Leek Wootton Link

FEBRUARY 2020

All Saints’ Church Parish Magazine

LEEKWOOTTON LINK

LEEK WOOTTON LINK | FEBRUARY 2020

the GiftAid form.

EDITORIAL

We would reiterate that all donations made are used only for publication and distribution of The Link and, whilst the

Church owns the magazine, it is

supported by the Parish Council and is the primary route for all community news and information, which thanks to your support continues to be free!

We very much hope you continue to

enjoy The Link and will give what support you can.

Helen & Lesley Eldridge
The Editorial Team

Welcome to the February issue of The

Link.

How time flies!

After our very

successful annual appeal for donations last year, which saw us double the 2018 appeal total, it is the time, once again, to ask for your support; you will

hopefully have received a bright blue

envelope with your magazine giving full information. Of course, we can’t send our eLink recipients an envelope, so they will have received a PDF copy for

Cover Image: February 2019

All Saints’ Church

WHO’SWHO?

Vicar

Readers

Jim Perryman

The Vicarage, 4 Hill Wootton Road e : [email protected]

t : 850610 Audrey Rowberry

t : 851498

7a The Meadows

Nigel Stallard

(see left for contact)

Church Wardens

Jonathan Kingston

32 Hill Wootton Road

Secretary to the PCC

Eileen Clayton

2 The Hamlet

t : 851181 t : 855124

Nigel Stallard Reading Room Cottage Church Lane t : 850548

Treasurer to the PCC

Iain Wilton

t : 07771 664185

4 Croft Road

Articles for The Link:

If there is anything you would like to include, please email

[email protected]

The deadline for editorial submissions for the MONTH issue is:

FRIDAY, 21 FEBRUARY 2020

Advertisements for The Link or for www.leekwoottonchurch.co.uk:

1 WEEK IN ADVANCE OF THE MAIN SUBMISSION DEADLINE
Via email to [email protected]

or call Jim Perryman on 01926 850610

Would you like to receive The Link by email?

Please email [email protected]

and request your email copy

Back issues of The Link are available to view online at:

https://express.yudu.com/library/82141/LeekWootton-amp-GuysCliffe-s-Library

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FROMTHEVICARAGE (Part I)

Love, Pancakes and Ash –

why is February a little different?

Good old Saint Valentine, the patron saint of Love (and greetings-card manufacturers perhaps!), gives us a reason to get all smoochy and sentimental on February 14th every year – a wonderful antidote to the usually grotty weather of the time. This Saint Valentine (there are

apparently a dozen or so through the ages), was a third-century bishop in

central Italy, who was martyred around 270AD. Stories related to him suggest that, against the orders of the Emperor, he helped Christians to get married thus, by law, saving the husbands from having to go off to war. While under house arrest, he is said to have displayed the love of Jesus to

the judge and his family, including successfully praying for the healing from

blindness of his daughter, leading the judge to become a Christian, along with all his household, and resulting in the freeing of many other Christians who were in prison for their faith. Incurring the Emperor’s anger, Valentine was condemned and (it is suggested) wrote a final note to the healed girl

signed ‘from your Valentine’. Apparently, it was a 14th-century poem by

Geoffrey Chaucer that actually ‘invented’ the concept of the modern Valentine’s Day as a special day for lovers. For reasons best know to history, Saint Valentine is also the patron saint of Beekeepers and people with epilepsy! At least he does appear to have been a real person,

whatever the actual truth around the stories attached to the Saint.

Pancakes and ash aren’t an obvious mix (not unless your pancake ends up in the fire when you toss it!) yet they are both expressions of the same annual event – the beginning of the season known as Lent – which has strong links too with the theme of love. This period of 40 days ending Palm

Sunday (or ending Easter Eve by not counting Sundays, depending on your

tradition) has, for centuries, been recognised as a time of fasting and prayer to focus on self-examination and repentance in the period leading up to the holy times of Good Friday and Easter. Jesus submitted himself to death on the cross to free us from the prospect of eternal death, the result

of our sin separating us from God’s love. He freely, lovingly and willingly

gave up his sinless life to death in our place, before displaying the truth that love is stronger than death through his rising to new life. Jesus invites us to follow him into the fulness of eternal life rather than holding on to eternal death. So Lent became the season for recognising and letting go of sin –

and showing this by self-sacrifice and by expressions of devotion to Jesus

who sacrificed so much out of love for us. On the first day of Lent – Ash Wednesday – the ceremony of having the sign of the cross, in ash, drawn on the forehead, became that sign of commitment to self-sacrifice: hence the tradition of ‘giving up’ something for Lent.

