From the Diocesan President Mothers’ Union Matters

in the of Chester Were you there? We had a wonderful Summer 2015 Diocesan Festival on 12th May graced by Bp Libby and with an interesting and humorous Charity Number 221214 address by Lynne Tembey, our Worldwide President. Congratulations to Canon Chris Humphries who was commissioned as our Chaplain at the service.

Were you there when the three Queens turned 180 degrees in the Mer- sey on Bank Holiday Monday? What an amazing sight to see three ocean going liners in synchronised movements. I enjoyed both events for their celebration of considerable achievements. My heartfelt congratulations go to Viv Ley, who has been duly elected as your Diocesan President for the next triennium. Congratulations also to Diana Bancroft elected as Chester Archdeaconry President and Wendy Sykes who is continuing as Macclesfield Archdeaconry President. I am sure they will make an excellent team and pray that St Paul’s Church, Strines, near Marple God will be with them in all they do for Mothers’ Union. Our wonderful Secretary Brenda Bailey will be retiring at the end of June after 6 years as Diocesan Secretary and 3 years previous to that as Assistant Secretary. Brenda's commitment to Mothers' Union has been second to none. She has always been the helpful voice on the Members enjoying summer telephone and has cheerfully and efficiently carried out her duties. I weather in the beautiful have particularly enjoyed working with her and know we shall miss her. countryside near Marple and But I am very pleased to say that Dawn Colwell who has been Assis- in Chester on our annual tant in the office since last September will be taking over as our Dioce- Prayer Walks. san Secretary as from 1stJuly. I know she will fill Brenda's shoes very Read the article on page 12 well and will continue to serve our charity in the same efficient and for more about the events cheerful way. We congratulate her on her appointment and look forward to working with her. I was delighted once again to present the Moira Garnet Award for Pub- lic Speaking on 22nd April to a young lady from Sale Grammar School

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Chester MU Diocesan Festival Service , compiled from notes for her excellent presentation on the work of Mothers’ Union. We kindly supplied by Alison Neale and others. (Ed) are also very grateful for the funds raised by the pupils for our Litera- cy Fund. Hopefully they will become members when they are a little older! This proved to be a truly wonderful occasion, with the service I look forward to joining those of you who are going on the Pilgrim- conducted by Bishop Libby, (proudly wearing her MU badge,) a age to Rydal Hall in the Lake District and I hope you all have a most packed Cathedral , Canon Christopher Humphries being enjoyable summer – when the good weather arrives! commissioned as our new Diocesan Chaplain, plus no less a person than the Worldwide With my love and prayers, Angela President of MU, as our T: 0151 336 6312 E: [email protected] speaker.

From L to R. Below. Our retiring secretary, Brenda (L) and Dawn, (R) who will be taking over the role, so efficiently and cheerfully filled :Lynne Tembey, Bishop Libby, Canon by Brenda. Chris Humphries and Angela Klabou

During the service, our Diocesan President, Angela and Canon Chris gave a presentation entitled “Our Father for everyday”, based on the Lord’s Prayer, which was very thought provoking. Canon Chris had also written one of the hymns that were sung that afternoon.

Our Worldwide President, Lynne Tembey, in an interesting and amusing talk, started by saying that the last time she had come to Chester Diocese was when she was the York Provincial President. She had been in London the previous day meeting with our Chief Look out for the Summer 2015 Quiz.! Executive, Reg Bailey, will soon be retiring, . The next day she to fly Your Deanery Leader will have a copy. Answers to be returned to to New Zealand to meet members there. A hectic schedule! the Office by the end of September. Please print and sell as many She reminded us of this year’s theme “United in Prayer”, saying that copies as you can. Remember that, of the monies raised, half is for we were meeting to celebrate and reflect on our unity and diversity in ‘Mothers’ Union charities and the other half can be retained by Christ. She told us that prayer is vital to us – it is at the heart of all we branches to fund running expenses . do. She felt that God had chosen her to be one of his disciples.

