Golden Cap E-Magazine October 2020 Sunset at Lyme Regis by David Gallier Letter from the Editor Welcome to our first autumn edition of the year! The team have been busy preparing for the next stages of magazine life. Our 2021 calendar, featuring beautiful images by our many talented (and local) photographers, is now available to purchase. See page 9 for details. Plans are solidifying for our return to print in December - do get in touch with any stories of the last year you’d like to share. As the colours outside turn, we have meditations on the changing seasons and new challenges ahead, such as for Lyme Forward. There is news from Pilsdon with a bit of inspiration for calm and contemplation. And the nights might be drawing in but our interview this month whisks us away with memories of travel and adventure from Sylvia Creed-Castle. October marks not just a new season but also Black History month. Poet and author Louisa Adjoa Parker has worked on many projects bringing BAME history in Dorset to light, for Lyme Regis Museum among others. Her contribution to this issue draws on her own experiences of Lyme Regis and the South West. 1 Spotlight Seasons of change I’ve been noticing how the greens in the trees have begun slowly giving way to the oranges, browns, reds and yellows that are characteristic of the autumn that will soon be upon us in earnest. How effortlessly the seasons seem to change and flow from one into another. If only humans could cope so gracefully with change. I don’t know who first coined the phrase, ‘Constant change is here to stay’ but it certainly seems apt for the present time. Having emerged from being mostly locked away in our homes, we are now having to cope with various new changes across all aspects of society; from keeping our distance from each other, limiting our gatherings, wearing face masks in shops and places of worship, not being able to eat and drink communally as freely as we once were a particular difficulty in this season of harvest. We have to learn to adapt to the changes, until they feel at least a bit more familiar and a ‘new normal’ emerges. And then, things change again! If you are like me, change isn’t always easy to accommodate. We often find change difficult. I’m sure you’ve heard the old joke that asks, ‘How many Anglicans does it take to change a light bulb?’ to which the reply comes, ‘Change? Who said anything about change? We like the old light bulb, even though it’s broken’ Letting go of ‘the old’ and embracing ‘the new’ can feel very disconcerting and unsettling, especially when we don’t quite know what ‘the new’ might look like. Us humans like certainty and routines and familiarity and when the things we so often take for granted are threatened, like our health, our jobs, our finances, our family and community life together, the patterns, practices and rituals by which we seek to order our lives, it’s difficult and unsettling. Navigating previously uncharted territory is exhausting and can be scary, as we are confronted with how fragile everything feels. The natural world has much to teach us if we will stop to notice. The summer doesn’t stay for ever; the greens make way for new and glorious autumnal colours but these too will fade, then wither, then fall and die into the darkness of winter, until new shoots appear in the spring and new life emerges again. Author and poet John O’Donahue reminds us that, ‘Nature calls us to tranquillity and rhythm. When your heart is confused or heavy, a day outside in nature’s quiet eternity restores your lost tranquillity.’ We too need to change our colours and there will be things that will necessarily wither and die. But we can trust that new shoots will emerge too. This is the ancient way of things, the pattern set by our glorious Creator and revealed in humanity through the humble birth, exuberant life, crucifying death and glorious resurrection of Christ, in whom we find our own destiny as pilgrims through the changing seasons of birth, life, death and resurrection. It is ancient wisdom and it offers us hope – the seasons change, night turns to day, darkness becomes light, and death brings new life for those able to let go. May God bless you in these changing seasons of our lives. Revd Chris Martin – Team Rector 2 Church Services for October th th th th 4 October 11 October 18 October 25 October th th th Sunday 17 after Trinity 18 after Trinity Luke the Evangelist 20 after Trinity Old Testament Isaiah 5:1-7 Isaiah 25:1-9 Isaiah 35: 3-6 Leviticus 19:1-2 & 