affair but was still attended by a congregation numbering twenty.

We thank all who supported St Paul’s at these two services and who helped to make this a more normal and enjoyable festive season than we feared would be possible under these circumstances.

It was a team effort to organise and run these services but special thanks are extended to Mike and Josie Foster (and some of their family members) for all their work and generosity without which there would have been no tree in the church nor as much to enjoy, including the crib, at the carol service.

Presentation of certificate to Peter Rozzell

In a normal year, it would have been possible to hold a special service to recognise Peter Rozzell's achievement of reaching fifty years as a Reader, or lay minister. To mark the occasion under the current conditions, Peter Elder created a certificate and this was duly presented to him in mid-December by Jean and Eileen. A picture is included.

Looking to the future

It is the hope of the St Paul’s PCC that the church can emerge from the pandemic and find a renewed role for itself within the parish that it serves. Discussions have been going on behind the scenes, including with the Parish Council, as to how this might be achieved, and we would welcome any comments from local residents which might assist in this process.

Talent challenge – a note from our treasurer

Ann Rumble, our treasurer, was asked if she could provide the final total for our 2020 Talent Challenge. She says, “It was a resounding success. Those that took up the challenge were given £10 to see, with their talents, how much they could make, and the final total was a fantastic £395.30.

With my sincere thanks to all who took part.”

Making Sense of the Bible – towards another version of the Bible

The Geneva Bible was described in last month’s article as being a ground- breaking work which made the scriptures accessible to ordinary people for the first time.

The question that this raises though, is why this version is not one that is in common use today, albeit updated. The answer to that is: politics. In this month’s article, I will examine the reasons why such a fine translation eventually fell out of favour, to be replaced by yet another version.

Readers may well recall, or be otherwise aware, that the Geneva Bible was translated in Switzerland due to the prevailing policy of the reign of Queen Mary that the undertaking of such a work was heretical, punishable by death.

By the time this Bible was published in 1560, Elizabeth I was Queen. Unlike her sister, she was determined to heal religious divisions in England. One of her first actions was to establish a new religious settlement which involved the Act of

Supremacy of 1558. Instituted by Henry VIII in 1534 but repealed by Mary this Act re-established the monarch as head of the Church of England. The Act of Uniformity passed in the same year set the order of prayer to be used in the English Book of Common Prayer. Interestingly, this settlement required everyone to attend church once per week or face a fine of 12 pence, a sum equivalent to £11 or so in today’s money!

Elizabeth did introduce measures to suppress Catholicism but hers were less stringent and bloody than those enacted by Mary against Protestants. In fact, the more radical of the Protestants of the day felt that she wasn’t being firm enough in cleansing England of the vestiges of the Catholic faith as they saw it. Elizabeth, though, was seeking to find a middle way which would allow Catholics freedom of worship while curtailing some of the excessive zeal of Protestantism.

It was this zeal which was to be a constant thorn in Elizabeth’s side during her reign. We saw in an earlier article how John Calvin was critical of a woman becoming monarch, a stance for which Elizabeth never forgave him.

Events in other countries had an influence on religious sentiment and policy during the Elizabethan era. From 1562, France was riven by fighting between Protestants (Huguenots) and Catholics. The loss of life was immense and lasted until 1598 when the Huguenots were granted freedom of worship by the Edict of Nantes. Protestantism in Europe was now in the ascendancy, it seemed.

Scotland, also, was going through its own Protestant Reformation. In 1560, John Knox returned from Geneva after helping to produce the Bible of the same name. He spearheaded this movement which led to the church (or kirk) there adopting a Presbyterian structure, headed by elders, which differed from that in England which continued to be led by bishops.

The Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots, was on the throne of Scotland at that time and, like Elizabeth, she struggled to deal with the religious tensions of her nation. When she was deposed in 1567 (her history is well known and well documented but too long to relate here!), her infant son, James VI, became king.

As a young man, James resisted Presbyterianism even though he was raised as a Protestant. He believed that the Bible should be accessible to all and even translated some of the Psalms himself. He would have been aware of the Geneva translation as it was in use in Scotland.

