St Michael & All Angels SSWWOORRDD Mildred Avenue Parish Magazine Watford ISSN 2397-2211

JUNE 2019

PRICE 75P CONTENTS

3. Pastoral Letter from Father Geoff

Editorial Team 4. Bike & Hike 2019/Vienna Rob White Sylvia Moring 5. Church Army Father Geoff Vicki Matthews 6. Foodbank/WTRRP Garden Party Subscriptions Valerie Alvarez 7. Trek 26 for Alzheimer's Society Diary and Rota Sylvia Moring 8. 17th Watford Brownies Crossword Peter White 9. From the Treasurer Distribution Dennis Beach 10. Diary of Events Duncan Turton Sylvia Moring 12. Sung Eucharist Duty List

Cover Illustration 13. Pinner Music Festival Martin Matthews Contributors 15. Proposed Gwalia Concert Valerie Alvarez 16. Crossword Iola Bilson Robert Bilson 17. St. & the Battle Book Paul Chandler Sue Ellison 19. Calendar of Feasts & Holy Days Father Geoff Sylvia Moring Maggie Shrive Marilyn Tozer Deadline for Duncan Turton July edition of SWORD Printers DPD Printing Ltd Sunday 21st June 2019 35 Market Street Watford WD18 0PN Please submit copy or email to: [email protected] A Pastoral Letter

Dear Friends,

On the 1st June I begin my Extended Study Leave, also known as a Sabbatical. Plans have changed a little, in that I am no longer going to Assisi, but this has enabled me to go to some sites in this country which have a deep historical, theological and spiritual significance for me, and which I hope to be able to speak and write about.

Britain has a long Christian history, much of which is deeply mysterious. There are many periods and places of Britain's Christian history for which there are either no written records, or for which the written records need interpretation. There are, however many material remains. There are living Churches, great and small, ruins and remains, sculptures and paintings in churches, museums, and out in the open. There are manuscripts, place names and folk memories. Each of these is a witness to faith, spirituality, and Christian life. It is possible to see and study these in words and photographs, but I want to spend time with the material remains of our Christian history, to see if I can connect with the spirituality of those who built and worshipped in our Churches, who carved the sculptures, who painted the panels, who moulded the landscape.

People left messages for us about how they felt called to live lives of prayer, of worship, of community, of witness, and of mutual love and care. These messages are not always easy to read, and cannot always be read in books. Sometimes they need to be read in prayer and reflection.

What is most important, to pray or to act, to reach into the heart or to reach out to the needy? Different people have answered this in different ways. The Church has always had its people drawn to prayer, and to live their lives devoted to prayer. There have also been those who have devoted their lives to caring for others. It is my perception that each has needed the other, just as we can find that spending time in prayer strengthens us for active care.

The Church has its contemplative people and its active people, just as we each have our reflective and active sides in different proportion according to who we are. I hope that the result of my extended study leave will be that I can communicate to people in today's Church (whoever will listen!) how our Christian history informs the importance of caring for each other, and receiving the indwelling of Jesus in prayer, so that our care is truly his care too.

It's a tall order, so I'm starting with Northern England and Scotland. There is much elsewhere too!

Love and prayers,

Fr Geoff JUNE 2019 Page 3 The purpose of this early note is to advise that this year’s venture will take place on Saturday 14 September. As usual, it would be good if we can enlist volunteers either to cycle or hike - locally or further afield. It is open to use other means of transport. Further details will be given in due course at which point choices can be made. I expect to receive the appropriate documents some time in June.

Last year, we raised £362.00 for the Beds & Herts Historic Churches Trust and that was based solely on supporting Church Helpers, having no cyclists or hikers available on the day. I think we could raise more if we have cyclists or hikers available on 14 September. Hopefully, there will be a frantic search through diaries to check availability, and a risk of my being trampled underfoot by a rush of volunteers.

Robert Bilson

Vienna

Some of you may know that I sing with Chiltern Choir. The early May Bank Holiday saw myself, Mike and about 58 others (of which about 40 would sing) leave Heathrow for a choir tour ofVienna and Bratislava.