But if you are going to fast for 40 days, denying yourself all the indulgent

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pleasures, what do you do with all the good things in the food cupboard that will go off? Easy answer – have a party first to use them up: PANCAKE DAY: Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras (literally Fat Tuesday!). So, I invite you to join us on the Sunday nearest St Valentine’s Day (16th)

as we think about LOVE – especially how we show our love to God and

God’s love to others; then, the following week on the Sunday before Shrove Tuesday, to our PANCAKE BREAKFAST, which precedes our Communion service which will also have a sort of party theme; and then to our ASH WEDNESDAY evening service where we begin our observance of Lent and

invite people to come for the sign of the ash cross. Love, Pancakes and

Ash – an odd mixture, but all very much connected this month.

Jim Perryman

Sunday 23 February

from 8:30am in church

followed by

9:30am service

On the Sunday before Lent, a ꢀme to get together

for food and fellowship before worship.

Please e-mail jim@leekwooꢀonchurch.co.uk or sign-up on the sheet at the back of church

to give us an idea of numbers, as a help for catering.

A big thank you to all who have supplied church flowers for the altar each week. It does make such a difference if we have real flowers there. However, it is becoming

more difficult to keep the rota filled. I have at least

twelve spaces this year, excluding Lent, Harvest and Christmas. Would anybody like to commemorate a special occasion and place flowers in the brass vases to remember a loved one or on a special birthday?

Your floristry skills will not be judged! If you are

wanting to do this, please ring me on t: 859949. Also, a big thankyou to the small but enthusiastic team who decorate the church for special occasions. What a great job they make of it.

Joan Stevens

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www.leekwoottonchurch.co.uk

ALL SAINTS’ CHURCH

CHURCH SERVICES / EVENTS

Charity Prayer Focus for the month: Intercontinental Church Society www.ics-uk.org

Sunday, 2 February

Prayer Focus: Guys Cliffe

CANDLEMAS

8:00am 9:30am
Holy Communion (CW) All Age Worship – A Celebration of our Baptisms

see Page 6

Wednesday, 5 February

10:30am Holy Communion

Sunday, 9 February

Prayer Focus: North Woodloes

9:30am

2:30pm

Holy Communion with MOSAIC (for children 2 - 12)

Snowdrop Walk see Page 27

Sunday, 16 February

Prayer Focus: The Hayes Apartments and The Warwickshire

8:00am 9:30am
Holy Communion (BCP) All Age Worship – Faith and Life looking at LOVE

10:30am Holy Communion

Sunday, 23 February

Prayer Focus: Quarry Close

From 8:30am

PANCAKE BREAKFAST

see Page 4

9:30am

5:00pm

All Age Holy Communion

with MOSAIC (for children 2 - 12)

Trekkers (Y6-Y11) group

at the Vicarage. See Page 8

7:30pm Holy Communion with imposition of ash

ASH WEDNESDAY
Sunday, 1 March

Prayer Focus: The Elms

8:00am 9:30am
Holy Communion (CW)

NO SERVICE

due to road closures for the

Warwick Half Marathon

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From theVicarage PART 2:

Does your LINK still look a little different?

We hope you enjoyed the full colour Christmas edition of the Link and, as promised in that edition, this one too is full colour, but trying a different type of paper. It would be interesting to know your thoughts about the three options that the past three editions have offered:

November: The ‘traditional’ slightly thicker colour cover with black & white

inner pages and an occasional colour spread in the centre;

December: Full colour on normal paper, again with a thicker cover; February: Full colour on silky paper, with cover and inside pages the same. The PCC, in consultation with the Link editorial and distribution team, will make a decision before the March edition goes to print, but if you would like to offer your opinion on the options, please do send it directly to me – either in a note delivered to the Vicarage or, preferably, by email to [email protected]. Whatever the print style in future, I have every confidence that, with the dedicated ‘team’ of contributors, editors and distributors, we will continue to offer a high-quality community-focussed magazine, and I hope you will continue to enjoy and support it.

