Our Clergy letter this month is from Rev. Jennifer Totney

The first time I went on a silent retreat, I wasn’t too worried about being quiet during the day- I am used to quiet walks for reflection, but I did wonder how the mealtimes would be. It was strange of course, especially as I had gone with a group from my church. We did manage to have much hilarity- it is amazing how funny burnt toast can be when you are not allowed to talk to each other! But the thing I noticed the most, was that it made me much more aware of other people. When you can talk to each other it is easy to say ‘please pass the salt’ or to get someone’s attention by saying their name. But because we couldn’t use verbal cues, we had to pay attention to each other much more. It was a strange combination of feeling removed from each other and yet brought closer in a new way.

I have noticed a very similar sensation over the last few months as we have all adjusted to ‘social distancing’ and wearing masks. We are removed from each other in ways that are unfamiliar- not being able to shake hands or hug, not seeing someone smile or frown. And yet because of this we have to pay more attention and be more aware of each other. Instead of just brushing past people on the street or footpath, we are thinking about which direction we are going. Instead of just smiling at people we pass, we have to say hello or nod to show our engagement. We are getting adept at reading expressions from our eyes rather than our whole faces.

Perhaps like my silent retreat, we can use this opportunity to pay careful and loving attention to one another, making special effort to connect despite the distance between us. This is the way God looks at each one of us, knowing ‘when we sit down and when we stand up’ as well as our deepest thoughts as Psalm 139 has it. We will find that although much of life feels at one remove at the moment, being aware of each other will bring us closer together. And finding things like the burnt toast to laugh about together doesn’t do any harm either!

FROM THE REGISTERS Funerals: May they rest in Peace.

Pam Bracher Funeral on 24th September at St Mary’s, Upavon

Carolyn White Funeral on 14th September at St Mary’s Alton Barnes

V ALE OF TEAM MINISTRY Rev Canon Deborah Larkey, Team Rector, The Vicarage, Woodborough, Pewsey, SN9 5PH (01672) 851746 [email protected] Rev Jennifer Totney, The Rectory, Church Street, Pewsey, SN9 5DL (01672) 562886 [email protected] Rev Mark Windsor, The Vicarage, , Pewsey SN9 5NS (01672) 564265 [email protected] Rev Canon Gerald Osborne, Associate Priest and Rural Dean, Lower Farm House, Milton Lilbourne (01672) 563459 [email protected] Rev. Colin Heber-Percy, Curate, 01264 731386 email: [email protected]

PEWSEY METHODIST CHURCH, NORTH STREET, PEWSEY Minister: Rev Stephen Skinner, Marlborough (01672) 512457 [email protected]

ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH OF THE HOLY FAMILY, BROADFIELDS, PEWSEY Parish Priest: Father John Blacker, Marlborough (01672) 513267 [email protected] marlboroughandpewseycatholics.org.uk

Team Office, Bouverie Hall, Pewsey SN9 5QE 01672 562221 [email protected] Church Services in the for October Date 4th October 11th October 18th October 25th October Trinity 17 Trinity 18 Trinity 19 Bible Sunday Readings Exodus 20.1-4,7-9,12- Exodus 32.1-14 Exodus 33.12-23 Nehemiah 8.1-4a[5-6] 8 20 Philippians 4.1-9 1 Thessalonians 1.1-10 -12 Philippians 3.4b-14 Matthew 22.1-14 Matthew 22.15-22 Colossians 3.12-17 Matthew 21.33-46 Matthew 24.30-35 St John the Baptist 9.30am 11am 11am 11am Pewsey *# Wonderzone Celebration Parish Communion Morning Worship Parish Communion

St Mary, Alton Barnes 9.30 am 9.30 am Parish Communion Parish Communion

St Stephen 11.00 Beechingstoke Harvest Festival

All Saints *# 11am Harvest Stanton St Bernard

St James * 11am 11am * Café Church Harvest Festival North Newnton

St Peter 9.30 9.30 Bruce Harvest Festival Holy Communion St Mary Magdalene # 11am Woodborough Parish Communion St Nicholas 8am Huish Holy Communion

11am Holy Trinity Parish Communion Oare

Holy Cross 11.00am 6pm Wilcot Parish Communion Evensong

St Peter *# 6.00pm 9.30 am 11.00 am Milton Lilbourne Harvest Festival Holy Communion Morning Worship

Holy Trinity 11.00 am 11.00 am Easton Royal Morning Worship Parish Communion

St Andrew 9.30am 9.30 pm Wootton Rivers Holy Communion Morning Prayer

St Peter 6pm 6.00pm Parish Communion Evening Worship Charon St Peter

St Matthew 2.30 for 3,00pm 11.00am 11.00am Rushall Creationtide Walk Holy Communion Matins

