Ash with Westmarsh Parish Magazine September 2018
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INSIDE: ASH WITH WESTMARSH MEET THE PARISH MAGAZINE ASH SEPTEMBER 2018 60p ‘BASHERS’! Part of the Canonry Benefice of Ash – Chillenden – Elmstone – Goodnestone Nonington – Preston – Stourmouth – Wingham Welcome to the September magazine Inside this issue Contacts Useful Contacts 4 Clergy The Parish Letter 5 Rev’d David Moulden Church Services 7 The Vicarage, Queen’s Road, Ash 01304 812296 Onlooker 10 Rev’d Nigel Hale Saturday Socials 13 01304 813161 Give Guiding a Go 14 Rev’d Chris Brewer Rare Bible Returned 17 01227 721530 Meet the Bashers 19 800 Years of God’s Acre 22 Review – Earth, Sea and Sky 25 September Festivals 26 Email copy for the next edition by Recipe for Rosehip Syrup 27 Wednesday 12 September to It’s all in a name 30 Rebecca Smith at [email protected] or Quiz Answers 31 post to Pat Coles at 116 The And much more… Street, Ash CT3 2AA. This magazine is produced by St. Nicholas Parish Church. We welcome items from individuals and Magazine Subscription village organisations. All items should come with a note of the Never miss an edition of your contributor’s name. The editor favourite parish magazine! reserves the right both to edit and To arrange to a subscription not to publish anything she receives. Items on church matters including magazine delivery to do not represent the official position your door (within the parish) of the Church of England. phone Rosemary Lines on 01304 812524. Products and services advertised have not been tested and are not Front cover illustration: endorsed by the Parish Church. Hedgerow Harvest by Pat Coles Send advertising enquiries to [email protected] 2 What’s On ASH GUIDES AND RANGERS are hosting the regular Saturday Social coffee morning at Ash Village Hall on September 2nd from 10am to noon. There will be cakes for sale, a raffle and other activities. ASH PARISH COUNCIL will meet at 7.30pm on Monday 3rd and 18th (to be confirmed) September, 7.30pm. The Library, Ash Village Hall, Queens Road, Ash. Visit www.ashpc.kentparishes.gov.uk for details. THE FRIENDS OF ST NICOLAS CHURCH AGM and talk is on Thursday 6th September at 7.30pm in the church. For more details, see article page 9. ASH GOOD COMPANIONS meet at the Village Hall on Tuesdays 4th and 18th September from 2-4pm. RIDE AND STRIDE 2018 is on Saturday 8th September raising funds for local churches and the Friends of Kent Churches. Sponsorship forms from [email protected] or 01304 814359. CHURCHYARD BASH takes place on Saturday 22nd September, starting at 9am in the parish churchyard at St Nicholas Church with a delicious lunch provided at midday. See feature, from page 19. ASH SCOUTS are holding a quiz in the village hall on 22nd September. Tables of up to 8. £10. Please bring your own food and drink. Families are welcome. 6.30 for 7pm start. Please contact 07930 846206 to book. SANDWICH ARTS WEEK from September 15th to 22nd includes the art exhibition at St Peter’s Church, a town art trail, poetry at The Kings Arms, tours of the newly refurbished Guildhall Museum to view the newly acquired Sandwich Magna Carta and other artefacts. For full listings, pick up a programme in Sandwich or go to sandwichevents.org.uk/artsweek A BEER FESTIVAL is being run by Ash Sports Pavilion Management Committee on Friday 28th, Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th September at the pavilion on the recreation ground. There will be a number of different beers, including the seasonal "green hop beer" from at least 3 East Kent breweries all at £3 a pint. Opening hours are Friday, 6pm until 10pm, Saturday, 2pm until 10pm and Sunday, 12pm until 4pm or earlier if the beer runs out. 3 Useful Contacts Service Organisation/Name Contact Emergencies Gas Emergency (24hrs) 0800 111 999 999 UK Power Networks (24hrs) 105 Water Leak Line (24hrs) 0800 820 999 Community PCSO Emma Carmichael 101 or email [email protected] Non-urgent and other enquiries 101 Community Warden Team 07811 271 299 Neighbourhood Watch Martin Porter - email [email protected] Crime Stoppers 0800 555111 Community Safety Dover 01304 872220 Consumer Direct 01845 4040506 Childline 0800 1111 Kent County Council 08458 247247 Dover District Council 01304 821199 Craig Mackinlay MP 01843 589266 Ash Parish Council Clerk 01304 832909 Citizens Advice (Dover area) 0844 8487978 Social Services 01304 204915 Ash Village Hall Enquiries 01304 851967 Environmental Health 01304 872215 Trading Standards 0845 4040506 Ash Library 01304 812440 Healthcare NHS Medical Helpline (24hrs) 111 or www.nhs.uk Out of Hours Doctor Service 