What an experience that was to be! Our first concert was in St Stephen's Cathedral Vienna. With no time to adjust to acoustics and the organ we sang our first concert starting with our musical director's own work Gloria. Sadly Michael Cayton was unable to come with us at the last minute .Thankfully, Andrew Sackett (a very good musician) joined us and - with our accompanist Ian Shaw - made it a memorable trip and brought out the best in us. We sang music from the 16th century to the present day. I must admit to feeling a sense of a spiritual presence as we sang our final piece - Stanford's Magnificat in C.

Saturday saw us heading for a town to the north of Bratislava, Skalica. The church we sang in had been decommissioned and restored as a music venue. Wow - the acoustics! The organ was from a United Reformed church in Sheffield, installed in about 2004. It was very cold as they didn’t heat it! But the seats were very plush! The acoustics were amazing, but you needed to follow the conductor to have any hope of keeping the beat!

Sunday saw us performing in the Jesuit Church in Bratislava. Very Baroque! Nice to see churches have problems with organs all over the world. "More swell please, Ian", came our conductors plea. "I can’t - there isn’t any", says Ian. So what was to be an hour's rehearsal was cut short so that Ian could come to grips with the organ!!

I feel very privileged to have had the opportunity to sing in such lovely venues and to very full venues.

Maggie Shrive Page 4 SWORD The Church Army has 24 Centres of Mission throughout the country. Their Key Project areas are Cardiff, Wilson Carlile Centre in Sheffield and the Marylebone Project in London.

The newest centre is in Aberdeen where, in partnership with the City Council and the NHS, a café and bi-weekly lunch club for socially isolated people has been set up with about 50 people using the new facilities. They also run a ‘Café Credo' Coffee Shop.

Another project which is being set up this year is Xplore, which is a free evangelism training programme for young adults aged 18 to 30. Young people can take part in the programme while continuing with other commitments, such as work or study. There are currently 35 Xplorers taking part in the course. They receive teaching in the form of a podcast or a short video, which challenges and encourages them to grow in mission and evangelism.

Church Army worker Nick Russell is the lead Evangelist for the Greenwich Centre of Mission and works across five housing estates in south-east London. Nick and his group are dealing with youths involved in knife crime together with drug-related incidents and violent behaviour. Many of these young people come from disturbed and broken family backgrounds. The group are endeavouring to provide a place for young people to meet by bringing them into clubs so they can learn to develop trust instead of fear and anger. This helps them to build self- esteem, to develop their gifts, and to encounter good role models finding faith in God.

It is through our support of the Church Army that these projects can be funded. Last year St Michaels - through our Mission Committee and our Lent Boxes project - were able to send £350 to Church Army, which was very much appreciated.

So far this year our Lent boxes have raised £176, so thank you to all who contributed.

Do please look at the Church Army display in Church giving further information of the good work they do.

Valerie Alvarez

Parish Representative

JUNE 2019 Page 5 The Parish donated 23 kgs of food to the Food Bank on Friday 23.05.2019 for which they were very grateful as their stocks were low. They would also appreciate any carrier bags that could be donated as they had to buy some last month. These along with food donations can be left at the back of the church.

Thank you.

I am delighted to report that St Michael's collected over £100 pounds during Christian Aid week. With the Gift Aid added, the whole amount is a little over £120. So I am sure that Christian Aid will be very pleased to receive this amount for the work that they are planning. Thank you to all who contributed.

Vicki Matthews

Page 6 SWORD TREK 26 for Alzheimer’s Society, 1 June 201 9

At the time of writing, Rebecca and I haven’t actually done the walk yet, but we will have when you read this!

Alzheimer’s Society has been a huge source of support for our family over the past few tumultuous years and we have learned how tough living with dementia is!

Not only are they fighting relentlessly to find a cure for dementia, but they are determined to create a society where those affected by the disease are supported and accepted, able to live in their community without fear or prejudice.

We are hugely grateful for all the support we have been given as we walk 26 miles around Central London on Saturday 1st June to help end dementia.

Paul Chandler

JUNE 2019 Page 7 We have welcomed two new Brownies this term, Amelie and Kirsty.

As we had already agreed on our Skills Builder, the “Explore” strand of “Have Adventures”, we started the term by giving the girls all of the Unit Meeting Activity cards to look at and choose from. They listed what they would like to do, and we fitted a variety of these into the term’s programme.