St Mary # 8.00 am 11.00am Upavon Holy Communion Morning Worship

Our pattern of services are slightly different currently due to the Corona Virus pandemic. Please check before travelling

* Access for Wheelchairs # Loop system for the hard of hearing BCP Book of Common Prayer All other services Common Worship WEEKDAY SERVICES: Holy Communion on Wednesdays at 10.00 am at St John the Baptist, Pewsey Morning Prayer Monday: St Peter, Charon St Peter 8.45am Tuesday: St Mary, Upavon 9.30 Wednesday: St Matthew, Rushall at 8.30am Page: 5 Ride and Stride This year there were 7 riders: Gerald and Emma Osborne, Katie Kornicka, Anna Wilson, Simon Vandeleur, Rose and Orme de St Hilaire, and 4 travelling supporters: Anita Vandeleur, Rory, Polly and Evie Kornicki.

Mark and Anna Wilkinson set them off from St Peter's (with thanks to Mark for the photography at St Peter's) and the 35.9 miles to Salisbury Cathedral Close were completed in glorious sunshine. According to the Fitbits and apps on phones, each cyclist used around 1,300 calories. The highest point was Upavon Airfield before a beautiful run west across the Plain to Netheravon, and then south following the River Avon down the Woodford Valley into Salisbury Cathedral Close where a picnic was enjoyed against the backdrop of the Spirit & Endeavour Exhibition of sculptures by Henry Moore, Antony Gormley, Elizabeth Frick and others, celebrating 800 years since the laying of the first foundation stone of Salisbury Cathedral, and then a tour for some of the Cathedral.

Twenty nine generous donors kindly donated online via Justgiving.com or with a cheque or cash. The two Justgiving sites, set up in the names of Katherine Kornicka and Simon Vandeleur (www.justgiving.com/David-Vandeleur) are still open for those who may wish to make a donation. Half of the money comes back from Historic Churches Trust to St Peter’s. WHCT keeps the other half, plus the Gift Aid, to help repair/restore Wiltshire's historic churches, including St Peter's.

The Grand total raised so far for WHCT and St Peter’s Church is £1,345, plus Gift Aid. This is a brilliant amount at a time when churches are missing out on money from collections during services while the costs of maintaining these ancient and historic buildings do not go away.

With grateful thanks to all those who took part and/or donated to a very worthy cause. Photographs of the Start and the Finish are attached!

5 It continues to be a very interesting and challenging time for all of us, and with the changing of the seasons and a definite change in the weather, there have been a few other changes to note too:

Councillor Terry Eyles has recently stood down from the council after many years of sterling service. We were pleased to be able to provide a tribute to him which was published in the local press, but for those who did not see it, I’ve included it here:

“After nearly 30 years of outstanding service for Pewsey Parish Council Terry Eyles has had to stand down for health reasons.

Terry`s first Full Council Meeting was May 1991 and before long he was deeply involved, especially with environment issues, taking over as Chairman of the Environment Committee in 2005, a post he held until this week.

In addition to the Parish Council, Terry also served on various Social Housing Committees, in particular Aster Housing, speaking on behalf of local tenants. He also helped run a Youth Club in Pewsey for many years.

Terry remains a trustee of the “Pewsey Relief In Need “ Charity.

We will all miss Terry and sincerely hope that he returns to better health in the not too distant future so that he is able to get back to enjoying some of his other interests including Fishing, Speedway, Rugby, Football and Cricket.”

The Parish Council would also like to pay tribute to the PCCA volunteers for all their hard work on behalf of our Community. Whilst few of the councillors were able to assist in a practical, hands-on way (due to shielding and self-isolating requirements) the Parish Council provided help from the very earliest stage through grants, banking services and financial management support. For example, until recently we administered PCCA finances on their behalf through the auspices of our Parish Bank Account. We believe this partnership working to have been an important factor in the undoubted effectiveness of the PCCA response to date. PCCA are now in the process of morphing into a charity, with their own bank account and administration and also a new name, “Pewsey Creative Community Alliance.” Given the latest government predictions that current restrictions will remain in place for the next 6 months, we will continue to offer support to the PCCA to help maintain some of their valuable services.

Congratulations to our Firemen who set off on the night of Friday 18th September to walk to Christchurch, following the route taken many years by a group of Pewsey men who rowed their boats along the Avon River. Despite having to end their trip three miles from the finish, they managed to raise over £1500 for Carnival Funds (including a donation of £500 from the Parish Council) and are to be congratulated on their tremendous effort.