3 4 She felt like Mary Sumner, who seeing a need, stepped out in faith We know we never need to be afraid to seek – God will always an- Sandiway Vicar is marooned on a swer. Desert Island…….! Lynne gave examples of various people and groups she had met – young offenders, abused wives, those on AFIA holidays…. A great variety of people ,reflecting the varied work of our organisation. She St. John’s Mothers’ Union quoted her granddaughter, who, on hearing that she was to be Sandiway held their own version World Wide President said ‘ Wow, my Nana's going to have the of ‘Desert Island Discs’ recently, whole world in her hands!’ She thanked us for reaching out in love with the Vicar, the Revd Dr John with various projects, but said that some things do reach their end of Hughes, as the celebrity. their course and we must not be afraid to hand them over to others, He gave a very interesting or move on to different challenges. insight into his life as a General .Trustees and Deanery Leaders were invited by Elizabeth Forster to Practitioner and his ordination have tea at Bishop’s House afterwards and to chat briefly with Lynne into the church. He displayed his and Bp.Libby. One thing that Lynne had mentioned was that some- very eclectic taste in music from where s he had gone the members danced for her – so a group , Duke Ellington to Mozart and was very ably interviewed by their including Elizabeth, surrounded Lynne and sang and danced for her. Secretary Wendy Wren., standing in for Sue Lawley. Editor, with thanks to Alison Neale for her information.

Welcome to our new members: Left Ballet Rambert or maybe River Dance……? .St Peter, Little Budworth Trustees dance for our Edna Ingham Worldwide President. Ann Hankinson St Matthew, Stretton Val Martell Joan Thomason Sue Roberts Sally Peterken St Saviour, Oxton Christ Church Wharton Anna Picariello Right . Also at the service was MU mem- Brenda Beesley ber , Joanne Whynder, who spoke to us a Carol Eccleston,

Council in November. She is pictured here Tracey Williams with Bishop Libby.

5 6 Action and Outreach Report Teddy Bears go off to the Ambulance Service There were many favourable comments about the presentation at Committee Day this year for the Action and Outreach Unit. My You may recall in 2014 the Mothers’ Union sent a magnificent 86 thanks to Joan Colwell who led it in my absence. Trauma Teddies to the Fire Service. These teddies had AFIA Several families are to enjoy an AFIA holiday this summer. been knitted by Mothers’ Union members of the Deanery Deaneries continue to kindly donate food parcels or Tesco vouch- and their fantastic supporters. ers. This year we are also including ‘Ouch Pouches’ – small first After the success of getting teddies into Fire Appliances, including aid packs made by Joan. stations at Wilmslow and Knutsford, we approached the Ambulance Wedding Fairs There have been a few wedding fairs this year in Service if they would be interested to have them in Ambulances as the diocese. The / Mothers’ Union stand being well. manned by members and clergy. If you haven’t helped at one then I We had some issues to overcome as regards “infection control” of suggest you consider going on the rota. They are great fun and a the teddies but where there is a will there is always a way! Each wonderful opportunity meet people. Teddy was individually wrapped in their own plastic bag so they could Worldwide We have had news from Grahamstown , one of our be safely transported, and we handed over 50 plus teddies to new links. There is no news yet from the other links. members of the Cheshire Ambulance Service. The teddies will be Virtual Babies These continue to be taken into schools in the used by ambulance staff when attending emergencies and given to Wirral and Congleton districts with great success. children at time when a comforting teddy bear may just make things a Parenting We have one or two active parenting facilitators but bit more bearable (no pun intended!). unfortunately the requests for parenting groups are not forthcoming. A huge thank you to all our knitters and supporters, we couldn’t do it Much discussion has taken place as to the reason for this. Please without you! From Knutsford Deanery remind your clergy that Parenting Courses are available. Cheshire Show The following wonderful letter of appreciation Diana Bancroft A&O Co-ordinator has been received at Mary Sumner House and passed on to the Chester Diocesan office. It reads - Wedding Fairs I would like to comment on my day out yesterday at The Cheshire There was a Wedding Fair at Cheadle Hulme School on April 12th, the Show. We had my 7 month old granddaughter with us and my set-up and Mothers' Union rota being organised by Jill Fairhurst and daughter was looking for somewhere to feed her, .We 'stumbled' with Revd James Ambrose in attendance. There were some across the Mothers Union tent and we were absolutely delighted with the reception we got, as well as the facilities which were concerns about the event, lack of organisation by Archant, lack of second to none, everything we needed was offered as well as a stalls and few visitors to the stand. We have 3 fairs coming up in the welcome cup of tea or coffee, everyone who was working yesterday autumn-at Capesthorne Hall, Alderley Edge Hotel and Mottram Hall. I deserves recognition for their efforts, they did a brilliant job. Would definitely use ANY Mothers Union facilities in the future and will shall be contacting deanery leaders to ask if they wish to handle the make sure ALL my friends and family know how wonderful you are. running of the stands. Ann Elliot Regards Carol Evison