The first Skills Builder we did was to do with compasses. In pairs the girls used magnets to magnetise a straightened out metal paper clip, then stuck it to a bottle top with blu tack. The “compasses” were floated on water and compared with a real compass. They duly turned themselves to point north-south – very impressive!

For the next one we did some work about co-ordinates, using a large grid on the floor. When everyone had had a go at following instructions to get themselves to a specific point on the grid, they drew patterns on an individual grid and gave the instructions to their partner to draw the same pattern. After that we looked at some OS maps to look at the numbers there, and also to find various places on the maps. They were the local area so the Brownies were excited to find Watford, their schools, and their own roads.

Our third Skills Builder was about travelling abroad and the sort of things you can’t take into various countries. The items ranged from fruit and vegetables through historical artefacts and dream-catchers with feathers to remote-controlled helicopters. The girls came up with some interesting reasons for some items not being allowed in, and were quite scathing about the reasons for some others.

“Splat” and “Fishes in the sea” are still popular games this term, but we have introduced a couple of new ones, and have also been doing some singing. One of the Unit Meeting Activities that was a popular choice was “Room in a box”, so they are having a go at that tonight, decorating the rooms in their Sixes.

Marilyn

Page 8 SWORD From the Treasurer

I have no idea who Churchaholic is. I know that he is male, he writes on the internet about his visits to towns where he goes to see churches. I know that he lived in Essex at some point. And I know that when he visited St Michael’s in 2014 he was somewhat underwhelmed.

‘St Michael and All Angels is a large, unattractive utilitarian turn of the last century building – I’m not sure why I bothered.’

Everyone’s a critic!

He did seem to enjoy visiting St Mary’s and Holy Rood, so at least he didn’t have a wasted day in Watford if nothing else. But it does raise an important question – why do we bother? Our church building is, apparently, not to everyone’s taste. However in the past decade a lot of money has been spent on maintaining it. Most obviously the church building is a Grade II* listed building of historic significance to Hertfordshire and preserving it is an inherently good thing. It improves the West Watford area. And, along with the halls, it provides a space for community activity, religious worship and life-important ceremonies like weddings and funerals. All of these things matter on a personal level.

Plainly the importance goes beyond mere bricks and mortar. The purpose of a Church is to support not only a congregation but also a community. The church building represents a physical space for our local community to come together and be stronger as a result. That could be a community of Brownies, Jacobite Syrians, of Watford Muslim Youth, of toddler’s parents/carers or people just wanting to socialise over coffee. We pay for our building to maintain its history, to have a place to worship and to have space to support a community – they all matter to our mission. The internet is a poor substitute for real contact.

The reality is that of the money donated to St Michael’s in the last decade a large part of it was spent on the fabric of the building and, at its bluntest, everything you see around you in the church costs money. Phil Gough and his estates committee ensure that money is well- spent. Aesthetically St Michael’s might not have made Churchaholic all that happy – but I’m certain he would have very much liked what that building does to make our community thrive.

To note – Churchaholic’s very good write-up of his day in Watford is at: http://hetrfordshirechurches.blogspot.com/2014/08/watford-st-michael-all-angels.html His articles really are of a high quality and more are at: http://hetrfordshirechurches.blogspot.com/

JUNE 2019 Page 9 DIARY OF EVENTS FOR JUNE

2nd SUN EASTER 7 NO Holy Communion 8.00 am SUNG EUCHARIST First Sunday of the Month Eucharist 9.30 am (Pres and Preacher Revd Jonathan Beach) 8th Sat Church to be used for a party 2-5 pm

9th SUN PENTECOST Holy Communion (Fr George) 8.00 am SUNG EUCHARIST (Pres & Preacher Revd Tim Bull 9.30 am - Diocesan Director of Ministry) Children's Church in Littlebury Hall 9.30 am (The Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church 1-5 pm) 12th June Mission Committee 9.30 am

16th SUN TRINITY NO Holy Communion 8.00 am Sung Eucharist (Pres & Preacher: 9.30 am Ven Jonathan Smith - Archdeacon of St Albans) Children's Church in Littlebury Hall

23rd SUN TRINITY 1 Holy Communion (Fr George) 8.00 am SUNG EUCHARIST (Pres & Preacher: 9.30 am Rev Guy Buckler) Children's Church in Littlebury Hall (The Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church 1-5.00pm) 30th SUN TRINITY 2 NO Holy Communion 8.00 am SUNG EUCHARIST (Pres & Preacher: Fr George) 9.30 am Children's Church in Littlebury Hall)

Morning Prayer is said daily in the Lady Chapel (Monday to Friday) at 9.00 am.

