Rolvenden MAY Village News ONLINE Newenden Notes ! Parishes of Rolvenden and Newenden Associate Team Priest The Revd Chris Hodgkins 01580 389587 [email protected]Ω mob: 07843220684 Please note Chris' day off is Friday Reader Judy Vinson 01580 241504 [email protected] St Mary the Virgin, Rolvenden Churchwardens Elizabeth Marshall 01580 241529 ea.marshall@btinternet .com Maggie Macaulay 01580 241843 [email protected] Hon. Secretary Ann Paddick 01797 252334 Hon. Treasurer William Barham 01580 240852 Sacristan Elizabeth Marshall 01580 241529 Organist Geoffrey Davison 01580 241685 Bellringers’ Assoc. Captain Linda Smith 01580 241783 St Peter, Newenden Churchwardens Frances Jones 01797 252563 [email protected] Hugh Edmonds 01797 252196 [email protected] Hon. Treasurer Sue Bourne 07879 403424Ω Sacristan Rhoda Smith 01580 292041Ω Magazine Administration Judy Vinson 01580 241504 [email protected] Magazine Subscriptions Elizabeth Marshall 01580 241529 Published by Rolvenden P.C.C. This month’s cover:“Daily exercise” Photographer: Jo Lodge View from the Layne he Easter season is about new life, transformation, forgiveness and moving on. It is a time of services full of joyful celebration liberally laced with my Tfavourite word, Alleluia! Easter starts on the Saturday night, in the dark with making of a fire outside the west door of the church. Then, often with some difficulty on a windy corner, the church’s brand new, never been lit, Paschal Candle is held in the fire. The church is in darkness, the congregation waiting, anticipating, each person holding a small unlit candle. The procession of the Paschal candle, now lit, begins with the priest holding it high and proclaiming, ‘The Light of Christ’. The procession moves into the dark church. Half way down the aisle we stop, and once again hear those triumphant words, ‘The light of Christ’. One by one the small candles are lit from the large one and gradually the darkness is pushed back a little further. Standing ready at the front of the nave is the special candle stand which will hold the candle high for the next year to be lit at various seasons and all baptisms, a visual symbol of the presence of Christ in the world. This Easter that did not happen. The new candle stays locked in the church, ready for the first service we are allowed to hold. And what an occasion that will be! This is ancient ritual and it reminds us each year of just how savvy the ancient ones of the church could be. Each year, without fail, the arrival of that one candle in the darkened building demonstrates how vivid a small flame is and how much it pushes back the darkness. As we live through this time of coronavirus, we see a different light, the glow of communal kindness shining out in so many acts of service pushing back the blackness of the times and the bleakness of the outlook. Corvid 19 threw a spanner in the workings of the world. We suddenly found normal was no longer the norm. We are having to accept, and get on with, changes thrust upon us, out of the blue. We can probably all think of moments when our own lives changed through a single event and we were never quite the same again. But what is significant about now is that the happenstance is universal. However, it has come for many with the gift of free time, free that is of the activity of being so busy there is no time for……. How are we using this unexpected gift of time, this gift which appears to come wrapped in a pervasive silence punctuated by statistics for the day’s death toll, reported as a gruesome global league table. Many of us have found a sense of satisfaction and, dare I say, joy that comes from giving and receiving neighbourly care and concern. It would be good for that to continue and become part of the new normal rather than finding we have dropped back into the old ways, the old familiar normal untouched by the things we have learnt about ourselves and others during this strange time. We have seen how we can be. How much do we want to change to being that way routinely? Here we have to get real and recognise that, when it comes to change, the only 1 change any of us can be certain of is change we make in ourselves. If we want to do that we have to use some of this gift of time to engage in some conscious reflection. Because changing personally means making space, getting fit, mentally and spiritually as well as physically, dumping the baggage that attaches itself as we go through life, remembered grievances, even anger at, relationships gone sour and aspirations frustrated by others. There is a framework for a time of reflection. Its focus can be the events of the day or it can be used to consider a much longer period of time. It was devised by Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, as a spiritual exercise for his monks and is known as the Ignatian Examen. But the basic framework is equally applicable to a secular viewpoint. Christians do not have the monopoly on reflective thought but I have to say carrying that light of Christ in dark places is a powerful source of comfort. I pray that the light of Christ shines for us all in the darkness Judy V And here is the framework for the Ignatian Examen : 1. Recall the day or a period of time 2. What were the main events, people, experiences, thoughts and feelings? 