15-18 New Testament Philippians 3:4b-14 Philippians 4:1-9 2 Timothy 4: 5-17 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8 Gospel Matthew 21:33-end Matthew 22:1-14 Luke 10: 1-9 Matthew 22:34-end Bettiscombe Closed Catherston Closed Charmouth 9.30am Harvest Morning Worship CM Chideock 11am Harvest 11am Eucharist CM 11am Chideock Praise 11am Eucharist VL Village Praise VH BW Fishpond Private prayer Sunday 10—4pm Hawkchurch 11am Morning 11am Morning Worship FP Worship PS/CM Lyme Regis 11am Eucharist 11am Eucharist JE 11am Eucharist JP 11am Eucharist CM CM + ES Marshwood Private prayer Sunday 10—4pm Monkton Closed Wyld Stanton St. Private prayer Gabriel Saturday 10—4pm Whitchurch 11am Harvest 11am Eucharist AH Canonicorum Morning Worship VL Wootton Closed Fitzpaine Pilsdon Closed CM: Rev. Chris Martin VL: Rev. Ginny Luckett AH: Rev. Anne Howson JE: Rev. John Eade ES: Rev. Ed Standhaft JP: Jim Pettifer FP Freda Pitfield VH: Val Hunt PS Philip Sankey BW: Bob Warman Private prayer for Churches that are open: Charmouth Saturday 10—4pm EXCEPT Saturday 10th October Chideock Not opening for Private Prayer, Sunday services only Hawkchurch Sunday & Wednesday 8am - 6pm EXCEPT Sunday 4th and 18th October Lyme Regis Wednesday 10-4pm Whitchurch Friday 10-4pm 2nd, 16th 30th October only 3 Sunday worship Some of our churches across the group are slowly re-opening their doors for Sunday worship. During October, church services will become a little more frequent in places and there is a provisional rota in place showing what’s happening, when and where. I must emphasise the word ‘provisional’; other churches may decide to open their doors soon too and we are of course at the mercy of government legislation which may alter things overnight, depending on how the pandemic progresses. Nevertheless, the feedback from those who have attended Sunday worship where it has been possible has been universally positive. Necessarily, things are a little different to what we have been used to: we have to have our names and contact details taken at the door; we have to wear masks and sit at a distance from each other, limiting the numbers who can attend; and we aren’t allowed to sing together, at least for the moment. In the places where it is happening, Holy Communion looks a little different too – we only receive bread, without words of distribution, and standing one at a time to keep our distance, rather than kneeling side by side at the altar rail. It feels a bit strange at first but it will become more familiar as time goes on. I hope it is also calling us to inhabit the way we observe our faith in church in a more quiet, mindful and attentive way. But for those for whom it still feels too ‘alien’ to come to a church service, that’s OK too. We shall be continuing to make some kind of online provision on Sundays and midweek. Revd Chris Martin – Team Rector New Whitchurch Website We in Whitchurch are pleased to announce that we have a new church website. Please have a look and enjoy exploring the bright new look of the site, using the weblink below. There’s a lot of new information, refreshed history detail and some lovely photos included. There is also a link on the Homepage to a ‘Give a Little’ webpage which makes it easy for you to donate securely, supporting the work of St Candida & Holy Cross church https://cathedralofthevale.org The PCC and Friends of St Candida are particularly grateful to Betsy West for her hard and thorough work in delivering this excellent new website for us. Eddie Howson 4 Ministry training I have recently embarked on a full-time course at The Sarum Centre for Formation in Ministry, located in the precincts of the stunning Salisbury Cathedral. Over the next two years I am praying that between the tutors and Chris Martin, who has kindly agreed to be my training supervisor, I will come out the other end as a sensitive, caring and useful instrument for God’s work. The course started with a Summer School based on the theme of mission and I am delighted to report that I managed to hand in my first written assignment on time, despite the presence of builders who are literally pulling my house apart around me. Hopefully, the Virgin Radio tunes that they play all day did not take me off theme too much! Half of the Summer School had to be over Zoom due to Covid-19 restrictions but I did get the opportunity to meet and get to know my Reflection Group; a lively, opinionated group of ordinands from varied backgrounds who will certainly keep me on my toes.