A service of Holy Communion is held at 8 am on alternate Sunday mornings when Order One in Traditional Language is used. There will be no Communion Service on Thursday mornings in June, July and August.

Evening Prayer will not be said on Sundays during June, July and August.

The Toddlers’ Group meets in Church (or Choir Vestry) every Monday from 10.00 – 11.30 am except on Bank Holidays.

Tea, Coffee & Squash are served in Church every Wednesday from 10.00 until 12 noon. The Food Bank is also open on Wednesdays from 10.00 am - 12 noon. SUNG EUCHARIST DUTY LIST - JUNE 2019

2 June 2019 JW Chalice MW, BH Intercessor TBA Lesson Readers TBA Sidespeople VB, ES Tea/Coffee Duty PH, EJ Money Counting Rota SE, AM

9 June 2019 Deacon VA Chalice DD, AK Intercessor PG Lesson Readers MH, MDS Sidespeople JO, HM Tea/Coffee Duty BB, SM Money Counting Rota VB, MM

16 June 2019 Deacon JW Chalice MW VA Intercessor PC Lesson Readers VO'R, PH Sidespeople JH, PH Tea/Coffee Rota NT, VA Money Counting Rota AH, VO'R

23 June 2019 Deacon MDS Chalice MW, BH Intercessor SM Lesson Readers BB, IB Sidespeople IW, AM Tea/Coffee Duty M & EW Money Counting Rota PC, AE

30 June 2019 Deacon VA Chalice MDS, AK Intercessor MDS Lesson Readers PA-S, PC Sidespeople PA-S, KH Tea/Coffee Duty M & VM Money Counting Rota SE, AM 1 0 – 1 5 June 201 9 Pinner Parish Church, Church Lane, Pinner HA5 3AA

MONDAY Introducing the Pinner Music THURSDAY Heather Toyn & John Wyatt 10 June Festival 13 June (Piano Duo) The BBC’s Petroc Trelawny Mozart Sonata in C Major K521 1.00pm 1.15pm introduces the visiting artists. Schubert fantasy in F Minor Sandwiches provided. £5 £7 Faure: Dolly Suite Op56 Moszkowski: Danses Espagnoles TUESDAY Pinner Parish Choir Britten: Playful Pizzicato from Simple 11 June Director: Martin Singleton Symphony Vivaldi’s Gloria £10/£12 7.45pm Parry: Here my words ye people Steven Doane (cello) Dyson: Magnificat FRIDAY Barry Snyder (piano) Nunc Dimittis 14 June Debussy: Sonata in D Minor £12/£14 7.45pm Beethoven: Sonata in A Minor WEDNES The Aurora Ensemble Faure: Romance: Papillon 12 June Perform works by Rossini, Chopin: Sonata in G Minor Mozart, Milhaud, Berio 7.45pm

THURSDAY Bartosz Glowacki SATURDAY Festival Chorus & Orchestra conducted by David Gould 13 June (accordion) 15 June Andrey Lebedev With soloists: Fiona Canfield, Anton 7.45pm 7.45pm (guitar) Rich, Diana Moore, Jonathan Stainsby £14/£16 Michael Haydn: Requiem Mozart: Requiem Online Sales via website: https://www.pinnermusicfestival.co.uk/ Want to advertise in this

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Page 14 SWORD Proposed Gwalia Concert

We consider it necessary to spell out where we are with planning.

The concert has been postponed to a date yet to be agreed afresh with the Gwalia Male Choir. 7 December 2019 was the only date they could have been available before Christmas. We were not in a position to accept then or even now. Organising a concert at the Church’s own initiative from scratch requires a great deal of forethought, commitment, and acceptance of risk. We have to consider obvious and less obvious costs. We are in the process of identifying, quantifying, and costing. By that process, we will attain a target figure. We are go-betweens in the total process. The Gwalia are the Choir featured in our article in the December 2018 Sword.