Jim Perryman

A Celebration of our
Baptisms

on

Sunday, 2^ndFebruary 2020 at 9.30 a.m.

AN INVITATION.

to come along to our

Candlemas Service – A Festival of Light

Bring your Baptism Candle

(spares will be available)

All welcome including your family,
Godparents and friends.

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www.mothersunioncoventry.com

LEEKWOOTTON MU

Contact : Janet Jackson

t : 258264

Coming Up:

Wednesday, 5 February, 7:30pm at St John’s Church Hall

Millie Lowe: Paramedic - Life in Green

Thursday, 6 February, 1:30pm at 11 Rounds Hill, Kenilworth

Leek Wootton Group meeting: MU Updates

Tuesday, 18 February, 1:30pm at 6 Beechwood Croft, Kenilworth

Deanery Prayers: For family life and communities in our area

Thursday, 20 February, 2:00pm at St John’s Church Hall

Lynda Howells: AFIA (Away From It All holidays for families in need)

MUTheme for 2020: Building Hope and Confidence

The outcomes of our global listening process MULOA (Mothers’ Union Listens, Observes and Acts) have enabled Worldwide Council to draw together key emerging elements

for shaping the way forward for our movement. The theme

places renewed vision and identity at the heart of our call to serve and offer Christian care for families regardless of faith or background.
Sheran Harper reflecting on her first year as MU Worldwide

President writes, “ It will certainly take faith and determination

in the coming years for us to collectively ensure our work increases its focus on: stable livelihoods; reconciliation and conflict resolution; strengthening women ’ s and girls ’ voices to influence change; literacy and education; gender justice;

and protecting the environment. It is my fervent prayer that

our work in these key areas will provide lasting gifts to all as we transform nations. ”

Prayer

We pray for those who suffer as
As we build our hope and confidence in a result of our waste, greed and

God we will be inspired and equipped to indifference and we pray that

build hope and confidence in others: the day will come when family, friends and work, in both a local everyone has enough food, and global context. clean water and shelter. Help

Funds raised through membership

enable support for projects and if you

would like to help in this way do find out about 2020 subscriptions by contacting our Administrator, Nicola for further info: [email protected]. us respect the rights of all

people and all species and help

us willingly share our gifts today and always. Amen

From ‘Dear Lord’,

a new collection of prayers and poems from

Mothers’ Union members across the world.

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Trekkers Youth Group @ All Saints

For those in school years 6 to 11

Life is a journey, and as we enter that transition phase from primary to secondary school and then begin to consider adult life to come, that journey can become complicated. There are so many decisions to be made on the way, and so many new pressures to deal with about self-

discovery. Suddenly the simple messages and the old stories about the

Christian faith that we might have grown up with can seem rather irrelevant to the complexity of real life and the world-view of the 21^stcentury.

Trekking is about undertaking a long and

challenging journey, normally with others:

often a journey of discovery undertaken by young people to find out more about their world and themselves.

Trekkers Youth Group is a place where

we are free to take part on that journey, to explore some of life’s big questions and to discover whether Jesus, the ‘Light of the World’, actually does have some light to shine on the way ahead.

We normally meet once each half-term on a Sunday late-afternoon at the

Vicarage: Nicola and Jim Perryman currently act as Trek ‘Guides’. New members are very welcome – as are suggestions for topics to explore or other things to do together. Past meetings have been a mixture of discussions, games, films, etc. and normally end with a simple meal

together, but the future hasn’t been written yet!

NEXT TREKKERS MEETING:
SUNDAY 23 FEBRUARY, 5pm – 7pm

£2 contribution please to help with food and other costs.