7 8 MU General Meeting in Nottingham Our Diocesan President, Nearly 2,000 members assembled in Angela, met up with a group of the Theatre Royal in Nottingham for other members from Chester the General Meeting 2015 of our “life- Diocese outside the Theatre giving, life-changing organisation,” as Royal in Nottingham before our World-Wide President described the meeting. MU. In her review, she summarised many of the projects members have been involved in recently. Nottingham and Southwell Diocese had We heard reports from the Britain and Ireland head of Action and constructed a “washing line” from a Outreach at Mary Sumner House and from the head of the variety of craft objects related to Worldwide section, Both focused on how MU help improves the these along the front of the stage. lives of children, by teaching parenting skills, as there is no such She told us of her visits during the thing as a perfect parent. How we treat our children influences their past year, mentioning her visit to attitude to parenting later in life. The MU Literacy and Chester for our Diocesan Festival, Numeracy project has helped over 135,000 adults become literate and, further afield, to New Zealand during the 15 years it has been running. This has had the effect of and Tonga. Here she admitted improving the health and general well-being of the children, giving Princess Salote as a new member them hope of a much better future, on the tarmac of Tonga’s airport! Our keynote speaker in the afternoon session was Jane Fearnley - Bill Crooks and Jackie Mouradian gave a moving presentation of Whittingstall, not with her gardener’s hat, wearing which she has how, when working for CCMP (Church & Community Mobilisation won medals at Chelsea, but in her persona as a Grandmother and Process) they use power of stories from the Bible to motivate author of the “Good Grandma” series of books. She took us on a people both abroad ( and now at home too), to look at themselves in delightful trip down memory lane, reminding us of such diverse their local situations to see how they can begin to matters as tins of Spam and Corned Beef, laced corsets, babies transform and improve their own lives. Bill read “layettes”, hoarded collections of soap bars and the dreaded liberty the story of the woman who touched Jesus’ cloak. bodice! She said how glad she was that fathers were now able to Jackie then became that woman, acting out her take a much more active role in parenting, but bemoaned the loss despair and rejection by society, gradually showing how her faith in the power of Jesus made her of extended family contacts with cousins, for example and in partic- realise that she could do something for herself by ular the fact that so few families spend time together over a meal. merely touching his robe and believing. After see- ing and hearing such performances, they find peo- All this, with inspiring services both the evening before and during ple can be inspired to look around and start to find the meeting itself, made for an excellent meeting. Editor their own solutions to local problems. 9 10 Farewell to Reg Bailey CBE, (aka Robin Hood!) Prayer Walks in June This year our prayer walks in the

Macclesfield and Chester Archdeaconries

were led by two canons. The first was at Our CEO, Reg Bailey CBE is retiring St. Paul’s, Strines in Marple, known as the this year and a vey fond farewell was “flat pack church”, a prefabricated 100 given to him at the Annual Meeting. year old church with a beautiful interior. Canon Michael He said that Robin Hood had had Burgess led members and guests around a route which took us to the right kind of idea - take from the five locations representing key landmarks in our rich to give to the poor -whereupon Christian journey. At each station we prayed, sang, listened to he produced an appropriate hat and readings and enjoyed the fellowship and friendship of those around bow and arrow! In a more serious vein, he told us “to always preach us. We finished with lunch in the church hall. A special thanks to the Gospel, sometimes using words”, emphasising our call to the Mothers’ Union members for providing demonstrate Christ’s love in all our dealings with others. refreshments and an insight into the area

and the church history. He thanked everyone for their huge efforts of fund-raising and said Our second, led by Canon Chris how it will be the people he misses, illustrating this with couple of Humphries, began with a communion stories of situations in which the faith and trust of MU members had service in the Lady Chapel of Chester been amply demonstrated to him. Cathedral with Canon Jane Brooke He asked “Are we there yet?” . His answer had to be “No”, but the officiating. We had lunch together in the overall vision of the 20-20 plan and with continued adherence to refectory and began our walk from our first station in St Anselm’s “Praying, Enabling and Campaigning” he is sure MU will continue to Chapel. We prayed, listened to readings and sang with Canon be an inspiring force for good in the world. Chris providing the guitar accompaniment. He took us over the city He was presented with a large bag of cards and letters of good walls to the Roman Gardens, to the wishes from all over the UK and a gift from all the .by Lynne river in Grosvenor Park, St John Tembey, at which point the whole theatre rose to give him a standing Churchyard, finishing in St Anselm’s ovation. He will, indeed, be a very hard act to follow. Editor Chapel where we had a reading and prayers and sang a final hymn that Chris himself had written. The 2016 Meeting will be held in Winchester, next We were blessed with good weather and warm fellowship and the walks September—make a note in your diaries now! and experiences were very much en- joyed and appreciated by all. Derek Buckthorpe and Wendy Sykes