We are grateful to our Social Committee for starting the ball rolling. They can return to the wings with their heads held high, but all they can do now is to wait off stage for further developments. When costings have been assembled, it will be for the Finance Committee to enter stage right (or left) and play its part, before involving the chorus line of the full PCC. We have to face the possibility that outlay will reach a four figure sum, but once known we would have at least a definite break-even point which we would aim to exceed.

Turning to Father Geoff’s article in last month’s Sword, we have here a magnificent opportunity to exercise some time and talent individually and collectively to raise much needed funds for the Church, but not just as an end in itself. As a generality, we need to raise our individual subscriptions to a level which will allow routine household expenditure to look after itself, and which will allow the Finance Committee leeway to set aside sums to meet projects such as this, and any excess put by to build up reserve funds. Fund raising is necessary for the Church to survive and prosper. If we do not, the Church could be re- assigned as a junior partner to a more affluent parish, or be closed. No doubt we all wish St Michael’s to continue as a centre of Christian worship long after we have left the stage of Life.

So far as the current project is concerned, we need to break out from an overcautious mindset and grasp the challenge to ensure the venture is successful. We need to think of the costs as an investment rather than expense (a sprat set to catch a mackerel). This would include some external advertising. All members of the congregation are invited to give their blessing and support by attending such a concert. Certainly, the Gwalia members would like to see a sizeable audience. We are grateful to at least four of our congregation who have expressed a definite interest.

We should appreciate help from anyone who has experience in putting together printing costs and in matters like programme design, both in identifying costs, and at implementation stage.

Of course, we are at this stage ahead of ourselves. We may fall into a Trappist-like silence for a few weeks, with the undertaking to report when we have something to say. We are taking a line of “don’t rush! get it right”.

Iola and Bob Bilson

JUNE 2019 Page 15 UPS AND DOWNS: No. 61 BY CLUELESS

ACROSS 1. Steel fastener (3) 3. Incident (6) 9. Bid, tender (5) 10. Saltpetre (5) 11. Wan, pale (5) 12. Mixed cold veg (5) 13. Enlist, join (5) 14. Made a mistake (5) 15. Attack (4) 16. Bench (4) 17. Change (5) 19. Memo (4) 20. Truism (5) 21. Alarm, hooter (5) 22. Din (5) 23. Vice-dean (5) 24. Inhabitant of former French colony in SW Asia (6)

MAY CROSSWORD SOLUTION

DOWN 2. Unable to be wrong (13) 3. Domineering, masterful (13) 4. Air-cooled (6) 5. Cosmopolitan (13) 6. Equine sport (11) 7. Commerce (5) 8. Substitute (11) 18. Stock-farm (5) 21. A house attached to another (4)

Page 16 SWORD St. Columba & the Battle Book

9 June is the feast day of St. Columba, the Irish abbot and missionary credited with converting the northern Picts to . The abbey that he founded on the e s

island of Iona became a place of major religious n e c significance and led eventually to the founding of the i L s abbey at Lindisfarne. n o m m o

Columba is thought to have been born on 7 December 521. C a His parents (Felinn Macfergus and his wife Eithne) were i d e m

important members of the powerful Dalradian clan that i k ruled parts of Western Scotland and Northern . It’s i W

possible that Columba was originally born with the name © Crimthann, but that he assumed the name of ‘Columb’ (meaning ‘Dove’) upon his baptism. Eventually he Window in Iona Abbey became known by his monastic nickname, Colum Cille, meaning ‘Dove of the Church’, though he is referred to by English historians today using the Latin version of his name – Columba.

Columba was educated in a small church at Kilmacrenan before attending the monastic school of St. Finnian of Movilla. When he had completed his training, Columba was given a site at Derry for his first foundation, and he built a small church there in 551. Columba never accepted episcopal consecration but spent the rest of his life working as an abbot and he dedicated his life not only to God but also to books and manuscripts. He was an indefatigable copier of manuscripts and he loved to copy verses from the Bible, compose poetry, and note important events of the time. The oldest surviving Irish illuminated manuscript, the Cathach (or ‘Battler’) has been attributed to Columba. It contains 58 leaves (beginning with Psalm 30 and ending with Psalm 105) and is thought to have been based on Jerome’s Gallican Psalter. A powerful Gaelic clan known as the O’Donnell’s of Tyrconnell used to carry the Book with them into battle as a talisman in the hope that it would bring them victory, hence the name ‘Cathach’ – or ‘Battler’).

