Knowing and worshipping God and sharing His love St Nick’s, & St Paul’s, November 2020 From “the Curate’s” kitchen November seems to be a “remembering month” with All Saints, All Souls’ and the Acts of Remembrance around Armistice Day. As I write I’ve just had a week off. Origi- nally we were supposed to be on our first ever cruise in sunnier climes, and this time last year we were in the throws of booking it. So I’ve made my Christmas cake in- stead! As I’ve mixed ingredients memories have been stirred of Christmas’ past and wondering what this year will bring. It was going to be a big Christmas with four gen- erations present for the first time… but now it could just be my husband and I.

Remembering is such a bittersweet thing, isn’t it? When we remember, it is often with the joy of a cherished time being brought back to our minds, but with the sad- ness that that time is now past - that it can only be revisited in our memories. The memories themselves (perhaps triggered by a certain sight, smell, sound or date) bring a smile to our faces, but they often come tied up with a ribbon of grief because some of the people at the heart of that memory have died. It is not always easy to do so, but it is important that we know it’s ok to hold that joy and pain together – to find moments of light and laughter in the darkness - because both the joy and the pain come from the same source: love. If we didn’t love, we wouldn’t grieve.

Whilst there is nothing as painful as the death of someone we love, we may find our- selves grieving other things too. We might be struggling with all sorts of losses at the moment; of a relationship perhaps, our working life, or for many of our younger people at the moment, the loss of both our present and imagined future. It might be the loss of who we ‘used to be’ before age, injury or chronic illness changed things.

Vicar: Rev Becky Mathew Email: [email protected] Tel: 01332 550224 Rest Day: Friday Curate: Rev. Dawn Knight Email: [email protected] Contact Tel: 01332 519552 Rest Day: Friday Children’s, Youth & Families Worker: Anna Oldknow Tel: 07508988722 Email: [email protected] Administrator: Gael Browne Church Office Tel: 01332 550431 Email: [email protected] / [email protected] Website: www.stnicksallestree.uk / www.stpaulsquarndon.org.uk Temporary Office Hours: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 9am –12pm 1

Maybe loss of the family we were unable to have, the children never born.

There are other things too; it might be that we feel guilty for grieving these things because they don’t seem as serious, but they still have an impact on us. It might be the loss of our own childhood; that more carefree life before work, bills, and re- sponsibility. It might be loss of a place; a beloved location that has changed out of all recognition because of environmental degradation, a new housing development, or simply because the people who were important in that place aren’t there any- more. Maybe we have had to leave a home, garden or friends behind as our circum- stances change, and their loss hits us more than we had imagined. And of course, at the moment, many of us are mourning our pre-Covid world. We don’t want a ‘new normal’, we want our old normal back (however much we complained about it!).

And it strikes me that that is at the heart of any grief, isn’t it? Not just the person or thing we have lost and the almost physical hole that leaves in us, but the loss of our ‘normal’ life and coming to terms with a new way of being – a way we didn’t plan for and don’t really want. And yet we must do that, mustn’t we – however slowly we do it, however long it takes, because life can’t stay the same. And so when we remember, we must be careful not to get stuck in our longing for the past. Our re- membering must be part of our re-forming, our re-grouping, our re-emerging.

It would be very easy here for me to simply acknowledge the importance of faith in this; to remind you that God is with us in all of it. Yet I know that our faith can be really knocked when we experience such loss, and so don’t do so lightly. But, for me, whilst I might shout at God; whilst I might demand he acts NOW to heal the world; whilst I might question why, I am in no doubt that I will find him there with me, holding me. He is there when it feels darkest and, because he is there, there is light. Maybe just a flicker at first. But even a flicker of light makes a huge difference to our darkest time. And the light grows, and it beckons us forward. The light doesn’t deny our grief, rather it illuminates it and helps us to find new ways to be, new ways to live with and despite our loss, new ways to find the balance between joy and pain.

It is no accident I think, that our season of remembering moves into our Advent sea- son of waiting for the light, and ultimately the explosion of the light into the world at Christmas; Jesus. My prayer is that you will trust His light is there for you, always.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. (John 1:5)

Revd. Dawn (Asst. Curate St Nicholas’, Allestree, and St Paul’s, Quarndon): 01332 550224

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Congratulations to Hannah & Andy whose wedding took place at St Paul’s on Sunday 27th Sep- tember. With just 5 days to plan, having being postponed from April, so many helped this very special couple to have a wonderful day! We continue to keep them in our prayers as Hannah continues her medical training and for Andy as he teaches local secondary school pupils.