3. What is there to celebrate in all these things? 4. Anything to regret or that you would like to have happened differently? 5. Any awareness, insight, or gift from this day to carry into the day or time ahead? hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh In this second online issue you will find: n Regular items, Peter Austen’s Weather in the Layne which is our answer to Gardener’s World and Country File with weather records, Lavinia’s Cook’s Corner Sue’s Bookshelf, making a welcome reappearance and News of Newenden Cricket Club n The blue pages with of course the Bin calendar plus a lot of information to help you through the lockdown n There is the annual appeal to support Christian Aid Week, which is not the only appeal for support in cash or kind. n And then we have a number of very different articles, some by new contributors, and all springing out of these strange days. We are most grateful to all our contributors, and we could not have done it without those two host websites, Rolvenden Parish Council and Newendne.org. so a thank you to Peter and Ake hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh 2 ROLVENDEN AND NEWENDEN’S RESPONSE TO CORVID-19 Residents and both Parish Councils have risen magnificently to the huge challenges created by Covid-19, drawing on our incredible community strength and resilience. It was incredibly heartening to see how many people immediately stepped forward to help their neighbours and to ensure that our most vulnerable residents were cared for. Vulnerable residents were identified and contacted and put in touch with volunteers who could carry out shopping and prescription deliveries. Newenden leafletted the whole parish and in Rolvenden, ‘post code’ volunteers were assigned to each postcode to act as a first port of call for any residents needing help. The Rolvenden Rocket team and My Village Stores are carrying out food deliveries throughout the Ward. Prescriptions are now being collected in bulk from Ivy Court surgery twice a week for onward distribution to residents. A new food bank, the Care Bear Scheme, has been set up to help families. And Rolvenden Parish Council is running a telephone befriending scheme to help deal with social isolation. The details of all these different schemes and contact information is available at www.ashford.gov.uk/coronavirus/List of Voluntary and Community Groups and look under Rolvenden & Tenterden West Volunteer Groups. Contact details for Council Chairs and myself are: Newenden PC Chair: Derek Wright [email protected] 07906 658413 Rolvenden PC Chair: Denise Curtain [email protected] 07960 841903 ABC Ward member: Kate Walder [email protected]. 07389 110 611 Councillor Kate Walder Ward Member for ABC What does May bring to the Church This month in the Christian Calendar sees the two events that follow on from the transforming events of Easter. On May 21st we celebrate Ascension Day, the day when the risen Christ finally took his leave of his disciples and ascended into heaven. 10 days later we have the major celebration of Pentecost, the fiftieth day after Easter Day. Jesus had told the disciples to go back to Jerusalem and await the gift that he had promised them. And on Pentecost it arrived: The Holy Spirit as a strong wind and tongues of fire. And that was a whole new beginning for the disciples and many more people. It is taken as the beginning of the Church. You will find the story in Luke chapter 24 verse 36 to the end and then continued by Luke in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts) chapters 1 and 2. The church building continues to be closed and so we continue the routine of daily worship through the Facebook pages: Morning Prayer at 9:00am Mon to Sat Evening Prayer at 5:00pm. daily Sunday morning Rev’d Chris celebrates a virtual Eucharist at 10:30am Plus Ascension Thursday May 21st there will be a Eucharist at 7:00pm Those Facebook pages: St Mary the Virgin Rolvenden and St Peter’s Church, Newenden And if you would like to download the app for Morning and Evening Prayer here are the details: Judy V 4 5 Weather in the Layne March arch, the Met Office tells us, was at times colder than January but I would add that it was also a windy month which can make it feel colder than the Mthermometer reads.