0844 8001234 Ash Surgery 01304 812227 Hospitals - Kent and Canterbury 01227 766877 QEQM Margate 01843 225544 William Harvey 01233 633331 Pharmacy - Ash (Boots) 01304 812242 Education KCC Area Office 03000 414141 Cartwright and Kelsey School 01304 812539 St Faith’s School 01304 813409 Sandwich Technology School 01304 610000 Sir Roger Manwood’s School 01304 613286 Transport National Rail TrainTracker™ 0871 2004950 Stagecoach East Kent Ltd 0845 6002299 ~ If an error is noted please inform the editors ~ 4 The Parish Letter What do we make of the road not taken? The romance that does not lead to a long term relationship; the job we didn’t get; the house that falls through; the career that doesn’t materialise. We cannot control other people – the friend, the interviewer, the seller – and these incidents can happen to us many times in the course of a life. And the way we interpret outcomes depends a lot on the way we think about the world. For some, luck is the only explanation. If you don’t believe in God, luck is a kinder way of looking at events than a cold, reductionist view of life that is no more than the random interaction of atoms. Luck feels shinier and is accessible to all. She even has a name, Lady Luck. But no-one knows what this means and when you begin to unpack it, there are usually other factors at work. Napoleon used to ask the question about aspiring generals: is he lucky? Behind this lies the hint that people are lucky for a reason. So perhaps there is no such thing as luck at all. The faithful usually believe that God is at work in circumstances and that nothing really happens by chance. We remind ourselves of Romans 8:28: all things work together for good for those who love God. This mysterious saying of Paul has been a consolation to generations of believers, but it is important we do not become fatalistic about God’s will. We are called to work out our own salvation; God has given us freedom to express who we are and the call to follow Christ is not coercive, telling us what to do at every point of our lives. If we are not fatalistic about God’s will, we have to accept that God’s will does not always get done. This idea sometimes makes people afraid. But logic tells us this is true. How can it be God’s will that people are trafficked as slaves, or children are blown up by cluster bombs? The very reason we are given the Lord’s Prayer is because God’s will is not always done on earth and we must intercede that it is. Though God’s will is not done in every case, he does not desert those who suffer, or are perplexed at life’s outcomes. One of the things we find hardest is when our desires aren’t realised even when we were sure God was in them. Does this mean we were wrong to have the desire in the first place? Or that the desire was of God, but his will was frustrated in some way? Acts chapter one contains the story of the replacement of the twelfth Apostle. Curiously, this is the only incident recorded in scripture of what happened between Jesus’ ascension and the Day of Pentecost. Of course lots of other things would have happened, but Luke does not think to record them. Why was this incident so noteworthy? For the disciples, 5 the words of Jesus about sitting on twelve thrones, judging the tribes of Israel, may have been uppermost in their minds. There was an absence in one seat as palpable as the empty chair at the Christmas dinner table. They had been told to wait in one place by Jesus, and the absence was all the more pronounced. Without a replacement, the memory of Judas would have played all the more on their minds. Two people were shortlisted for the role. We don’t know how many there were initially, or why only two were put forward, but Joseph and Matthias were the last men standing in an election to choose who joined the most important team in the world’s history. The disciples prayed to God in words reminiscent of Samuel’s choosing of David, where the determining factor was the nature of the heart, not the appearance of the man. It is not just today that we are in danger of being deceived by superficial outward indicators like looks, height and voice. As God alone sifts the human heart, we need him to direct us as we make appointments in his name. And then the disciples drew lots. It feels a little bit like an interview process that lasts a day and includes lots of clever psychometric tests, only for the final candidates to fight it out with stone, paper, scissors. Why trust lots when they could have debated each man’s merits and found a consensus? In the end, a combination of God and luck seems to have been at work: prayer and lots.