Wednesdays, 7:30-8:30pm in the Chapel, St Nick’s

January 15th February 12th March 11th April 22nd May 20th Perhaps you love of reading and have enjoyed using some of this lockdown rediscoveringJune 17th the joy of books? July 15th Please do get in touch with any book reviews and recommendationsSeptember to 16th share! October 14th We love to hear what you’ve been reading and how it hasNovember affected you. 11th

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St Nick’s Sound System Appeal A HUGE thank you to all who have generously donated to the Sound System Appeal so far! We have already received £975 in donations, which is well over half way. If you would still like to donate, please speak to Clive, send a bank transfer clearly marked for the appeal, or post an enve- lope clearly marked with through the office door.

QR Codes for NHS Covid App Both St Nick’s and St Paul’s now have QR codes up in various points around the buildings. A QR code is a funny looking little square, similar to the one on the left. The NHS Covid App, available on most smart phones, has a feature called ‘Venue Check in’, as seen on the left side of the Example QR Code picture below. When you select this, it opens up a camera screen, where you can point your phone at the QR code in question and it will automatically detect which venue you are in. You will then get a message like the one of the right hand side of the image, confirming that you’ve checked in. This helps the effort to track and trace. The app also does a clever thing by constantly scanning in the background who you are close to. For example, if we were near to each other and both had the app on our phones, the app would know that we had been close to each other; both how close, and for how long. It uses all of this data to try and help stop the spread of Coronavirus. If you may have been exposed to someone who then tests positive for Coronavirus or who shows symptoms and reports them in the app, then you will get a warning message ask- ing you to self isolate, or to take ex- tra care. Please try and use the app where possible in the buildings. Otherwise, continue to use the paper track and trace sheets available.

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Farewell from Mary and David Connell It is over 34 years since we moved to from Leeds with our three sons. Alex, the oldest, joined the cubs in Quarndon and was asked to attend the Harvest church parade in St Paul’s. So we went to the service as a family and the rest, as they say, is history. The welcome we received at that service is still very much a part of life at St Paul’s, even with the current restrictions, and is something we hope will always feature there. Over those years we have made many friends in both St Paul’s and St Nick’s and the decision to leave has not been easy, but we are looking forward to living in a more suitable house (far too many steps here!) and close to family. So we are moving to Gloucestershire, near our middle son and his family. Looking back over our time at St Paul’s, we are very grateful for the spiritual leader- ship and encouragement we have found and for the opportunities we were given to serve. It has been especially encouraging to see young people we got to know when we were CYFA leaders return to the church for special occasions. Many children in the Curzon School were previously members of Edward Bear and we have enjoyed maintaining our link with them and with the school through Open the Book and our puppet assemblies. The puppets have been a major part of our lives for the last 14 years. Little did we know when we offered to attend a training day to ‘find out a bit more about it’ that they would take over our lives! We formed a team called HOW (Handful Of Worship) and started by performing puppet sketches and songs in all age services at both churches and then pro- gressed to taking assemblies in various schools throughout Derbyshire and The highlight of our puppeting career! Staffordshire. We have to give our thanks to Tony Glover who accompanied us to most of these (and also helped with Open the Book), though we never managed to persuade him to try puppeting! Various members of the HOW team have come and gone over the years and, sadly, there will not be a team in Quarndon now. Our hope is that someone will come along to ‘find out about it’ and will start up a new team at St Paul’s or St Nick’s. So we are leaving several puppets and a stage in a store room at St Nick’s. We do hope

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they will be used! The rest of the puppets will travel with us to Gloucestershire to be used wherever and however the Lord leads us. St Paul’s and St Nick’s are both special places with special people and our prayer for both churches is that you will continue to shine the light of Jesus in Quarndon and Allestree, no matter what restrictions are placed on the buildings. We shall miss you all but will continue to pray for you, as we hope you will for us. And we’ll be only an email or a letter away……

Love from Mary & David

Dawn’s Ordination

Thank you to everyone who was praying during Dawn’s Ordination in September.