His mother represented a threat to the English throne while Elizabeth remained childless and many Catholics would have been happy for her to succeed her English relation. It wasn’t to be, though, and Mary was put to death in 1587.

Despite Elizabeth’s best efforts to bring uniformity to church worship, there remained divisions, among other matters, over which version of the Bible to use. The version authorised for use in services was the Bishops’ Bible, produced in 1568. In people’s own homes, though, the Geneva Bible was preferred, and it is known that members of clergy referred to this version when writing their sermons.

The prevailing theology at that time in both England and Scotland was influenced by John Calvin even though he had died in 1564. However, some of the aims that he and other Protestant leaders espoused, including replacing bishops with elders and limiting the powers of the monarch were not palatable either to Elizabeth or to James. There was no question, then, of simply making the Geneva Bible, with its controversial annotations, the authorised version.

Elizabeth passed away on 24th March 1603 and was succeeded by James VI of Scotland who also became James I of England. Early in his reign, he called a meeting of religious leaders at Hampton Court Palace in response to demands from Puritan ministers to change practices of the legacy of Catholicism which were, in their eyes, unacceptable.

James dismissed many of their demands, but he did, to the surprise of those present, accept one suggestion. It was from a man called John Rainolds who proposed that a new version of the Bible be created.

Next time, I will examine who James Rainolds was and see what ensued once another translation of the Bible was commissioned.

Finally, this conference was held in January 1604 at Hampton Court Palace outside London because the city was in the grip of the plague at that time. It’s a good job that that kind of thing doesn’t happen in our day and age!

References will be quoted next time.

St Paul’s website: www.landkeyparishchurch.org

Charles Waldron

San Remo

As we draw to the close of the year, we also close on an important centenary, the San Remo conference of April 1920.

Most people probably haven't heard of it, but it is hugely significant for Jews as marking international acceptance of Israel as the legitimate homeland of the Jewish people.

In 1917 British soldiers liberated Jerusalem from the Turkish Ottoman empire and Lord Balfour declared Palestine the right to be a Jewish state.

This was confirmed in 1920 by the League of Nations at a conference in San Remo in Italy. Major nations gathered to apportion the defeated Ottoman empire's lands.

France was mandated Syria and Lebanon and Britain had Jordan, Iraq, and Palestine. These were temporary de-colonising arrangements until these nations were ready for self-governance, paving the way for both Arab and Jewish independence.

So San Remo conferred legal rights on Arabs and Jews alike. It was dubbed the Magna Carta of the Jews by one English politician. Churchill agreed that Palestine was their rightful homeland.

Jews had resided there for 3000 years, and there was a mass migration of Jews from the mid 1800's as a result of persecution and expulsion from Europe, Russia, and the Islamic world.

Jewish settlers worked hard to restore a barren land, attracting many more Arabs too.

The British failed to honour their obligation to encourage and protect the Jews, especially in the latter years of the mandate. The film The Exodus shows the unforgivable treatment of a shipload of thousands of Holocaust survivors prevented from landing in Haifa and eventually being sent back to Germany.

In 1947/8 the UN removed the British mandate and voted in favour of honouring the original San Remo agreement to create Israel as an independent Jewish country

The following day, five armies of surrounding Islamic countries attacked Israel in an attempt to annihilate the new nation but against huge odds were defeated.

They tried four more times since but by an amazing string of miracles, never succeeded.

There is a clear case for Israel to be accepted as the Jews' proper homeland, both in international law, and from its historical and biblical roots.

Yet their right to exist is still continually challenged.

San Remo could not be celebrated properly this year because of the pandemic, but maybe 2022 (51 countries met in 1922 to ratify the agreement). After all this is arguably the most momentous event in Jewish history.

Rev John Ewington

News from St James Swimbridge

Perce Saunders by his son Tim

Dad was born 17th July 1923 in Ardleigh Essex. He was the 4th of five children, Eric, Roy, Ada and Daphne.

