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The Hill SEPTEMBER 2020 A MAGAZINE FOR ALL WHO LIVE AROUND HAMBLEDON HILL IN CHILD OKEFORD, MANSTON, HAMMOON AND HANFORD A MAGAZINE FOR ALL WHO LIVE AROUND HAMBLEDON£1 HILL IN CHILD OKEFORD, MANSTON, HAMMOONNon Subscribers AND HANFORD FIRST ISSUED IN 1967 VOLUME 53, NUMBER 9 CIRCULATION 525 2 www.beehiveselfstorage.co.uk CLEAN & DRY, SAFE & SECURE 24/7 CCTV & MONITORED ALARMS MODERN & PURPOSE BUILT EASY ACCESS WITH NO HIDDEN CHARGES CHOICE OF SIZES TO SUIT YOUR NEEDS Moving House? We sell boxes, tissue paper, bubble wrap and furniture covers. [email protected] Call 01258 861100 Gold Hill Business Park Child Okeford – DT11 8HF Paul Corbett “Your Local Handyman” Any job considered Telephone: Guttering (cleared or replaced) 07960 712778 •UPVC fascias and soffits •Patios 01258 860804 •Fencing •Property maintenance •Small building works •Repointing In need of a caring compassionate lady as a Middle Farm, Manston, Sturminster companion, to help with shopping, trips to the Doctors etc? Newton, Dorset, DT10 1EX DBS checked Insured Farm Fresh Pasteurised Milk Call Hannah 01747 812677 07961516089 We are Open 7 days a week 7am-7pm Contact us on 01258 472425 / ALEC ANGELL 07850389294 PAINTER & DECORATOR EXTERIOR and INTERIOR Also sold in the Cross Stores Work done with Care and Pride Estimates free Contact 01258-860812 or 0788 1911434 3 LEADER LETTER from Sue Rawlinson (Licensed Lay Minister, Retired) I love hymns. I love singing hymns. And for me, ‘hymns’ don’t include many worship songs, although I know younger church members find these more accessible and many people enjoy the choruses. No, I mean wonderful melodies combined with profound words that, after seven and a half decades of singing them, are inscribed in my heart. On my deathbed I don’t think I shall be singing, ‘God made a boomerang and called it love’! Before anyone starts muttering, ‘grumpy old woman’, I claim the right to my preference, even though I acknowledge that some Victorian hymnody (rather like Victorian pews) has no place in our worship – both are of their own time, and can safely be set aside. Even the ubiquitous ‘All Things Bright and Beautiful’ is usually printed omitting the verse, ‘The rich man in his castle, the poor man at his gate: God made them, high or lowly, and ordered their estate’. No, he didn’t! But I digress…. Hymns, or at least their words, have sustained me over the past months. The greatest sadness is that we are no longer permitted to sing them in our distanced church congregations, and all choirs are all on hold. So much has changed in the past six months! This time last year I was going to a Prom Concert in the Royal Albert Hall and looking forward to a holiday cruise at the end of September. Now it’s Staycations all round and a goodly supply of face masks and hand sanitiser. I recently found an old Saga magazine from February – the circumstances portrayed therein suggest a totally different world from the one we inhabit today. Sometimes praying is hard (an understatement!) and when the going is tough I want to shout at God. I often do, in fact! I gave Him an ear-bashing last week when my beloved cousin was taken into hospital to die, my friend’s wife died after three weeks in a coma, and my son’s fiancée left him. Happily, I know from a lifetime’s experience that God can take our ranting and complaining. His people have always given Him an earful when things go wrong and times are difficult – the Bible is full of such instances. But we have to remember that all this trouble, this foul plague, this distanced way of life is temporary. It will pass. And even if things become worse before they become better, it’s all happened before. When the apostle Paul write a letter to the people of Thessalonica – present day Thessaloniki – in northern Greece, he told them that the present is tough, and the future may be tough, but ‘in everything give thanks to God.’ In EVERYTHING give thanks to God. So even if I can’t sing it in public, I can still pray the words of a much-loved hymn: Through all the changing scenes of life, in trouble and in joy, The praises of my God shall still my heart and tongue employ. Stay safe – and sing in the shower! 