Speaking to the new priests and deacons at the start of the service, Bishop Libby said: "This may not be the service you envisaged when you first considered ordination, but this is how God has called you in this time."

Please continue to pray for and en- courage Dawn on this journey. It is a joy to share this season with her.

"Thank you all very much for my ordination gifts. I absolutely love books and having just bought yet another bookcase, I am looking forward to spend- ing my book monies. The Trinity painting was also great- I love to use pictures and icons to aid my own prayers and spirituality. The flowers are also going strong in the two vases! Thank you all for your prayers and support. It is a privilege to journey alongside you" - Dawn

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“ Love in a Box” - Christmas Shoebox Appeal Reminder The shoeboxes for this appeal need to be returned to St Nick’s Church by Sunday 8th November please. Thank you,

Livestreaming Services We are struggling a bit with technology, so at the moment we’re trying to keep it simple by live-streaming through Face- book live. You don’t need to have a Facebook account to watch the live-stream, just search for St Nick’s Allestree Facebook or St Paul’s Quarndon Facebook via Google on a Sunday morning, and hopefully you’ll find the live-stream as it happens! We’re currently live-streaming Morning Prayer from St Nick’s on a Tuesday and Thursday morning at around 9am – please join us virtually.

Congratulations to baby Eve, as she was christened on Sunday 11th October at St Nick’s church, and also to god-parent Martin; also baptised earlier on the same day. We thank God for the gift of Eve, her big brother, Bernard, and her parents, Rachel & Steve.

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St Paul's Building Work Update

I’m sure that no one walking past St Paul’s over the last few months could have failed to notice the scaffolding and tin cladding around the building. This was to allow the crucial gutter- ing work to take place to prevent further water ingress and damage. Thanks to generous do- nations and fundraising, and despite being de- layed by lockdown, this work was able to take place before another winter and the subsequent destruction that could cause. We have though almost exhausted funds so need to continue our efforts so we can redecorate the interior to cover over the patches of new plaster and to freshen up the paintwork for the first time in over 40 years. Unfortunately we have had to can- cel our fund raising events like concerts, fairs and the Christmas Tree Festival but if you would like to donate then please see the our website for details.

Children's Society

Thank you to all who have placed an order for Christmas cards. If anyone else would like some please contact me before Mon Nov 2nd (I will be ordering a few extra packs in case someone needs more.) Hope those who bought marmalade are enjoying it. It's still on sale. Box holders The Children’s Society have decided that, after all, boxes will be emptied. My box emptying time is January, so I will contact you in the New Year to arrange how I can do this depending on the Covid situation. Please could you let me have your email address if you think I do not have it. It would make it easier for me to communicate with you. I will not send the address to the Children's Society. Helen Illingworth (559237 or 07944178799)

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Allestree Churches Advent Calendar Would you be prepared to decorate a window of your house for a very special Advent calendar? I’m looking for 6 people based in the Allestree area who would be willing to transform a win- dow of their home into a Christmas card de- picting a well known Christmas Carol or popular Christmas song....One window display will be ‘opened’ every day, and will need to stay in place until December 30th. Your display will need to be visible from the road, as we’d like people going past to notice– you might like to stick up a collage, knitted fig- ures, lights, tinsel. Remember we’re thinking Christmas carols - what might make people smile as they go past? We three Kings...Silent Night...Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer...I saw Three Ships...Mistletoe & Wine....Joy to the World...The Little Drummer Boy...Jingle Bells... We’d like to mark your home (no personal details) onto a map of the area, so we can encourage dog-walkers, families and those that are on their post-Christmas ex- ercise to walk around looking for the windows. You may like to display your local churches contact information or a seasonal mes- sage! This is a Churches Together joint event to spread some #ComfortandJoy across the local area. We are hoping to identify 24 folks from across our Churches Together to take part. The countdown will begin on December 1st... Please get in touch with Becky on phone: 01332 550224 email: [email protected] if you’d like to take part, days will be allocated randomly!

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APCM Thank Yous! Thank you to all who attended the APCMs at both churches. It was good to meet together to reflect on the reports of the past year, however strange the times have been, and to elect and re-elect members to the PCCs and Deanery Synod. Thank you to all who are involved in our PCCs and representation to the Deanery— we’re so grateful for all the of the work you do to keep the churches running.