Your future hasn’t been written yet. No one’s has! Your future is whatever

Phone: 01926 850610 Text: 0744 948 0539 [email protected]

you make it. So make

Parental consent forms required

for all church activities involving under - 16s and can be downloaded

from the church website

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www.coventrycathedral.org.uk

COVENTRY CATHEDRAL MATTERS

Parish Partner : Mary Robins

t : 512643

When I visited the Cathedral recently, I noticed properly for the first time a large spherical structure made of metal. This is the ‘Global Candle Stand’ on which there are fifty-six holders for tea lights. Fifty-two of these are in remembrance of the victims of the 7 July 2005 London bombings and four

for the suicide bombers. A notice invites you to light a candle and there is a

special printed prayer for peace. The stand was given to Coventry Cathedral in 2016 by students from RBZ Technik, Kiev. Kiev is twinned with Coventry and was the first city to receive a ‘Cross of Nails’ in 1947.

Educational Films

On some afternoons there will be free viewings of educational films in the

Cathedral. On Wednesday 12 February at 1:00pm there will be a screening of 2040, which addresses concerns about transport and farming. On Thursday, 13 February at 1:00pm He Named Me Malala, a film about 15- year old Malala Yousafzai who spoke out about the closing of schools to

girls, will be shown and on Wednesday, 19 February, again at 1:00pm, the

screening will be Monsters and Men, set in Brooklyn, New York.

STOP PRESS: BREAK IN ATTHE CATHEDRAL

I am very sorry to report the news of serious damage at

the Cathedral. On the night of Thursday, 23 January one of the panels in John Hutton's beautiful West Screen was smashed. The culprits entered the Cathedral and broke into the glass collecting box to steal the money. The

glass panel of the Screen was engraved with an Angel

holding the Eternal Gospel.

Images of the Cathedral’s

construction released

Historic England and the John Laing

Charitable Trust have released previously unseen images of Britain’s construction history, including stunning images of Coventry Cathedral being built.

The collection can be viewed at the

Historic

England

website

(https://

historicengland.org.uk/images-books/ archive/new/breaking-new-groundproject/)

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www.leekwootton.org.uk

LEEKWOOTTON &

GUY’S CLIFFE PARISH COUNCIL

Clerk to the Parish Council : Helen Eldridge

t : 853841

e : [email protected]

The Parish Council met on Tuesday, 7 January 2020, at Leek Wootton Village Hall. Discussion included the following:

PARISH DIRECTORY 2020

With this issue of The Link you will also receive a copy of the Parish Directory 2020. The Parish Council hopes that you will find this directory a useful tool throughout the year.

ANNUAL PARISH ASSEMBLY

This annual meeting for electors, residents and people who work within the parish has been arranged for Monday 6 April at 7pm in Leek Wootton Village Hall and it is confirmed that the Deputy Chief Constable,

Warwickshire Police, will attend to speak and answer questions. We hope

to get an update on how the re-occupation of Woodcote is progressing and on the sale of police land for development. We will also have an opportunity to hear about wider Policing issues in Warwickshire.

COMMUNITY MAINTENANCE

The Leek Wootton to Kenilworth footpath has been cleared and the

vegetation cut back. A number of issues have been raised with Warwickshire County Council Highways, including ponding and signage repairs at the Skew Bridge

(railway), Hill Wootton Road and surface drainage outside the Old School,

Warwick Road. However, WCC Highways is currently dealing with a 2½- month backlog due recent bad weather. Pothole repairs will continue, but no permanent repairs are currently being undertaken, so unfortunately, some issues may have to wait for the new financial year.

The Parish Clerk and County Councillor have been in discussion with WCC

Highways lighting about the lamp posts not working at Blacklow roundabout (A46) south of Leek Wootton. They have been advised that there is a serious electrical problem, which is being looked into, but repairs may take some time. Visibility on the Leek Wootton side of the roundabout at night is

poor, so please be cautious of other road-users during the winter nights.

A new street sign has been erected on the Anchor Inn side of Woodcote Lane. This will help drivers leaving the recreation ground to find the alternative route to/from Kenilworth and, with new signage planned at the ‘rec’, should reduce the number of cars attempting dangerous U-turns at

the bottom of the ramp.

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WAR MEMORIAL RECREATION GROUND CAR PARK

As reported in the last issue of The Link, the Parish Council has agreed to apply for a Public Works Loan Board loan to fund the car park works. It is currently redrawing its original plans to re-tender with construction