As mentioned in previous updates, the Parish Council has taken on responsibility for a number of services previously provided from and our Environment Committee management of these services continues to evolve. New schedules are in place for such things as the emptying of litter bins, grass cutting, hedge trimming etc and we are beginning to see visible improvements. We will be monitoring our arrangements on an ongoing basis, but also welcome comments on Facebook or direct to our office. Another aspect of our environmental responsibilities is the taking on of extra play areas previously managed by Wiltshire Council, and very shortly we hope you will see improvements to the grass area/trees alongside Silver Road play area, and extensive maintenance/overhaul of the equipment in Cossors play area. Finally, we recently received the news that our GP surgery will not be providing flu vaccinations locally in Pewsey; these will take place at Marlborough College. We are given to understand that everyone eligible for a Flu vaccination this year will receive a letter to explain the changes. Whilst basing the service centrally for all patients in the Kennet and Avon Partnership (which covers a very wide area) might have made sense from a logistical point of view, your Parish Council are extremely disappointed that they were not approached for assistance/suggestions in this matter.

Curly Haskell, Chairman Pewsey Parish Council. The Parish Office is open on Tuesday only to parishioners between 9.30am and 11.30am. Please contact the Parish Clerk by phone or email for urgent matters or an appointment.

We would like to remind you that you can report any Highways, street scene, or rights of way issues on the MyWiltshireApp. http.//www.wiltshire.gov.uk/mywiltshire­ online­reporting

All enquiries to the Parish Clerk, Parish Office, Bouverie Hall, Goddard Road, Pewsey. SN9 5EQ.

Tel: 01672 562014. Email: [email protected]. Follow us on our Facebook page, or go to our website www.pewsey-pc.gov.uk

FLU VACCINATIONS 2020

The Covid 19 pandemic has dramatically changed how all our health services are delivered. The need for social distancing, the need to ensure fresh air and ventilation, and the need to avoid crowding waiting rooms - as well as the expected higher uptake - mean that designing a mass flu vaccination clinic this year has needed a BIG change to how we do things. The absolute priority must be safety for both patients and staff, but we also need to make it as efficient as possible so that we can get as many people protected from flu as quickly as we can. We have therefore planned for two full days of flu vaccination, on Saturday 17th and Saturday 24th of October, on Marlborough College's Parade Ground and Water Meadows . We will be using a marquee which can be opened to the elements (as much as the weather allows!) and which will allow socially distanced queues too. We are very grateful for the support of Marlborough College in this - the site they have generously let us use will allow large numbers to be vaccinated whilst queuing safely and will allow parking without huge traffic issues. We could find nowhere else that offered this while also allowing large numbers of our registered patients to walk to the site.

Please DO NOT come to either day unless you have received an invitation, and note that to ensure that we do not run out of stock we will not be offering flu jabs in the surgery in advance of the clinic dates.

More information will be issued shortly on our website and Facebook page - and invitations to eligible patients will soon be sent out soon. Pewsey Community Land Trust (PCLT) Pewsey Community Land Trust issued a “Call for Sites” at the AGM and this is an ongoing request. We are looking for sites that would be marginal under normal circumstances on which to develop housing and we are now following up some early leads, but more sites are needed. We also welcome the statement in the White Paper “Planning for the Future” that the Government is seeking ways to help CLTs and will take this opportunity to jog the memories that continued funding is essential for the long-term sustainability of low cost housing provision. At the same time, local interest is being shown in the Rural Community Energy Fund (RCEF) project and we would like to thank Jane Brown who has kindly given much help. The RCEF provides for a Government grant for a feasibility study and an application is in progress for this grant. The project aim is to establish a network of locations of solar panels on large roofs in Pewsey to provide a dedicated network for Electric Vehicle (EV) charging points in the car parks, with the rest of the energy being used within the immediate buildings. This has ticked many boxes for economic sustainability and has been welcomed by the new officer for South West Energy, Cathy Hough. Greater provision of EV charging points will encourage the uptake of fully electric vehicles, for those residents and workers parking for long periods in the village. Continued… Much work is now needed to prepare the tenders for the feasibility study by the end of November. Agreements in principle are needed from the Bouverie Hall, St John’s Church and the Primary School. It is hoped that the Co-op, Roman Catholic and Methodists Churches and the Salisbury Road and Fordbrook business sites will be invited to join in as well. Meanwhile if you wish to make contact or obtain further information please email [email protected] or search for the group on Facebook.

