Haughley and Wetherden Parish News February 2017
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Haughley and Wetherden Parish News February 2017 2 February 2017 Places of Worship Local Voluntary Clubs & Organisations Parish Churches of Haughley and Wetherden st Vicar: Revd David Swales 01449-675503 Bellringers Haughley - practice 1 Mon evening in email [email protected] month, Richard Coe 01449-674229 Curate: Rev Chris Hood, 01449 677257 Bellringers Wetherden - practice Tues evening at church, [email protected] Basil Hart 01359-241954 Haughley Ch Warden: Dr J Gibson Bowls Club - at George V Playing Field Haughley, Wetherden Ch Wardens: Ann Cooke & Mike Tuffin Tony Offord 01449-673289 Carpet Bowls – Weds evenings, Wetherden Village Hall, Wetherden Lay Elder: Mr R Elbourne 01359-245118 James Rand 01359-240397 The Baptist Church Wetherden Choir Haughley - practice Thurs evening, Minister: Hugh Davis 01359 242435 Janet Sheldrake 01449 737247 Secretary: J W Rushbrook 01359-240118 English Country Dance Group – Ron Coxall Hall 01449 United Reformed Church, Stowmarket 672658 - Thursday Haughley Village Hall Minister: Revd Chris Wood 01449 678173 Friday (except 2nd Friday) Wetherden Village Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady, Stowmarket Hageneth Morris Men - practice Wed evening Oct to Father David Finegan 01449 612946 April, Dave Evans 01449-673518 Local: Mrs Joy Rowe 01449-673008 H.A.T.S. Haughley Amateur Theatrical Society - Lindsey Parish & District Councils Philpot 01449 675703 / Lynne Mahon 01449 674085 Haughley Parish Council Haughley in Bloom: Yvonne Hannan, 07531 774438 Chairman: Dave Walker, [email protected] Haughley IT Squad: [email protected] Clerk: [email protected] Haughley Hoofers Clog Dancers - practice Sun eve Oct- Wetherden Parish Council Apr at Vill Hall, Gill Brett 01449-673518 Chairman: Sonia Jewers Haughley Parish Neighbourhood Plan - Alf Hannan Clerk: Jen Larner, 01284 705548 [email protected] 01359 408008 District Cllr: Rachel Eburne 01449-774647 Haughley Royal British Legion – Branch Secretary Member of Parliament Margaret Buttle 01449 770353 Jo Churchill: 0207 2198487 Haughley Utd - at George V Playing Field, Lee Forsdyke Doctors, Schools, Essential Services 01449-615579 Haughley Post Office 01449-676789 Haughley and Wetherden Twinning Association: Health Centre, Stowmarket 01449-776000 Chairman, David Ward. 01359 241554. Health Centre, Woolpit 01359-240298 Email: [email protected] Health Centre, Mendlesham(Chapel Rd) Haughley Voluntary Service Co-ordinator, Reg Willsher 01449-767722 01449 258846 [email protected] Office: 07594 674009 Bacton Manor Farm Surgery 01449-781777 st Combs Ford Surgery, Stowmarket 01449-678333 1 Wetherden & Haughley Scout Group Haughley Crawfords VCP School 01449-673253 Group Scout Leader, Jim Grainger 01449 674879 Stowupland High School 01449-674827 Beaver Scout Leader, David Smith 01359-242965 Haughley Pre School Playgroup 07880 738781 Cub Scout Leader, Jon Illingworth, 01449 673348, 07879 661141, [email protected] Anglian Water 08457-145-145 Scout Leader, Gill Grainger 01449-674879 British Gas 0845-609-1122 Explorer Scouts, Adam Lee (leader) 07973 709121 or UK Power Networks 0800 31 63 105 (power cuts) Robert Long (assistant leader) 07708 460998 Refuse Collection 0845 606 6067 Wetherden FC - Jonathan Lewis (Manager) 01449- Police – Safer Neighbourhoods Team 01284-774100 or 678234 or Trudy Hooper (Secretary) 01842-754170 email [email protected] or if urgent Wetherden History Group - Pat Tuffin 01359 240396. & you need immediate assistance dial 999 Wetherden Table Tennis Club - Keith Watts 01359 Wetherden Street lighting 0800 591055 240779, Dennis Smith 01359 241166 Hall Bookings Wetherden Tennis Club - Haughley Village Hall - Lyn Allum 07837 953266 or [email protected], Tamara Hunt 07971 email [email protected] 193433 or Sonia Jewers on 07900 272877 Maxwell Charnley Community Room – 01449 676789 Wetherden Scrabble Club 2nd Tuesday of each month Ron Crascall Pavilion - Dale Sanders 07731 536773 Maypole Pub Wetherden at 12 noon. 07740 596162 email: [email protected] Whist Drive - monthly, Wetherden Village Hall, James Haughley Scout Hut - Richard Stacy 01449 673311 Rand 01359-240397 WI Haughley - 1st Wed in month, 7.30pm, in Haughley Wetherden Village Hall - Keith Watts 07528 065250 Village Hall, Mrs. Marian Adams 01449 674411 [email protected] or www.wetherdenvillagehall.com Haughley & Wetherden Parish News Haughley Football Club - Ian Wilkinson 01449 773399 Advertising & Editorial – Marike Hart 01449-613680 or Lee Forsdyke 01449 615579 or email [email protected] Cover Design – David Ribbans Printing - Stowmarket Copy Centre Adverts must be received no later than one Please send copy for the next issue to calendar month before publication. The Editor, 3 Millfields, Haughley, or (preferably) by email as above, by 5 pm Wednesday 22nd February 2017 Due to the nature of the Parish News we are unable to publish ‘letters to the Editor’ and whilst we take every care in ensuring that all the information supplied by the deadline is included, we take no responsibility for the content of articles and adverts supplied. 