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Our Chaplain writes…. . The worldwide church is a well-made boat. Despite its faults and failings, it has proved to be steadfast and sturdy through the centu- All Aboard! Although I now find myself ries. The church has sailed through some turbulent and choppy wa- living inland, I am surprised how many people ters, yet still provides safe haven for anyone and everyone who talk to me about the sea and sailing. Some I wants to step on board. have met sail on the local flashes and meres of mid -Cheshire, some off the coast of North God calls all people to be part of his crew. The expedition of life Wales, while others have taken sailing holi- is not about solo sailing, so we should not be surprised to find a days further afield, perhaps from Croatian whole variety of crew members. Some have been Christians for ag- es and have much experience of sailing the boat, while others are ports or around the Greek islands. As a for- mer lifeboat chaplain I came to acknowledge newcomers and may feel all at sea to begin with! Can we come to- gether as an effective team? If so, then we will have a good chance the changing moods of the sea and constant dangers that needed to be remembered at all times. The essential of reaching our destination. elements for safety were: We have a captain we can trust. Jesus is a skilled navigator and wonderful Saviour. He has undertaken the greatest rescue mission A well-constructed boat A reliable crew ever known. The motto of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution is A good and trustworthy leader, coxswain or captain. “Saving lives at sea”. There are many storms in this life that threat- en to swamp and submerge us. But our captain welcomes us This was brought home to my wife Barbara and me when we went on aboard and will enable us to help save other souls as well. board the lifeboat for the annual lifeboat day. Several special guests I’ve always found that the sea and sailing has a powerful resonance were aboard, but suddenly a message was received that someone with the realities of life. Nothing on this earth is permanent or se- was stranded on dangerous rocks. Immediately the guests, including cure. Life is fluid and changeable. Sooner or later everybody sails ourselves, were unceremoniously stowed below decks and the life- into choppy waters. At those moments it is good to be aboard a boat’s powerful engines roared into life. Within minutes the struggling sturdy ship, with the steady hand of the Saviour at the wheel. man had been spotted and brought to safety. Your fellow M.U. member and crew-member! I find it very interesting that the church can be compared to a boat. Chris The main part of a church is often called “the Nave” which comes from the same linguistic root as the words “Navy” or “Navigation”. This is because the design of many churches has in mind the idea of Quiet Day at Foxhill an upturned boat. We have booked a Mothers’ Union Quiet Day at Foxhill on th We’re all o n a journey through life, heading towards the harbour of Wednesday 14 October from 10am – 4pm, and is to be led by The heaven. So with this in mind let’s reconsider the three elements , the Very Revd Professor Gordon McPhate. above: It is entitled: TWO GUIDES: THOMAS MERTON AND HENRI NOUWEN Chris Humphries 13 14 From around the Diocese Calendar 2015 Theme: United in Prayer

Right, The Vicar of Mo 13th –Thu 16th Jul Pilgrimage to Rydal Hall, Lake District St George’s, Stock- Sat 9th Aug Mary Sumner Day - day of prayer port, Revd. Canon Tues 22nd Sept. 10am. Trustees meeting at Church House Elaine Chegwin- Hall & MU mem- We 7th - Fri 9th Oct Worldwide Council bers at the We 14th Oct 10 am—4pm Quiet Day at Foxhill dedication of their new Banner which Thu 5th Nov 10am Trustees meeting at Church House was designed & Tues. 10th Nov 2pm Provincial Thanksgiving Eucharist at made by Chester Cathedral. Bp Peter presiding congregation and MU Central Chaplain preaching. member, Pat Tues. 17th Nov 10-1pm Diocesan Eucharist and Council at St. Rigley, Left From St. Saviour, John’s church centre, Hartford Oxton, Tracey Williams (holding Lucca) with Revd Dr Mothers’ Union Diocesan Office Joe Kennedy and Edna Ingham, after their recent 9 Abbey Square, Chester CH1 2HU admission service. E-mail [email protected] Diocesan website. .mothersunionchester.co.uk Text Giving dial MUCH22

From the Editor Copy for the next edition should be Right Emily Higginson and Kath with the Editor, Judith Dewdney, by Walker are sisters, who joined MU Tues,20th October on the same day, nearly 70 years 30 Henbury Rise, Henbury, Macclesfield SK11 9NW ago. They are pictured holding Tel. 01625 439753 E-mail [email protected] the cake for the 80th birthday celebrations of Christ Church Wharley.

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