While dad was training as a cabinet maker, he was called up to serve his country at a time when Britain was at war with Germany. In those early years of the second world war, he joined the R.A.F. as a radio operator. During his time in the R.A.F. he enjoyed many happy years serving on The Isle of Man and in Lancashire.

Dad took part in the invasion of Europe, landing on the Normandy beaches on the second day of operation Overlord. I always remember Dad explaining about a contingent of around 70 RAF men, that were killed by what is now referred to as friendly fire, on the first day of the landings. Apparently, the Americans didn't recognise the RAF uniforms and thought they were German forces. Due to this shocking disaster, Dad was issued with American uniform and sailed across the channel on a U.S. ship. This was great news to dad, as the US uniforms were far superior to the itchy RAF issue. Having said that, it must have been quite disconcerting for dad, to find a bullet hole in his second-hand American shirt he was issued with!! As a radio operator, Dad's job was all about communications between all the R.A.F. ground and air forces. He was always behind the front- line forces, but on one particular day, the truck he was travelling in, was suddenly surrounded by cheering French villagers waving flags and they realised very quickly they were behind enemy lines and therefore in an area where the allies hadn't liberated. Not being in a position to fight a highly trained German force, 14

or defend themselves properly, they quickly turned their vehicle around and sped back the way they had come. I'm sure much to the dismay of the French villagers. Dad also recalled that he of course had his own rifle, but never fired it in anger and come to that, whether it would even fire at all!

From France he travelled through Belgium, Holland and Germany.

He returned to England while the war in Europe was still raging and this was when he married our dear Mum in Thornton, Cleveleys on January 27th, 1945. Mum and Dad met on a blind date, arranged by Mum's younger sister Dorothy. Their first meeting was at the Blackpool Tower, by the aquarium.

After the war and on leaving the RAF, Dad started his teacher training course. During these tough years, Mum and Dad lived in several different digs in the Chorley and Blackburn area. In 1948 their first child Lesley was born in Preston. Lesley recalled to me, that Mum and Dad had to put chicken wire over her pram due to rats and mice in the kitchen where they were living.

In 1949 and on qualification as a teacher, the government at the time, sent him to his home county Essex, where his first post was at St Chads School in Tilbury, teaching arithmetic and woodwork. This was a particularly tough first teaching post, as it was in a rough area of Tilbury and the docklands. They were offered a council house in Chadwell St Mary and in the October of the same year, Marilyn was born at home at 50 Stour Road. It wasn't long before I came along in the December of 1950, born at Orsett hospital.

Those early years at Stour Road must have been particularly tough financially for Mum and Dad, with rationing of many food items etc. Mum and Dad survived with just bread and jam on one particular week! Dad had to find a way of earning more and so he started tutoring English to newly arrived families from India.

We had quite a large garden at home and Dad was a very keen gardener, especially vegetable growing. Lesley, Marilyn and I, were often on hand to assist Dad and in particular, as far as Dad was concerned, we were there to learn! We didn't always get things right, as often we would be sent back to the shed to find the correct implement and usually with a flea in one's ear!

Fine summer evenings were often spent enjoying a game of cricket or French cricket. Dad, once again, always made sure we were holding the bat correctly and of course the stance at the wicket was most important. There were the usual 15

moans and groans of, “you can now go and get the ball,” as it sailed over the hedge into next door’s garden. It goes without saying, we were all extremely competitive, but it was always good fun.

Dad always found a way to take us all to the seaside for summer holidays. The three of us all quickly learnt to swim and of course it was with Dad's tuition. I remember so well the Scotland holiday, when Dad drove me in his pride and joy....his new yellow three- wheel Robin Reliant! Dad was a very good motorcyclist, but to be fair, never the best car driver and especially in a three - wheel car! We somehow survived nearly fifteen hundred miles.

November 5th was when dad gave us all a firework display in the garden. One of the funniest moments, was when Dad nailed a large Catherine wheel to the shed door. It wasn't the greatest success, and even with Dad prodding the catherine wheel with a stick, it kept stopping. Needless to say, it burnt a large area of paint off the door! I remember, Mum wasn't particularly amused!