4 RECTOR’S RAMBLINGS It has been a great joy to be able to return to church services and we have now a fairly equal split between those able to come physically and those worshipping virtually. We’ve now worshipped in each church in the benefice (albeit outside at Hamooon) and it was especially encouraging to have near capacity at our benefice Evensong at Manston. Works have been going on in our churches – roof repairs at Child Okeford and Manston, a new vestry floor in Manston, and of course the well documented internal works at Okeford Fitzpaine. The wildlife areas in our churchyards have been a source of great inspiration to many visitors: the pyramid orchids in Child Okeford were particularly beautiful this year. APCM Child Okeford with Manston APCM will take place in Child Okeford church on Wednesday 16th September at 7.30pm. All are welcome and please observe social distancing and wear a mask. Service pattern Due to ongoing changes to regulations I’m finding it impossible to plan more than about a month ahead. Please keep an eye on the Pew News and website for up to date details. If you don’t receive the Pew News and would like to please send me your email address. You will then receive the weekly audio sermon too. Annual Leave I will be away on annual leave from 21st September until October 13th. We have managed to secure a raft of senior clergy to take our services and I will provide online audio services on the website for those not able to attend church during this time. Blessings, Rev’d Lydia YOUR CHURCH September 2010 It has been fantastic to have real church services again. The bells have been ringing on a Sunday morning and church begins to feel more normal again, with worshippers joining together in celebration. Zoom services continue and are well attended by people across the benefice, with a great range of ages from 7 to over 80. The churchyard has looked amazing all summer. We have had a steady stream of visitors taking time to tell us how much they have enjoyed passing through. They enjoy the peace, the beautiful flowers and the hum of activity from the wildlife. I have noticed common spotted and pyramidal orchids have spread into the newer wildflower areas. These flowers would never have had the chance to bloom if we had not introduced the new mowing regime. Mark, the mowing contractor, has started giving the wildflower areas their late summer/autumn cut, now that the flowers will have set seed. He has been busy all summer keeping the newer part of the churchyard looking immaculate and we are grateful for his hard work. The volunteers have been working all through the very hot weather, keeping up with mowing around the church. They are a small but diligent and enthusiastic team, who are doing a brilliant job. Please take time to thank them if you happen to meet them at work. 5 CHURCH SERVICES IN SEPTEMBER 06/09/2020 9am The Thirteenth Sunday Holy Communion Child Okeford Rev’d Lydia after Trinity 06/09/2020 10am The Thirteenth Sunday Morning Worship Zoom Mark Riley after Trinity 13/09/2020 9am The Fourteenth Sunday Morning Worship Zoom Rev’d Lydia after Trinity 13/09/2020 10.30am Holy Rood Day Patronal Communion Shillingstone Arch’d Penny 20/09/2020 9am The Fifteenth Sunday Morning Worship Zoom Rev’d Lydia after Trinity 20/09/2020 10am The Fifteenth Sunday Holy Communion Okeford Fitzpaine Bishop Karen after Trinity 27/09/2020 10am Harvest Morning Worship Okeford Fitzpaine Mark Riley 27/09/2020 6pm To be confirmed Mighty Okes SCC Steve Sexton 27/09/2020 6.30pm Harvest Evensong Manston Mark Riley 04/10/2020 10.30am The Seventeenth Sunday Holy Communion Child Okeford Arch’d Penny after Trinity BATTLE OF BRITAIN SUNDAY During September we will commemorate the 80th anniversary of the end of the Battle of Britain, the first battle to be fought in the air. As explained in the August 'Hill' if the German's had achieved air supremacy by destroying the RAF's ability to attack a seaborne invasion fleet, we could have been invaded and the war may have been over before it had hardly begun. The end of the battle was formally commemorated on Sunday, September 15th, 1940 and I understand that national events are planned for Sundays, September 13th and 20th and Tuesday, September 15th. At 11.00am on Tuesday, September 15th, a wreath will be laid on the War Memorial in Child Okeford. Names of the fallen will not be read - but they will be read on Armistice Day. We will stand in silence for two minutes in tribute to the bravery and sacrifice of The Few, the 3,080 pilots from at least 14 different countries, 30% of whom died or were wounded during 10 short weeks of intense air fighting. All readers are invited to join us for this simple ceremony. Those who do should, of course, obey the 'social distancing' rules that may be in place at that time. Pat Soward - 860647 6 HOME COOKING WITH MRS SIMKINS Courgette Boats Aka les petits farcis* August is generally the glut month for courgettes.