3 Your Curate writes “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” says the Chinese proverb. Although there is much truth behind what is said, in my house long journeys often begin with a check to see if I’ve picked up my keys and wallet, or if we have the remembered the postcode of our destination, or, perhaps most importantly, whether we have all visited the toilet. I wonder how you feel about departing on a long journey. I guess it depends on the reason you are travelling. A journey to see friends and relatives is often filled with joy at catching up and seeing loved ones. A journey to a holiday destination is filled with anticipation – what will you see, what will your accommodation be like and will the weather be good. A journey to drop a child at university may be filled with excitement mixed with a tinge of sadness. Yet all journeys begin in the same way. Over the Christmas season I have been wondering about the journeys made in the story. The journey Joseph and a heavily pregnant Mary took to Bethlehem, when it is safe to assume they didn’t sing “Little Donkey.” The shorter journey the shepherds made from their hills to visit the Christ child. The longer journey undertaken by the Magi, led by their study of the stars and journeying to an unknown destination. Then there is the second journey Mary and Joseph and the young Jesus took to Egypt to flee the wrath of Herod. Each journey required the travellers to take a step, to go somewhere where they may not have chosen to go. I assume if you had asked each traveller to predict the journeys they would make a year before none of them would have predicted the ones they made – yet these journeys were so important. A journey is often used as an image to describe what happens in our life. Shows such as X Factor are keen to tell us the journey the participants have been on. They tell of the high and lows of each singer until this point. I wonder what your journey has been like in the last year, and where the journey of the next year ahead will take you. It has been a privilege to share some of your journeys and I look forward to journeying with some of you in the next few months. Going back to the Christmas story I realise that I have missed the most important journey of all. It is the journey that Jesus makes to live in our midst, reveal His love and to enable us to have a right relationship with Him. All the other journeys in the wonderful events of Christmas are defined by that amazing journey – of God coming to be amongst us. If you would like to explore more about Christ’s journey at Christmas that changed history and discover his desire to journey with you this coming year, please get in touch. I pray that each of us may know His presence and peace on our journey. Your Curate Chris Your Vicar Writes Dear Friends, In a few months’ time I will find myself sadly writing a farewell message for these pages, as I move on to pastures new in May*. And I know I will want to express huge appreciation of the people of this wonderful corner of Suffolk. But, for now, what better time than January to reflect upon a ‘New Start’? New Starts are never easy; there’s something in us all which prefers to stick with the familiar, the safe, the known. What’s wrong with things as they are? Why not leave well alone? That’s a question Kim and I have asked ourselves recently! Here we are, in a part of the country in which we have made friends, in churches and parishes in which we are established and ‘know the ropes’, in a house which we’ve got more or less as we like it, in an area where two of our three children have now established themselves, and surrounded by countryside which we have come to love. Yet, despite all this, it seems to us that our new start is right: it is what God has in mind. Quite why, and for what purpose He is leading us up to Cheshire, remains to be seen: but we should not be surprised that He is challenging us to ‘move on’ – it’s what God does. But in the face of that unsettling truth, I have great hope. Because ours is a God of New Starts. Forget January 1st, or even our forthcoming departure. Just open the Bible at almost any page. God is always calling people onwards to new things: Abraham, the Israelites in the desert, the Disciples, the Early Church. And when they get there, they always find that He has got there before them. New Starts. It’s what God does! Your Vicar (for now) and friend (always), David * I am going to be Priest-in-Charge of Pott Shrigley, a village in Cheshire.