Christmas was always an exciting time at home. After attending church, Mum served up her usual tasty Christmas lunch, followed by fun and games around the open fire.

Returning to Dad's teaching career...it wasn't long before Dad decided to move into specialist teaching and became deputy headmaster at his last two schools.

Grays Parish Church was always very important to Dad and we all attended Sunday services. Dad served as a sidesman for many years and also helped to make repairs to the large oak timbers in the bell tower, replacing many of the rotten timbers.

After taking early retirement, Mum and Dad moved to Devon. They enjoyed many years exploring the glorious Devon countryside and coastline. They took up bowls, with dad becoming skipper...which he was very proud about. Of course, on a Sunday Dad was a regular member of St James church, here in Swimbridge and a real campanologist enthusiast, becoming the captain of the bell ringers, encouraging and training many keen ringers. He rang the bells of many churches around Devon and even rang the bells of Truro Cathedral.

These last few years had been a real struggle for Dad, especially after Mum's death of course, but he was very determined to keep as active as possible.

Finally, towards the end of 2019, Dad was in and out of hospital, due to his regular falls and sadly he had to agree he needed 24 -hour care. His last months were in Fremington Manor and with the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, this made visiting very difficult. Dad remained mentally very astute and not being at home must have been so difficult for him.

Pauline and I were able to spend an hour with Dad on the Saturday and after a long journey down from north Wales, on the Sunday, Marilyn and Mike were with Dad when he passed. Due to Covid restrictions and health concerns, Lesley was unable to make the journey from Lincoln and was sadly unable to be with us.

We trust that Dad is now with his Joan, our Mum, once again and has now found peace.

* * * * *

PERCIVAL SAUNDERS REMEMBERED BY MHB and RHB

At the end of the first service I attended here with my wife Rosie, a member of the congregation – Anne Hayes – introduced us to Perce and his lovely wife Joan. Anne cleverly suggested that we could pick them up from their home in Landkey on our way to church the following Sunday and drop them back afterwards. That way, they could have an assured lift and we would get to know the congregation through them. And so we picked up Perce on most Sunday mornings from the autumn of 2009 until he had to move into the care home at Fremington. In the earlier years, Joan came too, always beautifully turned out and because of her long, elegant legs, she would sit in the passenger’s seat at the front. We miss her and her marvellous smile and lovely, distinguished, ways. Now we shall miss Perce too.

Perce was a man who loved to laugh. He laughed with great zest, often on the slightest pretext: I think he knew it was good for his spirits and the spirits of

those around him. He also told very good stories. I’d like to share a story he told Rosie and me because I’m partly Danish (my mother was from Copenhagen). For a time after the end of World War II Perce was stationed, with his RAF radio signalling unit, in Jutland. I suppose it must have been in the winter of 1945 that Perce was invited by a kind-hearted Danish family – whom he’d never met – to join them for Christmas in Copenhagen. Perce set off eagerly for the Danish capital. I have made the same journey a number of times – on a train which rolls on and off two ferries and then onto railway track again. There were bars on the train and the ferries and many Danes insisted on buying a drink for this twinkly eyed, young Englishman in RAF uniform. When Perce arrived at his hosts’ home he could, he told us, hardly stand. He said that his kind hosts welcomed him effusively. Perce worked out the next morning that they had had to undress him and put him to bed. He remembered the wonderful breakfast and the Christmas lunch – and was deeply impressed that they didn’t say a word about his paralytic state on arrival, etc. He remained forever grateful for their marvellous manners. It takes something special to tell a good story against yourself.

I took to writing down some of Perce’s remarks. Here are some favourites:

*Do you know why yew trees were grown in churchyards? – so that cows couldn’t poison themselves by eating the leaves. The yews were needed for archers’ bows, of course.

*I hate it when people say someone ‘was sat’ – when they mean was sitting which is a past continuous action.

*Did you know that men who eat too much liquorice become impotent?

*And – as we walked slowly up the path to church one morning early last year: ‘Did you hear the bellringers miss a beat just then? Need to sort themselves out’. He was delighted when they got it right of course.