Noah and the Ark – 2020 version In the year 2020, Noah was living in when the Lord came unto him and said, “Once again, the earth has become too wicked to continue. Build another Ark and save two of every living creature. You have six months before I start the unending rain for 40 days and 40 nights.” Five months later, the Lord looked down and saw Noah weeping in his garden, but no Ark. “Noah”, He roared, “I’m about to start the rain! Where is the Ark?” “Forgive me Lord”, begged Noah “but things have been difficult. I needed Building Regulations approval because the Ark was over 30 square metres. I’ve been arguing with the Fire Brigade about the need for a sprinkler system. My neighbours claim that I need to obtain planning permission for building an Ark in my garden because it is a development of the site (even though in my opinion it is a temporary structure) and they claim the roof will be too high.” “The Local Area Access Group complained that my ramp was going to be too steep and the inside of the Ark wasn’t fully accessible. Getting the wood has been another problem. All the decent trees have ‘Tree Preservation Orders’ on them and we live in a ‘Site of Special Scientific Interest’ set up in order to preserve the Spotted Owl. I tried to convince them that I needed the wood to save the owls – but no go! “When I started gathering some animals the RSPCA threatened to sue me for intending to confine wild animals without the proper paperwork for each individual, The County Council, the Environment Agency and the Rivers Authority have ruled that I can’t build the Ark until they’ve conducted an Environmental Impact Study on your proposed flood and the need for an Ark. The Trade Unions insist that I can’t use my sons to build the Ark; I can only employ members of the Shipbuilding and Allied Trades Union. Finally, Customs and Excise have seized all my assets, claiming I am going to attempt to leave the country illegally with endangered species. “So, forgive me Lord, but it will take me at least another ten years to finish this Ark.” Suddenly the skies cleared, the sun began to shine and a rainbow stretched across the sky. “No need for me to destroy the world after all,” observed God. “The government has the matter already in hand.”

The Arts Society, Pewsey Vale's monthly lectures are continuing online. The next lecture, lasting approximately one hour, will be as follows: Tuesday 8th October 2020 at 7pm They Make No Noise - What do Conductors do? - a ta lk by Nigel Bates For further details on the lecture go to Lectures at www.theartssociety- pewseyvale.com. New members are most welcome. For membership and for information on how to join the lecture please contact - [email protected] .

There will be further online lectures on 10th November 2020 - John Singer Sargent: The Power of the Portrait a talk by Alexandra Epps and on 8th December 2020 - The Ox and Ass - Silent Watchers at the Crib by Hilary Guise. HUISH WITH OARE

St Nicholas Church, Huish

With two communion services at Huish since lockdown we have seen a consistent number in the congregation so far. It really is good to be able to worship together again, albeit distanced and masked! At the end of August there was also a small wedding and we wish the happy couple every happiness. Hopefully they will be able to have a larger celebration next year or at least when the present pandemic subsides. It was nice to see the scaffolding removed at last enabling the whole churchyard to be cut once again.

Holy Trinity Church, Oare

Our first Sunday Service since lockdown was very special as we welcomed back our congregation. It was lovely to be worshipping altogether again and the service was very uplifting. Although we could not sing hymns under the present Covid-19 restrictions, our organist was at least able to play some voluntaries at the beginning, during and at the end of the service just to provide some normal ambience.

For operational reasons, it is proposed to move the 11am Holy Communion Service at Oare from the 1st Sunday to the 3rd Sunday of the month, as from October 18th. We hope to welcome you all back on that day.

In the November Messenger, there will be more information as to where and when the Remembrance Service will be held. NORTH NEWNTON, HILCOTT &

St James' 'friends' on one of the wonderful sun filled days we've been blessed with this summer.

Services have resumed twice a month as indicated on the sign. Without the Messenger to consult it can be confusing to know 'when' and 'what time'...now it's clear!

***. HARVEST THANKSGIVING. Sunday 11th October at 11am.***

VOLUNTEERS will be out with bin bags, gloves, high vis jackets and litter pickers on October 3rd to clear verges etc of debris that's accumulated over 18 months since the last litter pick. Please express your appreciation if you see them!

FRIENDS & NEIGHBOURS gathered on The Green to wish Gordon (Phillimore) well on his move into . We will all greatly miss his cheerful presence in Bottlesford.

The PARISH COUNCIL continue to meet online. Details of meetings, agenda and minutes can be found on the four notice boards. Should you need to contact the council Please use the contact box on the parish website www.nnpc.org.uk

If you'd like to add a piece of local interest/photo to this column please contact me: Jennifer Brisker 01672 851925. [email protected] Woodborough Church and Parish Rooms News October 2020

Sadly, Leslie Bond died in August and in November there will be a proper tribute to his life especially here in Woodborough. He is greatly missed for his amazing knowledge of birds and butterflies, with a regular article, “News from the Plain.” Through his long service as Churchwarden at St Mary Magdalene he knew the answers to many questions of administration and the "how do we do this?" puzzles that cropped up. He was a man of faith and kindness.

Hope If you only carry one thing throughout your entire life, let it be hope. Let it be hope that better things are always ahead. Let it be hope that you can get through even the toughest times. Let it be hope that you are stronger than any challenge that comes your way. Let it be hope that you are exactly where you are meant to be right now, and that you are on the path to be where you are meant to be… Because during these times, hope will be the very thing that carries you through. Nikki Banas