Christingle At Home – Sunday 29th November 2020 Due to the current pandemic we’ll be doing Christingle at Home this year! Following the resources from The Children’s Society, we’ll be participating in online worship via Zoom, and you can have all the equipment needed to build your very own Christingle and take part in the service delivered to your door! Please let us know via Anna Oldknow, email: [email protected], or the church office 01332 550431, if you’d like a Christingle kit delivering to your house along with worship resources and prayers for the Children’s Society. Dona- tions for the Children’s Society can be made via the church office (St Nick’s Church, 2 Lawn Avenue, Allestree, , DE22 2PE) - please mark your envelope ‘The Chil- dren’s Society’ or make the transfer online directly to the Children’s Society. There will also be a Zoom link for online worship that morning, which we’ll email out; if you’ve not been receiving the weekly emails during lockdown please get in touch, so we can add you to the contact list. If anyone is free to help deliver kits - again please get in touch with Anna! Thank you, and happy Christingle-ing!

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Harvest Appeals St Nick’s & St Paul’s A huge thank you to all those who donated to the Harvest Festival this weekend! It was lovely to see how pleasantly surprised the workers from the Padley Centre were about how much had been given! Donations were also distributed to The Hope Cen- tre and Derby City Mission.

So far £3445 has been raised for Derbyshire Mind with the Bishop’s appeal!

Newsletter Information - Birthdays

Deadline!

Please be aware that the deadline for If you’ve got a big birthday coming up, any news you’d like to be included in maybe 80, 90…… 100?! We’d love to the next Newsletter is always the know so that we can celebrate with you! 16th of the month before. Speak to Christine Cleminson, as she

Any info should be sent to the church keeps our birthday records up to date. office [email protected]

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St Paul’s All Age—Anna Oldknow Our first All Age under convid guidelines was an ex- citing experiment, not sure how it would turn out! As a congregation we journeyed together through Phi- lippians 4: 4-9 an amazing reading about rejoicing, praising and peace in all circumstances. Each bubble had a "Church in a bag" bag with different activities including the poem Disderata by Max Ehrmann. In our bubbles we talked about what gives us peace and how to receive God's peace more - powerful stuff in our current pandemic climate! We ended by sharing words of wisdom with each other. Some bags even went to families who couldn't make it to church to do at home. As we can't sing at the moment I recorded Sarah Tuplin signing to a couple of songs for the congregation to watch and join in with the BSL, one song is a particular favourite of mine at the moment called Know by Jeremy Riddle. As someone who connects to God strongly through sung worship and now not being able to, I was strongly moved to be able to possess the words by signing them. If you havent seen the video it is on the FB pages for St. Paul's and St. Nick's and will hope- fully soon be on YouTube. All in all it was a lovely service despite the restrictions, with positive feedback, we will definitely be seeing Church in a bag again!

Food4Thought Alliance

Food 4 Thought, along with faith groups, and other local busi- nesses, have pulled out all the stops to co-ordinate food parcels and offers of meals from local businesses, in just a few days and will be working hard over the coming days to help any individual or family in need who is referred or makes contact.

If you are in need as an individual or a family with children please contact The Community Hub on 01332 640000 and press option 5.

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We Will Remember Him Some of you may have noticed the new Commonwealth Grave sign on the gates outside St Paul’s Church. We only have the one Commonwealth grave and belongs to Private W.E. Stone. Walter Edward Stone, in reality is a name which means nothing to most people. Walter is like many just one of the thousands who are blindly remembered and ref- erenced to when we talk about the war dead. Yet Private W.E. Stone, service num- ber 6020262, was once more than a name and a statistic; and it is because of this firm belief that it has become time for us to put some information on the name, 80 years since his death. At the outbreak of war, in 1939, he is recorded as living at 113 Church Road, Quarndon where he is working as a gardener and chauffeur. Walter signed up to the war effort quickly; and was recruited to the 4th Battalion Berkshire Regiment (Princess Charlotte of Wales). January 1940, saw Walter fight in France and Belgium where official reports describe the battalion of being out matched. Moving back across France in May 1940, Walter is one of the millions who escaped the beaches at LaPanne, during the infamous Dunkirk evacuation. Upon arriving back to from June 1940 Walter’s regiment is stationed at the defence on Avonmouth Docks and Filton Aerodrome, in Bristol- as Walter returned to the city of his birth. It is whilst on duty here that Walter would have been killed, and it is because of his death in active service which sees St Paul’s hosting a com- monwealth grave. On a night of German bombing, it can be suspected that Walter would have been involved in the use of Anti-Aircraft gun or other related tasks defending his country from attack; and it was in carrying out this act of heroism this that he was killed. It is therefore these events; that see a 23 year old man lying in plot 38 at our church. However, hopefully this year at least, he is not forgot and maybe just a little less one of the many un- known.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning… we will remember him.