We remember with gratitude Perce’s years of skilful bellringing here, looking after the bells and training so many others in the art. We’ll remember his kindness to others, including his regular donations to the food bank each Sunday; his expertise in growing flowers and vegetables; his fund of knowledge about so many things. Thank you, Perce – and Joan – for everything, especially that infectious laugh.

News from The Holy Name Gunn

LOGS

• Dry seasoned hardwood, ideal for woodburners (cut to length if required) ~ £70 per load • Green softwood for open fires ~ POA • Will saw and split your own wood Also Garden Maintenance, Fencing etc. All enquiries – phone Chaz on 07887538831

News from St Peter’s West Buckland

There is very little to report as so very little is going on, as we are now in lockdown yet again.

We can no longer hold our Friday evening Service but the Church will be open during the Post Office time, Tuesdays, noon to 1.30pm, if anyone wishes for private prayer at the front of the Church. The Post Office will remain open at West Buckland and Swimbridge as it is classed as an essential service. Thanks to Heather for coming each week and giving a warm and friendly welcome to all. Details will soon be sent out to be able to access a weekly Sunday Service from Landkey.

When it was realised that we were not able to have our usual Christmas celebrations a compromise was reached to have an outdoor carol service round the Village Hall Christmas Tree on the Sunday before Christmas. Armed with warm clothes and a torch and hoping it was not going to rain, about fifty adults, twenty-five children and two babes in arms assembled just before dark. Ladies from the Village supplied mince pies, Mick Buckley and family mulled wine - bring your own mug!! Janet Patton brought her piano accordion and Phil Barker had printed out the words - and away we went. After an hour, still dry, and the music wishing us a merry Christmas we all went home sadly realising this might be as good as it got for meeting up. A small number came to Church on Christmas Day for a Service of Holy Communion, bread only.

As the relaxation of the lockdown will take some time and we shall miss some important milestones in the Church's calendar it is hoped to distribute primroses round the Village for Mothering Sunday even if there can be no Service.

In Memoriam Dennis Francis Galliver of Elwell Farm, interment of Ashes. Nancy Lee of Elwell X, Long-time resident. Service in Church followed by interment in Churchyard.

Pat Witheridge

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News from St Michael’s East Buckland

A MARATHON RESPONSE

Midnight Mass went ahead on Christmas Eve but when someone asked me how it went, my response was I thought it was a bit flat. It wasn’t helped by poor attendance and no singing to the musical accompaniment. A good sermon delivered by Father Shaun ended by sending us home to question and quest. My question is if God is the creator of all mankind what was his thinking and rationale behind the pandemic? And my quest be that we become stronger and wiser come the end of this nightmare episode in our lives.

A follow up to Rob Burrow’s story and his campaign to make more people aware of Motor Neurone Disease, a crippling disease which he is going through himself. At my last writing his longtime friend Kevin Sinfield was about to embark on seven marathons in seven days to raise funds for research. His hopes were to raise £77,777 this number was chosen as Rob wore the number 7 shirt during his rugby league career. The story went viral with no small thanks to the BBC who have followed Rob’s journey. Kevin’s amazing stamina has raised to date an incredible £2,669,265. He completed every marathon in under four hours, quite an achievement. Both men realise the importance of awareness of MND and their profiles help to achieve this and both know MND afflicts other people who don’t have the support network that they enjoy. The real joy of this story is the love and affection these two men have for each other.

I would like to offer my support to the widow of hero PC Harper in her attempt to get a law change that would mean anyone convicted of killing a member of the emergency services while on duty would receive a life sentence. Lizzie’s

husband was killed trying to apprehend men he suspected of theft of a quad bike, in the line of duty. Harper’s Law seems an appropriate deterrent and a suitable punishment.

Have you been watching the Vicar of Dibley over the Christmas season? I have and it has been as funny or more so a second time round. Geraldine is a vicar we would all love to come to our parishes as well as all the other lovely characters from this programme. Sadly some of these have passed since the original series began. I do like the joke at the end, they are so funny, even funnier sometimes with Alice’s reaction.

Wishing everyone a healthy New Year.

Roger Ridd