According to legend, Columba is said to have sparked the first copyright dispute in history. His teacher - St. Finnian of Movilla Abbey - had just returned from a pilgrimage to Rome, where he had received a beautifully decorated copy of St. Jerome’s Book of Psalms as a gift from Pope Pelagius. It was the only one in Ireland (and in the sixth century books were a rare and greatly valued possession) and so Columba, without Finnian’s permission, borrowed it and made his own copy. As a result, Finnian sued for the copy as stolen property and the High King of Ireland, , ruled in Finnian’s favour, basing his judgement upon the laws of cattle ownership as they existed at that time and declaring:

To every cow its calfand to every book its copy

Columba, however, disagreed, arguing that the book had not lost its value by being copied

JUNE 2019 Page 17 and that Finnian had no right to keep such knowledge to himself. So Columba travelled north to appeal to his kinsmen, the Kings of Tyrconnell and Tyrone. In 561, a terrible battle was fought at Cooldrevny on Columba’s behalf and the king of Ireland was defeated (though some accounts claim that the battle was fought over Diarmait’s killing of the King of Connaught’s son, Curnan, who had been placed under Columba’s protection). Whatever the truth of Columba’s involvement in the battle, he appears to have had deep misgivings concerning the part that he had played in these events. He consulted a confessor (probably St. Molaise of Inishmurray) and was advised to go into perpetual exile from Ireland in order to expiate the sin of causing so many men to die in battle.

And so, two years later – in 563 – Columba set out for Scotland with 12 companions in the hope that he would be able to convert as many people as the 3000 that had died at Cooldrevny in a battle that is sometimes referred to by historians as 'the Battle of the Book’.

After leaving Ireland, Columba probably crossed e s

over to the Scottish mainland and called upon King n e c Conall, and it was probably King Conall who i L s

granted him the land on Iona to use as a base for his n o

mission. On Iona, Columba led a humble life, m m

praying, studying, leading his community, setting o C

up monasteries and converting people to a i d Christianity. He is said to have died on Sunday 9 e m i k

June 597, supposedly in front of the altar in his i

church on Iona and he was buried most humbly, W

without a coffin and in an earth grave. ©

Yet from Columba’s ignominious exile had come the foundation of Iona, which became the centre of what we now think of as ‘Celtic’ Christianity, and one of its monks – Aidan – would go on to found the renowned monastic cathedral at Lindisfarne in Northumbria. m o c . y a b a x i P ©

Iona Abbey Page 18 SWORD Calendar of Principal Feasts and Holy Days

JUNE

1 Justin, Martyr at Rome, c.165 3 The Martyrs of Uganda, 1885-7 and 1977 4 Petroc, Abbot of Padstow, 6th century 5 Boniface (Wynfrith) of Crediton, Bishop, Apostle of Germany, Martyr, 754 6 Ini Kopuria, Founder of the Melanesian Brotherhood, 1945 8 Thomas Ken, Bishop of Bath and Wells, Nonjuror, Hymn Writer, 1711 9 Columba, Abbot of Iona, Missionary, 597 9 Ephrem of Syria, Deacon, Hymn Writer, Teacher of the Faith, 373 11 Barnabas the Apostle 14 Richard Baxter, Puritan Divine, 1691 15 Evelyn Underhill, Spiritual Writer, 1941 16 Richard, Bishop of Chichester, 1253 16 Joseph Butler, Bishop of Durham, Philosopher, 1752 17 Samuel and Henrietta Barnett, Social Reformers, 1913 and 1936 18 Bernard Mizeki, Apostle of the MaShona, Martyr, 1896 19 Sundar Singh of India, Sadhu (holy man), Evangelist, Teacher of the Faith, 1929 22 Alban, first Martyr of Britain, c.250 23 Etheldreda, Abbess of Ely, c.678 24 The Birth of John the Baptist 27 Cyril, Bishop ofAlexandria, Teacher of the Faith, 444 28 Irenæus, Bishop of Lyons, Teacher of the Faith, c.200 29 Peter and Paul, Apostles

Alternative dates Peter the Apostle may be celebrated alone, without Paul, on 29 June.