Andy Cooke

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My Prayer Walk— Anna Hopewell-Ryan As part of our Mission Outreach, I have a heart to pray with the Help of the Holy Spirit, for the new de- velopment of housing on the fields between Memorial Road and Askerfield Avenue. I am praying for safety for all those who are working on the building site. Patience and safety for the residents who live along that part of Road, and for those who drive along this quite dangerous stretch of road, as the lorries driving on and off the site make the road muddy. I am praying that the wildlife that lived and passed through these field will not suffer loss of habitat and will find new homes in nearby fields. I am praying that there will be no problems with the Brook that flows along the bottom of these fields, as this has been a great concern to residents down- stream of the development. I am praying that our Heavenly Father will bless each house that is built, and bless the people and children who move into them. I am praying that the Lord will bless our Church of St Nicholas as we reach out in Mission in this area. I am praying that the Lord will help us sow the seed of His Word to these newcom- ers, and that they would be open to receive the Word of the Lord their God and know their need of Him. I am praying that we at St Nicholas’ Church will see the fruit of our labour bring glory to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

St Nick’s Rotas As we’re back in the building now and running services in the church, we have a need again for some rotas to cover a few duties on Sunday mornings. These include: - Welcoming - Readers - Sound (and sometimes visuals) Gael will be contacting groups to ask whether you would like to return to the rota, so please be considering if you can help at this time.

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Autumn brings to the soul relief, as hot Summer days, slip to an end God sent the season for weary hearts to restore, repair and mend.

Unlike the Autumn trees, that shed their changing leaves God sent the season for failing hearts to adhere, embrace and cleave.

Just as with the Autumn winds, there comes a new refreshing rain God sent the season for fraying hearts to increase, grow and gain.

The Autumn sun is slow to climb, and dips much earlier into the night God sent the season for sleepy hearts to rise, shine and awake in His light.

God gave to us the Autumn season, so we could have a respite and rest for it is the season for our beset souls to see how much we are blessed!

~~~~~~~~ “Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope.”

Copyright 2012 Deborah Ann Belka

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Upcoming Services Dates/Services Leaders Readings Sunday 1st November St Nick’s: 10am Informal Worship Sarah & Anna Revelation 7:9-end St Paul’s: 10am Holy Communion Dawn Matthew 5:1-12 Sunday 8th November Becky, Phil & St Nick’s: 10am Remembrance Sarah Matthew 25:1-13 St Paul’s: 10:30am Act of Remembrance Anna & Dawn Sunday 15th November St Nick’s: 10am Informal Worship Phil 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 St Paul’s: 4pm Holy Communion Becky Matthew 25:14-30 Sunday 22nd November St Nick’s: 4pm Holy Communion Dawn Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24 St Paul’s: 10am Morning Praise Phil Matthew 25:31-end Sunday 29th November Isaiah 64:1-9 Christingle at Home (Joint) Ministry Team Mark 13:24-37 Handy Contacts for both churches:

St Nick’s

Church Warden: Paul Taylor Contact: 01332 556020 Safeguarding Lead: Miriam Chappell Contact: 01332 550782 Facebook: www.facebook.com/stnicksallestree St Paul’s Churchwarden: Mike Annable Contact: [email protected] Verger: Dawn Price Contact: 01332 556422 Safeguarding Link: Alison MacGregor Contact: 07752581043 Church Hall Bookings: Pat Glover Contact: 07780 830371 [email protected] (or see our website to book online) Facebook: www.facebook.com/stpaulsquarndon Please get in touch if you’d like to talk to us about organising a Baptism at St Nick’s or St Paul’s, or would like to get married or celebrate a special anniversary with the renewal of wedding vows. Vicar Becky is always happy to respond to enquiries.

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